[FraGGleR]

Peter at Doublehelixcables.com sells some very good stranded UPOCC copper wire in both clear and translucent black polyethylene (cryo treated as well).  He has had it available to DIY'ers for several years now and gets it custom made from one of the few official producers of OCC wire.  I use it almost exclusively due to the quality and price (and Peter's great service and advice).  
 
As for Navships SPC, I usually sleeve cables to reduce movement-generated cable noise.
 
I am happy that more companies are making high quality wire available for DIY'ers.  When I first started up and before Peter had his own wire, ALO and Cryo-parts (now closed) were the only places to get it and they are expensive as chip.

 

[FraGGleR]

And because this is a forum for posting pictures of cables, here is a Christmas cable that I made a couple years ago for a set of AKG K81DJ's that I modified for detachable cables:
 

 

 
Pretty sure this is made out of deconstructed Mogami 2893 wire, with Neutrik 3.5" mono plugs for headphone entry, and a Neutrik right angled 3.5" stereo plug for the source.  Each wire was sleeved in Needloft nylon craft cord and then braided.  Sadly Needloft no longer makes the craft cord so I am in search for a good alternative.

 

[Toxic Cables]

Quote:

 
Originally Posted by Pingupenguins /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
 
Don't want to get slapped on the wrist for commenting on the forums, so send me a pm or email.
 

I was actually worried about answering questions myself, but MOT are allowed to answer direct questions asked on the forums about products they sell.

 

[cogsand gears]

 
Low profile ipod LOD. Made with translucent black and clear insulated SPC From Toxic Cables.

 

[pwnm30rdi3]

I need to find a 3.5mm female jack (stereo) that is made of quality.
Preferably in the color of black.
I have been searching google four about an hour...

So far this is the only thing I have found that is close to what I am looking for.
http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-video/connectors/3-5mm-1-8-and-2-5mm-jacks-and-plugs/3-5mm-female-jack-30319f/prod30319F.html

If anyone knows a place that sells an encased 3.5mm female jack like the one listed above, please post the company name or a link to their website. I would greatly appreciate it!!

 

[Toxic Cables]

I use these, not sure if you can buy them yet. Oyaide sent me a dozen samples and said they will be releasing them soon, this was 2 weeks ago.
 
 

 
http://www.oyaide.com/ENGLISH/AUDIO/products_category/etcplug/pg755.html
 
Seems someone on eBay has some, not sure how, Oyaide would not sell me any at the time.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OFFICIAL-Oyaide-J-3-5SR-/150852396840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231f80e728#ht_1013wt_1037
 
@ cogsand gears, great work as usual, Luke.

 

[Pingupenguins]

Quote:

I need to find a 3.5mm female jack (stereo) that is made of quality.
Preferably in the color of black.
I have been searching google four about an hour...
So far this is the only thing I have found that is close to what I am looking for.
http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-video/connectors/3-5mm-1-8-and-2-5mm-jacks-and-plugs/3-5mm-female-jack-30319f/prod30319F.html
If anyone knows a place that sells an encased 3.5mm female jack like the one listed above, please post the company name or a link to their website. I would greatly appreciate it!!

 
 
Neutrik NYS240BG

 

[Omark12]

If I braided 4 strands of navships spc and sleved it in techflex would that get rid of the microphonics?

 

[FraGGleR]

Techflex has made it worse in my experience.  If you went with nylon multifilament or 550 paracord, you could damp the sound and add some nice class to the cable.

 

[Pingupenguins]

Quote:

If I braided 4 strands of navships spc and sleved it in techflex would that get rid of the microphonics?

 
Techflex is a company, and if your talking about the expandable sleeving that Furryletters sells, that will make it worse.
 
Furry letters also sells nylon multifilament. That stuff is pretty good at reducing cable noise.

 

[Omark12]

multifilament it is. I tried to deconstruct a scrap length of 2893, cut it in half and braid the 8 resulting strands so I could see if I could make a BTG style cable but i got lost so fast. How did you learn to braid 8 strands like that? i think Ill have to end up getting 2534 and quad braid it then sleeve it in multifilament for my next cable.

 

[Pingupenguins]

Quote:

How did you learn to braid 8 strands like that?

 
 
Practice practice practice.

 

[audiophile_007]

sorry this might be a stupid question, but I want to make a custom cable myself and I was wondering.
if I make a custom cable for a CIEM like UM/UE, where do the cables for the pins go? left ear: left and ground/ right ear: right and ground.
or a different way?
 
Thanks guys.
 
I think i found it, but I'm still not sure because it seems so strange to me that a cable wont have a ground.
http://www.head-fi.org/a/diy-cable-info-and-resources

 

[cogsand gears]

Quote:

sorry this might be a stupid question, but I want to make a custom cable myself and I was wondering.
if I make a custom cable for a CIEM like UM/UE, where do the cables for the pins go? left ear: left and ground/ right ear: right and ground.
or a different way?
 
Thanks guys.
 
I think i found it, but I'm still not sure because it seems so strange to me that a cable wont have a ground.
http://www.head-fi.org/a/diy-cable-info-and-resources

 

Top pin is pin 1, bottom pin is pin 2, they connect to holes 1 and 2 respectively on the IEM. For the correct polarity, pin 1 should be signal and pin 2 should be ground.

 
Above is coppied from Jaben. Seemed the simplest way to explain. There is most definately a ground - 2 in fact. One for each side.

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

sorry this might be a stupid question, but I want to make a custom cable myself and I was wondering.
if I make a custom cable for a CIEM like UM/UE, where do the cables for the pins go? left ear: left and ground/ right ear: right and ground.

 
Quote:

Top pin is pin 1, bottom pin is pin 2, they connect to holes 1 and 2 respectively on hhe IEM.

For the correct polarity, pin 1 should be signal and pin 2 should be ground.

 
If you think of the IEM has having a front and back, the pin to the front is negative (-) and the pin to the back is positive (+).
 
So when building a cable with a three-element 3.5mm or 6.5mm phone plug for a UE/Westone style connector, you will do the following.
 
For the right channel, the front pin would be to sleeve (-) and the back pin would be to ring (+)
For the left channel, the front pin would be to sleeve (-) and the back pin would be to tip (+) (For UE Super.Fi and Triple.Fi models, the left channel is front + (or: front->sleeve) and back - (or: back->tip) )
 
While ground and negative mean different thing in electronics (and OH BOY you'd better not confuse them when building an amplifier), for the purpose of building cables for speakers and headphones we get to swap around the terms somewhat recklessly since the speaker (or headphone) will usually be wired the same way.
 
Avoiding bridges of + and ground (or + and -, or L+ and R+, or L- and R- on a balanced stereo circuit) is a lot more important than what kind of charge half the wires have.