Best DIY power cable. Why not make?

@williewonka 

Sorry to revive this thread but you mention soldered spades for the internals of the connectors and IMO that makes a lot of sense and, frankly, would give me more piece of mind on my first DIY PC (Furutech Alpha 3 11AWG cable; furu 90 deg male end, wattgate IEC end). I'm excited to put it together but want to do it right. Question is, what are good quality spades that would fit inside those connectors?

Next update to my room will be the Furu NCF outlet, cooked preferably.

Do not use spades in power cables. Bare wire to screw only.

dill"Do not use spades in power cables."

There is no logic, reason, or justifictation for not using spades on power cables and in fact use of such terminations can insure a proper connection, contact, and conduction.

@toddrhodes - the spades I use are nothing special - just plated copper

You can get them from Radio Shack (or similar stores) - I also get them from stores that sell car parts - 10-12 gauge should do nicely.

Try this place
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&u...

The spades above do not degrade the performance of the cable as long as good wire and good connectors are used - their electrical path is far too small to make a significant difference

The IEC Connectors and Plugs I use have a curved clamp - once they are tightened around the spade there is little possibility thay will come apart
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/SONAR-QUEST-CRYO-Ag-Audio-Grade-Silver-plated-IEC-plug-US-main-plug-sonarque...

I am not saying the Sonar Quest are better than the Furutech or Oyaide connectors, but they are very good and cost much less. They have a thick coating of very pure silver so they will not tarnish quickly or wear through to the solid copper pins under normal use.

I have been developing power cables for a few years and started with Furutech and DH labs bulk cable, but quickly found using a better cable geometry outperforms them by a significant margin.

I have tried bare wire joints, soldered wire, crimped spades and crimped + soldered spades and found the last of those methods provided the best performance. Others may have found differently.

I would invest in good crimping pliers - like those on my web site below - they make a huge difference to the finished joint and require less solder

I like eutectic solder or 4% WBT solder. BUT - do not use just any old solder because it will degrade the sound.

Here is a link to the Helix Power Cable that I use
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-power-cable.html

At first glance it may appear complex, but it is actually quite simple if you follow the technique in the link and it will provide performance that few other cables can compete with. Once person that tried them promptly replaced all of his Nordost cables

I can also highly recommend the speaker and interconnect cables on my site - I have compared them to TOTL Cardas cables and the Helix sounded more complete with a huge sound stage.

If you have any other questions just ask away

Good luck with your DIY - it’s worth the effort :-)

Regards - Steve

There is no logic, reason, or justifictation for not using spades on power cables and in fact use of such terminations can insure a proper connection, contact, and conduction.

Just any old spade connector work? Obviously correct for the gauge of wire I'm using, but since I'm using high quality wire and connectors, I don't necessarily want to throw $.01 spade connectors inside :)