2. cables
  3. 1019414801

Try this simple DIY interconnect cable.

Okay, I'd like to weigh in here on the cable issue. First, let me make it perfectly clear that I am not the world's greatest cable expert, I have never heard Valhalla's, Jena Labs, or alot of the others. I am a regular working Joe who thinks that cables do make a difference but can't afford $5k-$10k to buy them. I tried out an idea that I read on the web, and changed it a little, and I thought it sounded great on my system. So here it is, a nice sounding IC for dirt cheap. Go to the Rat Shack and get their magnet wire pack($2.99). I used the 30ga for mine, but you get 26ga and 22ga spools in the pack so you can use thicker if you like. Go to Lowe's and get the 1/4" polyethylene tubing in the icemaker parts section(25ft for $2.50) Get a couple rolls of teflon tape($1.00). Cut off 1 meter(or what you need for each channel) of tubing. Wrap it with the teflon tape in a spiral. Take your magnet wire and wrap a spiral around the entire length with about 2" spacing(18 turns per meter).Leave a couple inches extending on both ends to solder to the connectors.Then wrap the whole length again with teflon tape as a jacket.Make sure the wire gets covered - no gaps. Then thread another piece of the same guage wire down the tube and out the other end. Leave "tails" on both ends, like before. Solder your favorite RCA plug to each end using the center conductor for signal, and spiral wrapped wire for ground. The ones I used had a spring type strain relief that fit right over the teflon covered tube perfectly and looks professional. Then make one for the other channel. Takes about 2 hours total. They're flexible, sturdy, don't fall apart, look good, and sound real good on my system. Now, you can make your comments about inductance, capacitance, whatever. What we've got here is a good sounding cable with a mild level of RF rejection, teflon dielectric, reasonable spacing between conductors, for a dirt cheap price. I would like an enterprising individual with some good quality cables to make a pair of these and see how they stack up against a good commercial product. Dr. Gizmo, where I got the basic idea from, said that they were better than all his exotic stuff. I don't know about that, but they do sound good on my system. Maybe we could all get lucky and be able to save alot of cash.Probably won't beat Valhalla, but for many of us it might be good enough. Share your thoughts, please. And I would love to hear a report from someone who made them and compared.
twl
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
Cdc, sorry I was wrong about that. They were interconnects, but I didn't look far enough down the page to recognize the finished cable. I looked at the partial product, and thought it was the final one. My apologies to all.
s23chang
620 posts
 
Twl,
This is Chris's receipe from his web site under DIY fine silver interconnect. I've seen this few years ago and it is still there. You should give him some credit.
Btw, depends on what you're looking for. 30 gauge only works well with neutral to warm system. A bright system will suffer. If you have a bright solid state amp, I would suggest at least 26 gauge or larger.
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
S23chang, this is NOT Chris's design. Chris's design is a double-helix configuration which has both wires located on the outside of the teflon tube. Mine has a center conductor that travels inside the tube, and an outer conductor that wraps around the outside of the tube. My center conductor has a true air dielectric, and the outer conductor has a teflon dielectric. My cables use different wire gauges than Chris's. So, the entire design is different. Different configuration, different wire spacing, different wire gauge, different dielectrics, different everything. I even have different wire lengths, where my ground wire is longer than the hot center wire. Yes, they both use wire, tubes and RCA plugs. That is where the similarity ends.

Some may like my cable better, or some may like Chris's cable better, but they are not even close to being the same design. If I had used Chris's design, I would certainly have mentioned it, and gave him credit for it. I have no need to steal anyone else's ideas.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Twl: I agree with what you are saying, but in the long run, almost all cables / cable designs are plagiarized from someone / something down the line.

As far as i know, the first person to build cables using similar design philosophy to what you are talking about and what Chris' design is based on was David Magnan. From my experience and what i've read over the years, he was the first to actually build and market cables trying to reduce skin effect by utilizing "scrawny" wire while trying to minimize dielectric absorption through air insulation. Once he set forth the basic idea / criteria, others followed suit. As you can see, there are more than a few dozen ways to get the job done and some may work better or are easier to produce than others.

For sake of clarity, Jung and Marsh also did some research in this area and published their findings, but i don't which of these two groups was first to publicly display their findings. Even with their relatively similar idealogies on the subject, they both suggested different ways of achieving what were basically the same goals. Hence the similarities in comparing your design to those of Chris VH. In effect, they are what is commonly called "the same difference" i.e. a couple different roads that lead to the same destination with each route each providing different scenery along the way : ) Sean
>
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
Sean, your probably right. There may not be much, if any, difference in sound between these cables. But since all things are different, it is likely that some small differences will show up.

I mean, all the cables need to have some kind of wire between the RCA plugs, and they are either straight, twisted, or some kind of combination. They will have some kind of dielectric, and some kind of wire gauge. I guess that all these things add up to whatever difference in sound we hear from them.

Whatever the reason, this is a pretty darn good sounding interconnect, and it doesn't cost much. I think that is the key.
More to discover