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Try this simple DIY interconnect cable.

Okay, I'd like to weigh in here on the cable issue. First, let me make it perfectly clear that I am not the world's greatest cable expert, I have never heard Valhalla's, Jena Labs, or alot of the others. I am a regular working Joe who thinks that cables do make a difference but can't afford $5k-$10k to buy them. I tried out an idea that I read on the web, and changed it a little, and I thought it sounded great on my system. So here it is, a nice sounding IC for dirt cheap. Go to the Rat Shack and get their magnet wire pack($2.99). I used the 30ga for mine, but you get 26ga and 22ga spools in the pack so you can use thicker if you like. Go to Lowe's and get the 1/4" polyethylene tubing in the icemaker parts section(25ft for $2.50) Get a couple rolls of teflon tape($1.00). Cut off 1 meter(or what you need for each channel) of tubing. Wrap it with the teflon tape in a spiral. Take your magnet wire and wrap a spiral around the entire length with about 2" spacing(18 turns per meter).Leave a couple inches extending on both ends to solder to the connectors.Then wrap the whole length again with teflon tape as a jacket.Make sure the wire gets covered - no gaps. Then thread another piece of the same guage wire down the tube and out the other end. Leave "tails" on both ends, like before. Solder your favorite RCA plug to each end using the center conductor for signal, and spiral wrapped wire for ground. The ones I used had a spring type strain relief that fit right over the teflon covered tube perfectly and looks professional. Then make one for the other channel. Takes about 2 hours total. They're flexible, sturdy, don't fall apart, look good, and sound real good on my system. Now, you can make your comments about inductance, capacitance, whatever. What we've got here is a good sounding cable with a mild level of RF rejection, teflon dielectric, reasonable spacing between conductors, for a dirt cheap price. I would like an enterprising individual with some good quality cables to make a pair of these and see how they stack up against a good commercial product. Dr. Gizmo, where I got the basic idea from, said that they were better than all his exotic stuff. I don't know about that, but they do sound good on my system. Maybe we could all get lucky and be able to save alot of cash.Probably won't beat Valhalla, but for many of us it might be good enough. Share your thoughts, please. And I would love to hear a report from someone who made them and compared.
twl
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
Great post! Does it make a difference that the signal and ground wires are different lenghts?
twl OP
3,251 posts
 
Onhwy61, I tried the experiment first with just 2 wires, equal length, with no tubing or teflon tape just to see if I liked the sound. It seemed fine that way, and I noticed no RF problems. But, I was a little concerned about the fine wires hanging around the back of the amp being too delicate and easy to snag. So I wanted to use a tube for each wire, but that was too cumbersome and hard to attach to the RCA's. Then I figured that if I used one tube with teflon tape and wrapped the ground wire in a spiral, I could get a single normal looking IC with some RF protection and reduce the capacitive/inductive effects of 2 parallel wires running full length close together. I didn't notice any change in sound with the slightly longer ground wire. And it cleaned up the package nicely, so now I don't have to worry about it. Also, since the 1/4" tube is way oversize for the wire, the signal conductor has air dielectric for about 1/8" before there is any effect from the other materials(Yes, I know it is not centered and touches the sides here and there, but, hey for the most part it has air dielectric.)The break-in time was pretty short, only a couple of days and it smoothed out. Since I am running direct source to amp, this is the only set of IC's in the system, so it is easy to judge the differences. It was one hell of a lot better than the basic cables that I was using temporarily. Mids and bass were better and the highs benefitted the most - less rollof and clearer. This system now throws a soundstage that is deep and wide, with great imaging way outside the speaker boundaries. What can you lose for a couple of bucks? Try it, you might like it.
sean
6,229 posts
 
The late Harvey Rosenberg of Listener and NY Audio Labs popularized a similar design many years ago. You could just as easily twist the two wires around each other, creating a twisted pair. Since they are enameled, you don't have to worry about them shorting out. If you are worried about something like that, try using the individual conductors from some CAT 5 cable. The better stuff is Teflon insulated and it is solid core 24 gauge. It comes pre-made as multiple twisted pairs, so you would only have to terminate the wire into the RCA's.

David Magnan was the first one to try using MEGA thin wire for interconnects. He did this after studying time delay distortions and skin effect. He has since gone from using small gauge wires ( 36 gauge ) to conductive paint. Since the conductive paint literally has no depth, it is all "skin" for increased surface area.

As to the bottom line, i too agree that you can make some pretty phenomenal interconnects for next to nothing. Sean
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twl OP
3,251 posts
 
Sean, that is where I got the basic idea - Harvey "Dr. Gizmo" Rosenberg.
dklap
49 posts
 
what connectors do you recommend? also, instead of putting the signal wire down the middle, what about wrapping the signal wire around the tube as well, spaced out so they don't touch? and is there any advantage to using teflon tape coated polyethylene tubing rather than plain old teflon tubing? trying to figure what route to go. must upgrade from monstercable and don't want to go broke.
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