Silver DIY Interconnects

I've very much enjoyed the insight provided by these discussions, especially when they remain civil, as this thread has; and appreciate Sean and others who try to explain how different parameters influence sound without getting into "my way is better than your way" matches.

Now, I'm fairly new to this and am still trying to learn; but here is where I'm at along the DIY IC path:

My system tends to be bit too bright, probably due to the NHT 2.9's that I'm using (Rotel power, Chiro pre, Cambridge Audio CD500SE), and the tile floor that they're sitting on; so my objective is to bring in a little more bass and mid-warmth. Actually, achieving more bass and warmth is probably the result of reining in the highs, rather than an increase in the former.

1) I've become indoctrinated in the signal jumping problems of stranded wire theory, primarily from Greg Weaver's writings, so I've stuck to solid core wires. I realize that there's no consensus on this.

2) I'm using copper, again for warmth.

3) I often read that capacitance is bad for IC's, though some respected commercial cables have fairly high capacitance. I believe in another thread that Sean indicated more capacitance provides more warmth; so it seems that maybe some capacitance is OK for some situations. I've tried Weaver's RS wire and tape IC's, and Chris's recipe substituting copper for silver. Both approaches result in cables which are very low in capacitance; but they're both too bright in my system.

So, the geometry that I'm using now (not my idea, but I'm not sure who to credit) is cross-wrapping two 30 ga. teflon insulated copper wires on a 10 gauge teflon core, with about a thumbnail's spacing in between each coil. For now I'm just using the cheap plastic RS RCA's, figuring that once I get a geometry that works well in my system, I can upgrade the plugs. For me, this has helped the bass/mid-range without any noticeable detriment to detail. I'm thinking about adding two more runs of the 30 ga. along the same cores, offset 90º from the existing two, to see how far I can go before capacitance, time smears, or whatever else might cause a problem, surfaces.

It's enjoyable to me anyway, and inexpensive, to try different geometries with essentially the same materials and achieve different results.

Hi Wdi!
Interesting! I'll keep that recipee in mind so i can compare with other "constructions".
Cheers!

Wdi: If you are looking for a cable that is characterized as sounding "warm and smooth" or "musical" by many folks that have heard them, try building a pair of Jon Risch's SSTP ( Solid / Stranded Twisted Pair ) cables. This makes use of copper cores extracted from what starts out as Belden 89259 and Belden 89248. The 89259 is a stranded copper / teflon cable and the 89248 is a solid copper / teflon cable.

Jon was originally using two of the stranded cores and Thorsten Loesch and i suggested that he try using solid core wire. Jon experimented with two identical gauge solid core / teflon wires and said that it sounded very good, but had a noticeable "honk" to the midrange. He then tried two solid copper / teflon cables of different gauges, but the "honk" was still barely present. He began experimenting with mixing / matching solid stranded wires of various gauges and came up with the design that i mentioned above.

His thoughts on this were that by using two completely different wires, the cable would not have any one significant factor to reinforce specific sonic characteristics or contribute to a distinct sound. By taking this approach, one would stagger any resonances / electrical characteristics of either cable far enough apart from each other so as to minimize their individual contributions to what one heard as an end result.

The cable uses two different gauges and styles of conductors ( 18 gauge solid and 22 gauge stranded )and offers very reasonable impedance characteristics. It is low enough in inductance to reduce the potential for RFI yet low enough in capacitance to not roll off the frequency extremes. Unlike speaker cables whre high inductance is bad, high capacitance is the enemy in interconnects.

Jon recommends using the stranded 22 gauge wire as the "hot" and the 18 gauge solid as the "ground". I tried that configuration and found it to be a bit tizzy sounding. If one has a dull sounding system, one might prefer this method since it does sound a bit "hotter". I then reversed the wiring i.e. the 18 gauge solid for the "hot" and the 22 gauge stranded as the "ground" and liked it a LOT better. While i know that music is an AC signal and that it must pass through both conductors, and that theoretically, the sound should not change with either configuration, it has been my experience that the sound DOES change.

Having said the above, i know of several regulars on AA that have tried building the 89259 / 89248 "SSTP's" using both methods of construction. All of those that i know that have compared both methods have always chosen the method that i suggested to them. That is, they thought that using the 89248 solid core wire as the hot sounded better / more natural than if they used the 89259 stranded core as the hot.

Personally, i think that this is a very good sounding cable when properly built. That is, so long as one uses good quality connectors and solder and follows the directions. It may lack some "sparkle" and "air" up top if one is used to a very bright and / or lean cable, but it is basically a very neutral performer that performs to a level that is WAY beyond the expenses incurred. I think that most people find it "warm" simply because there is a complete lack of upper midrange glare or sibilance present. That is, IF the gear that it is connected to is of good quality. Otherwise, i think that the cable is neutral enough to pass on whatever is fed into it.

If one were looking for a bit more top end extension while retaining the basic "neutral" characteristics of this cable, one could substitute the core of a Belden 1506A cable for that of the 89248 in the "hot" position. This moves the solid core conductor from an 18 gauge up to a 20 gauge and still achieves Jon's goals of staggered gauges / resonances.

Obviously, the basic design that Jon came up with can be used as a food for thought. Other types of wire ( various gauges & materials ) can be substituted as one desires to suite their systems and "wire beliefs". One can use a 24 or 26 gauge copper wire with a 30 gauge silver conductor ( for example ) and "fine tune" the design until they find what they like. Hope some of you find this idea intriguing enough to try it out for yourself. It would be WELL worth it : ) Sean
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Audioengr: Even if one were to find "100% pure silver", I would not consider the difference of .05% over the 99.95% purity level of the jewelry store wire to be "much purer". I know that there are those ( probably you included ) that will tell me that such differences are clearly audible, but i have a REAL hard time believing that. Sean
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Sean is absolutely right about purity of silver. Since we're not talking about over 100 feet interconnect, there is no real difference between the 99.9% fine silver from jewelry store vs the medical grade 99.999%. I have many different brands of top of line silver cables out there and they claimed that it's 99.999 and 99.99 percent and I don't hear much difference in terms of silver sonic character. The real difference is geometry, thickness, connectors and build quality. Like sean said, play around with different gauge for both ground and signal.