2. cables
  3. 128414-84541

Please assure me I'm not going to burn my house down.

I recently bought some new mono class D amps to replace a stereo class D. I had a pair of identical diy power cords connected to the stereo amp and my preamp.

Well, with monos I was obviously going to use the identical power cords. So I needed a new PC for my pre, as the older diy version I had laying around just used thhn wire from Lowe’s and didn’t sound great. So, after some thought and research, I decided to make a PC out of cat 5 plenum cable. I kept it in its blue sleeve (containing 4 twisted pairs) and then I braided 3 lengths together for each conductor. I then took those three braids and braided them. What I have sounds incredible and I’m fairly confident that it is safe electrically.

Please reassure me. Or tell me I forgot about x, and that I should cease and desist. Or laugh at how cheap I am...

But really, I’m not going to start a fire here, am I? 8 conductors per length x 3 lengths for each conductor equals 24 strands of 24awg. Which equals 10awg for each conductor...
128x128toddverrone
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toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone OP
840 posts
 
The actual insulation around the wire itself is Teflon... I think the blue outer sleeve is PVC.

@jea48 that was a beautiful post. Points taken. I have the twisted pairs still in the blue outer sleeve and all 4 twisted pairs are used in parallel, I’m not running hot and neutral or ground in the same blue outer sleeve. The three lengths of cat5 for ground are all still in their outer sleeve, then braided. Likewise for live and neutral. It’s rather rugged. There’s  no chance they’ll short.. The only thing I could see happen would be if it was flexed a lot and very acutely. Then, if a few wires broke, the remaining wires on that pole could get hot and cause problems. 

That said, this was just meant to be an experiment to see what I think about multiple solid gauge conductors, separately insulated and braided together to form larger conductors. I’ll probably do something similar out of 20 or 18 gauge 600v wire. Any recommendations? OCC or the like would be nice.
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
Todd - I buy the Mil-Spec wire form my power cables from Take Five Audio...

https://www.takefiveaudio.com/categories/100-deep-cryo-treated-cablewire

Email Take Five to ensure the insulation is up to code

Here's the design for my power cables...
http://image99.net/blog/files/be8de0c383c5434907610d6b55049e69-75.html

Regards - Steve
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone OP
840 posts
 
@williewonka I've already got two of your helix design power cords hooked up to my monoblocks. I ended up using the yarbo 9000 series cable from vt4c as the donor cable for the main conductor. They sound great.
jea48
4,425 posts
 
The actual insulation around the wire itself is Teflon... I think the blue outer sleeve is PVC.
Not from my experience. The outer jacket is Teflon and the insulation around the wire is PVC. It is the outer jacket of the cable that is plenum rated.

In the case of Belden they stopped using Teflon for the outer jacket of their plenum rated cable years ago. Belden developed their own outer jacket material. It is called Flamarrest®.
Outer Jacket Trade Name Outer Jacket Material
Flamarrest® LS PVC - Low Smoke Polyvinyl Chloride

//

That said, this was just meant to be an experiment to see what I think about multiple solid gauge conductors, separately insulated and braided together to form larger conductors. I’ll probably do something similar out of 20 or 18 gauge 600v wire. Any recommendations? OCC or the like would be nice.

There are quite a few cable company manufactures that make after market power cords for audio equipment that use multiple paralleled individually insulated solid core wire for each of the two current carrying conductors of their cords.

Examples of aftermarket power cords using multiple insulated solid core conductors.

PS Audio
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PSPWAC5

Pangea Audio AC 9SE MKII Signature Power Cable
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGAC9S2

Audioquest
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-wi4RnpruA6y/p_703NRG23F/AudioQuest-NRG-2-3-ft.html

Shunyata
METALS AND CONDUCTORSCCC
- COMPUTER CONTROLLED CRYOGENICSPROPRIETARY PROCESSESVTX™
 ConductorsShunyata Research’s exclusive VTX™ conductors are made in the shape of virtual tubes. The core of the conductor is completely hollow minimizing skin effects and random eddy currents. They are produced using OFE Alloy-101

http://www.shunyata.com/images/technical_features/pdfs/pwr_tech_201509.pdf
Not sure of their actual construction design. I couldn’t find any actual pictures.

Note in all cases the outer protective insulation covering the hot and neutral conductors/wires is PVC and rated for mains power handling applications.


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