[acwd1950]

I made a pair of these last night. So far Im impressed, but they are nowhere close to burn in. but I have some questions. Has anyone made them longer than 9 feet? If so, did that change them sonically? I usually make all my cables 10 feet, except interconnects. Also has anyone used some of these on their turntables?

Thanks
Steve

[TerryO]

I made a pair of these last night. So far Im impressed, but they are nowhere close to burn in. but I have some questions. Has anyone made them longer than 9 feet? If so, did that change them sonically? I usually make all my cables 10 feet, except interconnects. Also has anyone used some of these on their turntables?

Thanks
Steve

For homemade speaker cables, I'd recommend going to Lowe's and buying a 40 ft Utilitec 16 AWG extension cord. Take it home, cut to length needed (yes, I used 10 foot), terminate as desired, hook them up and never look back. Cost of the Utilitec cord at my local Lowe's was $8.44 recently.

Of course, I used the superb DIY Cable brand spade connectors that the company sells. They're well made and will allow the full potential of the cables to be realized. As good as the Utilitec wire is, proper termination is certainly key to good sound. It's common knowledge that the use of high quality terminals are vital if one seriously hopes to achieve that goal.

Best Regards,
TerryO

[Kevin Haskins]

I like the name.   White Lighting Moonshine Cable!    That is enough to make me want to build a set.   

[guest1632]

I made a pair of these last night. So far Im impressed, but they are nowhere close to burn in. but I have some questions. Has anyone made them longer than 9 feet? If so, did that change them sonically? I usually make all my cables 10 feet, except interconnects. Also has anyone used some of these on their turntables?

Thanks
Steve

For homemade speaker cables, I'd recommend going to Lowe's and buying a 40 ft Utilitec 16 AWG extension cord. Take it home, cut to length needed (yes, I used 10 foot), terminate as desired, hook them up and never look back. Cost of the Utilitec cord at my local Lowe's was $8.44 recently.

Of course, I used the superb DIY Cable brand spade connectors that the company sells. They're well made and will allow the full potential of the cables to be realized. As good as the Utilitec wire is, proper termination is certainly key to good sound. It's common knowledge that the use of high quality terminals are vital if one seriously hopes to achieve that goal.

Best Regards,
TerryO

Hi TerryO,

I presume these 16 gauge extension cords have three wires in them? If so, what do you do with the third wire?

Ray

[Wind Chaser]

I made a pair of these last night. So far Im impressed, but they are nowhere close to burn in. but I have some questions. Has anyone made them longer than 9 feet? If so, did that change them sonically? I usually make all my cables 10 feet, except interconnects. Also has anyone used some of these on their turntables?

I can't discern a difference between 8' and 20' lengths.  Haven't tried them as IC's and don't think many people recommend them for that application.  CAT 5 (CMP) and magnet wire make for decent cheap IC's.

[acwd1950]

Ray,
Two wires go to the positive terminal and one goes to the negative. Thats per instructions on the website. White and green go together to the positive terminal and black goes to negative. I never made any interconnects with the wire so Im going not even bother with that.

Wind Chaser,
I have thought about trying the Cat 5 cable, but how do you wire them? Is there a website that explains that?

Steve

[guest1632]

I made a pair of these last night. So far Im impressed, but they are nowhere close to burn in. but I have some questions. Has anyone made them longer than 9 feet? If so, did that change them sonically? I usually make all my cables 10 feet, except interconnects. Also has anyone used some of these on their turntables?

I can't discern a difference between 8' and 20' lengths.  Haven't tried them as IC's and don't think many people recommend them for that application.  CAT 5 (CMP) and magnet wire make for decent cheap IC's.

Hi, Well, the extention cord recommendation, is that cord 2 or three wires? If three wires, what do I do with the ground wire? If it is two wires, then it is obvious what to do.

Ray

[earplay]

Ray,

I know the site recommends 2+ and 1- wire, but I believe that most people, including myself, have better sound with 1+ and 2-.

Of course, experimentation with the connections is so easy, try for yourself. The difference many people find is that the 2+, 1- configuration sounds too boomy and muddy. See which way you like it.

Give the wires at least 100 hours to break in. They get pretty good after about 50 hours, but need another 50 to come into focus.

I have used these as interconnects as well as speaker cables. They are good as interconnects, but not the best. Still, they might be the best for their price. In either application, what they do right is musical tone. I replaced some highly touted wires with these, even magnet wire as speaker cables. The WLM sounds musical.

Have fun, these sound very good. They are not ultimate, but they are very good and, most important, pleasing.

[TerryO]

For homemade speaker cables, I'd recommend going to Lowe's and buying a 40 ft Utilitec 16 AWG extension cord. Take it home, cut to length needed (yes, I used 10 foot), terminate as desired, hook them up and never look back. Cost of the Utilitec cord at my local Lowe's was $8.44 recently.

