DIY AC cable...which bulk cable?

Williewonka, that's actually a great idea. Of course, I didn't think of it until after I finished the cables. Two cables aren't in use yet, so it would certainly be fine enough to disassemble and put the spades in. Since you've done it and noticed a difference, I'll definitely give it a shot. I'd like to find a pure copper spade. My whole goal of DIY was to avoid connectors with brass base metals...going for pure copper all through the power path.

Lacee - I initially thought the same as you, but I tried the spades on the 10 gauge cable because it was very difficult to install the connector.

The improvement was so noticeable I did the same for the rest of my cables, which resulted in the same improvements.

All of the spade connectors I have used are copper - the plating is very thin and probably does not have much effect on overall resistance. They also more than double the contact surface area, which will halve the overall resistance of the joint.

I've now tried this on both Furutech and DH Labs cables with the same results - a deeper more precise sound stage, improved dynamics and enhanced details.

Bottom line - with the spades I have used, it pays dividends

We all know - not everything in this hobby always makes sense :-)

Heyimderrick - I can't guarantee the result, since our systems will respond differently, but if you construct your own cables it is worth trying.

I think the smaller spades are pressed from sheet copper and may not be the absolute purist copper - but it's much better than brass.

Before adding the spades I filed off the plating to make sure it was in fact copper - that nice bright pink colour.

Please be sure to allow at least 100 hours burn in if the cable has not previously been used - that's about how long mine took for the improvements to be apparant - and after about 200 hours they were at their best. If adding to a used cable the spades take about 5 hours to burn in.

I think my most immediately noticeable improvements were on my DAC

If it works, be sure to let the rest of us know your findings :-)

Haven't tried spades yet, but I did improve the connection of the stranded copper wires from Furutech into Furutech power plugs.

Simply twisting the strands together using pliers(clockwise-counterclockwise,you decide)made for an almost solid core wire connection.

The wire is now firmly locked into the connector.

Probably not news to most folks here.

Furutech also offers a number of bulk AC cables worth considering.