47 Labs OTA, a cheap alternative?

[lohk]

Well, why stripping and unbraiding CAT5 cable just to get some lenghth of thin solid core cable? I cannot get that.

Is it not better just to buy properly solid core cable (maybe silver plated and ptfd insulated) and twist it?

All the cheap CAT5 cables I tried did not sound very good - not matter how I used them. Even a simple pair of twisted wires sounded better.

Klaus

 

[Hugh M]

Well Klaus, it's fun to experiment, and this ic sounds pretty good made like the kimber, and it was free. I made my speaker cables from the stuff and really like the sound. I definatly woudn't spend enough on cables to get somthing that sounded better. Cost me some time but that is part of the hobby.
So You know. What the heck.
Hugh

 

[lohk]

Hugh,

you are right, of course. But in the same way I discovered - by trying several different wires etc. - that there are a lot more ways to get "new cables".

 

[homer09]

Strip the cat5 cable, uncross 2 pairs (4 wires), put them all straight.
Solder on the first RCA plug cross a few centimeters, put some shrinking tube, cramp the cable to the plug.
Hold the plug to something or ask for help.
With the RCA plug well secured, holding one pair in each hand, cross them tight.
Solder the other plug, some shrinking tube, hold it, done.

Let the cable -in for some days, it doesn't sound so good at first.
This is not a shielded cable, but for most line-level applications it's fine and it sounds very good indeed.

Thanks carlos, i will put this on the list for a future project. Just one thing i'm unclear on:

4 conductors, 2 for signal and 2 for ground right?
My question is, when you say "holding one pair in each hand, cross them tight" what do you mean by pair? is it a pair of hot and a pair of cold, or a pair is one cold and one hot?

if you also have a link to a website with pics, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[analog_sa]

All the cheap CAT5 cables I tried did not sound very good - not matter how I used them. Even a simple pair of twisted wires sounded better

Cannot agree more. Never tried any complex geometries as the basic sound character put me off too much. As my CAT5 was not even teflon insulated i tried cotton insulation in place of the PVC - better but just not good enough.

 

[edjosh23]

Using my Denon amp I usually listen using a digital coaxial. Would the RCA that I made with the coaxial cores be useful for a digital coaxial? Would it be 75ohm?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[carlosfm]

4 conductors, 2 for signal and 2 for ground right?

Right.

what do you mean by pair? is it a pair of hot and a pair of cold

Yes, that's it.
Hold the two ground wires on one hand and the two signal wires on the other hand and cross them tight.
It's not exactly "a la Kimber" like you saw on that pic, but the results are good and the cable looks better. The wires are too thin to be used "a la Kimber".

Beware, this is a good sounding cable, although of course there is better and you can diy better (at a price).
But as it is, even with the PVC insulation and made this way, it beats most 150~200 Euros commercial interconnect cables.
So now you see how most audiophiles are assaulted.

 

[Hugh M]

Hugh,

you are right, of course. But in the same way I discovered - by trying several different wires etc. - that there are a lot more ways to get "new cables".

Hey Klaus
One of the nicer cables I accuired(read free) was a length of Beldon 9778 which i think is no longer available. It is coaxial mic cable with a neoprene center insulation. My friend and I compared it with Ultralink Discovery and it was a little beter than that. This from memory of course. I have 2 sets of UltraLink Ultima ic's( they were a gift) and they are a nice sounding cable but retail for 150 cdn. I have compared them to the Kimber Silver Streak and I prefered the Ultima. Thats just personal taste tho. Rat Shack used to sell the Discovery cable for 99c /ft and I still have a couple of 6 or 8 ft lengths around around. I use it for the HT setup. I think also at some time I tried RG 58 stranded core but didn't like it much and used the rca's for something else. Might try two centre conductors sometime.
If you've got any ideas you'd like to share I'd be interested.
Hugh

 

[edjosh23]

I put the core coaxial RCA in as my digital coaxial and it works great. Much better than my monster video cable although it is a $35 RCA. The highs are much much much better, I feel like I've been missing some music until I put this RCA in. I wanted to thank you all for telling me to try making an RCA because this free project turned out much better than expected. I also wanted to mention when used as a digital coaxial the bass seems to kick in much more

Thanks,

Josh

 

[tom1356]

You could always make your own. The wood ones I make use 32 awg silver wire and sound amazing. The picture also shows a teflon panel mount jack. I now make them out of wood and the two conectors together are indistinguishable from a hard soldered connection with the convience of being able to take the components apart.
good luck!

