Vintage HiFi Audio Forum
Audio Discussion => DIY => Tweaks => Topic started by: Falcon on November 28, 2009, 12:27:53 AM
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Anybody make their own cables? I/C or speaker? What wire are you using on I/C cables? I want to build my own, but not sure what wire to use, thinking of silver.
Any thoughts?
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As Bob would say..."try it" I would start with copper and go from there.
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Yes and yes.
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html
Have been happy with the results.
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Hey bmwr75,
That Patio Cord that was used for the DIY setup, does it use solid copper conductors or were they strands?
Thanks,
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strands
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Just made myself a set of these last night. They're still far from broken in, but I will say that THEY WORK!
Full review to follow in the next few weeks.
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I have a 500' spool of copper 14gauge wire. Just ordered a spool of braided sleeves and shrink tubing. Going to give this a shot.
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Just made myself a set of these last night. They're still far from broken in, but I will say that THEY WORK!
Full review to follow in the next few weeks.
Not sure I abide by speaker cables requiring break in time (am also skeptical about high dollar power cords and interconnects, magic dots, etc). But will be interested to read your impressions. Fun project wasn't it!?
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Sounds interesting...what ended up the price per meter cost???
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A 40' Woods Yard Master extension cord costs about $8 at Walmart. That is about $0.65/meter. The rest of the costs is for terminators (i.e., banana plugs, spades, etc.) and heat shrink tubing. The tubing might run $1-2 per pair of wires. Of course you can spend as little or as much as you want on terminators.
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Thanks for the info!!! I would not of thought of using that wire from Wally world. 8)
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The cables sound great. I myself was not expecting any difference in the sound but I was stunned to see that there was a difference (even my wife noticed).
They sounded much more 'natural' than the Monster cable 16ga lamp cord that I was using before. My system has always been very bright and forward in the tweeter range (due largely to the SL2000 tweeters in stock SDAs) but these cables brought the highs down and the mids forward a bit, which really helped.
For the first couple of hours they sounded a little hollow (almost as if the sound stage opened up too much!) but the sound came in a bit as the cables broke in.
I also made an SDA interconnect cable (goes between the speakers for the SDA affect) from this cable and that added A LOT to the 'SDA magic'.
All in all, I probably have about $30 invested in a pair of 8' speaker cables and a 10' SDA cable. I'll be investing another $30 into interconnect cables and a Phono RCA at some point also. I used solder-on gold plated banana connectors from parts-express instead of the ones recommended in the article (I couldn't find those at P-E and I was placing an order for other stuff there anyway). P-E does have the interconnects that the article recommends.
It's important that you get the 'Woods yard Master Patio Cord', not the generic brand extention cord that is next to it on the shelf. The packaging looks similar but the quality is not the same! I almost fell for that when I was shopping.
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Thanks for the review. I'll never spend big bucks on speaker wire again.
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I made a set of speaker cables the other weekend. I used a pair from the music direct catalog as sort of a template. I also did a good amount of research as to what to use ie; strands vs. solids. All brands seem to vary on this point. I lucked out and actually found the cable manufacturer that provides pre-made cable for one of the more expensive brands. They're using a magentically shielded 4 conductor wire, much like you would find on a dryer cord. One brand is using a 6 conductor wire with the inner wires at 20 gauge. I settled on the 4 conductor wire with 16 gauge inner solid copper wires.
Materials for 10' pair:
Spool of 4 conductor 16guage inner cables (manufacturer from above, I bought a 100' spool)
(2)Sets of 4 gold plated banana terminals (ebay, company in Japan, very nice hand made)
Spool of heat resistant expandable 1/2" diameter braided wire cover, black with gray print (different manufacturer, comes in multiple colors and designs)
Pack of random color 1/4" inner, 6" in length shrink tubing
Pack of black 1/2" inner, 6" lenth, shrink tubing
Heat Gun
Method:
I cut the cables to (2) 10' lengths.
Cut off the outer casing of the wire on each end 6" exposing the 4 wires.
Cut the expandable braided cable cover to (2) 9' lengths and slid it onto the cable.
Cut the 1/2" inner shrink tubing to 1" in length and slid onto the top of the braided cover on each end.
Took two of exposed wires and twisted them making a tight spiral pattern, then slid a 6" length of 1/4" tubing over the wires.
Add a banana connector to the end and crimped them together. Slight dab of solder to each end of the crimp.
Made sure the wires were still perfectly twisted (spiral), shrink the tubing over the crimped area to the end of the exposed cable. Repeat for all other exposed wires.
(Had to cut the shrink tubing slightly to cover the crimped area but not the plug itself).
Once exposed wires are complete, lined up the 1/2" shrink tubing on each end to be half over the braided cover and half over the 2 sets of exposed wires and sealed with heat. Repeat on both ends.
Results:
Wow, they look awesome and sound incredible. We did some A/B testing using a NAD 3150, a pair of Tannoy 6.5 bookshelf speakers, and a Ipod as the source. We used as comparison some crappy 18 gauge wire from Radio Shack vs. our newly created wire. What a difference!
Of course like a dumbass I didn't take pictures and my buddy who helped is testing them out at the moment. We're going to try some other materials and do some further testing, etc... I'll have another pair or two to bring to the shop after the holidays.
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Sweet.
I'm looking forward to seeing some photos.
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Hey RevAmish,
How about sharing a larger version of your avatar. Can't quite make out what it is supposed to be. ;D
Regards,
BmWr75
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I've had one person say my avatar looks dirty, another thinks it looks illegal. As an ordained minister I can truthfully state that it is just my dog with a bone...
