DIY Interconnects

[polkatese]

Guys,
I found a link to DIY Interconnects, I thought it's interesting and if anyone interested in trying this. I haven't try this, but looks pretty good. Have fun!

DIY Interconnects (http://www.ihifi.org/diy_interconnects.htm)

[dcarlson]

Interesting...

I've been thinking about making some interconnects. Has anyone created their own?

I was thinking of making some interconnects with Kimber Speaker wire at $4/foot and seeing what happens. Any ideas?

Derick.

[polkatese]

Derick,
That should be a good project, at $4/foot, I am sure it will sound great!

[dcarlson]

What about the ends? Should I go out a buy some too? I have some ends that aren't too expensive but I wonder if the ends make a huge difference.

Derick.

[gidrah]

http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diyce.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diyce2.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/piano6_1_e.html

Here's a few more ideas. I haven't tried any yet but maybe someday.

[dcarlson]

Has anyone ever heard or tried this?

Silver Signal Tape (http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize021998.htm)

Seems pretty interesting.

Derick.

[dcarlson]

BTW, I made some interconnects with the Kimber Speaker wire. At first they sounded harsh, I figured I burn them in and see what happens. I've given them a couple days of play and they're warming up. I also have a set of Audioquest Diamondbacks on loan for testing and my DIY Kimbers are coming really close to matching up not bad for a 1/4 of the price.

I think my next project will be the Silver Signal Tape.

Derick.

[polkatese]

Derick,
that's great...so your Kimber I/C hold its own against AQ Diamondbacks, what did you notice the most? low, mid, high? thanks,

[dcarlson]

They don't image as well as the Diamondbacks. The High's on the DIY are a little clearer but not much, Bass is deep but the DIY lack a little in the mid to low range. I'm still shopping for some interconnects so these will serve me ok while I find the right ones.

I'm curious about Silver Signal Tape, might give that a try soon. Even experiment with the Kimber some more.

Derick.

[RuSsMaN]

Hey you guys, let me know who's making what, I'll take a pair sight-un-heard to support the cause.

Cheers,
Rooster

[polkatese]

I am still studying, reading, learning what those guys on hirez were doing around diy, specifically the one based on belden 89259 and canare. Here is the link to the legendary Risch:

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/index2.htm

[mantis]

intresting,
The mention of Kimber puts a smile on my face.
dcarlson,
what KimberKables do you own?what wire was it?Reason I'm asking is that I'm digging into Kimber deeply.I 'm weighing out ALL my wire options before I make the kill.
Kimber is high on my list.If you could give a small review on what you think abou Kimber,I would be into it
Dan

[gidrah]

Derick: Great link. I've gotta try those. I've heard of people using them, but never saw the actual construction. After seeing the CopperCats I was thinking of using Cat5e strands and still may, but this will be first.

RuSs: You're gonna be getting some unterminated Cat5e speaker wire (ala TNT TTT) relatively soon. I'm about 2/3rd the way done with the first (my) pair.

[RuSsMaN]

Great! (It's about effin time). I'll return the favor with some homegrown cables from this end. Gotta see em' to believe em, I'll leave it at that.

Ps, the isolators are working GREAT. I've got em under EVERYTHING.

Cheers,
Rooster

[gidrah]

I snagged a pair of RS 40-1197s too, but I'll be damned if you can have both. Consider one to be included.

[RuSsMaN]

Keep em, if I can't have a pair, one does me NO good. Besides, I'm a virtual FR driver distribution center here, plenty of drivers, not enough monkey coffins.....

Cheers,
Rooster

[gidrah]

Then gimme some Lowthers and we can be done.

[dcarlson]

Dan,

So far, all I have is Kimber 4vs speaker wire. That's what I used to create the interconnects. $24Can for 6'. I'm going to try unbraiding them and using single strands to see if it images better.

I didn't get the Hero yet. I'm waiting for PBJ interconnects that are on order from my local store. Once they're in, I'm gonna compare them to the Hero.

Personally, the Kimber Hero has been the best interconnects I've tried, pricy though. Although I've only tested Kimber, Chord and Audioquest. The PBJs should come in the next couple of days.

Derick.

[Tour2ma]

Interesting stuff... some options to the SignalCable interconnect plunge I'm posed to take.

Russ, you're a SignalCable user, right?

