DIY speaker cables

Hi Guys,

I was digging around in my garage loft and came across a variety of cables I have collected over the years. Ex computer stuff, ex aircraft wiring, etc so I thought I'd have a go at some speaker cables.
In simple, general terms, single core cable is better at tranmiting lower frequency and multi strand is better at higher frequency?
Or is it the other way round?

Niether the amp - Linn - or the speakers - Mission - are load sensitive so is there any possibility of damage with somewhat unkown cables? I will, of course check resistance.

Anything else I should be aware of?
Much appreciate any advice

 

Actually I find multi strand seems to give a bass boost[unnatural] especially with copper.

silver plaited copper ...for me sounds worse than pure copper or silver, so I would avoid.

computer ribbon cable can make good speaker cable ....take alternate conductors for + and - . Its besst if its solid core too.

check out tnt to see if you can use any of the cable in there recipes ....ffrc is pretty good [better than budget cable]

chances are that you can make a good cable but to make a stunning cable you may need to look to copper or silver foils ...ifg you can get hold of a copy of the The super Cables by Allen Wright printed by vacuum state electronics ....this holds a wealth of interesting material.

It may be better to build ic from some of the aero wring ....anything like a coax with one or two cores in ptfe should turn into a good ic.

 

Try these for DIY

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/ubyte2e.html

Certainly a big step up on the Cat5e tripple T, which were better than the expensive cables I have bought / borrowed.

I have a 6m run so pushing a signal down a simple pair of wires - no matter how pure or thick is not the best option.

 

can't fault you there !

 

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a go.

I also found some lenghts of coax. Some straight copper shielded TV cable and some ali foil / copper shielded satelite cable . I remember seeing something about using these.

Any thoughts?

 

Have just seen speedy steves reply which is a great help.
Thanks.

 

Yep give the TNT UBYTE-2 a go.

Clarity, imaging and detail improvements are how I would sum up what I heard. Spades of them too.

I tried the tricky activity of cutting away the PVC sheith and removing the sprial wrap copper shield and putting new Olefin heat shrink on and making the cables up that way AND just using the cable as it is... Not much to choose between them really.
The author makes big play of the existing outer insulation and shielding wrap copper as being bad things. Harder to tell any difference in listening.
The reason I made both is that I have loads of the correct spec cable and I am sure my pals are going to want some made up. Makeing loads of cables removing PVC and copper wrap would be a real pain...

 

I've been thinking about trying this approach for a while. I've found a source for 0.5mm thick ptfe strip (though at about £10 per metre), but I wonder if anyone knows a good place to get copper (or silver) foils? Haven't had much luck googling. Vacuum state do a silver foil but it seems pretty expensive. I've thought about experimenting with the copper foil tape you can get for e.m. shielding - it can be had in about the same dimensions as the foil used in Goertz cables. Any thoughts?

Cheers

Gordon

 

Hi guys,
keeping my eye's on DIY cable posts at the mo. About to start building some shoestrings from TNT. But about CAT5 for speaker cable, I heard somewhere (can't remember where) that it can be used fairly effectively just twisted together as a pair (not sure of these details, can someone fill me in?). The triple T sounds good but is there a more subtle way of doing it, one with less physical bulk?

 

you can use the cat 5 as is ...just seperate the two sets of conductors .....but if you've not tried twin and earth give that a go first!

 

OK. Would you say twin and earth is better than plain cat5? I'm already using a dedicated speaker cable. I'm not sure what it is, I think it's QED, with a CSA of roughly 3mm multistrand copper. Will twin and earth be better than this even if its got a lower CSA?