drain wire


Does anyone build their own power cables? I've been using furutech fps 55 n (10 awg) and 032 with furutech f1 50 male connector and IEC, this is a shielded cable so I unbraid the copper shield and twist it together and connect to the earth ground with ground conductor inside the plug to act as a drain wire, is it best to connect to male end or IEC for analog equipment   
Ag insider logo xs@2xneilco
If you want it shielded only at male end.
No matter if it is for analogue or digital.
You may also skip the shielding and see how it performs.
G

That is a really nice bulk cable and nice plugs that should result in good sounding power cords for you. 

Most connect the shield to the source (i.e., male plug) end only.  Since the shield is already part of your bulk cable, I would connect it (to the plug end). Some people believe shields may reduce dynamics (I have not heard this with my cords) and choose not to include or connect a shield.  I would only consider unshielded cords for high current applications, such as power amplifiers.   I would always suggest shielding cords used for digital and/or front end equipment.    Furutech FP alpha 3 power cable is the only manufactured cable I have come across that doesn't have a shield, but there are probably more.
I have yet to see the DIY power cord that was worth the cost of the parts, let alone the time it took to build it. You think you’re getting a good deal. But have you ever compared what you built to what you could buy with that same amount of money? I have. Nothing yet even comes close. I even have one right now, some guy sent me. Read one of my posts bashing DIY cables. Thought he would prove me wrong. To his credit, it is the best DIY power cord I have ever heard. No bass, hyped top end, but exceptionally present midrange, good detail and imaging. $250 worth of the latest greatest Furutech and whatnot. Beaten by a 30 year old AC Master Coupler, $175.

This all makes perfect sense if you stop and think about it for like three seconds. If it was so easy to make a power cord you could pull wire off a reel slap a plug on either end, well some guy would be doing it for money. With volume and planning he would get his parts cost and production time down way more than you ever could doing just your one. He could then sell it at a profit for less than it cost you to make yours. Happens all the time with all kinds of stuff. It is just nuts to think you are the one guy to find the one exception to the efficient markets hypothesis that is so proven it is the very foundation of our entire world economy and way of life.

Anyone wants to check it out can have this the most finest DIY power cord I ever heard for the cost of shipping. This is the one way it might be worth it so I would leap on it if I were you.
Bad form to shatter dreams without offering some hope. There is one DIY project that will greatly improve any power cord, interconnect, or speaker cable: active shielding. 

Used by Synergistic Research for years, Active Shielding is a known method and easily implemented. Ordinary battery ground strap is a braided tube pressed flat. Squish the braid, round it out, slide it over your wire. Solder a wire at one end, run it back along the inside to the other. Solder a small cap and resistor in series with this wire. Attach a 30V DC power supply. Quality matters but any cheap wall wart will do for proof of concept. Later on you can upgrade that for a nice improvement. Slide another one of those fancy plastic braided sheath things over the outside so it looks pretty. Or not. Works the same either way. 

Plug it in. Be amazed, as this actually does work.