[KimChee]

I'm considering making an 8 conductor ciem cable, any advice?  So I'm guessing the silver goes on the positive ground, while the copper goes on the negative ground?  Is that right?  Also seems like that is a lot of wires going into the plug and the part that plug into the ciem.  Any advice on braiding technique?  Thanks.

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

I'm considering making an 8 conductor ciem cable, any advice?  So I'm guessing the silver goes on the positive ground, while the copper goes on the negative ground?  Is that right?  Also seems like that is a lot of wires going into the plug and the part that plug into the ciem.  Any advice on braiding technique?  Thanks.

 
It doesn't matter much which wire goes on which leg. The electricity is making a round-trip through the whole circuit and it's all the wire from the amp to the IEM and back which matters, not just one half or the other half.
 
It can be tricky connecting two wires to each pin in the IEM plug. Definitely use light-gauge wire for this -- otherwise you literally risk having no room to fit all the wire around the plug.
 
There have been a lot of links to braiding tutorials and guides in this thread. You'll be making 4-wire braids from the IEM plugs to the yoke and that's fairly easy; it's mostly the 8-wire braid I assume you'll want to make from the yoke to the amp that matters. Try copying and pasting the following into Google: site:head-fi.org "diy cable gallery" braid help

 

[ostewart]

My latest: Simple silver mini-mini using Pailiccs jacks and Toxic Cables Stranded Silver wire
 
 

 

[unhinged17]

Wow Hiflyin and N@Z - I love those mini-to-mini homemade cables! Very professional. I'd love to learn how to do that!!!

 

[crazyj971]

Where can I buy VariBlue 3.5mm connector here in Philippines?

 

[cute]

Has anyone found a source for strain reliefs for the headphone cups for wire entry?  Recabling some single entry phones to double entry, and the entry holes are 1/4", and it would be really nice to have some of the tapered rubber/plastic strain relief slip on type!
 
Thanks

 

[goohsm]

i heard single conductor wires sound the best although it lacks the flexibility as headphone wires
anyone tried single conductor?
 
single conductor and single core they are the same thing?
what gauge of one single conductor wire would replace the normal 24awg stranded headphone wire?

 

[Whippler]

Quote:

i heard single conductor wires sound the best although it lacks the flexibility as headphone wires
anyone tried single conductor?
 
single conductor and single core they are the same thing?
what gauge of one single conductor wire would replace the normal 24awg stranded headphone wire?

that would be 24awg since:
 
"AWG gauges are also used to describe stranded wire. In this case, it describes the total cross-sectional area of the conductor; the gaps between strands are not counted. Using circular strands, these gaps occupy about 10% of the wire area, thus requiring a wire about 5% thicker than equivalent solid wire.
Stranded wires are specified with three numbers, the overall AWG size, the number of strands, and the AWG size of a strand. The number of strands and the AWG of a strand are separated by a slash. For example, a 22 AWG 7/30 stranded wire is a 22 AWG wire made from seven strands of 30 AWG wire." -Wikipedia

 

[ardgedee]

what gauge of one single conductor wire would replace the normal 24awg stranded headphone wire?

The purely technical answer is that you can more or less relate them 1:1 -- 24ga solid core vs. 24ga stranded. This is not totally accurate, but good enough.

The practical answer is that you don't want to unless your goal is a cable that will double as desktop sculpture. It will be stiff enough to hold your headphones up without you having to wear them.

A good headphone cable has challenges other types of audio cables don't: It has to be flexible enough for the wearer not to notice it (much) and has to avoid conducting mechanical noises -- from brushing against your clothing or banging on things. Solid core wire fails on all counts.

You might get slightly better sound out of it, but the cable will perform worse than the old one in all other ways. Your listening experience will not be improved.

 

[ostewart]

SSolid core interconnects are ok, I have a solid core silver LOD I made

 

[FraGGleR]

The purely technical answer is that you can more or less relate them 1:1 -- 24ga solid core vs. 24ga stranded. This is not totally accurate, but good enough.

The practical answer is that you don't want to unless your goal is a cable that will double as desktop sculpture. It will be stiff enough to hold your headphones up without you having to wear them.

A good headphone cable has challenges other types of audio cables don't: It has to be flexible enough for the wearer not to notice it (much) and has to avoid conducting mechanical noises -- from brushing against your clothing or banging on things. Solid core wire fails on all counts.

You might get slightly better sound out of it, but the cable will perform worse than the old one in all other ways. Your listening experience will not be improved.

Not only those two issues, but solid core is much more prone to failure after repeated bending. I had a solidcore wire snap in the middle of a LOD due to flexing.

Is better off in stationary interconnects and internal wiring for components. I believe most who talk about solid sounding better are referring to those usages as opposed to headphone cables.

 

[telecaster]

I just did a new cable for my hd650. Not that I wanna upgrade the sound, I just wanted a four meter long cable with a single xlr connector to use with my lf339. The braiding was a real beach it took me like two hours just for the braiding and the cardas connector are so little it was close to impossible to do the job. In the end I succeeded and secured it with epoxy... came out prettyso after all that trouble and sound is like my beloved hd650, now the length is perfect for my couch! And no more Jack shorting thanks to the xlr! Four round braiding in this length is such a hassle though..

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

I just did a new cable for my hd650. Not that I wanna upgrade the sound, I just wanted a four meter long cable with a single xlr connector to use with my lf339. The braiding was a real beach it took me like two hours just for the braiding and the cardas connector are so little it was close to impossible to do the job. In the end I succeeded and secured it with epoxy... came out prettyso after all that trouble and sound is like my beloved hd650, now the length is perfect for my couch! And no more Jack shorting thanks to the xlr! Four round braiding in this length is such a hassle though..

Pictures!

 

[audiofreakie]

 

 
the cables handcrafted, the wire too...
5 core pure silver (pure jewelry silver) perstrand.
4 strand, total 20 strand silver solid core used.

 

[KimChee]

That's a thick looking wire, looks good!