DIY cable project...

congalocke · « **on:** 26 Aug 2003, 05:08 am »

I read a thread over on the Harmonic Discord site that I thought was interesting:

http://www.harmonicdiscord.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8660

I was wondering if anybody has had a chance to try this recipe as I am very interested.

Love the site!
conga

Ferdi · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 Aug 2003, 08:44 am »

Hi, many of the people running around HD can now be found here. Make sure you read the subsequent pages of the HD discussion as well.

But yes, I have built and used this recipe. Always experimenting but for me the results have been good.

Ferdi

congalocke · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Aug 2003, 03:23 am »

Ferdi,

Alright! I have read around and seen your graphic but didn't connect the name.

I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to splice wire for most of the day...I am currently trying to find someone on the east coast who can pick me up a couple of rolls. Called up a cable distributor and the salesman asked me what I needed it for. I should have lied but told him it was for speaker and interconnect wire. He promptly told me it wouldn't work and tried to get me to get something else....I just wanna try the recipe.

So Ferdi, how do you like the cable. Is it a keeper in your system or could you give or take it??

Thanks
conga

Ferdi · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Aug 2003, 12:45 pm »

It is significantly bettet than my Monster i800. Different in character than my Groneberg but that is more a matter of taste and system synergy.

It is definitely something to try.

BTW, I am using some other cable made/marketed by Alcatel. This is Europe so I doubt that US cable makes it over here anyway.

Ferdi

_scotty_ · « **Reply #4 on:** 22 Sep 2003, 06:28 pm »

Quote from: congalocke

I read a thread over on the Harmonic Discord site that I thought was interesting:

http://www.harmonicdiscord.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8660

I was wondering if anybody has had a chance to try this recipe as I am very interested.

Love the site!
conga

The recipe is basiclly correct.No teflon,no OFC six 9's copper,no silver and
no $500.00 a foot pseudo-scientific white paper story to explain/tell you
why you must buy it. A more consistent twist can be achieved by hand twisting the speaker wire or power cord,definitely hand twist the interconnects.Geometry on the speaker wire is critical to success.The wire
used without the geometry won't work as intended.I don't know why this wire works and I don't care. Contact me if you have questions.

randytsuch · « **Reply #5 on:** 22 Sep 2003, 11:39 pm »

Quote from: _scotty_

A more consistent twist can be achieved by hand twisting the speaker wire or power cord,definitely hand twist the interconnects.Geometry on the speaker wire is critical to success.

Hi Scotty,
I always used a drill for interconnects. I use the 4 pipe rig for making speaker cables and PC's.
I think I get a more consistent twist with a drill than by hand. When I twist things by hand, they never come out even. Are there any tricks to doing it by hand?
I need to make a longer pair of IC's, so this post comes at a good time.

Randy

randytsuch · « **Reply #6 on:** 22 Sep 2003, 11:47 pm »

Quote from: congalocke

I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to splice wire for most of the day...I am currently trying to find someone on the east coast who can pick me up a couple of rolls. Called up a cable distributor and the salesman asked me what I needed it for. I should have lied but told him it was for speaker and interconnect wire. He promptly told me it wouldn't work and tried to get me to get something else....I just wanna try the re ...

Colonial Wire makes THHN wire you can use to try it with. These guys say they carry colonial
http://www.aimelectric.com/
make sure you tell them it has to be Colonial, to them it does not matter who makes the wire.

Randy

_scotty_ · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Sep 2003, 01:22 am »

Hi Randy, Experience and some luck.I have no help when I make cables
and I can stop the wire from twisting unevenly before it starts, twisting by
hand. If you are building long IC's get help and use a drill.Twisting the speaker wire and power cords by hand lets you apply a constant force that does not vary the way it does using a drill.I us the drill to hold the wire and stop it from turning as I rotate the tubes by hand. Grabing the tubes gives you a lot of leverage on the wire and makes it easy to twist very tightly and consistently.

randytsuch · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Sep 2003, 01:38 am »

Scotty,
I am build the cables by myself, so I understand the problems you have.

Have you tried holding one end of the cables in a vice, or if you don't have a vice, use a c clamp to make one, and the other in the drill. This lets you pull on the cable, and keep it straight while you twist it.

Randy

LAL · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Sep 2003, 05:09 pm »

I have access to some of the wire for Stan Warren's speaker cables so I thought I would give it a try. As I twisted the wires I had a piece of electrical tape placed about every 6 inches to hold the twist in place. I will cover the entire cable with heatshrink. I plan to leave the electrical tape in place underneath the heatshrink. Anyone know of any reason why I shouldn''t do this? Would the electrical tape have any detrimental effect on the performance of the cable? Also how many pounds of dry ice does it take to have the desired effect?

_scotty_ · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Sep 2003, 04:31 pm »

Quote from: LAL

I have access to some of the wire for Stan Warren's speaker cables so I thought I would give it a try. As I twisted the wires I had a piece of electrical tape placed about every 6 inches to hold the twist in place. I will cover the entire cable with heatshrink. I plan to leave the electrical tape in place underneath the heatshrink. Anyone know of any reason why I shouldn''t do this? Would the electrical tape have any detrimental effect on the performance of the cable? Also how many pounds of dry ice does it take to have the desired effect?

