[Soundsgreat]

Hi,

Hi Guys this is the first DIY project in the forum that Am posting !! Although I have done tonnes of them but never really thought of posting here (although I have done various other forums )  !

This is my latest Project ! so thought why not give it a shot here  !

This IC project was started sometime back and due to various reasons was never able to finish it ( the latest issue being the RCA's) !

Some details of the cable, I've used 18Gauge OFC with 5Micron's pure Silver coating,the outer layer is Teflon (obvious choice ). I have used 6 wires per IC and have braided them in my own tried and tested method ! [COLOR="Red"][SIZE="3"]The length of the cable is 1 Meter .[/SIZE][/COLOR]

I have also used the Braided Shielding to cover the braided wires and avoid any possible external interface.

Above this I've used a Heat Shrink tube to sort of suck out all the air and make it Vacuum ( although its very very effective but may not 100% Vacuum ).

Next is my customary Nylon Braid for dust proofing and other purposes besides making the cable look Very good  !

After finishing just connected it and heard it for a while before posting the thread here and the initial reactions are as follows (although its strictly speaking it should have some Run-in to get a actual feel but still )

I played 5 tracks in total and this is what I think,

When I played the Allan Taylor's "Old Friends and New Roads" CD's 4 track ,the Guitar was very very natural compared to before,the background had now increased to considarable amount !

Next was Livingstone Taylors "INK" ,The first track where the songs starts with he whistling,There was ample Air in the sound and was much more fluid compared to before,again the whole soundstage was much wider and was almost immersed into it !

Same CD track 4,The shakers that opens the song felt more real then before and had more life to it !

Same were the story with the next two tracks ! All in all Am so very happy with outcome and cannot wait to compare it with some branded ones to see how it fares !

About the previous IC, It was OEM make,The same company makes cables virtually for most of the Biggies from the Industry and is called Choseal !

The Above observations were made with the following Setup !

1)Amplifier : NAD 906 (Power-Amp)
2)Pre-Amplifier : Home Brewed 12AU7 Tube Based
3)CD Player : Marantz CD63 MKII
4) Inter-connects : From CDP to Pre ( this new one )
5) Speakers : My DIY Towers
6) Speaker Cables : The Anaconda's

Important Note : This project and the subsequent results are my own perception and I have written what I felt like,If anyone or someone doesn't agree with the views then please express it in a proper fashion !


Below are the pics of the cable in different stages !











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[Soundsgreat]

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[Soundsgreat]

Pics Continued......













Ok If I've left any info or pics or whatever please don't hesitate to ask also do not hesitate to give feedback and comments ! flood this thread with those  !!

Regards.

[Sonny]

Nice work...
looks like a lot of work in that tight braiding...
Also, seems like you put use a few layers of insulation, the heatshrink and two sets of techflex type braiding.
T

[Soundsgreat]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your interest in my DIY project !

looks like a lot of work in that tight braiding...

Ohh Dear it was the toughest part all right  ! maintaining the tightness throughout was no easy task !

seems like you put use a few layers of insulation, the heatshrink and two sets of techflex type braiding.

Yeah I have used many layers to keep the external interface to a bare minimum (or nil ) !

Regards.

[Mike B.]

Good job. Home cooking is always the best. A couple suggestions. Have you tried it without the shielding? Your braid will have a lot of rejection to RF just because of the layout. Taking it a bit further would involve doing the weave around a center tube or cotton rope. Finally, I usually use something in the 22 -24 gauge size range.

[*Scotty*]

Soundsgreat,Now that you have put all this hard work into making your cables I am curious to know if you tested how these ICs sounded with no shield and no shrink tubing,just the bare braid and did you test how they sounded with the shield over the braid and no shrink tubing over the shield? It has been my experience that sometimes the presence of a shield on the conductors in the IC makes the cable sound worse,also placing shrink tubing over the shield or the conductors degraded the sound. If you did not not do these listening tests during the intermediate stages of the cable construction process you may have missed out on the best sounding version of your cable.
Scotty

[Sonny]

Soundsgreat,Now that you have put all this hard work into making your cables I am curious to know if you tested how these ICs sounded with no shield and no shrink tubing,just the bare braid and did you test how they sounded with the shield over the braid and no shrink tubing over the shield? It has been my experience that sometimes the presence of a shield on the conductors in the IC makes the cable sound worse,also placing shrink tubing over the shield or the conductors degraded the sound. If you did not not do these listening tests during the intermediate stages of the cable construction process you may have missed out on the best sounding version of your cable.
Scotty

On my cables, please see: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=50447.0 I don't use any tubing or others, except for the techflex to protect it.  i find that just plain braiding will reject most, if not all, of the RF or other stuff. 

T

[rahimlee54]

Is there a guide on how I would go about doing this myself somewhere?

Thanks

[Soundsgreat]

Hi,

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions  !

Mike And Scotty, I have not tried this particular cable without the shield's shrink tube etc !! but I however have tried it on my speaker cable which I made (see my signature) I have two versions of it,One with the bare braid and just a Nylon Braid to protect it and the other with all the shrink tube and nylon (no Metal Braid though) ! I found the one with all the extra sounding better then the one with nothing ! to confirm this I also took both the cables to couple of friends place and tested it with various other cables (Monster,Belden,etc) as well comparing between the two cables !

Thats when I concluded that it helps to use these stuff,as to me the shrink tube reduces the inductance and capacitance of the cable by creating sort of vacuum state ( again its a common notion that things work better in this state) !

Anyways Am making another pair as I need one more to the setup (from the CDP to Pre or Amp to pre ) so while doing that I will surely note all the feedback you guys have given and test it stage by stage and see how it sounds !

Taun, Saw your cable ! very nice,I would've enjoyed if you had posted some bare wires pics and such !

Regards.