Cable Building

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

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  1. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Almost all of the slim stuff I have tried from China and Hong Kong use really cheap plastic between the channels and shorts often develop during soldering. They are a bit pricey, but you might want to try the Eidolic connectors from Doublehelixcables and Norne Audio. I was in touch with Peter at DHC when he was developing the first ones and he put a lot of R&D into making a good connector.
     
  2. logscool

    logscool Friend

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    Perfect that is just what I was looking for. Yeah they are a bit expensive compared to cheap connectors but if they actually work they will be totally worth it and still less expensive than pre-made after market cables for these headphones.
     
  3. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Very true, I have spent so much money trying to find good cheap connectors, that I would have been better off just buying a couple nicely made ones. Oh well, live and learn.
     
  4. Xen

    Xen Friend

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    I spent that past 2 days building cables. Sorry for the background, don't mind the dust or ... other things. I didn't have any other neutral surface

    DSC00080 - New Old Interconnects.jpg

    Bottom right: My first cable. I thought the color scheme would work, but it was way too bright. The right channel is shorter than the left because I kept messing up soldering the SMC connector. Lumpy paracord is so ZZEEXXYY! Decabled Mogami 2799 4-stand braid and 2-strand twist. At least it worked and was way more supple than the original HIFIMAN cable.

    Bottom Left: I think I learned much from my first cable and actually applied those lessons. I was hesitant about the colors as I didn't think they would match, but they turned out pretty good. Individually paracorded Mogami 2799 a la @fraggler . The right connector's heatshrink is wonky because the paracord shrank, and I couldn't see it. I will probably have to go in and REsolder the SMC connector to fix it. The cable is a bit heavier and about a foot longer than my Joker-wannabe cables.

    Top: <1-ft interconnects. 8 strands (2 per L/R/G and 2 dummy). I tried following directions for 8-strand round and spent 8 hours trying to get 1 braided correctly. Should have trusted the guy at SeekYee as his 8-strand square looks better and fair simpler pattern to follow. I was able to braid both interconnects in an hour. The dummies are twisted-paired 30 AWG hookup wire that are completely unconnected (no circuit) with the ends heat-shrunk. I am very happy with how these turned out. The wire is 22 AWG Chinese OCC silver-plated off Ebay $1 per meter.

    Still to make: a 5-ft extension cord with shielded Mogami 2799 (ran out of parts). A XLR4 to TRS adaptor (no will to make right now).
     
  5. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    I just assembled a couple of Supra Lorad 1.5 power cords with fake chinese oyaide rhodium plated brass power connectors.. I was curious if their super shielding claims would help with the vi dac. I can't detect any concrete difference but visually and physically they're much nicer than the generic stock cable I was using.
     
  6. Xen

    Xen Friend

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    Did you get the cable off ebay at $16 / meter? Did you sheath the cable in techflex or just left it as white?
     
  7. mtoc

    mtoc SBAF's Resident Shit-Stirrer

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    One of friends got angry about this, so, he throw away these connectors and soldered the cable directly to the drivers. Sounds better.
     
  8. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    My experience with the Supra Power cable was that it was one of the most lifeless sounding cables I have built. Not sure why, but maybe the shielding. Relegated it to Plasma TV duty, works great there.

    Much better sound from Home Depot Carol or Southwire (for under $2 a foot) 10 gauge power cable and even Wattgate or Marincos plugs and IECs. Sonars are not too bad, but Furutech coppers sound very good and worth the money in all the applications for me. What it taught me is the cable is not nearly as important as the connectors. I've replaced all my $250-$450 cables with DIY.

    EDIT: 2018 - Rebuilt Supra cable, much better sounding. Not sure that I even had the shields connected first time, but do now. Liked so much I replaced my HD diy cables with newer version of Supra. Power cables are not game changers in audio hierarchy.
     
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2019
  9. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    My previous(and first) diy power cord I made from home depot southwire.. the southwire cable you can really tell is for industrial applications.. the insulation and jacket cut very ugly-ly if that's a word . I'm using it with my pc, that's how much I don't like it :p I wanted to try some shielded cable for my dac. Yah I got it off ebay but I Used the 15 awg at $11 a meter and built two 1.5 meter cables. my speaker amp is only 100 watts and class D so I figured 15 awg was probably good enough, not currently using it til my philharmonitors arrive on wednesday. I'll find out how dead and lifeless these power cords are then I guess. The tinning of the conductors might be what causes that? It's the only part of the design I don't get.
    Here's the power connectors I used, they're cheap and I can recommend them, the hardware all fit together nicely and the rhodium plate actually seems quality
    http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free...nnector-Power-Plug-for-audio/32464554503.html

    most boring photo ever [​IMG]
     
  10. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Not really a complete build since it was a just a re-termination of an old laptop power supply to use on a D class amp, but had to show off the Oyaide 2.5mm power connector because it is so pretty:
    [​IMG]
    Decided to us an XLR connector instead of the traditional binding post/bananas for the amp:
    [​IMG]
     
  11. aufmerksam

    aufmerksam Friend

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    This is the nicest thing anyone can do to a shitty old laptop power supply.
     
  12. uncola

    uncola Friend

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    man, xlr connectors and sockets are so much nicer than DC jacks
     
  13. ohhgourami

    ohhgourami Friend

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    Damn it. I've been using Supra lorad 2.5 for everything.
    [​IMG]
     
  14. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Hey man, this is a Fujitsu-made, high end laptop PSU! It went through hell with me when it powered my laptop. I OWED it the Oyaide plug.
     
  15. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    Damn, that looks beefy.
     
  16. ohhgourami

    ohhgourami Friend

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    Thinking about getting some 10 awg Furutech or 9awg Neotech instead since @bixby thinks Lorad sounds lifeless.
     
  17. No_One411

    No_One411 Fired by Jude

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    You guys wanted beefy? This is one of the manliest power cables ever!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    I hope you guys aren't compensating for something with those big cables.
     
  19. ohhgourami

    ohhgourami Friend

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    Specs say it's 10awg.
     
  20. johnjen

    johnjen Doesn’t want to be here but keeps posting anyways

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    I too have been making cables, all different types for several decades, mostly for commercial use in entertainment and industry.

    But then a few years back I started to make ac power cables.
    I started by getting the cable kits from Bottlehead, just to see if they made any difference.

    They did indeed!
    So I upped the ante by using better materials and then 'treating' them.
    Each step made improvements in those sonic aspects I seek.

    My latest (gen-4) cable uses all copper (UL grade TFFN) 17awg wire and rhodium plated chinese knock off (seconds) connectors.
    I then cryo treat them and cook them on my industrial strength cable cooker.

    These cables are still a reference I use to judge other cables by, including the Shunyata cables I now use.
    They cost ≈ $45 in parts.

    I have just recently started making Phase Reversal Cables and re-terminating TRS to 4 pin XLR headphone cables as well.

    One of the 'tricks' I learned a ways back is…
    When things go wrong (the individual strands don't cooperate, or solder doesn't flow etc.)
    START OVER!

    Another is strain relief.
    This is a must.
    DO NOT RELY upon the solder connection alone to determine the 'strength' of the termination at the connector.
    I can't tell you how many times just a single strand of wire remains as the only connection to the connector.
    It still 'works' but the electrical connection is majorly restricted, this is, by definition, what I call a 'choke point'.

    JJ
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2016

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