page_title: Star quad cable
hierarchical_section_title: Star quad cable
caption_attribution_description: English: Exploded view of star-quad microphone cable showing pairs of wires used for each leg of the balanced circuit.
context_page_description: Star-quad cable is a four conductor cable that has a special quadrupole geometry that provides magnetic immunity when used in a balanced line. Four conductors are used to carry the two legs of the balanced line. All four conductors must be an equal distance from a common point. The four conductors are arranged in a four-pointed star. Opposite points of the star are connected together at each end of the cable to form each leg of the balanced circuit.
  Star quad cables often use filler elements to hold the conductor centers in a symmetric four-point arrangement about the cable axis. All points of the star must lie at equal distances from the center of the star. When opposite points are connected together they act as if they are one conductor located at the center of the star. This configuration places the geometric center of each of the two legs of the balanced circuit in the center of the star. To a magnetic field, both legs of the balanced circuit appear to be in the exact center of the star. This means that both legs of the balanced circuit will receive exactly the same interference from the magnetic field and a common-mode interference signal will be produced.
context_section_description: Star-quad cable is a four conductor cable that has a special quadrupole geometry that provides magnetic immunity when used in a balanced line. Four conductors are used to carry the two legs of the balanced line. All four conductors must be an equal distance from a common point (usually the center of a cable). The four conductors are arranged in a four-pointed star (forming a square). Opposite points of the star are connected together at each end of the cable to form each leg of the balanced circuit.
  Star quad cables often use filler elements to hold the conductor centers in a symmetric four-point arrangement about the cable axis. All points of the star must lie at equal distances from the center of the star. When opposite points are connected together they act as if they are one conductor located at the center of the star. This configuration places the geometric center of each of the two legs of the balanced circuit in the center of the star. To a magnetic field, both legs of the balanced circuit appear to be in the exact center of the star. This means that both legs of the balanced circuit will receive exactly the same interference from the magnetic field and a common-mode interference signal will be produced. This common-mode interference signal will be rejected by the balanced receiver.
  The magnetic immunity of star quad cable is a function of the accuracy of the star-quad geometry, the accuracy of the impedance balancing, and the common-mode rejection ratio of the balanced receiver. Star-quad cable typically provides a 10 dB to 30 dB reduction in magnetically-induced interference.
caption: Star-quad exploded view showing the geometric centers of the dual-conductors used for each leg of the balanced line.
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