 

[PauSim]

Has anyone explored the possibility of using just the core of a coax cable? There must also be coax cables in the AWG 26 range with solid cores and teflon insulation. This may be closer to the OTA cable since i hear it has a thick jacket (about like the inside jacket of a coax).

YES

I was reading the 6moons review when I realized the OTA kit looked like stripped cores of coax. I always thought it was just bare wire that would have to be carefully pulled inside a plastic jacket, from some other reviewer´s words, but finally the 6moons pictures showed what it´s all about IMHO. After that, searching through diyAudio I came across your post and looks like you were there first so kudos to you

I bought 10 meters of RG59 for € 4 (that´s right: 4 euros total) at a local supplier and made myself a pair of interconnect and speaker cables in about two hours.

Here are they in action:

 

[homer09]

and how do they sound?

 

[karma]

nice have a closer pic?

 

[PauSim]

and how do they sound?

They sound just like a straight wire that connects A to B

Well, I like the ICs so much I´m gonna ebay a lot of other DIY cables LOL.

Both (spkr & IC) sound more or less the same.

I think the first thing one notices is the total lack of colouration except for bass response on the spkr cables. They do not lose in any of the frequency extremes, but the speaker cables sound a litlle shy in the bass, in terms of amplitude. This is certainly due to the 26awg, and I believe the OTA sounds the same. Doubling and even quadrupling the runs will help, but that will mean serious mess of cables around...

One thing about these ICs compared to single untwisted runs of Cat5 is that not only they do not sound as brighty or lean, sometimes certain instruments sound shall we say "palpable".The thicker insulation must be playing some role here, protecting the thin wire from outside vibration (i.e. sound waves). Either that or I´m nuts.

Details are all there too, down to spitting lips and breaths. On the Norah Jones CD you see in the picture, in the opening bars of Sunrise we can hear her taking a deep breath before she starts to sing. This must have passed unnoticed to the mixing engineer´s ears I´m not saying other cables won´t let you hear it, but with these ICs I noticed clearly for the first time.

A funny thing I missed was some euphonic signature other types of cables may have, even simple twisted pairs. There´s nothing you can say such as " ahh, just listen to that balance. Oh, and those crystaline highs" or whatever. If one wants to turn on the system just to listen to this new creation one may as well get bored and go find another DIY recipe in search of the musical Nirvana when at least these cables what they´re doing is getting you closer to the music as it was recorded.

 

[homer09]

thanks for your observations. i wanted to try out my idea of using just the inside of a coax cable, but i had a hard time confirming if the insulation is teflon or not.

is the white insulation found in generic coax teflon? or did u find a special coax cable?

 

[PauSim]

More pix:

 

[PauSim]

Another one:

 

[PauSim]

And another:

 

[PauSim]

Homer, this is just ordinary RG59. My guess the insulation is polythilene, as it melts pretty quickly. Except for dampening properties, I´m not sure if Teflon would sound better as the wires are meant to be widely spread apart and so, capacitance is not an issue. If some Belden 1695a is used, any improvement in sonics must be due to better wire quality, if there´s any.

 

[PauSim]

As you can see I used some cheap plugs, for one of the OTA cable claims is the less metal in the connections the better. I applied some heatshrink for strainrelief and to protect the joints as I couldn´t find the plastic barrels
If I knew the ICs sounded this good I would have discarded the Bullet Plugs from my previous "reference" silver / cotton ICs. Now they´re off to Ebay.

Tomorrow I´ll get some rubber O-rings to make the proper termination.