Does it matter the wire gauge used in interconnects?


I am thinking of trying my hand on building some DIY interconnects. It will be balanced (XLR) and 10 feet long. I have seen interconnects made with thin 30 gauge wire, is there an advantage using super thin gauge wire?
I was thinking of using 20 gauge but is that too thick for interconnects?

ozzy
128x128ozzy
@ozzy  I should've explain better in my last paragraph, that gauge 18 would be even fine even for the speaker cable, while for ICs it doesn't make any difference.  Gauge of IC wire should be thick enough for easy handling.  That's perhaps why Acoustic Zen selected AWG 20.  Capacitance is directly proportional to dielectric constant.  Selecting Teflon (k=2) instead of PVC (k=4) lowers capacitance by factor of two.  Using oversized tubes reduces it even more.
kijanki, audio2design,
You guys really know your stuff. Thank you for that very helpful information.
So for now, the plan is to use 20 gauge soft .9999 solid silver wire with oversized PTFE tubing and braiding the cable slightly.

I was thinking of using Xhadow XLR connectors but they don't seem to be available anymore. When I look at the XLR connectors that are available they seem to use a lot of metal in there design, which to me seems like it could affect the sound.
Is there any XLR connectors that use minimal metal like some of the RCA connectors I have seen?

ozzy
ozzy, are you speaking of the outer case? You want something like carbon fiber or something. Darker? No shiny outer case?

They make them with good internals. Just about everything you can think of.. Stick with something that stays clean, inside. I’ve seen silver, inside, kinda spendy, rhodium, nickel plated everything (:-)) Carbon fiber outside.

I’ll look https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32972013684.html

The wire composition, dielectric and cover more than anything with XLR, the size to big is to big. Weight for one and I think if you go to big it does loose a certain twinkle. I know it takes forever to break some of the pure silver in. Not that is sounds bad, but it change for 2-300 hours..

Regards.
Before you build your cables check out this thread:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/duelund-conversion-to-diy-helix-geometry-cabling
 I built a short pair of these with 18g vhs copper and Furutech plugs and they sound great.  For years there has been much commentary on wire gauge, skin effect and I never would have used a wire this heavy in an IC based on that.  But you know what, my ears say they sound great!  Solderless termination, superb quality parts=great sound.  Give it a try.
Thank's for the help. I'll check out that information.
I guess I like the Xhadow XLR's because they use screw connections, thus eliminating solder.

ozzy