length of interconnects for passive preamp

@williewonka 

For a passive stage - I would want to use the very best cable possible to maximize signal transfer.

Can you intimate what “The very best” translates to in terms of specs?

@holmz - the cables I provided links too in my previous post are great examples of a very good commercial cables. There are better, but these provide best bang for the buck from a commercial brand

However the "specification" for the DIY cables I have developed (with the help of many others) would make an excellent cable because they employ

• either UP-OCC solid copper or UP-OCC solid Silver signal wires
  • these are the best conductors available for DIY projects at present
• With oversize Teflon tube insulation
  • the internal diameter needs to be 25% to 30% larger than the diameter of the wire
  • using an oversize tube allows an air gap between the wire and the Teflon
  • the resulting effective Dielectric Constant value is very close to air at 1.1
    • this produces a very low noise floor cable
• UP-OCC solid copper Helix coil neutral
  • the Helix also helps lower noise floor of the cable
  • it minimizes induce noise between signal and neutral conductors
• silver coated pure copper low mass RCA plugs
  • KLE Innovations Absolute Harmony
  • or Perfect Harmony RCA’s
• see this link for the Helix DIY cables
  • My Audio Alchemy (image99.net)

The problem with Bulk cables is they employ a conventional cable geometry with insulation that are bonded to the wires. This all contributes to noise being generated by the actual cable.which clouds micro details

Bulk cables also tend to use OFC copper, but the best metal for the wire currently (i.e. for DIY purposes) is UP-OCC silver and UP-OCC copper

If you want to read aabout what others think of the Helix cables take a look at this thread

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2350463

If you want to proceed with a bulk cable than I would recommend this one

• https://wp.neotechcable.com/ic-up-occ-copper-cable/

Hope that helps - if you have any questions about the Helix design just ask - I;m glad to assist

Regards - Steve

None of that makes any sense.
Maybe it might, but with a spec, the one can determine something.

• capacitance is given in Farads (milli, micro, nano or Pico farads)
• inductance in Henrys (Milli, Micro, nano, Pico)

What you give seems sort of like BS… in nice words.

And that link that you posted does not have any specs… so going with Mogami, Canare, etc. would let people base their purchase on some meaningful specs.

Shorter is also a good practice with a passive-Pre to get the capacitance and inductance numbers as low as possible.

@holmz - My apologies - what I provided are the Phyical cable specs, which to me are the most important - i.e.

• type of wire
• type of insulation i.e. dielectric characteristics
• cable geometry

But since you asked so nicely, here are the electrical specs

Helix Interconnect Cables - 3 ft long - using the 1mm dia Mundorf Solid Silver/Gold wire with the cotton sleeve insulation

• Capacitance = 32 pF
• Inductance = 0.8 uH
• resistance is negligeable

WRT your statement

What you give seems sort of like BS… in nice words.

When you have time - take a look at the In-akustik website, because they display their geometry in detail and so does Zavfino.

Also, take a look at these links that talks to the many aspects of cable design

https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-1/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-2/
https://www.psaudio.com/article/cables-time-is-of-the-essence-part-3/

I have provided my opinions as to what goes into designing and building excellent cables. They are based on exeprimentation and observation over many years and with the input from many other people

• you are free to do what you want with the information I have provided
• If you believe it is B.S. so be it
  • I am NOT here to convert.

BTW - I stopped using Mogami, Canare and even Van den Hul many years ago because they did not provide the level of performance that I was looking for !

They are quite good for live performances - where high gain amplification is used, BUT they are NOT the best solution for Home audio

• they are however very affordable, which will attract many people.

Regards - Steve

Thanks @williewonka I’ll try to keep my tone civil.

Geometry:

• One of the 3 PS links mentions woven cables, which sound like what the Kimber 4TC and 8TC are.
• And you also mention the silver gold Mundorf.
• Is that a single solid core?
  • and… are you saying that the multi strand is something you shy away from?

Insulation

• I see PTFE and also bare wire.
• Are you using a different cotton over the bare wire?
• And then in your earlier talk about an air gap… Are you “twisting the pair”?
  • Wouldn’t that reduce the gap to zero where the +/- sit ‘side by side’?

The other thing that the 3 part PSaudio mentioned was time errors. Does reducing some of the cable issues even help in a speaker that is not phase or time coherent?

https://www.mundorf.com/audio/en/shop/Cables/MConnect_SGW/