Shielding Wires from EMI ??

[swich401]

I posted this question on the thread over at head-fi, but I thought I would re-post this here to see how everyone responds:

Question: I was thinking of spending some time wrapping a bunch of the cables along the signal path with shielding (and grounding the shielding of course). Do you think this would make any difference? Would it be worth spending the time doing this to eliminate any EMI? If I don't spend the time to do a lot of the wires, are there certain ones that I should focus on that could potentially make the biggest difference? I'm thinking of using a braided shield, and covering it with shrink wrap to prevent any possibility of shorts.

[Paul Birkeland]

The critical wiring in the Mainline is already shielded for this purpose.  (See the CAT5 cabling and the STP cabling that distributes power)  Also, the tube socket shields keep the most sensitive bits covered up. 

The rest of the wiring is fairly short or presents such a low impedance to RF that it's not all that helpful. 

Another consideration is what your sources of EMI might be, and how close they'd be to the Mainline.  If you have a desktop computer close by, inspect the case to ensure that it is largely metal and enclosed.   

Without a whole lot of trouble, an aluminum bottom plate could be fabricated to add an EMI barrier, but you would need to add a lot of ventilation. 

-PB

[swich401]

Thanks Paul, this is good to hear