Anywho, filled my Fav's Audio References folder with a few tasty new links here. Thanks all...

[RuSsMaN]

You need to hear em' to believe em'.

Analog Two is AMAZING. Analog one is impressive also. Ask Ron about the money back guarantee, they didn't blow his skirt up, full refund.

All I can say, is TRY them. I've had more people absolutely THRILLED with them, then not.

Cheers,
Rooster

[dcarlson]

Russ, you're a SignalCable user, right?

Analog Two is AMAZING. Analog one is impressive also. Ask Ron about the money back guarantee, they didn't blow his skirt up, full refund.

Hold on a second, stop the bus... Russ, what you are you using for interconnects?

All I can say, is TRY them. I've had more people absolutely THRILLED with them, then not.

These types of comments peak my curiosity.

Derick.

[RuSsMaN]

What bus?

I have Signal Cable Analog 1 & 2, a small selection of Audioquest, Tributaries, and Straight Wire as far as interconns go.

Cheers,
Russ

[mantis]

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
What bus?

I have Signal Cable Analog 1 & 2, a small selection of Audioquest, Tributaries, and Straight Wire as far as interconns go.

Cheers,
Russ

the bus you rolled in here on man:lol:

you got my mans attention.Pull over to the side and chat for awhile.Give a brother some love.........;)

[gidrah]

Well, since last posting I've done 2 styles of DIY interconnects and am working on a 3rd. I haven't actually listened to them yet, but my expectations are pretty high. I hope to do a shoot-out soon using my CDR/RW deck as it has 2 sets of outs. Great for A/B'ing.

[dcarlson]

Cool, are you trying the DIY Silvers from the link you posted? Are you adding the Silver Signal Tape link I added? What's the 3rd DIY?

I'm interested in hearing how they work out.

Derick.

[gidrah]

Tonight I did a quick demo between 2 DIY interconnects. The 3rd didn't pan out. I couldn't remove the center conductor from some extra coax' I had laying around. I did the "Silver tape" version that Derick posted, but I did the first version using the copper magnet wire. I also did my own idea using a twisted pair of copper cables extracted from CAT5e cable. The CAT5e version has separate left and right wires. I had some of this wire and figured WTF. I was going to braid 3 stands (ala CopperCats), but this was easier and much faster.

I used my Phillips CDR/RW with one drawer/output on one set and the other drawer/output on the other set. My wife didn't know which drawer had which wire. We listened to segments of: Pink Floyd-Welcome to the Machine, Jars of Clay-Flood, & Rossini-Willaim Tell Overture (Telarc label).

In all aspects, the CAT5e won every time. I had pre-conceived notions going in while the wife had none. For all she knew I copied both or imagined both designs. But we agreed that there was a big difference. The magnet tape had a much more compressed sound. No life to it. Neither one was bright or had muddy bass, but the CAT5e had much more detail and seemed louder.

They also compared favorably against my Sony CD player with Monster (?-cheapest). Maybe I'll compare these 2 next.

I'm looking forward to giving each set a good burn-in and possibly redoing the magnet tapes as I wasn't able to get each wire parallel using his method. Maybe this was it. I'm also going to double check the manuals for my CDR/RW and receiver to see if there may have been unequal input/output impedences but I doubt it. I also used different connectors on each. One is Gold/crimp, while the other is standard/solder. Both were very cheap RS.

Silver:
If the magnet tapes burn-in nicely I may do a silver version as I've found an on-line supplier that I can it at <$1.00/ft. If not I may still do some silver ICs, but on different designs like the VanHaus or others. Maybe even come up with my own.

I just got done comparing a pair of CAT5e braided speaker wires (ala TNT TTT) to a pair of 13 AWG silver coated/teflon wrapped/quad-helix design. While I like the mids and highs of the silver, the bass dropped off quite a bit. It's very tight, but not as rich and full, and seems to drop off compared to good copper.

I may try bi-wiring with the silver on top nad copper on bottom, but my silver coateds are 8ft and my copper is 9ft. Time smear issue.

When and if I ever get an outboard crossover, I'll probaly use silver ICs for the high and copper for the lows.

[gidrah]

Come on guys, I'm shallow! At least I did it!

[dcarlson]

Right on,

I've put the DIY interconnects on hold for a little bit. I'm interested to hear how they sound after burn in though.

You'll have to keep us up to date on that.

Derick.