DIY Interconnects

[xerxes]

I recently bought some silver plated copper wire with PTFE insulation from Farnell for use as hook up wire.

I thought it would be interesting to see how it sounded made up into an interconnect cabe, so here's what I came up with:



I used a similar construction to that of many of the Kimber cables with 3 plaited strands. The third strand is connected to ground at the "source" end and left free at the "amp" end. I used some Eichman Bullet plugs and the wire is a single core, 0.4mm diamater contuctor. The resultant cable is rather weedy and a litle delicate. Later I will buy some PVC tubing, something about 8mm OD with a 6mm ID will fit nicely into the opening of the Bullet plugs which have a grub screw which will hold the PVC tube secure and protect the thin conductor wires and act as a cable strain relief.

I was able to compare the cable with an set of fairly expensive Isolda DCT300 interconnects I have by connecting both outputs of my CD player with different inputs on my amplifier, so that I could do a quick A-B comparison with the remote control.

I've tried various interconnects in the past using this method and as expected the differences are quite subtle. However, I think my home made cables just about win. It seems the bass is slightly tighter with a little more "texture". The leading edge of a bass guitar seems better defined, as if you can hear the finger on the string slightly more when it's plucked. Vocals have a little more presence and there seems to be more space around individual voices and instruments.

All in all, this is a pretty good result for a wire that costs around 30 pence per metre. The most expensive thing was the Eichman Bullet plugs at around £25.00 for four. In any case a set of 1 meter interconnects will cost under £30.00, less than one tenth the price of a 1 metre pair of the Townshend cables.

Needless to say, I will not be buying any more exotic interconnect cables. In fact, I'm thinking of selling the little collection of ready made cables I have and replacing them with my own. The sale should more than pay for the additional sets of bullet plugs I will need to replace them.

[rickcr42]

nice job man,another convert to the "minimalist" cable club

Later I will buy some PVC tubing, something about 8mm OD with a 6mm ID will fit nicely into the opening of the Bullet plugs which have a grub screw which will hold the PVC tube secure and protect the thin conductor wires and act as a cable strain relief.

Don't do it man ! Use cotton or use nothing !

Mongo say plastic bad

I use mine "nekked" mostly but also with natural fiber coverings,in particular cotton for "looks"

[xerxes]

What's the problem with using the "outer" plastic tube?

This will have a 6mm ID, so it's not tight against the PTFE insulated conductor wires and will not touch the conductors themselves only the PTFE insulation and then only in odd spots.

[rickcr42]

What's the problem with using the "outer" plastic tube?

raises the cable capacitance being a dielectric.ALL added parts have audible consequences and the worst is when I see a "pure" interconnect like your above covered with a shitload of teflex and heat shrink.The former reasons for the build just got flushed down the toilet

The good news is it may seem delicate but the reality is the Kimber PBJ type cables hold up well in actual use.i have a zero failure rate in every single DIY 2/3/4 wire cable

1-2 Wire : one hot wire/one cold wire in a twist
2-3 Wire : braided as above
3-4 Wire : two parallel hot/two parallel cold unbraided sheathed in a cotton tube

[PinkFloyd]

Don't do it man ! Use cotton or use nothing !

In fact.... don't use "any" insulation at all, just BARE copper preferably solid core. Whack these inside a metal pipe (making sure they don't touch) and then pack tightly with very fine sand (rinsed and oven dried) which will keep the conductors apart. Seal both ends of the pipe with something like epoxy resin and then terminate with your favourite choice of plug. Bend into shape, the sand should prevent the cores touching together, test with a continuity tester and then hook up and have a listen.

To save all the bother buy yourself some MICC cable (mineral insulated copper clad) along with some compression glands, potting compound.... you'll also need a suitable stripping tool etc. here's a brief description en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral-insulated_copper-clad_cable

MICC is hygroscopic (ie: it absorbs water) so the ends must be suitably sealed. The outer copper tube effectively protects against EMI etc. and this gear is unbeatable IMO for audio..... it's VERY expensive but well well worth it. Not too pliable though so it's more like a music "tube" than a cable. Give it a try and if you need a loan of all the tools needed to terminate / strip it let me know.

All the best.

Mike.

[rickcr42]

In fact.... don't use "any" insulation at all, just BARE copper preferably solid core

would likely case a dead short.Better would be magnet wire which is the minimum insulation and likely will whip the shit out of 80% of all aftermarket "cables as jewelry" out there

Whack these inside a metal pipe (making sure they don't touch)

would not work on two levels

1-metal pipes do not bend so making inter-system connections would be impossible unless everything was in a straight line and with input on the left and outputs on the right and THEN you better hop everything is dead nuts level and the same size or again will not work

2-that much metal may just turn out to be a grand FM antenna

fine sand (rinsed and oven dried) which will keep the conductors apart. Seal both ends of the pipe with something like epoxy resin and then terminate with your favourite choice of plug. Bend into shape, the sand should prevent the cores touching together, test with a continuity tester and then hook up and have a listen.

depends on the sand.If a high purity silicate then could be rabbit,could be,but if "sand box" grade it could have magnetic and/or conductive particles mixed in-not cool

To save all the bother buy yourself some MICC cable (mineral insulated copper clad) along with some compression glands, potting compound.... you'll also need a suitable stripping tool etc. here's a brief description en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral-insulated_copper-clad_cable

MICC is hygroscopic (ie: it absorbs water) so the ends must be suitably sealed. The outer copper tube effectively protects against EMI etc. and this gear is unbeatable IMO for audio..... it's VERY expensive but well well worth it. Not too pliable though so it's more like a music "tube" than a cable. Give it a try and if you need a loan of all the tools needed to terminate / strip it let me know.

again would have audible consequenses that tend to the bad.even shield braids on your typical interconnect sounds worse than "nekked" wires so should be avoided whenever possible (very high RFI environments only)

Nice try Mikester but you have a lot to learn about interconnect geometry so maybe back to the drawing board until you get it right ;D

[xerxes]

I think some more experiments are in order, to which end I will order some more bullet connectors, so that I can make 2 or 3 sets of cables and A-B them. I'm going to try with some as they are, some with PTFE insulation stripped and replaced with some unbleached cotton sleeve/tubing and whichever is better I will then try with and without the protective outer PVC tube.

[mayday]

I have great experienses with Litz-braided, teflontube insulated high purity silverwire. Sounds great, silverplated copper often in my opinion sounds a bit bright.

[Sol]

xerxes said:

I think some more experiments are in order, to which end I will order some more bullet connectors, so that I can make 2 or 3 sets of cables and A-B them. I'm going to try with some as they are, some with PTFE insulation stripped and replaced with some unbleached cotton sleeve/tubing and whichever is better I will then try with and without the protective outer PVC tube.

Does anyone know where I can buy some cotton sleeving ... thinking having some around 5mm would be good - I could just tidy up the look of the 4 wire braid then ;D