Cable Building

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

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  1. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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  2. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

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    Yes, a mandatory tool to desolder. OK, not mandatory, but very helpful.
     
  3. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    I have reused connectors many times for myself. XLRs are particularly robust so there shouldn't be much worry. Like other have said, you can use solder wick/braid, a desoldering pump/solder sucker, or even some spare wire (thicker stranded wires work best) to wick away excess solder.
     
  4. GanGreinke

    GanGreinke Friend

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    Thank you guys for the responses. I have been trying to use a braid and pump, but have not been having much success getting a lot of the solder off. I'm either not heating the solder hot enough, or the pump and braid that I have are not very good.
     
  5. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    I reuse connectors, and just reuse the old solder too. Heat it up, pull out old wire, heat again and install new wire.
    If you have flux, adding a little might help.
    Is there a reason you need to remove the existing solder?
     
  6. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Hi. I finally finished a few solid core silver cables. One headphone and two pairs of RCA interconnects. I can certainly hear the difference with the headphone cable, but the RCAs are little harder to distinguish.

    Here's the RCA. 99.99% pure silver 24 AWG solid core wire. 4 strands, braided, then open at the ends. I need to open up the ends a little more. I did on one side, but the separation on right side is tight.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2017
  7. bixby

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    Why can't I see the image, just text of IMG in brackets.

    With RCA ICs it gets down to the quality of the ends more than the wire, when using a good wire. I used same design and wire with 3 different ICs and all sounded different with differing ends. And unfortunately the most expensive ends won, but the others got pretty close.
     
  8. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Hey Bixby, please try now and tell me if you can see the image.

    As for the connectors, I choose Canare F-09 for this project. I usually use Reans that cost 1/3 of Canare, so I did splurge :) I mean $3.40 PER connector! Outrageous.
     
  9. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    @AllanMarcus yes, can see now, nice job! I have those exact connectors on a cable made with Canare GS-6 wire. Nice budget cable at about $25 for 3 foot pair, built. I did take off the metal strain and thought it sounded better/different.

    I just got a decent soldering iron to replace my dead Radio Shack gun which was a heavy pain to work with. Going to try to convert some old video cables into RCA. Some budget cables that were all the low cost rage over on AA that use good copper and in coax configuration. Will probably use whatever is in the parts bin. I think some NOS low mass radio shack RCAs or some DH labs I bought for a sub cable I never built.
     
  10. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    If this ventures too much off topic, I apologize, but how can the metal strain relief springs change the sound in an audible way?
     
  11. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    no freaking clue, my guess is magnetic field, they are steel, right?

    Why do cable designers for ics worry about dielectric materials: good ones like air, cotton, teflon and poor ones like pvc, vinyl, rubber - capacitive build up and discharge;seemingly small and inconsequential, but many will say it matters to the sound. Then there is geometry; to keep the magnetic field consistent at least amongst other things via braiding, twisting or parallel runs with whatever spacing recipe the designer believes in.
     
  12. AllanMarcus

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  13. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    vibrations are everywhere in a speaker based setup. I had some interconnects years ago made from magnet wire and the maker used beeswax to damp the wire at the connection. I am sure it helped but in the end the cables were too "clangy" for lack of a better word. I am not sure I could tell a treated cable from and untreated one, but it might be an experiment worth trying.

    What I do know is every time I make a change in my equipment rack to the footers used for components I experience a subtle change in sound. I have used all sorts of materials to damp, conduct and absorb all with effects one could hear. But most folks just use the feet that come on the equipment directly to a shelf and there is nothing wrong with that either, until you hear something you like better, haha.

    EDIT: I have some older versions of this tweak I need to try. I'll let you know if it makes any difference in a few days. http://herbiesaudiolab.net/jr.htm
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2017
  14. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    It works. Used my Herbies dampers on my dac to amp cables and low and behold, I shit you not, quieter background, tighter bass, more resolving and focused and slightly more dynamic. Subtle, but audible on a simple album like Holly Cole-Temptation.
     
  15. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    I finished up an all silver cable for the PMx2. The 2.5mm connectors are from PlusSound and the splitter is from eBay. I put the splitter too low on the cable, but redoing it is too much work.

    As for sound quality, I'm pretty sure the sound from the PMx2 with the silver cable is more "sparkly". I really like it. Might just be me, but when I compared to a copper cable made with Sommer Peacock MkII cable (same used by beyerdynamic on the T1 first gen), the Sommer cable makes the PMx2 sound laid-back. I never thought I would hear such a difference. Also, sort of makes sense since the T1 was pretty bright that they would choose a calming cable.

    At any rate, my next project is a Crack with all silver for the signal path.

    [​IMG]
     
  16. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Help! Anyone know tricks for making tight fits with small adapters? I am trying to reterminate my lcd-2c to a switchcraft mini xlr. I checked to make sure the wire would sit in the conductor leads before getting started, but after tinning I can't even force them to mate well. I'm embarrassed to say I've never run into this where it's so close but so far, and I don't have any clever ideas at the moment.

    Also, I've been drinking, but I'm pretty sure that isn't a factor...
     
  17. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    Pot or straight leads on the connector?

    I like mechanical contacts + solder, which is why I dislike soldering pot style connections.
     
  18. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    Tiny pots. It's basically identical to a normal xlr but smaller. I've considered a short distance of solid core wire and then joining to that, but it would make hell out of the tiny space inside the shell.
     
  19. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Try trimming the down the outside diameter of your tinned leads? Use a wirecutter to nick it, then reflow the solder to remove the excess strands.
     
  20. logscool

    logscool Friend

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    I usually trim the end to have fewer conductors so that the wire can fit inside. The solder should make up for it especially if you have the solder flow to just outside the pot where you have all the conductors still intact.
     

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