cable parts

navi · « **on:** 23 Oct 2003, 01:02 pm »

i'm looking for copper braided shield- does anyone know where i can get it in australia?

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Oct 2003, 09:24 pm »

I used copper braided cable and sacrificed the cable.
If you want a thick braid Dick Smith has a 10mm diameter (part no W 2099).

bluesky · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Oct 2003, 11:17 pm »

Hi

I did the same thing as Malcolm when constructing interconnects to his design with Cat5e teflon coated wire (Belden 1585A) that I got from Take Five Audio in Canada. Also you can ask the staff at DSE if they have any old stock of cable with copper braid and they usually have "something out the back" that want to get rid of and they will give a big discount just to get rid of it.

I would recommend Take Five Audio, Gene Evely is very helpful and his prices are very reasonable. I also got the order well within a week.

At the moment he stocks all sorts of Belden braiding and shielding but what took my interest was Cardas pure silver 24AWG wire for $1.29 a foot, the teflon tubing to fit is only 62 cents a foot. The Canadian dollar is roughly in parity with the Australian dollar so it is a good deal.

Lastly, I was wondering if simply using kitchen alumium foil would provide the necessary shielding at a fraction of the cost? Would this work? It just seems to me that some cables boast aluminium foil shielding and I wonder if this is any different from the kitchen foil stuff.

Cheers, Ian

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #3 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 12:07 am »

Hi bluesky
Why did you shield the CAT 5 interconnects? I've never bothered.
I have even run unshielded CAT 5 interconnects from an outboard phono stage (NAD) to my pre amp, without any problems (no hum).
I vaguely recollect reading somewhere, that shielding may not sound as good as having no shielding. I don't remember where (that is happening a lot lately).

bluesky · « **Reply #4 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 04:06 am »

Hi Malcolm

I shielded them after reading of Larry's advice regarding interferance from outside sources. From memory I believe he mentioned this problem at the Aksafest in Sydney.

By the way I am having ongoing problems with my Aksa TLP preamp and watt Nirvana amps despite having sent them to Hugh recently to check everything for me. I still only get hum at turn on and I am getting quite frustrated with not being able to hear them.

Any ideas on what may be wrong? (I have emailed Hugh and I am awaiting his advice as well).

Do you think I should discard the shielding?

Ian

bluesky · « **Reply #5 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 07:23 am »

Just a follow up from the previous post. Hugh has emailed me with a fix to my problem.

Excellent service as always, I really don't know anyone who provides such a service level from any business, let alone a one man operation which not only designs and produces the product, but also provides backup second to none.

Cheers, Ian

bluesky · « **Reply #6 on:** 25 Oct 2003, 07:23 am »

Just a follow up from the previous post. Hugh has emailed me with a fix to my problem.

Excellent service as always, I really don't know anyone who provides such a service level from any business, let alone a one man operation which not only designs and produces the product, but also provides backup second to none.

Cheers, Ian

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Oct 2003, 09:45 pm »

Hi Ian
I have never bothered with shielding, so don't know what effect it will have.
I accept the fact that I get crackles from the neon lights, washing machine and fridge.

Has the hum gone away? What was the fix? I've never had hum (except for 10 seconds at turn on).

bluesky · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Oct 2003, 01:38 am »

Hi Malcolm

The fix was that I needed was to connect the premp earth to the star earth on the main power amp as I was apparently getting "common ground interference", please note that I have two separate boxes for the amp and preamp. In addition, the Alps volume pot was cactus and I have just replaced it with a cheap Jaycar one for the time being until I canafford a proper Alps.

With this done I am now getting music......... at last! But there is still some residual hum and Hugh advises to connect the premp earth mains to the little aluminium box I made to shield the transformer. Also I need to shift things around a bit to try and find the optimum position for the transformers to reduce the residual hum I have left. Strangely, the CD player seems to have quite some effect on hum as well and Hugh recommends connecting this to star earth as well but I am not quite sure how this can be done.

I have just bought a pair of 1973 vintage Magnavox full range drivers off Ebay for only $20. They are in quite good condition and I am going to try and build a set of Voight Pipes to try out the full range driver experience. I know you love your Diatones but I doubt that these drivers would be in the same league as your Diatones.

Lastly I have not noticed any clicks or pops using the shielded interconnects, thus they do appear to work as intended as I was getting some intereference before using cheap unshielded interconnects.

Cheers, Ian

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 Nov 2003, 08:23 pm »

Strange that you are still getting hum.
Have you tried plugging the cd player straight into the power amp? Don't play anything as it will be too loud.

Good luck with the Voight pipes. I spent a lot of time in playing around wiith stuffing. Good quality felt stuck on the inside walls and dacron (pillow stuffing) fixed it.