DIY cables Vs Mass market cables.

Out of the responses so far, hardly anyone has provided Aldres with answers to his question, "how DIY cables compare to audio brand speaker cables." I suspect we can be of more help to him. I do agree with Tgrisham that a forum search would yield many results. I suggest trying Audio Asylum's Cable and Tweeker's forums. The DIY possibilities range from simply terminating Canare 4S11 or HD power cords, both of which have their fans, to silver wires in teflon tubes as has been suggested, to more time consuming constructions such as JR CC89259, Cat5, and the newer VH Audio wire where you have to strip a bunch of fine wires and terminate. Personally, I have built a bunch of the CC89259 cables including the quad version, and found they worked pretty well, and compared well with low to moderate priced commercial brands such as DH Labs and low to mid priced AQ cables, but were beaten by my current Luminous cables. You can check Element Cables website for a professional review of the CC89259. If you don't want to spend the time, there are several companies including Element and Blue Jean Cable, which basically make cables from DIY receipes, put them in jackets and sell them to people not inclined to DIY.

Mattybumpkin,
Yes my friend these do make a difference. The best dielectric/ shielding is air itself. You knew this didn't you? Certain cable shieldings do more harm than good. Twisted cable ..well the verdicts still out on whether it makes a real difference or not. Some hardcore audiophiles actually use cotton tubing as the only covering. Also some DIYers may use a different Awg size/metal composition for the positive side of the terminal compared to the negative side of the terminal. There's a lot more to it than using cool cable coverings.

I could call several brands that I have used but still prefer my own DIY. Why bother..it will only piss someone off.

Cheers,

As you can see DIY is not as easy as it seems. The manufacturers have the advantage of testing different combinations and honing in on the best one. DIYers have the disadvantage of everyone having a different opinion and trying to find a formula that works without having start your own R&D department. So, unless you want to spend a lot of money and time trying different configurations, you won't be able to hone in on as good a design as most cable companies. That being said, DIY can save lots of money if you can find the right design online or from a friend that works.

Good Luck!

Robm321
With all due respect that logic makes no sense. It is much easier for a person to figure out what works in their system at home. Than a person 800 miles away using totally different components testing cables. There's no one magic bullet for all systems. I guarantee DIYing and experimenting is a lot cheaper and more fun than spending absurd amounts on cables and finding out they don't work in your setup. I'm sure there are Aphiles on Agon that have owned 20 pairs of cables or more, all of them were suppose to be the best...go figure?

At the same time some are so concerned with how much the speaker cable cost or whether it's better because it cost more. The funniest part most have not a clue as to what the wire,capacitors,inductors and resistors quality is in the speakers themselves. The quality of these components makes more of a difference than the cables IMHO.

Is it logical to hook a pair of $1000 retail cables up to $50 worth of internal speaker components? I was being generous with the $50 quote. LOL

Good listening

Diy is very simple. All you have to do is be able to read and follow instructions. Its easy to diss DIY when you are one of the people who have bought into the Snake Oil that is the cable business. On my first try I replaced a 30.00 Per foot cable with CAT 5 home mades. My cost was 42.00 to make 12 foot runs.