[Allanmarcus]

Actually, I was always taught to heat the wire and lug, and touch the solder to the other side, not tip, solder wire/lug.

 

[Paladin79]

Actually, I was always taught to heat the wire and lug, and touch the solder to the other side, not tip, solder wire/lug.

That is correct, you heat the joint and apply solder. Touch solder directly to the tip and you burn the rosin. The rosin is there to clean whatever you are soldering.

 

[Mikko Peltonen]

Progress made on the balanced cable!
 
By the way, it was a total pain in the butt to braid the cable. I had four stands of 3,5 m long cables and they were twisted all the time. Took over an hour to do that... I also didn't have any idea that the cable would shrink that much when braided. I was expecting it to go from 3,5 m to roughly 3 m but its more like 2,5 m. Would've preferred it to be a bit longer but can't do that now, lol
 

 

 

[Paladin79]

  Progress made on the balanced cable!
 
By the way, it was a total pain in the butt to braid the cable. I had four stands of 3,5 m long cables and they were twisted all the time. Took over an hour to do that... I also didn't have any idea that the cable would shrink that much when braided. I was expecting it to go from 3,5 m to roughly 3 m but its more like 2,5 m. Would've preferred it to be a bit longer but can't do that now, lol
 

 

I generally have my people figure an extra 30 % when they braid a cable but it can vary with tightness of braid, cable size, and whether it is a 3 or 4 wire braid. That is a nice, tight braid that looks very good. Sometimes you can get uneven pressure on the wires and the joints are not consistent in spacing.

 

[Benny-x]

  I generally have my people figure an extra 30 % when they braid a cable but it can vary with tightness of braid, cable size, and whether it is a 3 or 4 wire braid. That is a nice, tight braid that looks very good. Sometimes you can get uneven pressure on the wires and the joints are not consistent in spacing.

 
I've been wondering about this lately as well. In a few months I'm hopefully, finally going to begin undertaking a big cable project, but I need the result to be a 4m cable. It's going to be a 4 strand round braid, all wires have their own PE jacket, but I may put an additional thin cotton sleeve on them before the braiding.
 
I'm now guessing I'll have to take about 5.5m of wire if I hope to get a 4m cable out of it. Good to know.

 

[Mikko Peltonen]

   
I've been wondering about this lately as well. In a few months I'm hopefully, finally going to begin undertaking a big cable project, but I need the result to be a 4m cable. It's going to be a 4 strand round braid, all wires have their own PE jacket, but I may put an additional thin cotton sleeve on them before the braiding.
 
I'm now guessing I'll have to take about 5.5m of wire if I hope to get a 4m cable out of it. Good to know.

 
If you aren't going to buy some crazy expensive cable it might be safer to get a few extra meters and then just cut it to the optimal length after braiding. 

 

[Benny-x]

 
If you aren't going to buy some crazy expensive cable it might be safer to get a few extra meters and then just cut it to the optimal length after braiding. 

I'm unfortunately in the "unless..." category there
 
In thinking about it, though, I do have some other projects that I'll need smaller bits of wire for, so I might just go with 6m lengths first, then cut the wire to length with done. Then the bits that're left over can be used for the other projects and I'll hopefully not wast much~~
 
Thanks for the idea.

 

[Arty McGhee]

hey just a quick thanks man to mr. paladin79
these mini-xlrs are a great idea
just finished with this and they work great
i'll probably re-terminate most of my stuff to this
 
the rean mini-xlr has the best designed strain relief of anything i've ever used

 

[Paladin79]

  hey just a quick thanks man to mr. paladin79
these mini-xlrs are a great idea
just finished with this and they work great
i'll probably re-terminate most of my stuff to this
 
the rean mini-xlr has the best designed strain relief of anything i've ever used

You are most welcome Arty. The cables look good and they should last a long time.You are obviously experienced to have built the cables this quickly.

 

[john777]

Progress made on the balanced cable!

By the way, it was a total pain in the butt to braid the cable. I had four stands of 3,5 m long cables and they were twisted all the time. Took over an hour to do that... I also didn't have any idea that the cable would shrink that much when braided. I was expecting it to go from 3,5 m to roughly 3 m but its more like 2,5 m. Would've preferred it to be a bit longer but can't do that now, lol

Yes, the losses in length when braiding I find very difficult to predict. I usually find it is about a third reduced, but sometimes more.

 

[Paladin79]

It is better to factor in extra length and hopefully use a wire whose results are pleasing for a reasonable price. You can cut extra cable off and for home use I generally like to go longer anyway. At my home system it is not unusual for me to have two or three people listening at once with headphones or a combination of headphones and speakers.

 

[Mikko Peltonen]

All done! 
 

 

 

[SEABREEZE]

Question folks, am I correct the XLR connector has 3 wires and Kubiconn connector has 4 wires.. Can anyone point  me to a diagram on how to wire a Kubiconn connector
 
Thx

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Question folks, am I correct the XLR connector has 3 wires and Kubiconn connector has 4 wires.. Can anyone point  me to a diagram on how to wire a Kubiconn connector
 
Thx

There are many XRL connectors. Some have 3 and some have 4. What are you trying to make?

 

[buke9]

Question folks, am I correct the XLR connector has 3 wires and Kubiconn connector has 4 wires.. Can anyone point  me to a diagram on how to wire a Kubiconn connector

Thx

http://www.head-fi.org/t/671311/designing-balance-cable-for-ray-samuels-rsa-sr-71b-latest-version