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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
 
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.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Twl: I built a set of cables incorporating some of the ideas that you discussed. The wire i'm using is 24 gauge Teflon insulated silver plated copper. I'm using two per polarity for an equivalent 21 gauge conductor. I have multiple spools of this stuff, so i figured i'd give it a try. The two "positive" conductors are wrapped around each other in a twisted pair configuration and the two "negative" conductors are also wrapped in a spiral pair. The positive conductors are run in a straight line down one side of the tube and the negative are spaced on the opposite side of the tube in a straight line. Capacitance is pretty low, appr 8 pf per foot, so i know that should make Audioengr happy : ) The RCA's are locking models that have a Teflon dielectric.

I finished them a few days ago and threw them on my burner. After letting them "cook" for about 36 hours, i gave them a quick listen. They were not bad at all. I compared them to some of the Magnan's that i have ( Models 2, 3 & 4 ) and they help up pretty well. As you may know, the Magnan's use very fine wire ( something like 36 gauge ) and try to achieve an air dielectric. I did not measure any of the Magnan's, so i don't know what their electrical characteristics are like. They've always come across as being very smooth, airy, liquid and detailed but a little on the lean side.

I also tried them against some Goertz Silver Sapphire's, which are similar to their speaker cable design. These are flat ( NOT twisted ) and make use of 18 gauge pure silver ( not plated copper ). This design is VERY, VERY, VERY high in capacitance and i was wondering what to expect. In most cases with typical SS line level gear is concerned, highly capacitive interconnects are a "no-no".

In both cases, the Magnan's and the Goertz sounded slightly more liquid with a more cohesive presentation. The upper mids on my "home-brews" were slightly subdued, resulting in a presentation that was not quite as spacious sounding and slightly lacking in overall clarity and transparency. Female vocals were a little less intelligible and slightly more congested sounding. Frequency extension was quite good on both ends of the audio spectrum. The soundstaging on all of these cables was excellent and beat out several others that i tried in the same location of the system.

I put the cables back on the burner and am going to let them cook for a full 30 days. It is quite possible that they will sound different after "fully cooking" as i'm sure i caught them "in transition". I'm hoping that the upper mids fill out a bit in the process. I may have to tweak the design a bit more otherwise.

I've also got another set of homebrew interconnect cables that i'm working on, but haven't gotten them fully assembled yet. I thought i had them finished up, but forgot to do something and had to pull them apart again. I'm following the design that Jung & Marsh laid out in their research, so we'll see how that goes. For a three foot pair of stereo interconnects, you end up using 96 foot of wire !!! Needless to say, there is a LOT of cutting and soldering going on. Once i get them put back together, they'll go on the burner for 30 days of "punishment" and then i'll give them a listen. Sean
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twl OP
3,251 posts
 
That's cool, Sean. I like to hear about the different designs people try. Maybe if we keep at it, we'll figure out how the make $10k cables for under $50. That would be nice, huh?
sean
6,231 posts
 
What do you mean ? We AREN'T making cables that should cost that much already ??? : ) Sean
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