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26awg too thin for dacs and amps?

post #1 of 6
1/10/10 at 3:44pm
Thread Starter 
I have read many threads about awg, but just wanted to confirm before buying a bunch for some builds. 22awg (teflon coated spc) seems to be a very popular choice, but I was thinking about using some 26awg wire stripped out of some Mogami W2893. Each of the 4 strands is a different color and from what I understand it is nice quality stranded copper. The crosslinked PE dialectric is very heat resistant unlike normal PE, but not quite as tough (or as slippery) as teflon. About as nice and economical as it comes.

For some reason, I want to use copper instead of SPC (probably because of the anecdotal descriptions of SPC as bright). And this is also more flexible than the navships spc I have used. Trying to use "nice" wire, but keep it economical.

So to return to the original question, is 26awg ok for most of the beginner amps and dacs (cmoy, grubdac, bantam dac, mini3)? I understand for higher voltage power use I need something with a lower gauge (which I have from some stripped vampire cast copper scraps). If 24awg is better, I can get the Mogami 2534, but it only has 2 different colors.
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post #2 of 6
1/10/10 at 4:34pm
well it really depends on what part of the project, length of the connections and the current they must carry. I personally used 26AWG SPC and 24AWG UPOCC on i2c and 5V control lines, shielded 26AWG cryo UPOCC silver on digital connections (i2s and spdif(very short) in my buffalo32 to help combat skin effect, 24AWG silver for analogue line level connections and 19AWG silver foil on analogue outputs; but for power wires I used 20AWG UPOCC copper from the PSU/regs to the boards and some overkill 14AWG UPOCC copper on the connections from switch/fuse to transformer to the PSUs

total overkill, but it should give you some idea of what can be done. 24-22 is a good median for all but perhaps power lines depending on project.

what are you looking at?? so I have lots of exotics lying around some of these are available in 2 different colours of insulation like the UPOCC silver (cryoparts SCSCAg) and the thin SPC control looms, so that along with colour coded labels and plenty of zip ties to keep it neat. with labeling you can even use all one colour, but your idea would seem ok as long as the runs are short and the voltage is low
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post #3 of 6
1/10/10 at 4:49pm
Thread Starter 
So far everything I make is tiny, so max length so far has been about 3" in a T-amp (used 24awg SPC for that). I boxed up my bantam in a small plastic box and had sub 2" runs to the rca jacks (I used the 26awg Mogami for this). Next up is a cmoy. Then, if I can find the money perhaps a Minimax with a Bantam or Grubdac built in. The cmoy is the only thing that will be done on perfboard and all wires since all the other projects I would consider would be on prefabbed pcbs. Nothing high powered until I guess the Minimax or a Gainclone if I ever grow dissatisfied with my T-amp.

Since you have tried a ton of different wires, do you select them specifically for their specs or do you feel they make a sonic difference? Do you use silver because of the sound it produces or simply because it is the nicest conductor you can use?
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post #4 of 6
1/10/10 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by FraGGleR View Post
So far everything I make is tiny, so max length so far has been about 3" in a T-amp (used 24awg SPC for that). I boxed up my bantam in a small plastic box and had sub 2" runs to the rca jacks (I used the 26awg Mogami for this). Next up is a cmoy. Then, if I can find the money perhaps a Minimax with a Bantam or Grubdac built in. The cmoy is the only thing that will be done on perfboard and all wires since all the other projects I would consider would be on prefabbed pcbs. Nothing high powered until I guess the Minimax or a Gainclone if I ever grow dissatisfied with my T-amp.
ok then sure thats fine, 24AWG is a good size for those projects except of course the gainclone where yo should use fatass wires

Quote:
Since you have tried a ton of different wires, do you select them specifically for their specs or do you feel they make a sonic difference? Do you use silver because of the sound it produces or simply because it is the nicest conductor you can use?
absolutely I believe they effect the sound, in all manner of ways, but not the cliched ways you often read about. I dont use SPC in the signal path for this reason, never liked it much. I will sometimes use it in power supplies, but I generally prefer coper there. so no I dont feel my DAC sounds cold and analytical. so its a mixture of the 2 reasons you mention why I use silver, but its not always appropriate. I particularly like it in digital sections

but just as important is the construction and application of the wire and where it is used.

a coup[le of tips for you, sounds like you are soldering too hot, is your iron adjustable? I know what you mean about shrinkage, but liberal use of solder flux (cardas) good solder and clean surfaces enable you to work quickly and avoid damaging the wire and insulation. heat the cup first for a bit if necessary and tin the wire and terminal first. heat the contact moreso than the wire and make good contact between the 2 surfaces first and use solder to keep the connection, not to make the connection
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post #5 of 6
1/10/10 at 6:36pm
26 gauge is fine for interconnects.

se
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post #6 of 6
1/10/10 at 7:52pm
Thread Starter 
Cheers for the tips. I don't melt the insulation very often, and definitely not when making cables (which I have gotten quite proficient at), but when trying to figure out how to hold things while not burning other things in a tiny space I would feel more comfortable with a more forgiving material. I do have a variable temp iron, but rarely change temps. I normally use it at 450-500 when making cables. I jacked it up a little when doing the RCA jacks since the metal was thicker and it felt like it was taking awhile to heat them up.

I am going to order a few feet of a couple different mogami wires to strip out some 22, 24, and 26 awg wires for builds. Will only cost like $10 and should do just fine for most of my planned projects.

Thanks again for the help.
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