My First DIY Power Cable

and don’t be color blind

:)

God I hate Furutech... :)  But that's another story. 

For your first you might want to try Parts Connexion, mostly because they are having a 20% off sale on AC products and also because they have the awesome DH Labs shielded 14 gauge wiring:

Sorry Erik, but I really wish you would stop banging on Furutech just because of their locking banana plugs.  I have used a large amount of other Furutech connectors of various types and they are all excellent.

My recommendation: Furutech FI-15(R) Plus rhodium connectors for both Male plug and IEC connector.

Then you can experiment with your choice of power cord.  If it were me, I would look for a used Audioquest NRG-2 or NRG-4 and then chop/strip the ends.  It's a little more work than a normal power cord.  A normal power cord may be easier to work with.

You didn’t say which component you are planning to power with your cable. IME, high current power amps and even preamps like large wires while digital front end components can get by with less copper but do better with good shielding.

Also IME, the Furutech stuff works quite well for simple DIY, and Eric made a good observation about the current 20% off ac products sale at Partsconnexion. I like the Furutech unplated copper plugs and IECs. As for the power cable, Furutech has a variety and I am not familiar with all of them. I have used the FP-3TS20 (14awg) and found it to be a good basic cable for front end components and preamps. For power cables I like having more copper so you might check out this 10awg Oyaide Oyaide Tunami V2 cable that is available from VH Audio. I made two of them and IME, they sound great but the wire is really stiff. I suspect this Neotech NEP-3200 OCC Copper Power Cable from VH Audio would also be great for amplifiers.

If you are more adventurous, you could consider making cables using NOS Western Electric wire like this 10awg twisted pair. I have not purchased from this seller but the pictured wire looks authentic. Put a tinned braided shield (or, Interference-Shielding Expandable Sleeving) over the pair and counter-spiral a 10awg ground wire, connect the shield at the plug end only, connect the other wires at both ends, cover with techflex and you have a nice PC for your amplifier at a very low cost. BTW, that is the same Western Electric wire used by TWL in their well-regarded American series power and speaker cables. I use doubled up runs (7awg) for the two PCs powering my amplifiers, but they are difficult to terminate when doubled. You might also look at this website for some interesting DIY cable configurations that seem to be popular.

Good luck.

I'm the same way about Furutech.  Rhodium connectors are one of the worst conductors, you might as well uses nickel. The difference is nickel/lead RCAs need to be cleaned but is a lot softer. Rhodium is for severe enviro conditions, and it looks pretty. It's WAY to hard on non Rhodium connectors. Red copper or silver over copper. I'd use gold plating over red copper as a 3rd pick. The rest has it's place but never in audio use..

Automotive or heavy equipment, yes.. It's part of my job making cable (s) for just about any mobile or trackable equipment. We use Rhodium around salt or brackish water.

BTW their is a direction on the cable, you have to look at it under a 100-1000x. You'll see how it was pushed through the extrusion dies. That is the single best thing you can do to build your cable. Get the direction right, don't touch the exposed wire with your hands/fingers and use contact enhancers before you tighten the securement screws. Get the thinnest shrink tube you can find and use braided armor. There is a conductive armor that be used in a grounding / shield app. I personally don't use that type of mumbo jumbo. I've used battery packs to check the nulls in cable when it's buried in lattice or 100 feet in the air. It proves there are NO leaks for the lack of a better term. Other than that it's a worthless test as far a sound goes..

Cables are easy to make. Follow the rules and you'll build a BETTER cable than you can buy for 10X the money..