LAL, if you have a tight twist don't put any heatshrink on it.It makes the sound stage and dynamics compressed.It also is unecessary.The small amount of electrical tape shouldn't be a problem. Have fun and be sure to crimp on the connecters for the speaker wire termination.The dry ice you purchase has to last at least twenty four hours and maintain a temperature of 109 degrees below zero Fahrenheit for the entire time.
Also don't bend the wire until it is near room temperature.Same trick works on hi-fi gear also.Wrap tightly in heavy plastic trash bag to minimize condensation inside the device treat for 24 hrs. allow to warm up to room temp before for removing bag and voila' a cryogenically treated
hi-fi.

randytsuch · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Sep 2003, 06:35 pm »

Quote from: _scotty_

LAL, if you have a tight twist don't put any heatshrink on it.It makes the sound stage and dynamics compressed.It also is unecessary.

Hi Scotty,
That's interesting. Stan once told me to use heatshrink, especially on his speaker cables. He said the wire motor effects, caused by the changing magnetic fields, made the cable lose some focus if you don't heatshrink them. I have not tried them without heatshrink. Do PC, IC and speaker cables all sound better without heatshrink?

LAL,
I think you need one pound of dry ice for every lb. of material you are freezing. Did you make the 4 pipe rig for twisting the speaker cable? I don't know how you would do it without this rig, makes it pretty easy.

Randy

LAL · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Oct 2003, 05:17 pm »

Scotty,
How do you go about constructing the Stan Warren power cords. I have completed the speaker cables and one set of interconnects and am now considering tying the power cord.

_scotty_ · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 Oct 2003, 03:55 am »

Quote from: LAL

Scotty,
How do you go about constructing the Stan Warren power cords. I have completed the speaker cables and one set of interconnects and am now considering tying the power cord.

You just have built a 2 conductor powercord. When you terminate a speaker cable or a powercord look at the end of the cable and be sure to connect
opposing pairs of wires together in an X pattern not side by side. To make a 3 conductor powercord replace the string trimmer line in the center with 16ga or 18ga stranded wire from Radio Shack 15ft rolls are cheap. This wire in the center is your ground conductor. IEC
plugs for the component IEC receptacle can be found at http://www.partsexpress.com/. A word or two of caution DON'T OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS THAT CLAMP THE WIRES IN THE IEC PLUG THE SCREWS WILL STRIP. ALWAYS CHECK With AN OHM METER TO BE SURE THE GROUND WIRE IS CONNECTED TO THE GROUND TERMINAL ON BOTH ENDS OF THE POWERCORD OR YOU MAY HAVE A DEAD SHORT.

Approximately $30.00 will purchase the IEC plug and wallplug end. I purchase my ends that plug into the wall at Home Depot for about $8.00
Leviton makes a nice plug. Be sure to freeze the powercords also. It makes them sound better. Good Luck, Scotty

_scotty_ · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 Oct 2003, 03:59 am »

Quote from: randytsuch

Hi Scotty,
That's interesting. Stan once told me to use heatshrink, especially on his speaker cables. He said the wire motor effects, caused by the changing magnetic fields, made the cable lose some focus if you don't heatshrink them. I have not tried them without heatshrink. Do PC, IC and speaker cables all sound better without heatshrink?

They sound more open and uncompressed but the twist has to be tight and consistent. Not a big difference but noticeable.

lkosova · « **Reply #15 on:** 13 Oct 2003, 01:41 am »

Hi Scotty,

I find your posts interesting. I don't mean to sound dumb...but who is Stan Warren??? Is there a website???

In the VMPS awhile ago there was a review of the RM40 and the reviewer used Lowes wire. Maybe Lowes should get into the HI-FI business.

This is just funny to me reading something like WhatHiFi with all the wire reviews and comments.

Thanks,

Larry

Marbles · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Oct 2003, 02:08 am »

Stan Warren was the "S" in PS Audio.

He is a fairly well known modder and is very well respected from what I've heard.

The only knock on him is that he has much more work than he can handle so his turnaround time can be painfully slow.

His prices seem more than reasonable for the quality of the mods in most peoples opinions.

He does not have a web presence and does communication by telephone.

His turnaround time might be much better on cables as I have heard that his daughter (s) sometimes earn money making them.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 Oct 2003, 02:14 am »

A little more about Stan can be found on the PS Audio site--
http://www.psaudio.com/articles/who_we_are.asp

http://www.psaudio.com/articles/history.asp

lkosova · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 Oct 2003, 02:29 am »

Thanks,

Larry

Kim S. · « **Reply #19 on:** 6 Nov 2003, 11:54 am »

I just ordered what I hope is the proper wire from aime electric in Floridia. Their phone number is (813)752-4777. Spoke to a gentleman named Ricky. 500 ft roll of Colonial 12 gauge thhn wire costs $30.00 which is almost double what the tabu Essex wire costs at Home Depot. I ordered two rolls to get two different colors. I thought it would be too difficult to keep track of the ends if I didn't. After I ordered I realized that I could have used one color and just marked the ends before twisting. My first project will be speaker cable as I what to try bi-wiring my VMPS RM-2s. I'm a procastinator. This thread may be locked by the time I'm done!