Cheap, simple and very good diy interconnects

[Mad_K]

While it didn't seem like a whole lot of of people took me seriosly when I told you about the "GainWire" ( http://diyaudio.com/forums/showthrea...921#post287921 ) I'm hoping you will this time.

Here's a cheap, easy to make and very good performing interconnect:

1. Get some 30AWG "Wirewrap wire". The one you want is made of silvered solid core copper with teflon coating. Here's an example http://www.elfa.se/elfa/produkter/no/178479.htm

Price is about 25 cents/meter

This cable you can also use as internal signal and power wiring in all line-level equipment.


2. Get your favourite RCA/XLR connectors (I use Neutrik's -very good and reasonably priced)

Price: RCA $2 a piece, XLR=$7.

3. Cut to length, twist with a hand-drill and solder your plugs (solder with some percentage of silver is recommended). I also use some Polyolefin heatshrink inside the plugs to make the strain relief effective.


So, there you are:

1m pair of RCA cables: ~$10

1m pair of XLR cables: ~$30

For those who are interested; the capacitance is about 20pF/m. If you desire a more rugged cable, you can thread the twisted pairs through some PTFE tube of suitable diameter.

[Mad_K]

If you require a screened version, you can get some screened heatshrink tubing http://www.elfa.se/elfa/produkter/no/177861.htm




The finished cables:

[Mad_K]

I sincerely hope some of you will try this one. My Nordost Solar Wind's are for sale if anyone's interested





A closeup:

[cowanrg]

hum, i just see some connectors in the pictures, but where is the wire?

those are TINY.

[Mad_K]

Maybe you need some glasses

Yes they are thin, but also pretty tough because of the teflon coating. You want thin cables to achieve high bandwith.

I forgot to mention; it took me about 2 hours to make these two sets..

[cowanrg]

hum, i knew someone who made some just like that, 20awg, silver coated copper, teflon insulated. they sounded so terrible. im not sure what happened.

[Mad_K]

Terrible you say? The cables I made sounds really nice, and they haven't even burned in yet. They do however sound a tiny little bit brighter than for example my GainWire (made the same way, but with 24AWG magnet wire and PTFE tubing). These are also a little clearer/more revealing. Maybe if you have a overly bright sounding system or equipment that should be masked by some cable-effects this one is not for you

edit: with my el cheapo/xbzls/balanced gainclone I prefered the GainWire-interconnects, but with the pacific/bzls/soz I think this one is much better. Haven't found a catchy name yet though

[slowmotion]

Mad_K, all

I've done the same , using the same wire-wrap wire from Elfa,
the resulting cables sound pretty good, very open
I soldered mine directly to the amplifiers, no phono plugs.

For those who are interested; the capacitance is about 20pF/m.

Thanks for that , I wasn't sure

cheers,

[Mad_K]

-You're welcome. They where measured with a very expensive LCR meter at work, and showed 20-30pF depending on how tight it was twisted.

Glad you like it too; I'm getting a little ****ed when I think about that people feel they need to buy cables for thousands of dollars. (I'm also a little ****ed at myself -I used to be one of those people until I escaped from Audio Hell )

[planet10]

Originally posted by cowanrg
20awg, silver coated copper, teflon insulated

20 guage is too thick... i've used 33 guage with PVC from Radio Shack, the teflon is better (but more expensive). you can play with geometry a bit and get further improvements -- ie wrap the wire around teflon core from high end cable-vision wire (it is some work to remove the outer cover, braid & inner conductor).

dave