homebrew cables

What opinions does anyone have on DIY cables? in particular the cables by tempo electric? When is shielding vital, if at all! And so on??????

 

I used to build my own but you can buy good ones so cheaply that I wouldn't now consider it worth the bother.

Shielding isn't always vital but won't do any harm, so you might as well buy some good quality shielded wire and use it.
Klotz instrument cable is well made and good value.

 

re

When you say good ones, and cheap, what price would you mean? and would you say the variants from cable to cable are Negligible?

 

For general line level use over short runs just about anything will work perfectly well.

So something like this at £1 for a complete cable with plugs is all you need:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5m-TWIN-RCA...nnectors_RL?hash=item5d27cbef6f#ht_2949wt_941

If you are driving long runs, using a passive pre amp or using the cable on a tonearm you need to be a little more picky about the specs - low capacitance mainly.

Extremely, with the above provisos but not everyone agrees

 

re

Some would say heresy. Just trying to draw my own conclusions. Not sure myself just how cables can so acutely 'tasted' like a fine wine, accurately enough for critics to say ''thats tightened the bass'' or ''Thats really brought out the seperation'' arrrg! i dont exactly hear all that!

 

I suppose it all comes down to what you hear when you install
your new cable. Iwas never one to have a lot of faith in up
market wire until i bought a pair of Shark Wire one meter
interconnects for my Phono Amp the difference was amazing i
hear a completly different record they are really good dont know if it would work on all set ups but on mine its great.
Noel W.

 

if you know what your doing most diy cables should be able to compete favorably with some of the more exotically priced cables ...

if you look at the price of a commercial cable ..the sum of the parts is usually around 5% [generalisation] of the total retail price.. therefore if the diy cable is going to cost you say 30gbp to make then you should be comparing it with cables in the 600gbp range .....

as has been previously stated there are cheap cables available that will work ....though of the ones I've heard I've been very disappointed compared with even the simplest diy cable I've made.

there are some very good off the reel cables ...

shark pearlecent white [if you can find it ] is an absolute revelation ... but there silver cable is dire

I;d also suggest keeping away from any silver plated copper cables ...as these tend to be excrusiatingly bright and forward ...imo

of course these are only my impressions ...what others like may be completely different ..

building your own cables is easy ...the simplest is a a parallel pair using solid core wire wrap [enamelled copper wire]

don't forget that the plugs will effect the sound and can be the significant cost of the cable ...that said my preference is to get plugs that have the minimum of metal . RS have some for around 25p each ..they look rap with capital C but are relatively benine.

Shielding ...the only reason you would want to use it is if you are in a very high interferance zone iether rfi or emi ...personally I don't bother ...the effect of shield on the transmitted signal is actually far worse than putiing up with a small amount of rfi ....though I would not recomend this for cables between turntables and head amps .

If you don't believe me just make up two identical cables one with and one without shield and see which you prefere.

alThough you will be told by countless people cables make no difference ...there fore how can sheilding make any difference at all. I assume you must be from the opposing camp to ask the question in the first place ...

I always have to laugh ...when you get a cable sceptic vehemently dissing the sanity of someone who thinks they can hear the difference cables make ....as nine times out of ten they will not be using the giveaway cables often supplied ....
one famous example in my experience ...was a chap who kept going on and on ..so in the end I made him a set of silver cables ...he sent them back saying he could not tell the difference between his and mine ....ho hum I though at leasted I'd tried ...then low and behold on a different forum he was expounding his system to all, it transpires he was was using some very exotically priced silver cables ......when I pointed this out to him ..he said oh yes I forgot ... well I'm not surprised he could not hear any differences !

if you need any advice feel free to contact me

 

I thnk there can be differences.

In my experience the differences are never night and day but subtle.

Yoiu need to decide for YOURSELF on whether the differences are worth paying for.

If you're are interested in experimenting, I liked "plat alloys" (but they are a bit more).


NB Some say this isn't worth doing.

Its got to be a personal choice.

 

re

Thanks for your reply,
I'm actually a great believer in cables, I have made a fair few, I actually run shark 7 strand pure silver stuff at the mo, anthems on the amp side, sounds great at lower levels, great detail, but does seem to be a bit brash higher up the volume level. My MF gear is also quite bright, so maybe two evils? plus I use oddysey 4 spk cable. Heart says change to copper, not sure...

 

try copper its relatively cheap ...best source of solid core reasonable purity is wire wrap ....should set you back about £6 a reel ...

 

re

Is there any particular supplier for wire wrap you can suggest?

 

A good second hand bargain is VDH First Ultimate!

At around $200 for a S/H 1M interconnect, you have a cable that competes with stuff that costs silly money.

Also if you don't like it, you can resell it for what you paid.

I have made up many home brew silver cables over the years. These can be good, but in my experience not as good as the above.

We did a cable shootout (as part of the Melbourne Audio Club), with many expensive/exotic cables and the VDH FU was a clear winner.

 

try maplins or rappid electronics

you could consider being slightly exotic using 0.9 mm for the ground return and 0.4 for the hot ...the thinner hot can be spirled down the thicker ground ...

the vdf ..has its good points but the ones with carbon fibre have strange effects on some music signal giving a blur almost a distortion ...of course only my opinion and the chap who owned them ...

Again its not just about throwing the wire together theres more to it ...you need to consider several other factors including vibration managment and choice of connector ....

without doubt its very much an area of personal choice where one cable will suit one person and not another.

 

I'm still using some 5m solid silver cables that Zanash made for me a few years ago. All sewn up by his own fair hands in what seems to be Haberdasher tape. I've never seen the need to change them.