Hi all,
Just thought I'd share a small project that I am working on, a pair of RCA leads. Its purely experimental, materials will cost an estimated max of $10 so if it doesn't work out I dont really care, as it would have been worth trying out different things.
Rather than saying homemade to describe some bought cable and soldering some plugs on, I am attempting to actually make the cables.
So far, I have a single stranded copper core, twisted around the outside at a rate of approximately 1 turn per inch is a single piece of solid core enameled copper wire.
Over this I am going to put a layer of aluminium foil.
All three of these different conductors will be joined at either end and insulated from each other the rest of the way, essentially providing three signal paths.
I haven't put any special thought into this construction, I just decided that a stranded core, solid core, and thin foil all exhibit different characteristics, such as foil being more suitable than solid core for high frequencies due to the skin effect, even though at 20 KHz the 'skin' depth is still relatively deep. And having one of each, should in theory perform better than a single conductor, also the overall impedance will be lowered by having three conductors in parallel.
So that was the core, over this I will run a length of heatshrink, and maybe some other form of insulator that can be applied easily. Then another layer of foil, and finally copper braiding as the ground shielding, and I will probably use another layer of heatshrink to go over that, as there is no real other that is cheap and easy and it insulates just fine.
I'd like to hear peoples opinions on this. At the time of writing, I am only at the first stage, and I may construct it differently yet, I dont know. I don't have any expectations, it might be the best cable ever or it may sound like sh!t, but is that not the point in experimenting? I will try to take a couple of photos, and will post up the results after testing and listening to them.
Would also like to hear if anyone else has tried something like this or something similar before.
Just thought I'd share a small project that I am working on, a pair of RCA leads. Its purely experimental, materials will cost an estimated max of $10 so if it doesn't work out I dont really care, as it would have been worth trying out different things.
Rather than saying homemade to describe some bought cable and soldering some plugs on, I am attempting to actually make the cables.
So far, I have a single stranded copper core, twisted around the outside at a rate of approximately 1 turn per inch is a single piece of solid core enameled copper wire.
Over this I am going to put a layer of aluminium foil.
All three of these different conductors will be joined at either end and insulated from each other the rest of the way, essentially providing three signal paths.
I haven't put any special thought into this construction, I just decided that a stranded core, solid core, and thin foil all exhibit different characteristics, such as foil being more suitable than solid core for high frequencies due to the skin effect, even though at 20 KHz the 'skin' depth is still relatively deep. And having one of each, should in theory perform better than a single conductor, also the overall impedance will be lowered by having three conductors in parallel.
So that was the core, over this I will run a length of heatshrink, and maybe some other form of insulator that can be applied easily. Then another layer of foil, and finally copper braiding as the ground shielding, and I will probably use another layer of heatshrink to go over that, as there is no real other that is cheap and easy and it insulates just fine.
I'd like to hear peoples opinions on this. At the time of writing, I am only at the first stage, and I may construct it differently yet, I dont know. I don't have any expectations, it might be the best cable ever or it may sound like sh!t, but is that not the point in experimenting? I will try to take a couple of photos, and will post up the results after testing and listening to them.
Would also like to hear if anyone else has tried something like this or something similar before.
At this point the only real technical goals are to make a cable thats cheap and doesn't sound too bad, but most importantly just as a learning experience. You could say I just want to find out if I can make a coax audio cable myself that sounds good and is cheap and relatively easy to make. I don't care if it turns out a waste of time, as otherwise I would never have found out. If it turns out good, I may look into it further. I'm just making it from bits lying around, only have to buy heatshrink and thats not expensive
So you will be using the foil as the sheild and return? How will you solder it / connect it?
If the foil is the return, then it (and its connections) will be half of the "sound." Or have I not understood your construction?
Back in the 80s Isoda of Japan made multi metal cables. Don't know if they are still in business.
If the foil is the return, then it (and its connections) will be half of the "sound." Or have I not understood your construction?
Back in the 80s Isoda of Japan made multi metal cables. Don't know if they are still in business.
As described, the core or the 'hot' wire is going to be a single lenghth of insulated stranded wire. Around the outside is a piece of solid core enameled copper wire, wrapped at about one inch per turn. Then there is a layer of foil over this, forming three conductors in parallel. Then theres a layer of insulation.
For the shield, is another layer of foil, covered by a layer of copper braiding. So at no point is the foil being used alone, and there are two layers of foil being used. And for connection I'll just use aluminium solder, similar to regular solder but it has about 5% silver added, or I could just use a small crimp
For the shield, is another layer of foil, covered by a layer of copper braiding. So at no point is the foil being used alone, and there are two layers of foil being used. And for connection I'll just use aluminium solder, similar to regular solder but it has about 5% silver added, or I could just use a small crimp
Panomaniac- Your exactly right, by saying Im just having fun making something and listening to it. It's something I haven't done, and thought I'd give it a try.
