What do you want to accomplish, a listing of DIY projects that folks believe to be competitive with relatively expensive commercially made cables, or cables that offer
high performance for those of us who may not otherwise have the means to take advantage of current technology in an inflated marketplace
?
There are many DIY constructions that have been reported to sound great, starting with a simple Lowes/Home Depot outdoor extension cord used as speaker cable and proceeding through projects that involve braiding cables until your fingers bleed.
I have made a wide variety of DIY cables, both from raw materials and from bulk wire. I have also modified existing cables. You can consider three categories;
1. DIY cables constructed from hook up wire and other basic parts or materials.
2. Bulk cable that is premanufactured and that you terminate with the quality/style connectors that you choose, and
3. Existing cables that either in their original form, or modified as you see fit, perform well above their price tag.
I have found varied and sometimes excellent success with all three of these options. I have great sounding interconnects based on the VH Audio DIY fine silver IC, but using different materials and slightly different construction. I also have made pretty good soundiing interconnects from a variety of bulk cable and bulk wire. Some have reported good success constructing cables from flat inductor material, sort of like some of the Mapleshade or Goertz cables.
My favorite speaker cables are made from modified manufactured cable that uses very high quality materials that would be expensive to purchase otherwise but is cheap when purchased by buying used cables. I also have another pair made from hook-up wire that I believe sound just as good but different from the modified manufactured cable pair - I could live with either.
Unfortunately, coming up with a reliable list will not be as easy as you might think because there are likely to be about as many opinions about what sounds good as there are people making or purchasing cables. Here's one, I have made several pairs of cross connected cables and IMO you can do better for less money and much less time by purchasing any number of pretty good manufactured cables and terminating them yourself. I still have a long pair of the quad style of cross-connected cable, which is the best sounding of the cross-connected cables (disclaimer - I have not heard the TNT copper foil variety) but have not used them in years.
Unfortunately, or fortunately if you find this stuff fun, the only way to really form an opinion about what works for you is to listen to some music on different cables.
Good luck with your projects.
