Duelund DCA 12ga Hookup Wire


Just tried Duelund DCA 12ga on speakers (2 pairs TRUE bi-wiring) and VERY VERY impressed with SQ especially for the price. Now thinking building XLR ICs with either 20ga or 26ga ...

Questions for DIY members:

1. Do I just use 3 runs and solder them to positions 1, 2 and 3 on connectors?
2. Any specially weaving patterns on the wires?
3. Any suggestions using different wire for ground?
4. Any suggestions 20ga or 26ga?
5. Other suggestions?

joecasey
I use the pure silver, single strand shielded from PartsConnexion:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/dh-labs-interconnect-wire-cable.html

However, it IS brittle. A few too many twists and it will break. Still, I haven't found anything I felt was cleaner sounding. 

Best,


Erik 
I made a set of balanced interconnects using WE 16ga wire and it sounded "thick" or a little too full to me.  I have since made balanced ICs using Duelund 20ga wire and I like the result.  There are many ways to do things but my suggestions are;
  • Twist a pair of Duelund 20ga wires (that will attach to pins 2 and 3)
  • cover the twisted pair of conductors with spacing material (I use noise-reducing techflex)
  • Place a tinned copper braid shield over the conductors and spacing material
  • Counter-spiral a generic stranded copper ground wire of at least 20ga (I use 18ga for 20ga conductors) outside of the shield
  • Connect the generic ground wire to pins 1 at both ends
  • Connect the shield to pin 1 at the source end only 
  • Cover with techflex and heat shrink the ends
  • I like Vampire XLR connectors for lower cost applications and Furutech 600-series connectors when spending more (my personal cables use the Furutech connectors).  Others have had good luck with Xhadow connectors.
Good luck