DIY Cables
OleBoot
Posts: 2,774
Anyone try any of the many DIY speaker cable recipes out there on the interweb with any success? Or have their own? Didn't come up with anything searching on here. I need some not horrible cable on a tight budget.
Post edited by OleBoot on
Comments
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Just got pointed to the Douglas Connection site in another thread - good stuff there and food for thought. Th PNF Audio site s giving me a cryptic message at the moment.
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Just got pointed to the Douglas Connection site in another thread - good stuff there and food for thought. Th PNF Audio site s giving me a cryptic message at the moment.
Doug's a great guy. I suggest talking to him as he can customize the cables to be within your budget. That and he's a really cool guy. I've got a loaner set of his speaker cables and interconnects.
I put his stuff on par with my Kimber Kable Hero interconnects & Kimber Kable 8VS speaker wire. And his stuff is cheaper
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PNF Audio IIRC went under so your only going to find used stuff on the market."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Doug will sell you the raw cable--then you can diy,, highly recommended seller-- great guy to boot--I will have the opportunity of meeting him and getting a tutorial on cables this fall,,on my annual trek to the mountains of NC.
Good luck!JC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut) -
EndersShadow wrote: »Doug's a great guy. I suggest talking to him as he can customize the cables to be within your budget. That and he's a really cool guy. I've got a loaner set of his speaker cables and interconnects.
I put his stuff on par with my Kimber Kable Hero interconnects & Kimber Kable 8VS speaker wire. And his stuff is cheaper.
PNF Audio IIRC went under so your only going to find used stuff on the market.
I'll definitely get in touch with Doug when I'm ready - just got to rebuild/refinish my Monitor 10s first, which will probably take quite some time as I tend to move slow.
Just out of curiosity, anybody here have any opinions on this guy? http://www.geocities.ws/jonrisch/s2.htm -
he's a diy guru.Amplifiers: Norma IPA 140, MasterSound Compact 845, Ayre v6xe, Consonance Cyber 800
Preamp: deHavilland Ultraverve 3
Dac: Sonnet Morpheus 2, Musical Paradise mp-d2 mkIII
Transport: Jay's Audio CDT2 mk2, Lumin U1 mini
Speakers: Rosso Fiorentino Volterra II
Speaker Cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Organic Audio Organic Reference 2
Interconnects: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2, Argento Organic Reference 2, Argento Organic 2
Power Cables: Argento Organic Reference, Synergistic Research Foundation 10 and 12 ga.
Digital cables: Crystal Clear Magnum Opus 2 bnc, Tellurium Q aes, Silnote Audio Poseidon Signature 2 bnc
Puritan PSM156 -
he's a diy guru.
Thought he might be. So anyone tried any of his Belden speaker cable recommendations? -
Do they have to be good looking?
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How long is your cable requirement?Main System- Scratch built 2A3 , Lightspeed preamp, Technics SP15/Graham/XV1s,Klipschorns w/ALK xovers/Trachorns, Speakercraft MT8(4), Sonos ZP90, Yamaha Aventage for surround
Office System- Adcom GTP500, Bedini 45/45,Lexicon RT-20,Enlightened Audio DAC, Polk SDA2.3TL, Northcreek Borealis -
Speedskater wrote: »Do they have to be good looking?
Cables or DIY gurus? Cables no. -
deafbykhorns wrote: »How long is your cable requirement?
For a 2 channel system, so stereo pair, maybe 8-10 ft each. -
All my cabling is DIY, so these suggestions are from from personal experience.
For speaker cables I built these: http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html They are fantastic, but . . . . . are fairly labor intensive and must be built using Belden (or some other teflon insulated) 1585A CAT 5 wire. The inner 8 wires are the ones that have to be teflon insulated as you discard the outer sheath. Imaging, transients, and smooth response across the frequency spectrum are the outstanding qualities it brings to my system.
For IC's I built his Finesilvers, the recipe can be found here: http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html. These are astonishingly good. I built mine with Eichmann silver bullets and 32 awg teflon insulated wire I bought from McMaster-Carr. Materials cost was around $175 IIRC.
Jon Risch is a well respected DIY guru, but from the posts I've read where folks have tried both his and those of Chris VH, the Venhaus recipes are better. The only Risch cable recipe I've built is an IC I use for my subwoofer. It's good, but I've only compared it to some cheaper AR IC's, which it easily bested."Science is suppose to explain observations not dismiss them as impossible" - Norm on AA; 2.3TL's w/sonicaps/mills/jantzen inductors, Gimpod's boards, Lg Solen SDA inductors, RD-0198's, MW's dynamatted, Armaflex speaker gaskets, H-nuts, brass spikes, Cardas CCGR BP's, upgraded IC Cable, Black Hole Damping Sheet strips, interior of cabinets sealed with Loctite Power Grab, AI-1 interface with 1000VA A-L transformer -
drumminman wrote: »All my cabling is DIY, so these suggestions are from from personal experience.
For speaker cables I built these: http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html They are fantastic, but . . . . . are fairly labor intensive and must be built using Belden (or some other teflon insulated) 1585A CAT 5 wire. The inner 8 wires are the ones that have to be teflon insulated as you discard the outer sheath. Imaging, transients, and smooth response across the frequency spectrum are the outstanding qualities it brings to my system.
For IC's I built his Finesilvers, the recipe can be found here: http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html. These are astonishingly good. I built mine with Eichmann silver bullets and 32 awg teflon insulated wire I bought from McMaster-Carr. Materials cost was around $175 IIRC.
Jon Risch is a well respected DIY guru, but from the posts I've read where folks have tried both his and those of Chris VH, the Venhaus recipes are better. The only Risch cable recipe I've built is an IC I use for my subwoofer. It's good, but I've only compared it to some cheaper AR IC's, which it easily bested.
I've seen a few recipes out there using CAT5, and they've always interested me - never seen this one before, and it does look intricate and, yes, time consuming. Definitely something to add to my when I retire list (not long now!). At the moment, however, I am looking for some sort of economical but not too horrible solution for some Monitor 10s I am just about to embark on rebuilding. I was looking at Risch's recommendations on off the shelf Belden coaxial. I've never used coaxial for speaker cable before, and wondered if anybody here had. -
Audio Advisor has many no thrills AQ cables that they terminate how you want them. the type 4 at 8' pair cost $109 and the type 8 8' pair about $200. they have type 2 - rocket 33's etc..
I used the rocket 33's with my RTiA7's, but I just got some Monitor 10's and will probably have Doug make my cables this time when I figure out what I need.2 ch- Polk CRS+ * Vincent SA-31MK Preamp * Vincent Sp-331 Amp * Marantz SA8005 SACD * Project Xperience Classic TT * Sumiko Blue Point #2 MC cartridge
HT - Polk 703's * NAD T-758 * Adcom 5503 * Oppo 103 * Samsung 60" series 8 LCD -
Thanks, All. Lots to think about!
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I like good ole welding cable, #6 with a 150 or so strands. Its like bolting the amp to the back of your speaker.
Dress it up with some cool wrap and you have yourself some nice cables.Main System- Scratch built 2A3 , Lightspeed preamp, Technics SP15/Graham/XV1s,Klipschorns w/ALK xovers/Trachorns, Speakercraft MT8(4), Sonos ZP90, Yamaha Aventage for surround
Office System- Adcom GTP500, Bedini 45/45,Lexicon RT-20,Enlightened Audio DAC, Polk SDA2.3TL, Northcreek Borealis
