GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball

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Rock Ball

GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« on: 7 Sep 2020, 03:03 pm »
My brother bought Danny's speaker cables kit and realized he didn't have the proper equipment to assemble them, so I built them for him. 

Danny gave him instructions on how to put them together, but I don't think I followed those instructions exactly.  Here are some photos of how I built my brother's cables.  I'm not saying to do it this way.  I'm just posting pictures for those who like to look at pictures.

The downside is that it took me about 12 hours to assemble, due to my OCD.  The upside is that I got to listen to the cables for a day before my brother picked them up.  Unfortunately, these cables sounded much better than the new cables I just bought from another company.  Now, I'll have to assemble a new set for myself after I order them from Danny.

Here are some photos.

First of all, the cable is beautiful.  It's constructed of 24 wires (12 white/12 clear) braided in a way that forms a tube.


I separated the wire into two twisted groups.


Each wire contained 7 strands of different gauges.  For each wire, I isolated the two largest strands from the rest.




I took the larger strands from all the wires and twisted them together so that they would fit into a male tube connector.


These fit very tightly.  I did not crimp the tube because I wanted to keep it round.


I soldered inside the tube first.




I wrapped the remaining smaller strands from all the wires around the outside of the tube connector and soldered them.




I applied heat shrink.  Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

(My OCD failed me.  I didn't notice that I had the red and black heat shrink swapped, but the mistake was obvious the first second I listened to the cables.  I had to redo the heat shrink only on these two.)

I applied the white heat shrink over Danny's 'secret sauce' wrap (in red box) before the Y and covered all of that with white heat shrink.


I didn't use tube connectors on the opposite end so I formed it for bare wire use.


I ran out of red and white heat shrink.  Here are the final results.


I drew red boxes around the secret sauce.


Here's a quote from my brother after he put them in his system:
"I don't think I have ever heard such a significant difference in a cable or speaker wire as these."

I agree.

Hobbsmeerkat

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #1 on: 7 Sep 2020, 03:13 pm »
Beautiful work! I'd love to hear them someday, but I've spent enough money for the time being.. :P
Ill stick to my cheap zipcord for now... :P

mlundy57

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #2 on: 7 Sep 2020, 04:03 pm »
What's this "secret Sauce", I didn't get any with my cables  :cry:

I did mine similar except I did crimp the tube connectors and used clear shrink wrap so not as pretty.



Instead of bare wire at the amp end I used Furutech locking banana plugs



 :thumb: :thumb:

Rock Ball

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #3 on: 7 Sep 2020, 04:17 pm »
What's this "secret Sauce", I didn't get any with my cables  :cry:
I'll let Danny chime in on the 'secret sauce' since I didn't speak directly to him about what they are.

Instead of bare wire at the amp end I used Furutech locking banana plugs
 :thumb: :thumb:
I like those banana plugs that you used


SoCalWJS

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #4 on: 7 Sep 2020, 04:29 pm »
Rock Ball - Beautiful work! Those terminations look very Professional. If I tried to make them look like that, it would take me a week and they would look like a Crafts project from an 8 year old’s Summer Camp session.

Well done!

Which cables are those? I see the Electra’s on the website, and these look different.

jn316

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #5 on: 7 Sep 2020, 04:45 pm »
Do they come pre-braided? I'm assuming no as that probably was the bulk of your 12 hours constructing them.

mlundy57

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #6 on: 7 Sep 2020, 05:07 pm »
Do they come pre-braided? I'm assuming no as that probably was the bulk of your 12 hours constructing them.

Yes, they come braided. You have to unbraid them to put on the connectors.

Rock Ball

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #7 on: 7 Sep 2020, 05:12 pm »
Rock Ball - Beautiful work! Those terminations look very Professional. If I tried to make them look like that, it would take me a week and they would look like a Crafts project from an 8 year old’s Summer Camp session.

Well done!

Which cables are those? I see the Electra’s on the website, and these look different.

Thank you.

These are not the same cables that are shown on Danny's website.

The cables look just like these:
https://www.kimber.com/products/12TC

Early B.

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #8 on: 7 Sep 2020, 05:12 pm »
I purchased a set of Electra B-6 speaker cables from Danny last month, but asked him to perform the labor -- male tube connectors on the speaker end and bananas on the amp end. Geez, 12 hours of OCD??? -- glad I didn't go DIY on these.

Anyway, the speaker cables sound fantastic. A real no brainer for the price. What I really don't like about them is the white color. They scream at you from across the room. So I covered them with 3/4" black tech flex.   


Early B.

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #9 on: 7 Sep 2020, 05:19 pm »
Thank you.

These are not the same cables that are shown on Danny's website.

The cables look just like these:
https://www.kimber.com/products/12TC

Huh?

In your original post, you said your brother bought Danny's speaker cables, but these aren't Danny's speaker cables???? Are you saying they're rebranded Kimber cables?
 

jn316

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #10 on: 7 Sep 2020, 05:34 pm »
Yes, they come braided. You have to unbraid them to put on the connectors.
Great! Hmmm...wasn't planning on speaker wires just yet but I'm going to place an order for some subs this week so I might have to ask Danny about them.

