Cable Building

Discussion in 'DIY' started by Skyline, Sep 30, 2015.

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  1. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Some people like to stuff the innards with hot glue. Makes it quite hard to slide down.
     
  2. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    Indeed, some sure do love using hot glue.
     
  3. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Between this thread and the cable expose thread, would it be possible to add some cables into the loaner mix? I'd be happy to contribute - e.g., if @Garns wanted to try some 8402 single-ended or balanced I'd be happy to throw a pair of mine into the mix (and honestly, after fuxxing around with a bunch of different cables, these are imho some of the best in terms of sins of omission for little $$$). I think I've got two 1M pairs, and one 12" pair. Both switchcraft plugs and fancypants furutech.
     
  4. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    I'd be willing to put a couple of cables together for this as well. Maybe one or two of my higher-spec headphone cable builds (though deciding on the best choice of termination at the headphone end might be interesting ... probably HD-6XX given the general preponderance of those things around here).
     
  5. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I might be able to put some in as well as long as they come back in reasonable shape. Are we trying to do headphone cables or interconnects?
     
  6. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    I'd be happy to contribute as well. 6XX / 2.5mm mono on hand.
     
  7. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    OK hivemind, I have some questions. I fancy having a go at making an IEM cable, and I have the following queries:

    • How do you make a heatshrink curve/memory wire curve around the ear?
    • Where should I be looking for suitable wire?
    • What else should I know? Any good links I should read?

    I'd love advice from the usual suspects(@Torq, @fraggler etc.) of course. If @pedalhead or other UKers who know some useful stuff can pitch in with practical "where to buy" advice, that'd also be appreciated.

    I'm aware that I'll probably have to hit ebay and import the actual connectors from China..
     
  8. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Litz cables requires a soldering pot. You can either buy one, or I've seen people make a teeny cup out of air dry ceramic, and just melt a small pool of solder in it (if your iron's pretty good it'll work).

    You'd want at least a basic multimeter just for the continuity feature, to see what wire ends up where.

    You'd want a few clamps or helping hands, or even a small blob of blu-tac just to hold stuff in place while soldering.

    Getting angled IEM connectors help reduce the need for the ear guide.

    If you haven't soldered before there's plenty of guides on YouTube, but you'd still need practice, so find some scrap electronics and practice on them.

    High shrink ratio heatshrinks are fantastic, but you need to remember to thread them on first (otherwise it's a desolder solder operation). So always thread them on first and tape them somewhere not near the soldering area so you'd never forget.

    Wire wise I leave it to the EU folks to advice.
     
  9. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    If I've got a vote, I'd say try to cover all the bases, but meybs start with these:
    • RCA - RCA single-ended interconnect
    • XLR - XLR balanced interconnect
    • 4-pin XLR to Senn HD6xx (plus a 4-pin XLR to 1/4" TRS)
    Maybe digital coax? Perhaps a (gasp) IEC 15-amp power cord? I'm thinking the focus should be on quality ingredients, not voodoo hocus pocus.
     
  10. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Also folks misconstrue "Litz" especially on places like eBay - Litz typically refers to a multi-strand twisted-pair of enamel coated wire. Sometimes it just refers to a twisted-pair construction style, and not enameled.
     
  11. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I am not a fan of memory wire, but I sometimes will hold the wire in a curl and carefully apply some heat to it. If the dialectric is a polyethylene (as most flexible wires are), it will soften. Before it melts, remove the heat and the polyethylene will harden again, retaining some of the curl. I find that this, along with a cinch on the cable will do very nicely.

    In the UK, you can try Toxic Cables. Outside of that, Doublehelixcables and Norne Audio sell OCC copper wires from verifiable sources if you are looking for something like that. BTG Audio sells non OCC copper from Mogami if you want a little more economical. Doublehelixcables and Norne sell Eidolic connectors which are generally made a little nicer than the Chinese ones from Aliexpress and Lunashops, however, I have used plenty from both sources that were just fine. I would absolutely recommend getting extra connectors and wire for practice.

    I would be more than happy to answer any questions once you are ready to get started.
     
  12. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    I've been testing Norne and Double Helix' Nucleotide V3.. I will say the V3 is the softest wire I've ever used, more finely stranded and sounds a hair brighter.
     
  13. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    The advice so far has been spot-on and I'd not argue with any of it - it also covers most of the bases.