454Casull- Yes capacitance crossed my mind, but as stated I am not putting huge money and time into this and if it doesnt work, then I can at least say its something I have done. I did think that having two layers of foil would create a bit more capacitance then normal, that could lead to potential treble loss. But, I chose to incorporate foil, because most conductors exhibit an effect called the skin effect.
Basically, the higher the frequency, the electrons only flow closer to the surface of the conductor and not through the centre, with this 'skin' becoming thinner with frequency increase. Granted though 20 KHz, the top limit of human hearing, the skin effect is still negligible. But, that is my reason for incorporating foil into the design, and if that has any effect it will help to work against any unwanted capacitance. And if it does have slightly increased capacitance, then it will have a lower inductance, and given the reason mentioned earlier, this should hopefully make it more neutral throughout the entire frequency range.
infinia- I spent a good deal of time finding the right foil, finally found a half used roll in the back of the pantry so that should be good enough.
I have uploaded an annotated photo, taken at two points during construction, for those interested. The below link is to a photo of the completed cables, but without the final layer of insulation and plugs. To get the braiding I stripped an old mic lead and removed the braiding by bunching it up, then put it on my cables and stretched it out again. The little black bits seen through the braiding are just small tabs of insulation tape to hold the foil wrap together.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp319/flyingtele/P1020773-1.jpg?t=1246974622
454Casull- Yes capacitance crossed my mind, but as stated I am not putting huge money and time into this and if it doesnt work, then I can at least say its something I have done. I did think that having two layers of foil would create a bit more capacitance then normal, that could lead to potential treble loss. But, I chose to incorporate foil, because most conductors exhibit an effect called the skin effect.
Basically, the higher the frequency, the electrons only flow closer to the surface of the conductor and not through the centre, with this 'skin' becoming thinner with frequency increase. Granted though 20 KHz, the top limit of human hearing, the skin effect is still negligible. But, that is my reason for incorporating foil into the design, and if that has any effect it will help to work against any unwanted capacitance. And if it does have slightly increased capacitance, then it will have a lower inductance, and given the reason mentioned earlier, this should hopefully make it more neutral throughout the entire frequency range.
infinia- I spent a good deal of time finding the right foil, finally found a half used roll in the back of the pantry so that should be good enough.
I have uploaded an annotated photo, taken at two points during construction, for those interested. The below link is to a photo of the completed cables, but without the final layer of insulation and plugs. To get the braiding I stripped an old mic lead and removed the braiding by bunching it up, then put it on my cables and stretched it out again. The little black bits seen through the braiding are just small tabs of insulation tape to hold the foil wrap together.
http://i423.photobucket.com/albums/pp319/flyingtele/P1020773-1.jpg?t=1246974622
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Well I have finished them, and I am rather surprised at the result. The biggest difference is extended bass response. I would say the highs are a lot clearer as well, but that could be due to psychoacoustics, but overall I do like them a lot better than what I have, which are just generic rca leads.
I don't have an extensively elaborate system, but its adequate for my needs. I play files from my computer (all are 256 kbps or above) and from the computer I run an optical cable into a digital sony dolby decoder, and then straight into my amp which is a Craft Audio CA1, and my speakers are old B&W DM2A's, and I also run a 150W active 12" sub that I built.
I normally run the sub at +3 dB as I felt that gave a smoother more balanced sound, and I had a 2 dB boost in treble from 14 KHz up (The sony unit has a quasi parametric eq). Since using these cables I have made I now bypass the eq altogether and also run the sub at 0 dB, so for me, it was totally worth it and I am very happy with the result
I don't have an extensively elaborate system, but its adequate for my needs. I play files from my computer (all are 256 kbps or above) and from the computer I run an optical cable into a digital sony dolby decoder, and then straight into my amp which is a Craft Audio CA1, and my speakers are old B&W DM2A's, and I also run a 150W active 12" sub that I built.
I normally run the sub at +3 dB as I felt that gave a smoother more balanced sound, and I had a 2 dB boost in treble from 14 KHz up (The sony unit has a quasi parametric eq). Since using these cables I have made I now bypass the eq altogether and also run the sub at 0 dB, so for me, it was totally worth it and I am very happy with the result
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htmflyingtele said:
Simply use a Litz-type construction consisting of 20AWG or smaller conductors.
EDIT: Holy crap, just realized you are talking about interconnects, not speaker wire. The vast majority of RCA cables use conductors that do not suffer from the skin effect at audible frequencies (probably >30 kHz, even), due to their low thickness.
Yeah I realise that, but either way I am happy with the result. I did not spend much time or money on them and for the small expense I feel it is well justified. I did not put long thought into the construction, just a quick design out of my head that took various things into account, wether beneficial or not
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