What are the best DIY cables you've heard?

Twl sent me a pair of cables which I'm running between my preamp and power amplifiers. They are really, really good. With apologies to Tom, I am pasting the description for building them. This is directly from his email to me.

The recipe is:
1 package of Radio Shack magnet wire, which comes with 3 different spools. 22,26, and 30ga.
The desired length of 1/4" semi-clear polyethylene icemaker tubing.
Package of teflon plumber's tape
Whatever RCA connectors you like. I used Radio Shack gold plated.

Cut your tubing length, and then spiral wrap the 30ga. wire around the tube at about 1 turn per 2 inches. Then spiral wrap the teflon tape over it to cover it up and hold it in place.
Then snake another length of 30ga. wire through the tube till it comes out the other end.
Solder the RCA plugs on with the center conductor to the wire inside the tube, and the spiral wrapped wire to the outer ring connector on the plug.
Break them in and enjoy.

Try it, you'll like it. My thanks to Tom for turning me onto this great performer.

I've got to try the above ... thanks Tom and Lugnut. I made some interconnects from some spare RG-217 MIL RF coax cable (it's silver plated OFC, large diameter, very low loss coax). On my humble ($5k) system they made more improvement in definition and "airyness" than any component upgrade. Cost about $15 per set.

RG217 is absolutely horrible to work with, though, since the double sheathing can cut your fingers to shreds.

Hey Lugnut that is a great recipe. But for this one credit goes to Chris Venhaus www.venhaus1.com use 1/4" teflon tube instead of the icemaker tube, pack it with cotton and use 32awg silver wire and spiral both wires down the tube instead of one down the center. Wrap one down the tube at 2" intervals then wind the second one opposite it so they do not come closer than 1" length wise and 1/4" verticaly. You will end up with something that looks like a barber pole. Wrap teflon tape around the entire length. Use good quality solder like Cardas or Wonder. And make sure to get some good RCA's like Eichmann Bullet Plugs preferably silver. It will make a world of difference. These are excellent cables. Happy Listening! John

http://www.venhaus1.com/diymains.html

Flavors 1 and 2.

Yes, I tried the Chris Ven Haus design. I found some things that I didn't like about it, so I did some changes based on some other ideas I had. So when I got it the way I liked it, I sent a pair to Lugnut, and also to Macrojack. They both liked them.

The Ven Haus design is a good basic starting point.