    I suspect you mean that if you don't use the high-ratio heat shrink that you need to thread it on before you start soldering. The primary point of high-shrink ratio tubing is to allow you to get it over connectors or existing assemblies. Though I would agree that, even then, you do want to thread it on first for an easy life and uneventful build.

    For IEMs you probably want to avoid the double-wall (adhesive lined) stuff as it's pretty thick - and is best used in places you can't see for securing sheathing and adding strain-relief.

    Absolutely this!

    Shipping costs and time will often dwarf the connector prices, so just buy a bunch at once as nothing is more frustrating than destroying a connector and having to wait two weeks to get another. And many IEM connectors are fragile melt-prone little bastards.

    ...

    Other thoughts.

    This is worth reading.

    Heat the joint, not the solder!

    FLUX ... use it! It will make life so much easier, especially when dealing with very small connectors. A little jar (just a couple of ounces) of flux paste is very convenient ... you can just dip/press ends/connectors into it and it lasts ages.

    When stripping the ends of your wires, make the exposed conductor as short as you can to still properly make the connection.

    Use a good-quality wire-stripper. It shouldn't require twisting or pulling to get the insulation off. Something like the Hakko CSP-30-1 (20-30 AWG) is all you need, though they seem to be 7x the price in the UK that they go for over here.
     
  14. Torq

    Torq MOT: Headphone.com

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    If this happens, I'm going to build two identical cables ... one that's got all the "special treatments" and "fancy wire", and another that's just good quality copper, so that people can a) see if they can determine a difference and b) if they can, see which way preferences go.

    Chances are it'd be a variation of this:

    [​IMG]

    An interesting note ... which is well known to those that build their own cables but apparently a bit more opaque to those that occasionally ask to have a cable built for them ... in most cases the bulk of the cost is in assembly time, rather than parts. Yes, sure, some high-end/high-quality components can be several times more expensive than the basic stuff (e.g. generic 4-pin min XLRs at $3.50 each vs. nice Furutech's at $25 each), but it's usually the sheathing, braiding and/or geometry work that eats up time.

    Sometimes the parts chosen affect assembly time. Cheap connectors are often harder to work with than the good quality ones, or have less well-thought-out strain-relief setups that require extra work or are just fiddly. Another example is with shielded cabling. If you do something basic using, say, Canare L-4E5C, it comes shielded, so the parts cost for shielded/un-shielded would be identical. However, sheathing that cable with paracord often takes two-to-three times longer with the shield in place vs. just taking the shield off (and this is generally the longest part of the build unless you're doing complicated braids or custom wire geometry).

    So, if you're getting a cable built, particularly if it's custom, since you're likely to pay the same for labor regardless of the parts you choose ... it's not a bad idea to go with the nicer parts (even if it's just for bling) as you will typically wind up with a better parts-to-selling-price ratio.
     
  15. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    This ^^, lots. I enjoyed making up my long 4-wire braid, but it took ages! Being my first complex cable it was a learning experience and would be quicker next time, but I can see why the professionals charge a few quid for those kinds of cables. I can't help you on parts I'm afraid as I just used inexpensive van damme microphone cable for my HD800 cable (I'm generally not a cable believer, outside of micro-phonics and look/feel).
     
  16. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I once had a guy commission a 15 foot 8-strand braid. I severely underestimated how long it would take me and did not charge accordingly :confused:
    Braiding short runs of wire is easy because all the pieces basically flop out of the way. With long runs you spend half your time detangling the lower half. Sometimes a jig/loom is required. Sleeving long pieces gets tiresome too, as friction surprisingly becomes a concern (both on moving the wire and on your fingers). Doing the inchworm over 15 feet is no fun.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2017
  17. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Can anyone recommend a quality 3.5 trrs plug? I was originally going to buy a cable adapter and just cannibalize it, but lately I am wanting something that looks a little nicer (and something I can verify the strain relief on). Do none of the reliable manufacturers (neutrik, rean, switchcraft, etc) make these?!
     
  18. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    These are solid: http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...r-plug-connectors-balanced?manufacturer_id=13
    You can supplement the existing strain relief with hot glue.
     
  19. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Perfect. Yeah, I usually go overkill with the strain relief on the 3.5mm connectors (clamp, shrinkwrap around inside work if possible, hot glue if not possible, adhesive shrinkwrap around where the cable exits the back of the plug...)
     
  20. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Oyaide also makes TRRS versions of their jacks, although given the proliferation of clones much harder to determine authenticity.

    http://oyaide.com/catalog/products/p3-54g.html
    http://oyaide.com/catalog/products/p3-54sr.html
     

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