[barqy]

I prefer the Vampire magnet wire, which happens to be the cheapest. I believe the cheapest price can be had from Percy Audio, where I bought mine. It has the best balance between detail, tonal balance, and warmth IME; just make sure you use smaller AWG ones (26-28 AWG) and at least quad-braid them...
QUOTE]

Is it really necessary to use such a small gauge for interconnects? I don't really see a major advantage to using smaller gauge wires over the larger ones (22-24)


thanks

 

[Jon L]

Well, for line-level (interconnects, mini), I have favored quad-braid of 26 awg Vampire wire. For more power-carrying applications, such as K1000 wire, I have preferred 21 awg (2 per leg).

Cable DIY is akin to cooking. There's different flavors one gets by using 26 awg x4 (quad braid) vs. 23 awg x 2 (twist) even though total awg may be the same.

For line-level, the smaller awg tends to give more treble extension and air as well as focus, but you start to subtract from midrange and bass warmth and density. You can go too far the other direction, getting thick, warm, rolled-off sound. Good compromise is to use multiples of small awg wire per leg; many high-end cable companies, in fact, use this approach..

 

[axiom]

Of course if it's stranded wire it's already small awg wire.
There are many things online debating which size is best, if you google "skin effect of wires" you should get plenty of stuff to read

Another thing to consider is braiding (although if you just use 3 wires it's pretty straightforward). Also a lot of reading for that if you want

.
Here's a couple of interesting pages:
http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm
http://www.chimeralabs.com/diy_braid.html
http://www.vt4c.com/shop/program/mai..._id=9&hit_cat=

 

[hilikus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just to add my 2 cents, I have both Jena cryo wire and Vampire continuous cast "magnet" wire and have made various headphone cables and interconnects with them. I have also made them using the expensive Audio Consulting Silver Magnet wire. I prefer the Vampire magnet wire, which happens to be the cheapest. I believe the cheapest price can be had from Percy Audio, where I bought mine. It has the best balance between detail, tonal balance, and warmth IME; just make sure you use smaller AWG ones (26-28 AWG) and at least quad-braid them... It's possible that Jena wire becomes exponentially better when braided in HUGE number of runs like expensive Jena production cables, but then again, you could do the same with Vampire wire. As far as major differences, Jena wire is stranded "hyperpure" copper in thicker "deflourinated" teflon dielectric. Vampire is solid core continuous-cast copper wire in extremely thin enamel dielectric.

Ahh thank you. I found the vampire 20guage wire ken uses at ALO.

http://www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf

 

[barqy]

so......did anyone ever end up buying some cryo wire to try out?

if not, i wouldn't mine buying several feet of cryo treated vampire wire to test out for making ipod line out docks

cheers

 

[aluren]

looks interesting. will probably get some wires myself.

can anybody recommend me some good diy cable tools like the solder and soldering iron?

basically to make a cable, i would need:

1. solder
2. soldering iron
3. cable
4. plugs

anything else i would need?? any help would be appreciated!

 

[takezo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aluren /img/forum/go_quote.gif looks interesting. will probably get some wires myself. can anybody recommend me some good diy cable tools like the solder and soldering iron? basically to make a cable, i would need: 1. solder 2. soldering iron 3. cable 4. plugs anything else i would need?? any help would be appreciated!

you should go buy yourself the cheapest soldering iron, dual helping hand fixture, wire strippers that cover the gauges of the wires you're interested in and of course the cable and cardas's tri or quad eutetic solder.(buy in ft. you don't need to invest in a whole roll of these relatively expensive solders unless you're looking to go into business...)

radioshack has dirt cheap 30watt soldering irons for like $8, as well as the dual hand fixture for about $10. wire strippers can go between $7 to $30 depending on name brand. the key is to "tin" the iron itself when you first get it. tinning is basically treating the tip of the soldering iron to facilitate easier soldering and longevity of the tip itself. when the very tip starts to get dark or burnt, you should wipe it over a water soaked sponge and then use a philip screw driver tip to scrape off the burnt residue. this will keep the solder in good shape. remember, the tip of the iron is most important.

if you've never used a soldering iron i suggest you wear cotton treaded garden gloves in the beginning to prevent burns. and practice soldering any two cheap copper wires together. cutting up any old wires and soldering back together is really good practice.

plugs are everywhere on the web and markertek is a good site for the canare mini plugs. they are larger than the norm and easier to work with for beginners. get the F-12, as these are stereo and the other is mono.

http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdu...ff=1&sort=prod

you can buy cable wires anywhere on the web for copper or silver of course, but if your budget allows go for the jena labs 18 gauge cryogenically immersed copper wire or the vampire pure silver stranded 22 gauge. from having made numerous interconnects i got great sound quality from these two.

for jena labs: email michael crocker directly and inquire on purchase. he is super friendly and helpful. he takes the time to answer all your questions.

mail@jenatek.com

for the vampire go here:

Part #SL-22 - Pure Silver Internal Hook Up Wire. it comes in two colors red and white (white is actually transparent like the cryo wires by jena which is
really nice! they are flexible, unlike the solid pure silver wires)

http://vampirewire.com/mcart/index.c...3&page=0&cat=8

vampire takes about a week to get the item but jena took me three days turnaround. martertek is pretty fast too, around 4-5 days and they don't overcharge for shipping. postal priority is cheap and fast.

hope this helps a little. it may cost you a little more than $50 in tools when you first start but it's 10 times cheaper to make your own than buying thru
established vendors.

best,
takezo

 

[Lil' Knight]

Firstly, sorry for my bumping of this OLD thread

I've sent many email to PercyAudio and JL regarding buy some wires from them, but still no response

I wonder if there is any other online store that sell them?

 

[fatman711]

I personally am off Jena. They're customer service is horrible and their wire simply is not worth the price.


Percy doesn't have any of the vampire wire left. I checked.


You can buy from vampirewire.com

there is also takefiveaudio.com

 

[Lil' Knight]

Thanks

Just downloaded the catalog from Percy and it's out of stock

I'm thinking about recabling my headphones with one of these wires

On the vampire's web site, is this exactly the same? I saw only in 22g

Internal Hook Up Wire
#CCC-22

 

[fatman711]

Percy's 20gauge is the 22gauge stuff. It is just really thick so he calls it 20gauge.

that is the right stuff on vampirewire.com

Percy does have 100' in the red though if you want that.

 

[Lil' Knight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatman711 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Percy's 20gauge is the 22gauge stuff. It is just really thick so he calls it 20gauge. that is the right stuff on vampirewire.com Percy does have 100' in the red though if you want that.

It's funny

I just look for the transparent wires

love it color.

I wonder if it's correct or not, but I've recently made an order from vampirewire and their intl' shipping is just only 1.26$, even cheaper than domestic shipping

 

[barqy]

how did you guys get ahold of percy?

i've been wanting to order some cardas wire to recable my headphones, but he never replies to emails


sent him 4-5 the past 3 weeks

 

[Lil' Knight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barqy /img/forum/go_quote.gif how did you guys get ahold of percy?

I wish I could

Sent him 2 mails a week ago, and another 2 this week.

 

[fatman711]

I just shout out "yo Michael! I need some of that stuff!"

I just emailed him...lol