[Paladin79]

It can be tricky to justify some things. Let ten people listen to those cables and age is a factor (you lose high frequencies in later years.)

If you like one sound over another go with it. OCC was developed by a scientist and if it was snake oil I doubt a lot of people would use it. It can boil down to whether you want to pay big bucks for slightly better sound. If you cannot hear a difference, why bother? There have been tests where 70% of a group chose the cheapest cables made in a blind test. Change the group and change the results.

 

[Sko0byDoo]

  Hey sko0byD00 when I was googling connex-ag I saw your post about hum.. did you ever solve it?  or did you have to go to more heavily shielded cables?  I'm switching from super shielded bjc lc-1 to this and haven't had any so far.. I also didn't connect the shield at the amp end, only source end in the cable

 
Yeah, solved the hum problem.  It wasn't the interconnect cables.  It was the galvanic noise from the pc to the DAC via the USB cable.  I used an external aes/ebu converter to isolate the polluted 5V usb power now.
 
The bl-ag got good enough shielding sleeve.  No need adding more.  May be grounding the drain wire at the source side just to be sure. 

 

[Arty McGhee]

if any of you fine folks think you can hear the difference in cables
i know a guy whose got a million dollars for you 
 
http://gizmodo.com/305549/james-randi-offers-1-million-if-audiophiles-can-prove-7250-speaker-cables-are-better
 
please take this to the sound science forum before the mods close this thread, i'm beggin ya

 

[Paladin79]

This looks like an ideal time to go back to DIY cable building. I have found the combo cotton and pet sheathing. Does anyone have a good source for all cotton or silk?

 

[Paladin79]

Someone asked about what to do for a large opening in the back of an RCA connector and I suggested a rubber grommet. Here is a photo of what I was talking about. I buy individual grommets but this RCA connector comes with a choice of four sizes when you order it from Calrad. 30-292 is the four mm cable opening version.
They are available in 2.8 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm and 8 mm. The part number I listed is four MM.
 

 

[uncola]

hmm interesting, do those grommets only fit in that calrad connector?
I tried using that silicon fusing stretchy tape but it was so sticky the friction when I was screwing on the bottom half of the rca connector started to twist the cable around and I was worried about breaking my solder joints.. had to use it extremely sparingly

 

[Paladin79]

  hmm interesting, do those grommets only fit in that calrad connector?
I tried using that silicon fusing stretchy tape but it was so sticky the friction when I was screwing on the bottom half of the rca connector started to twist the cable around and I was worried about breaking my solder joints.. had to use it extremely sparingly

They fit an RCA connector with up to a 7.5 mm opening. If you need something larger than that, look for a photo I posted on Sept. 11, that shows longer grommets that fit even larger openings. You cut them down as needed. It would be futile for me to list the source on that since they are sold 500 at a time but you might luck out and find some on Ebay. They act as strain reliefs as well as helping to secure the cable inside a connector.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Rubber-Cable-Strain-Relief-Boots-Sleeves-BTS-59-BK-RG-59-RG59-Wire-Covers-/291526133048?hash=item43e04fc538:g:f~QAAOSwd0BVuFSq
 
Here is a post on ebay for those boots except these are for RG 59 cable and will have about a 1/4 inch cable opening, what you want is made for RG 58. Opening is closer to 3mm or so.

 

[Jiggybutt]

I'm planning to build my own balanced cable for my HE-560! I'm a total newbie on this forum, and in hifi aswell, but have seen several posts about recommending microphone cables to build from. Wouldn't a thin speaker-cable braid be the same thing as taking microphone cable and dig out the conductors from the inside?

 

[liquidzoo]

I'm planning to build my own balanced cable for my HE-560! I'm a total newbie on this forum, and in hifi aswell, but have seen several posts about recommending microphone cables to build from. Wouldn't a thin speaker-cable braid be the same thing as taking microphone cable and dig out the conductors from the inside?

People recommend the microphone cable for a couple of reasons:

It's cheap. Mogami W2799, for example, is $0.62/ft

For that price, you get 4 wires inside the microphone cable shielding (which most, thought not all, people remove).

Most of the time, you're not going to find speaker wire in the 24-26 AWG range. Most speaker wire is 12-18 AWG, which might work, but would be quite bulky for headphones.

 

[Paladin79]

People recommend the microphone cable for a couple of reasons:

It's cheap. Mogami W2799, for example, is $0.62/ft

For that price, you get 4 wires inside the microphone cable shielding (which most, thought not all, people remove).

Most of the time, you're not going to find speaker wire in the 24-26 AWG range. Most speaker wire is 12-18 AWG, which might work, but would be quite bulky for headphones.

Very good answer. The Mogami is 26 awg, they do offer 24 awg quad but it costs more.

 

[SVTong]

Theoretically though, if one could get a hold of 24ga speaker wire it should work as well, correct?

 

[liquidzoo]

Very good answer. The Mogami is 26 awg, they do offer 24 awg quad but it costs more.

Yes. The Mogami W2799 and W2893 are both 26 AWG. The only difference is extra copper shielding in the 2893 (and about $0.20/ft more money)

Mogami W2820 is 24 AWG. I've not used it, but I have used the Canare 24 AWG wire and prefer the Mogami 26 AWG for a more flexible wire.

 

[liquidzoo]

Theoretically though, if one could get a hold of 24ga speaker wire it should work as well, correct?

In theory, yes. It will depend a lot on how the outer shield of the wire is constructed. That will determine how stiff it is once completed.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Does anyone have the pin layout for a standard 2-pin CIEM cable?

 

[Paladin79]

Yes. The Mogami W2799 and W2893 are both 26 AWG. The only difference is extra copper shielding in the 2893 (and about $0.20/ft more money)

Mogami W2820 is 24 AWG. I've not used it, but I have used the Canare 24 AWG wire and prefer the Mogami 26 AWG for a more flexible wire.

I have used those two brands as well as Belden star quad, I prefer it and the Mogami personally. I am working on buying a bunch of 24 awg jacketed wire that is high quality, I can also get the 26 awg in OFC but unfortunately I would have to buy 150,000 feet or more. This is why a lot of people cut the star quad apart lol.