Copper foil speaker cables

[Zodiac]

My attempt at making copper foil cables for my forthcoming Linkwitz Orion speaker.

The magic ingredients:

1*Solo CFAC 0.3mH 14 AWG inductor
1*Duck Premium Grip Liner in Black
1*Roll of double sided cloth carpet tape

A picture of the ingredients:

[Zodiac]

Here is a shot of the cable showing the underside.

I used the grip liner to give the cable some strength and bulk. As a plus it looks quite cool

[Zodiac]

I mounted the cables side by side instead of on top of each other to reduce the capacitance slightly

The construction was simple:

1) Attach double sided tape to grip liner
2) Attach foil inductor to double sided tape. The CFAC inductor has a polyester film inbetween the layers of foil. I used this as a top insulator for the foil. The foil is therefore in direct contact with the adhesive on one side. I read some stuff about oxidisation problems when copper comes into contact with adhesive due to chlorine leakage. I will have to wait and see.....
3)Trim excess double sided tape and grip liner

[Zodiac]

No listening tests as yet, I am planning on making another pair to replace my Naim NACA5 in my present system which does not yet include the Orions, which are slowly being constructed

[Killjoy99]

I've been planning on making a pair of speaker cables the same way. I bought a 1mH Alpha Core Inductor but am having trouble finding the right insulator. I like the idea of using a single sided tape and just sandwiching each conductor between it, so I've been looking at 3M's product line.

They have a real nice and strong Polyurethane Tape made specifically for Abrasion, erosion, scratch, puncture, and impact resistance. It's only downfall is the very high price and the availability. Most of the line comes in around $60-$150 USD.

3M™ Polyurethane Long-Term Protective Tapes

They also have some nice Polyester Tape that could also work but much of it is thin and may not keep the wire from being stretched, bent, etc.

3M™ Polyester Film Tapes

I'm going to have pictures of my progress up pretty soon.

- Brian

[Zodiac]

According to my references, dielectric (insulator) is not very important for speaker cables, hence I just used what I found. I too was planning on using some adhesive PTFE tape that was £50 for 10m, but the cost seemed in excess of the benefits..

See below:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...bsorption.html

and

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/spkcbl_e.html

Note that dielectric is very important for interconnects (not speaker cable) due to the high terminating impedance. I am planning on making some interconnects from thin wall PFTE tube and foil, such that the foil only just touches the tube.

[Kal]

Hello,

as far as I know, the famous flat cables made by Allan Wright (www.vacuumstate.com) are insulated with TESA-FILM - the German brand name for an adhesive tape. At least some of his cable kits are said to use such tape.

I think that the dielectric is very important with flat cables due to the large surface which is in contact with the dielectric...
But that is just my theoretical point of view, up to now no real experience.

Good luck

[Zodiac]

If you read the article above regarding dielectric absortion, you will see that is not a very important factor wrt speaker cables

My tape was cloth, which being fabric has a very low DA, I'm not sure what the effect of adhesive is, it is not a subject much discussed

Tesa is just the name of a tape manufacturer like 3M, they make all different types of tape

[Killjoy99]

One of the biggest reasons that I was researching into the 3M tapes was their strength. I want to create a cable that is tightly laminated with a strong "plastic" insulator that will keep the cable from easily being damaged from normal use. All of us could probably buy some transparent packaging tape and use that on both side of the foil but give it a month and they would look like a wrinkled piece of newspaper.

The stronger tapes should keep the foil from bending for the most part and stop it from creasing.

I would comment about the dielectric properties but i've got a lack of knowledge to that respect.

I guess either way some of those rolls of tape are way to expensive for most of us, including myself.

[rentiap]

Hello;
I constructed three sets of silver foil speaker cables approx. 2 years ago the first set was for myself the other two sets for friends.

I used double sided carpet tape with both + and- leads on oposite sides covered with crystal clear packing tape .
Silver foil is .003 x 1in.
These cables are amazing ( although they do need about 500 hours break in) they beat the crap out of every other cables that I have heard....
I have seen zero signs of oxidation.
Regards.
Craig.