Of course, I used the superb DIY Cable brand spade connectors that the company sells. They're well made and will allow the full potential of the cables to be realized. As good as the Utilitec wire is, proper termination is certainly key to good sound. It's common knowledge that the use of high quality terminals are vital if one seriously hopes to achieve that goal.

Best Regards,
TerryO

Hi TerryO,

I presume these 16 gauge extension cords have three wires in them? If so, what do you do with the third wire?

Ray

Ray,
I put the positive leads together, and used the black wire by itself. I really don't think that it makes any difference.

However, based on a similar thread between myself and Bill Poletti on the old "Bass List" a few years back, I will suggest a couple of possibilities:

1. Make the cables directional. That is, connect  the green wire and the black (negative) wire together at one end and let the other end of the green wire "float" as a ground for RFI. The termination (spade, banana plug or what ever) with the dual coupled end should be connected at the source. For speaker cables this would be at the amp, the "free floating" end would be at the speaker end.

The other, Hi-End option is to leave the Green wire unconnected at both ends and hook it up to a single ended voltage source. Simply get a 9 volt battery holder and solder the green wire to the Positive terminal of the battery holder...leave the negative end alone. Install a battery in the holder and you're on your way! If you can find a dual battery holder, that's perhaps even better as you'll have 18 volts, which can only be an improvement. They're just wired in series (+ to +, - to -) with only the positive side actually connected to anything, in this case the green wire.
As the voltage is floating, the batteries should last for years.

BTW: That free end of the green wire? Be sure to insulate it so it won't short to anything or cause a short.

Just be sure your termination is up to snuff, I'd recommend DIYCable's superb terminals, excellent quality at a very fair price and great customer service. I personally never use anything else.

Best Regards,
TerryO

[earplay]

One more thing, the WLM's might sound better if they are removed from their external casing and braided.

Talk about cheap and cheerful. Enjoy!

[guest1632]

Ray,

I know the site recommends 2+ and 1- wire, but I believe that most people, including myself, have better sound with 1+ and 2-.

Of course, experimentation with the connections is so easy, try for yourself. The difference many people find is that the 2+, 1- configuration sounds too boomy and muddy. See which way you like it.

Give the wires at least 100 hours to break in. They get pretty good after about 50 hours, but need another 50 to come into focus.

I have used these as interconnects as well as speaker cables. They are good as interconnects, but not the best. Still, they might be the best for their price. In either application, what they do right is musical tone. I replaced some highly touted wires with these, even magnet wire as speaker cables. The WLM sounds musical.

Have fun, these sound very good. They are not ultimate, but they are very good and, most important, pleasing.

Ok, so did you connect the ground wire to both ends, or left the source end as a fantom, just using two wires on that end.

Ray

[earplay]

I used 2-, 1+. Nothing as a RFI ground.

If you don't terminate the speaker end of the wires, you can experiment easily. Then you can find out which arrangement you prefer.

This stuff can be very system dependent. An configuration that sounds good in one system, may not in another.

[guest1632]

I used 2-, 1+. Nothing as a RFI ground.

If you don't terminate the speaker end of the wires, you can experiment easily. Then you can find out which arrangement you prefer.

This stuff can be very system dependent. An configuration that sounds good in one system, may not in another.

Well, this will be interesting. I'll try this when I can get one of those cords.

Ray

[Big Red Machine]

I've been told by well regarded cable guys that 2- and 1+ with both negatives connected at the source and one disconnected at the destination is the way to go.  I am basically braiding them and then just clipping the second negative, or drain, at the back side of the connector.

I'm using gold plated solid copper wire, teflon tubing, and mid line connectors on my own cables nowadays with good results.  And I add small Bybees to each positive at the source end as well.

[acwd1950]

I guess I need to try the other configurations to see what sounds the best. I havent heard of the those. A 9 volt battery connected to one end of one wire the other end is free? Positive side of the battery. I will have to give it a try.

Steve

[Wind Chaser]

I've been told by well regarded cable guys that 2- and 1+ with both negatives connected at the source and....

What's the point in not terminating the other at the speakers?  My understanding is to run both negatives active end to end.

[cbb]

So anyone else want to comment on this? 

Was the intent to leave one of the 2 grounds floating at the destination end actually for the interconnects or for the speaker wires as well?

[TerryO]

So anyone else want to comment on this? 

Was the intent to leave one of the 2 grounds floating at the destination end actually for the interconnects or for the speaker wires as well?

cbb,
There's actually a number of different ways to configure the speaker cables and ICs as well. At the low levels that are used in the front end of a system "any" RFI is going to be a big problem, if present. Going into  a dedicated phono stage as an example, the signal level is so low that RFI can be a major contributory source of noise and grunge. A speaker cable has much less chance of having a problem with RFI, as the signal strength is so much higher that it swamps just about any RFI present. That doesn't mean that RFI isn't there, but in most cases it may not be detectable.

Having a single ended drain wire is, however, a pretty good idea when constructing ICs, as they are much more vulnerable to RFI and it can often be heard, if present.

Best Regards,
TerryO