Diy kimber interconnect

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Hi, have some spare kimber kable 8tc. Would like to construct diy interconnect with rca connectors. Wondering what is best geometry to use?
3 wire braid (2 ground, 1 hot), 4 wire braid (2 ground, 2 hot), twisted pair?
System is already a bit lean, so want to preserve bass and mid range sonics. Any suggestions? thanks in advance
 
There appears to be no scientific evidence to back the claims from this type of cable up except that the larger the overall diameter of the copper conductor, the lower the resistance of the cable so therefore the less losses to 'adjust' the sound. Copper is a better conductor of electricity than gold or silver so better as a cable and connector.
So, aesthetics aside, using household solid 4mm cable is no worse than the 4tc as advertised.
 
Assuming RCA connectors mean an unbalanced connection then the best option is coax. Unless the cable is very long, bass and mid-range will be treated exactly the same; treble will depend on capacitance, which depends on length and exact geometry.

Twisted pair is for balanced connections. If one end (source or load) is isolated (i.e. floating) then you could try a pseudo-balanced connection (as used for phono cartridges).
 
Hi, have some spare kimber kable 8tc. Would like to construct diy interconnect with rca connectors. Wondering what is best geometry to use?
3 wire braid (2 ground, 1 hot), 4 wire braid (2 ground, 2 hot), twisted pair?
System is already a bit lean, so want to preserve bass and mid range sonics. Any suggestions? thanks in advance

Given that 8TC is perfectly braided 4+ and 4- wire, why not just connect the rca to that. While that's a bit of an overkill, you do not have to unbraid and then try to rebraid the wire.
But if you are going to go the rebraid route, then I'd say either of your ideas would work perfectly well. The 3 braid of course being in the classic Kimber Kable style of PBJ and others.
 
Xoc1 said:
I always understood that weaving cables could reduce RF pick-up.
Weaving reduces RF pickup by a small amount - so slightly better than leaving the wires loose. Much better is twisting or shielding - done properly they can almost completely eliminate RF pickup.

The popularity of weaving or braiding for audio cables is strange, given that it would be difficult to find a worse way to combine wires when RF pickup is a problem. My explanation is that the resultant noise is misperceived as extra 'detail' or 'sparkle'.
 
Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic and robust input.
For what it worth, i would like to use this cable for a few reasons- I already have it lying around, It uses good quality occ copper, It has a teflon dielectric around each strand, which i believe is very sonically inert.
Not interested in other cables/ materials at this stage. Just want to know the best geometry using this particular cable as an interconnect.
I like the idea of not undoing the existing braid of the 8tc, but i thought there would be just too much copper/ wire for each run - is this a valid concern? Will it sound heavy and bloated?
The 8tc has 16 cores on each end- what about if i separate the stands at each end into 4x4 segments, so:
4 strands left +
4 strands left -
4 strands right +
4 strands right -
I would keep the middle of the 8tc cable braided as normal and as one, just unbraid each end end, split them into 2, and terminate with rca's - i don't think ive seen this done before.
Thoughts?
 
dka said:
I already have it lying around
A good reason. Can create problems if what you have lying around is unsuitable for your application.

It uses good quality occ copper
Completely irrelevant, so a bad reason.

It has a teflon dielectric around each strand
Completely irrelevant, so a bad reason.

I like the idea of not undoing the existing braid of the 8tc, but i thought there would be just too much copper/ wire for each run - is this a valid concern?
Could be excessive capacitance.

Will it sound heavy and bloated?
No. A cable cannot sound heavy and bloated. Too much capacitance means that it will sound muffled due to loss of treble.
 
Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic and robust input.
For what it worth, i would like to use this cable for a few reasons- I already have it lying around, It uses good quality occ copper, It has a teflon dielectric around each strand, which i believe is very sonically inert.
Not interested in other cables/ materials at this stage. Just want to know the best geometry using this particular cable as an interconnect.
I like the idea of not undoing the existing braid of the 8tc, but i thought there would be just too much copper/ wire for each run - is this a valid concern? Will it sound heavy and bloated?
The 8tc has 16 cores on each end- what about if i separate the stands at each end into 4x4 segments, so:
4 strands left +
4 strands left -
4 strands right +
4 strands right -
I would keep the middle of the 8tc cable braided as normal and as one, just unbraid each end end, split them into 2, and terminate with rca's - i don't think ive seen this done before.
Thoughts?

This idea is probably not the best, though it could probably be done. You could try it as it wouldn't cost you anything to do it. And if you didn't like it then just desolder the connectors and try something else.

Once you unbraid the 8tc you will have to see how much the wire keeps it's shape from the machine braiding. This could make rebraiding the wire a little bit difficult, but probably not too much so. I'm sure it would go back together in a braid fairly well. It really wouldn't matter if you used a 3 wire or 4 wire braid.

Most of my own interconnects are braided magnet wire, 2+ and 2- for a 4 wire braid, and they work just fine.

Be neat in your work, especially in soldering the connecting ends to the rca's.
 
If I do a 3 wire braid and use a pair of cables as the ground and the single wire left as the signal. Is there any advantage in only connecting one of the ground wires at one end so not to create a loop?
Also when I do a 3 wire weave, if I pull one of the wires out the other 2 fall apart showing they are not twisted - So what if I weave and then twist the resultant cable?
Must try some creative experiments!
 
By 'ground' do you mean shield (fairly ineffective if it does not enclose the signal conductor) or signal return? A shield can do electric field screening when grounded at one end. It can do magnetic field screening only when connected at both ends and used as the signal return, and when coaxial with the signal. Note that braiding ensures that this is not the case: it doesn't enclose and it isn't coaxial.
 
To be redundant:
a] RCA unbalanced interconnects need to use coax cable.
b] XLR balanced interconnects have traditionally Shielded Twisted Pair (STP). And the construction needs to be very symmetrical. Even very small differences in the diameter of the conductor's insulation or irregular twisting will hurt performance.
c] Now some are using unshielded Cat5 cable for balanced interconnects. It's works because it's so symmetrical.
d] Twisting is much better than braiding. The conductors are always much closer together so the field is smaller.
e] While the Kimber might be very symmetrical from a speaker cable point of view, it's not even close for a balanced cable.
f] Not a big deal, but twisting is better than braiding for speaker cables.
 
stvnharr said:
Here is a link to the Kimber PBJ IC that's been around 25 years or so. I've had them and they are excellent value and a good way to go with the extra 8tc wire. There's even a specification listing for the cable and you don't get that with most cable manufacturers. The DIY with the 8tc should be quite similar.

https://www.kimber.com/products/PBJ
I would not let a cable that bad anywhere near my system, however cheap it was. It will be wide open to both RF and hum; no use for unbalanced or balanced connections. I know why people make such things, but why do people buy them?
 
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