Elizabeth

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #11 on: 7 Sep 2020, 06:03 pm »
well after reading this as of GR was copying Kimber 8TC  i went to check on what GR really is using as it is nothing like the (apparent clone as the Kimber-clone uses different gauge wires but not the large difference seen in the photos. So IMO this similar looking to Kimber 8TC is not Kimber 8TC but some aftermarket clone most likely from China?) used in this thread
Anyway the title of this thread is utterly misleading as the wire is not GR and the construction technique is only vaguely similar to GR's.
So all in all I would wonder why it has a header GR Research speaker cables at all.
I send Danny a note telling him of this travesty of a thread

Early B.

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #12 on: 7 Sep 2020, 06:27 pm »
well after reading this as of GR was copying Kimber 8TC  i went to check on what GR really is using as it is nothing like the (apparent clone as the Kimber-clone uses different gauge wires but not the large difference seen in the photos. So IMO this similar looking to Kimber 8TC is not Kimber 8TC but some aftermarket clone most likely from China?) used in this thread

These aren't clones. Although Kimber and Danny's cables are similar in appearance, the descriptions are totally different:

Electra B-6:
The B-6 speaker cable uses six 16 gauge conductors made from four 9's purity, solid core Copper. The dielectric material is made from a 30 mil polyethylene insulator. Three conductors are used for positive and three are used for negative. The total gauge is just over 11 gauge per leg. These six conductors are braided in a counter rotating geometry around a poly-cotton core to cancel out RFI and EMI effects resulting in a lower noise floor. ERS paper shielding is also used.

Kimber 8TC:
- 16 strands of 19.5 AWG OFE (oxygen free electrolytic) copper with industry leading conductivity. (102% IACS).
- Aggregate combination of 8, 19.5AWG strands=9AWG per +/- leg.
- Teflon insulation. White/Clear

Kimber 12TC:
- 24 strands of 19.5 AWG OFE (oxygen free electrolytic) copper with industry leading conductivity. (102% IACS).
- Aggregate combination of 12, 19.5AWG strands=8AWG per +/- leg.
- Teflon insulation. White/Clear

Also note that Kimber is significantly more expensive.


mlundy57

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #13 on: 7 Sep 2020, 07:29 pm »
This cable and the B6 are not the same.

Danny Richie

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #14 on: 7 Sep 2020, 07:32 pm »
Guys, we've been trying out this new cable for a while now and I decided that I liked it better than the hand braided cable that we were making with our internal wire.

You might have see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0s6KqQz3g&t=352s

We are buying it in bulk from a supplier already braided. I don't know if it is the same supplier Kimber gets their wire from or not. It does look identical in every way that I can see. And it is not cheap. But no more hours of hand braiding.

This one shown here is a 24 conductor cable just like the Kimber 12TC cable.

I also have several hundred meters of the 16 conductor cable just like the Kimber 8TC.

So here is the deal:

For $39 you get your choice of tube connectors, spades, or banana's, the secret source ESR paper strips, solder, and heat shrink.

The 24 conductor cable is $13.50 a foot.

The 16 conductor cable is $9.50 a foot.

In the end it not only sounds really good, but is a LOT less expensive then the Kimber brand.

Keep in mind though, that you guys have to terminate the ends yourself. This is not a fully assembled, ready to plug and play, cable.   


jn316

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Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #15 on: 7 Sep 2020, 07:41 pm »
And I think you referenced this cable in the third video of Ron's visit to GR Research when you were talking about the cables you were using in your system and mentioned that the speaker cables were something you were trying out and might sell....something like that.

Danny Richie

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #16 on: 7 Sep 2020, 07:51 pm »
And I think you referenced this cable in the third video of Ron's visit to GR Research when you were talking about the cables you were using in your system and mentioned that the speaker cables were something you were trying out and might sell....something like that.

Yes.

And they really are very good.

Early B.

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #17 on: 7 Sep 2020, 08:10 pm »
Danny --

OK, so I don't have the Electra B-6 speaker cable. I have the new cable that appears identical to Kimber 12TC cable, but is "modified" with ESR paper. Is that correct?

You got a name for these speaker cables???

Geez, man -- I'll be glad when you get your new website up and running.     

SoCalWJS

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #18 on: 7 Sep 2020, 08:36 pm »
Yes.

And they really are very good.
Have you compared them to the Electra’s? Any circumstances where your preference for one over the other would change?

I imagine it takes a few dollars more to get enough heat shrink, plus some manpower hours (“Peoplepower”?, “Personpower”?) to get them terminated. Looks like it wouldn’t take too long if had all the supplies on hand as well as some experience soldering and with heat shrink, especially with the nice photo tutorial in this thread. :thumb:

Something to think about. Seems like a really good deal for those in the market.

(PS - plan to shoot you an email to order some x-over stuff)

Danny Richie

Re: GR-Research Speaker Cables build by Rock Ball
« Reply #19 on: 7 Sep 2020, 08:36 pm »
Danny --

OK, so I don't have the Electra B-6 speaker cable. I have the new cable that appears identical to Kimber 12TC cable, but is "modified" with ESR paper. Is that correct?

If it looks like this then you do.

Quote
You got a name for these speaker cables???

I guess I should figure that out.

Quote
Geez, man -- I'll be glad when you get your new website up and running.   

Oh, I know...