[B_Rich]

Hope this is the right place for a build thread 

 
(Story time!)  I just got some IE8's about 2 weeks ago and am really happy with them.  I've seen the DIY cable thread and after drooling over the eye candy I decided that I wanted to make my own cable for the IE8's.  I'm not going with anything special here as far as wire goes, and I'm not looking to improve the sound at all.  I just want some eye candy to look at, I love doing DIY projects (been long into the car and home audio world) and a cable/headphone setup unique to me is always something to smile about, especially after making it myself.  There will be much to learn from this build and some mistakes will be made along the way, but I've got my head held high.
 
I'll be using navships wire in a litz braid with a Viablue 1/8" connector and I got some of the IE8 connectors from a seller in Hong Kong.  As usual, your normal heat shrink will be used in the appropriate places, but half way up the wire I'll be making my own Y-Splitter out of aluminum.  I'm a senior in college and I got permission from one of my TA's to use our metals lab here on campus to mill one out.  I got a good start on it this morning and I'll be finishing it up this afternoon.  Anyway, on with the pictures!
 
 
The victims:
 
 

 
 
Materials (still waiting on the wire) :
 

 
 
Render of the Y-Splitter:
 
 

 
(this one just for fun)
 

 
 
Progress pics of the Y-Splitter:
 
 

 

 
 
Size reference:
 
 

 
 
 
It'll need some polishing up after the final machining, but I'm very happy with it so far.  I hope to update things tomorrow after I finish it up.
 
I'm more than happy to hear constructive criticism or advice on the whole procedure.  One thing that I'm not sure on is the IE8 connectors.  They don't snap together, so would heat shrink wrapped around them be enough to hold them together, or should I use some hot glue as well?
 
Thanks for reading! 

 

[Lurkumaural]

Nice read.  I'm happy to visit someone's build thread if there's enough to read/look at.  The DIY Cable Gallery is one of my favorite threads, but there's too much discussion (for a gallery), and sometimes a build (like yours) deserves some discourse of its own.
 
The plastic IEM connectors are usually glued shut I think.  Enough people on head-fi use them, you should be able to find what people are doing to close them up with a quick forum search.  Include the Triple Fi 10 in your search though.
 
I'll check back in a bit.  Can't wait to see how you bring it all together.

 

[B_Rich]

Quote:

Nice read.  I'm happy to visit someone's build thread if there's enough to read/look at.  The DIY Cable Gallery is one of my favorite threads, but there's too much discussion (for a gallery), and sometimes a build (like yours) deserves some discourse of its own.
 
The plastic IEM connectors are usually glued shut I think.  Enough people on head-fi use them, you should be able to find what people are doing to close them up with a quick forum search.  Include the Triple Fi 10 in your search though.
 
I'll check back in a bit.  Can't wait to see how you bring it all together.

Thanks for the kind words, I'll do some digging and see what I can find.

 

[B_Rich]

Finished up the Y divider this morning.  I still have some polishing to do on it, and I might paint it, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
 
Has anyone noticed how SLOW navships is at shipping out wire?  He's only 3 hours east of me (literally overnight ground) and it took a week to ship the wire I bought from him.  I changed my mind on the color (I ordered black/red but am now going with black/white/grey) and the new wire that I'm ordering is being shipped to my home address so I'll be working on that next week during spring break.
 
Anyway, onto the pics:
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[e19650826]

that y-splitter looks solid and nice! But is it not a bit heavy? And it might be a little hard to fit the cable in it.... since it does not open...  I can see a little bit of frustration in your future
by the way, nice viablue plug. just wondering~ ever thought of making your own silver cable? like get some teflon and bare solid core silver~ that should make the project even more interesting and maybe better sounding too!

 

[B_Rich]

Quote:

that y-splitter looks solid and nice! But is it not a bit heavy? And it might be a little hard to fit the cable in it.... since it does not open...  I can see a little bit of frustration in your future
by the way, nice viablue plug. just wondering~ ever thought of making your own silver cable? like get some teflon and bare solid core silver~ that should make the project even more interesting and maybe better sounding too!

Thank you!  No, not really, but you're right, it might be a different story when I actually get it on the cable.  Worst comes to worst, I'll just do the heat shrink y-divider method.  Haha yeah we'll have to see on the wire part, but I have a plan of attack.
 
I like the viablue plug as well, I'm glad I paid a little extra for the one that I wanted.  Good idea on the silver cable, however I already have the navships wire on the way, but I'll have to keep that in mind for any future projects