DIY Cable Gallery!! - Page 183 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Hevimees · 10-30-2006, 06:37 AM

Originally Posted by mADmAN

yeah im using 2 conductor cable as signal and the shield as ground. i just tested it and although theres sound...it was horrendous! no bass at all... and the vocals could hardly be heard. think ill go back and terminate the ground and see if theres any difference.

I think it's safe to bet that there will be quite a difference

Originally Posted by mADmAN

EDIT: one more question...

for the L-4E6S mini-rca i used on the previous page, i used 2 conductors as signal and the other 2 conductors as ground. the shield was left unconnected. should i have connected the shield as well? if yes on which side? source? or both ends?

thanks

You can connect the shield at the end which is meant for the signal's source, which I assume is the mini side. This won't do any difference in terms of sound quality, but it should provide better shielding from interferences.

If you connect the shield at both ends, it won't do you any good.

werdwerdus · 10-30-2006, 06:41 AM

EFN: what female ends did you use in those Ohm adapters?

mADmAN · 10-30-2006, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by Hevimees

You can connect the shield at the end which is meant for the signal's source, which I assume is the mini side. This won't do any difference in terms of sound quality, but it should provide better shielding from interferences.

If you connect the shield at both ends, it won't do you any good.

exactly what i was thinking... which also means its ok if i dont connect them on either end. think ill start connecting them on the source end from now on.

thanks for the confirmation.

EFN · 10-30-2006, 07:07 AM

Originally Posted by werdwerdus

EFN: what female ends did you use in those Ohm adapters?

I'll take better shots on them females unmodded

They are from Japan and built quality is superb with finely constructed poles inside. The barrel used to cover them is actually from a cheapo minis which I buy just for the barrels. Those Japanese females come dressed in plastic black barrel

and they cost less than a $1

internecine · 11-01-2006, 10:27 PM

im going to be making some rca cables and speaker wire cables very soon. but im unsure of what size heat shrink i should buy.

could some one give me the sizes i would need to make RCAs using quad star cable. i will also be using heatshrink over the rca finger grips

also i will be making some speaker wire using 12-16ga wire and i would like to use heatshrink over the spade connections.

thanks.

awptickes · 11-05-2006, 09:16 PM

I haven't seen many shoddy jobs in this thread. I was thinking to myself "Wow, it's really easy to make good looking cables."

Wrong.

I have included one terribly mangled iPod Line out dock as a product of a momentary lapse of reason.
Part of the problem was I didn't pay enough attention while I was pulling the pins out of the connector housing, and after soldering the silver wire to it, I tried shoving it in the wrong way. once I got that done, then I had to get the tech flex on. While I was getting it on, I kept pulling out the pins from the housing. After I got the TechFlex on, I had the bright idea of using super glue to hold the wires and TechFlex in. This was a bad idea. Not only did the super glue wick up the braided wires, and into the connector housing, but also into the TechFlex, and all over my hands. I decided I'd rip my hands off, and solder the 3.5mm headphone plug on. After I soldered it on, I realized that the shrinkwrap I wanted to use was sitting on the table still.

One disaster after another, here we are:
http://www.hidebehind.com/981AA335
http://www.hidebehind.com/E99E042
http://www.hidebehind.com/3A68BD90
http://www.hidebehind.com/60103700
http://www.hidebehind.com/A5730DEA
http://www.hidebehind.com/3D53E7AD

Now for the good cable.
You learn after one screw up what not to do, this one I was very anal about making sure everything was layed out beforehand, and that I actually put the shrinkwrap on before I soldered the ends on. I use this one from my Powerbook to my LDM+.

Here's the good one:
http://www.hidebehind.com/F4662B6
http://www.hidebehind.com/CBA6B3D4
http://www.hidebehind.com/E0E7463E
http://www.hidebehind.com/7A1B4C99

mADmAN · 11-06-2006, 01:38 AM

damn them techflex looks good... sigh... how i wish it was easy to get them here.

anyway...i have a question... i noticed that most of my metal mini plugs have a connection between the barrel and ground. even when theyre new and unused. is this why u guys put heatshrink over the plugs? any other reasons why people put heatshrink over the plugs?

ayt999 · 11-06-2006, 03:07 AM

the barrel is connected to the ground for shielding purposes... I usually use heatshrink over it whenever I want to make it have a different look or color, etc.

Scottsmrnyc · 11-11-2006, 11:07 AM

Anyone instruct me as to how to build such a cable. ETc Scottsmrnyc

awptickes · 11-11-2006, 01:31 PM

Qables just started selling the slim iPod dock connectors, and I bought a few of the white ones along with a couple neutrik 3.5mm headphones connectors. I've made a line out dock before, and as you can see a few posts up, it was a failure (well, it worked, just it wasn't pretty).

This one is pretty(or prettier).

I used the PFE sleeved wire that qables sells, some silver solder, and sleeving that I pulled of of an old computer case fan that had a blade broken off of it.

Eventually I'll do a How-To to make iPod line out dock cables. But first I have to get back from vacation in three weeks. I'll let everyone know how it sounds after being on the plane for 12 hours.