[dazzer1975]

Found this cable, but am wondering what you guys felt about it for a headphone recable?

Stiffness isn't that much of a concern for me.

also got some spc teflon insulated stranded wire from navships in 26 awg.

just wondered what your preffered cable for headphone recabling is and the suitability in your opinion of the above cable?

 

[qusp]

jena, or some of the pre-assembled cardas cable you can get at percyaudio.com

 

[dazzer1975]

I'll be ordering some jena once I have my soldering skillz down, at the moment, while I still want the wire to be suitable and effective, spending more for the jenna doesn't seem sensible. Jenna is definitely on the hitlist though for when I feel confident about tackling the more expensive/riskier recabling I have planned.

Seen percyaudio, but thanks for the suggestion anyway, I might actually persist with the strange ordering requirements on that site and give them a go... if it's the one i'm thinking about.

just noticed I missed out the cable I intended to use... what a ****, this is the cable I was thinking about (along with the cable I ordered from navships in original post)

CANARE L-4E6S CABLE star quad mic cable

 

[tacitapproval]

Might want to go with the Canare L-4E5C as it is the mini version and therefore thinner.

 

[dazzer1975]

ah yes they have that option available too, thanks for that.

 

[qusp]

well percyaudio has vampire too; which is a good subsitute for jena. not as cheap as navships, but the quality is there and he has all the sleeving, really good quality heatshrink (not poly crap) connectors. and he has possibly the best price i've ever seen for a quarter pound of cardas solder. only like $12 if I remember right. the ordering system isnt ideal obviously, but he's quite responsive to email and ships quickly too. If you need a hand telling what is what on the site let me know as i've ordered from there many times. Michael's quite helpful

oh and yeah.. I did wonder about where the cable was

but forgot to mention it. the navships wire is VERY stiff for its thickness. the 30AWG I got from them is as stiff as 22AWG jena maybe stiffer

 

[dazzer1975]

Hey thanks for that qusp, very kind to offer regarding the telling what is what on the site, i'll probably take you up on the offer.

just ordered some adhesive lined heat shrink in various sizes and now looking for some multifilament sleeving.

Ill go back to percy audio and spend a bit of time looking through the pdf.

Thanks for the help and the offer of help regarding using the site, much appreciated for a diy newb like me

 

[qusp]

no problem; I realize its not the most user friendly site, but its actually really good once you know what you are looking for. as i can just have a brief scan through it and then email him. plus I have a kind of standing order that i get every time. I really recommend getting some of the cardas solder from him; you wont find it anywhere near that price anywhere else i've seen; and great solder makes for an easier job IMO. I bought a 1/4 pound about 3 months ago and I have maybe an ounce of it left. I do a LOT of soldering

 

[dazzer1975]

I have some cardas quad eutectic solder already, not a great amount really and am using it for interconnects, I am still totally out of the loop regarding this diy stuff, but the cardas seems to melt at a lower temp than the other "ordinary" solder I have, and presumably a lower melting point is desirable when messing around with electrical bits and pieces?

I am currently trying to find a dremel type tool as the 18 awg upocc copper interconnect with teflon shielding I am making doesn't bloody fit into the end cap of the neutrik 3.5mm so am waiting to open it up a bit before I finish that one off. If I say so myself though, Ive made a very neat and tidy job of the soldering thus far. Soldered, then hot glue and heat shrink over it, waiting for the body to be dremelled and slid over and all done.

Currently waiting for a couple of canare and switchcraft mini plugs to see how they fare. I know the canare are bigger openings, but not sure about the switchcrafts.

 

[qusp]

yes the low melting point is one bonus; the fact that it 'flows' so much more easily than manty others I have rtried is another. WBT make great solder too; but is quite expensive and TBH not really worth the extra money. It is better, but not THAT much better. with the lower melting point it means its less likely that you will scorch the wires or the dielectric between the poles in some connectors.

LOL yeah the neutrik sucks like that. make sure to sand off the sharp edges afterwards; as it is easy to slice up techflex or insulation sliding it over the braid or whatever. BTW you are starting with the mini arent you?? rather than starting at the dock end?? easier that way. get yourself some cardas flux as well if you can; not cheap but will last you a lifetime and the amount of time and stress it saves is IMO worth its weight in gold. you can get other flux, but i just find the cardas to be best. its no-clean too, so if you cant be bothered scrubbing with alcohol then you dont have to. I recommend once you get sopme more experience moving onto using epoxy instead of hotglue. if you are using the hot glue not just for strain relief, but also to stop the wire from oxidizing, then epoxy is far superior IMO. it rids you of the 'edit' function, but as long as you test connections first with a DMM all should be well.

you are gonna hate the canare; THE WORST MINI EVER IMO. sux to solder, ugly and too large to work in many rigs. I go switchcraft for most jobs, neutrik for cheapscates or cables that need to be small and XLO for the high end jobs. the switchcraft have a 6mm opening. but I usually drill then out to about 8. the XLO can be drilled out to almost 10mm and they have a non-conductive coat on the inside of the barrel too, so you dont have to remember to slide the tube on... which is usually too small for my work anyway. OH and the neutrik can be drilled out to about 6-7mm

good luck

 

[direcow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif no problem; I realize its not the most user friendly site, but its actually really good once you know what you are looking for. as i can just have a brief scan through it and then email him. plus I have a kind of standing order that i get every time. I really recommend getting some of the cardas solder from him; you wont find it anywhere near that price anywhere else i've seen; and great solder makes for an easier job IMO. I bought a 1/4 pound about 3 months ago and I have maybe an ounce of it left. I do a LOT of soldering

soniccraft has it at USD$44 for the pound, vs $45.50, but you don't really save that much.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by direcow /img/forum/go_quote.gif soniccraft has it at USD$44 for the pound, vs $45.50, but you don't really save that much.

cool; i'll have to have a look there; but yeah, not really enough of a saving to make me jump ship, as I get quite a bit of other stuff there. but i'll have a look at soniccraft just for kicks. one major thing that I like about Michael is that he packs things sooo well and the shipping doesnt seem to really be any more expensive than the actual shipping would cost him. most places inflate the international shipping price to insane levels.