[chych]

I use a "Dutch Boy" 60/40 rosin core lead free (??) solder, you might want to check that out... I have no idea why you do not want silver in your solder, that is a good thing. The WBT 4% silver solder melts at relatively low temperatures so you will get a nice easy well made joint with it.

I don't think there are any good right angled miniplugs out there, so you are stuck with 180º ones.

And you are sort of supposed to use a heat gun for heatshrink. A hair dryer will NOT do, a ceramic heater barely passes. A soldering iron is overkill and gets the heatshrink messy (but boy does it SHRINK it).

Now, since there are no giant miniplugs out there, you are going to have some diffuculty making your cable. I used teflon cat5 in a dual kimber pbj style configuration and it all fit nicely. You may have to ditch the barrel of the miniplug, solder the connections (it is VERY hard to do this if you are using big cable on a miniplug), cover the whole thing in teflon tape or electrical tape, heatshrink to make it look nice, and keep it that way.

...Or just not use the BL-1 cable... which is silver plated copper anyway and can get some brightness in your sound, which may seem more detailed (I've never heard it so take this with a grain of salt)... And I'm not sure why you are inclined on going for the DHLab RCA either, I doubt they are better than Cardas/WBT.

 

[Audio-Me]

Well, silver is a better conductor so some should be in there I guess, but I've tried solder that had high silver content(Silvergleem 4% Ag ), and it made terrible connections, not to mention expensive.

So you just squeezed(spun) everything into a jacket, solder, tape it up, then heat shrink?

Where can I order a Canare miniplug, and teflon jacket?

I've heard a Sony SACD player hooked up to an Onkyo receiver played through Infinity Interlude speakers(what I have) with BL-1 inteconnects and they did not sound bright at all, rather quite neutral although upper midrange had some spark to it

.

Hrm, been doing some research, came across some eutectic 63/37 solder, seems like the right thing... low melting point. =)

Is there such thing as tin/copper alloy solder?

 

[chych]

Yes, just spin everything into a blob and heatshrinke it up. I'm not sure where you can get canare connectors, I used the Neutrik ones from partsexpress. For teflon, I used teflon tape, which can be found at your local hardware store (plumbing isle... and it really isn't tape, as it doesn't stick). Just make sure every connection is insulated... teflon tape is really useful for that. Also if you plan on doing it this way, I suggest finding some hard cover of some sort, maybe a plastic shell or something to put over the bare miniplug.

As for the setup you listened to, well, all setups are unique, maybe something was dark and the BL-1s brought it up, who knows?

That 63/37 solder probably would work fine. Kester is a good brand.

Not sure on the tin/copper alloy solder...

 

[Hirsch]

You can get Canare connectors at fullcompass.com. I suspect Digi-Key and Mouser would also have them.

I tried the Welborne Labs solder, WBT and Cardas (ISTR his was the "eutectic" solder) recently, and like the results with all of them.

I like the WBT connectors, but they are expensive. I don't particularly like Cardas connectors, because they rely on heat shrink for strain relief, and I prefer something a bit more secure. The DH-Labs connectors have a decent strain relief system, although they aren't a locking connector. They sound just fine.

I'm not hearing the brightness that others seem to with the BL-1. Sounds pretty neutral to me. 90% of the Homegrown Silver Lace perfomance at a fraction of the price. FWIW I followed the Jon Risch suggestion, and grounded the shielding at the source end only.

 

[meithkiller]

You can get Canare connectors (and cable) at Markertek. I've ordered from them quite a bit and they are good to deal with. I've used the WBT silver solder too, and also like it. Parts Express is also good to order from (I've been a customer for about 8 years), but only recently have they started carrying some "audiophile" products.

-Keith

 

[Audio-Me]

Is there a difference between the Canare F-11 and F-12 miniplugs? Also, it says that it's chrome plated, will that conduct just as well as gold? The rest of the stuff is gold plated, so I don't want anything changing the sound, hehe.

I think I'll go with the eutectic 63/37, but Cardas or Kester?

Hrm, shell for the plug, hows PVC jacket sound?
What's the exact order of things? Spin, solder, insulate, heatshrink, then cover?
Could you post some pics?

Maybe the brightness some are experiencing from BL-1 is due to lack of break in? Then again, the Infinitys are laid back (notice a pattern here?

).

 

[chych]

PVC=Bad, stay away! You want to stay teflon. Sometimes you find a nice big cable with a thick teflon jacket that can be canabalized for this use (like Belden 83802)... No pictures on me of the construction...

You solder the connections, put some teflon tape to isolate the wires, spin the whole thing with teflon tape (after checking continuity) and maybe a little electrical tape... put some hard cover, heatshrink.

 

[meithkiller]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me Is there a difference between the Canare F-11 and F-12 miniplugs? Also, it says that it's chrome plated, will that conduct just as well as gold? The rest of the stuff is gold plated, so I don't want anything changing the sound, hehe.

The Canare F-11 miniplug is mono, you want the F-12 which is stereo. There shouldn't be any difference in sound with the Canare plug not being gold-plated, you might just need to use contact cleaner/conditioner on it a little more often.

-Keith