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Could have fooled me. Thought I saw something else. 8)
EDIT: your AK avatar show the dog more clearly. Now that I know what I'm looking at, it is easy to see your dog, even in this forum. My old eyes playing tricks on me.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/image.php?u=54796&dateline=1240367722 (http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/image.php?u=54796&dateline=1240367722)
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Just for you bmwr75....perv.
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Hey....what can I say......thought I saw some boobs. Please forgive me Rev.
Just for you bmwr75....perv.
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Fwiw, I liked your original avatar Rev.
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Fwiw, I liked your original avatar Rev.
I did too... :'(
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Am not aware of anyone being offended by your original avatar. So, go ahead and backslide........
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Am not aware of anyone being offended by your original avatar. So, go ahead and backslide........
That's alright, she looks very majestic in this picture.
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Yep, beautiful dog. Boxer or bulldog?
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I kinda like the dog avatars ;)
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Yep, beautiful dog. Boxer or bulldog?
Bulldog.
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Dang, I only need 3 more posts, 2 more now, to gradUATE TO double secret masturbastion.
I think this forum's spell checker is broak!!
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one more now!
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It's official.....I am now somebody. ;)
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I think we both managed to reach the mark on this thread. :D
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Dang, I only need 3 more posts, 2 more now, to gradUATE TO double secret masturbastion.
I think this forum's spell checker is broak!!
It wasn't turned on, so I just enabled it. ;D
You should see a "Spell Check" Button at the bottom of the form now.
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Pic of the first set I made. After trial and error and some testing I think I got down the sizes/materials that work well. A buddy of mine and I are going to make about a dozen sets. I'll bring a pair into the shop here in the near future.
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Very nice rev! Great job.
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Very nice rev! Great job.
Thanks, our goal is to try to match the Inductance/Capacitance and quality of some of the higher end Cardas, Harmonic Tec, etc.. cables. I think we're finally there. I'll have full specs on these soon.
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Very well done :D :D
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Nice looking cables Rev.
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They look great! Nice craftsmanship!
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Hi bmwr75,
Congrats! I guess that this cold weather trapped more than me in the house at the computer.
Also, Rev any details available on construction? I have been a bit sceptical about cables, but have been thinking of trying to roll my own for some in house testing, unless of course you are going to be selling your babies at a price I could afford.
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Also, Rev any details available on construction? I have been a bit sceptical about cables, but have been thinking of trying to roll my own for some in house testing, unless of course you are going to be selling your babies at a price I could afford.
I went into some detail on Page 1 of this thread on my early attempts. We are going to sell them, I'm in the process now of going through all of the legal stuff and continued testing on different types of cable material. The goal is to have everything squared away in the next month or two. We'll start by selling them locally and online. The cost per pair will be highly reasonable. Like I noted earlier in this thread, we are able to match the characteristics and quality of brands that retail in the high hundreds to thousands of dollars. We will be able to sell ours for a fraction of that price.
I'll have further info soon...
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Found It! I had already looked at it thanks! Did you or anybody try the WALLY cables yet? Just received this from a buddy I sent a the link to.
Dale-
Just threw together a set of those Wal-Mart cables for speakers and I gotta say, they sound nice. Just as good as any of the ones I have had. They cost $6.88 to make. Had a couple 1/4" Switchcrafts around and I just heavily tinned the other ends, so, they are like perfect fingers to slide in binding posts and tighten up. Works good, because I needed some 20' lengths and didn't want to spring for the expensive cables.
He is also building some silver wire interconnects. When I get my pair will post pics and maybe drag them to a meeting.
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I made the walmart cables. They sound pretty good. Much better than the 'Monster Cable' that i was using before. I picked up a good bit of detail especially in the midrange, and my SDA effect is way more pronounced with the SDA cable.
I only made the speaker cable, and made myself an SDA cable.
I liked them enough to go back to walmart and buy another 40' extention cord. I'll be building interconnect cables in the near future.
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I also built a set of the wally mart cables with Nakamichi plugs on one end and Rat shack flat pins on the other end. The flat pins are great because they work on any amp, or spring clips on vintage receivers. They sound good, better then regular monster cable, easily worth the money and time to build them.
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I am going to have to try that wire! I am more sceptical of wires than feet.
After a repair, I switched my front speakers so that the subs faced into my equipment rack, and my AVR sounded terrible! Had to switch them back. Before that I didn't believe that electronics could be affected by vibrations.
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I am going to have to try that wire! I am more sceptical of wires than feet.
That's funny. I was the exact opposite. I did notice the difference in wires immediately. I expected the difference to be subtle... it wasn't. Even my wife could tell the difference.
With the feet... it depends. It depends on how much bass you're pushing, what type of floor you have, whether or not you've got kids jumping up and down while you're playing music, etc...
Although, the feet do have the added advantage of looking cool, and they're a relatively low-cost improvement.
Here are the ones that I went with. They were on sale for $15 at the time.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-722&FTR=240-722%20&CFID=7731902&CFTOKEN=93985068 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-722&FTR=240-722%20&CFID=7731902&CFTOKEN=93985068)
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Those look cool, and they are very reasonable. Was that sale recent?
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It was around xmas time.
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THX, I will keep my eyes open.
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Just wanted to post one right off my so called bench. If you notice the cable is yellow which comes through the techflex when light shines on it.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y241/Brettl/102_1026Interconnect1a.jpg)
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Nice looking IC!!
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Very nice looking! Congrats!