[Paladin79]

  Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime
 
I know I should learn the theory of basic cables first, then start out making a simple cable, but that would take the fun out of it. 
 
If all else fails read the directions! 

I deal with this stuff daily and use terms that I take for granted so at times I am probably not the best teacher. (even though I have successfully taught electronics, chess, and photography)
 
Some of the questions get hard though like what wire should I use? Are you building cables for IEM's, or single entry headphones, or dual entry? What connectors will you be using? What look do you prefer? There are a lot of questions.
 
I cannot go out and easily buy ofc 24 awg stranded wire without approaching a manufacturer and buying 15,000 feet. That is why some folks cut apart the star quad. This is a niche industry and one day some of the wire might be more readily available. Microphone cable and star quad cable has been around for years and sold for years so the wire goes into such cables.

 

[Stegosaurus]

 
I deal with this stuff daily and use terms that I take for granted so at times I am probably not the best teacher. (even though I have successfully taught electronics, chess, and photography)
 
Some of the questions get hard though like what wire should I use? Are you building cables for IEM's, or single entry headphones, or dual entry? What connectors will you be using? What look do you prefer? There are a lot of questions.
 
I cannot go out and easily buy ofc 24 awg stranded wire without approaching a manufacturer and buying 15,000 feet. That is why some folks cut apart the star quad. This is a niche industry and one day some of the wire might be more readily available. Microphone cable and star quad cable has been around for years and sold for years so the wire goes into such cables.

I think I understand most of it. But I'm still not sure why there are three braids then down to two after the "Y". I've got a twisted pair for the left, a twisted pair for the right, and a twisted pair for the ground??? Then after the "Y" there is two: where did the third one go???...(scratching head) huhhhh??? I get the basic concept (I think) but not how to piece it all together. Why do you think I went with the chimp avatar?...hahaha!

 

[Paladin79]

  I think I understand most of it. But I'm still not sure why there are three braids then down to two after the "Y". I've got a twisted pair for the left, a twisted pair for the right, and a twisted pair for the ground??? Then after the "Y" there is two: where did the third one go???...(scratching head) huhhhh??? I get the basic concept (I think) but not how to piece it all together. Why do you think I went with the chimp avatar?...hahaha!

Star quad has four inner wires, those are what you have to concern yourself with. There is also a braid which can be another conductor but I will leave that out for now. On one end say you have a TRS connector. One wire goes to left hot, one wire to right hot and two grounds go to ground. On the other end if you go to a dual entry headphone you twist a right channel and a left channel pair. Hot left plus ground left, hot right plus ground right.  The wire within the jacket is already twisted pair in effect so you can leave it alone if you use the jacket.
 
The end with the TRS connector has the entire cable going into the connector, you only twist the pairs going to the headphones. If you connect the shield to a ground, you should only connect it on one end. The source end. I can explain that if you like but it is not really germane to this discussion.
 
 
 
If you pull the four wires entirely out, you still wire the four wires the same way. Common ground on the trs end, separate grounds on the dual entry ends. You braid them in this sense to do the same thing twisted pair does.
 
does that help? This afternoon I will make a couple simple drawings and see if that helps.

 

[Stegosaurus]

  Star quad has four inner wires, those are what you have to concern yourself with. There is also a braid which can be another conductor but I will leave that out for now. On one end say you have a TRS connector. One wire goes to left hot, one wire to right hot and two grounds go to ground. On the other end if you go to a dual entry headphone you twist a right channel and a left channel pair. Hot left plus ground left, hot right plus ground right.  The wire within the jacket is already twisted pair in effect so you can leave it alone if you use the jacket.
 
The end with the TRS connector has the entire cable going into the connector, you only twist the pairs going to the headphones. If you connect the shield to a ground, you should only connect it on one end. The source end. I can explain that if you like but it is not really germane to this discussion.
 
 
 
If you pull the four wires entirely out, you still wire the four wires the same way. Common ground on the trs end, separate grounds on the dual entry ends. You braid them in this sense to do the same thing twisted pair does.
 
does that help? This afternoon I will make a couple simple drawings and see if that helps.

Yes. I believe understand now. Thank you!

 

[Paladin79]

Glad to hear you have it now lol

 

[buke9]

Well just posting so my subscriptions will be back. Almost everything was wiped after the update. Carry on.

 

[liquidzoo]

Same. Good job to all.

 

[Paladin79]

This will take some getting used to, but I am finding most things on the site now.

 

[penmarker]

If i want to make a cable with 8 wire braid, how is it wired?
3L, 3R, 2Ground?

***edit
Oh wait sorry.
so 8 wires, divide into 2 for L R channel = 4 wires each
at the TRS jack, combine -ve from L R = 2L + 2R

That means there will be 2 wires on Tip, 2 wires on Ring, 4 wires on Sleeve right?

 

[Allanmarcus]

Correct

 

[Paladin79]

I am working on 64 wire braid but I need to design a shoulder strap to help support the weight.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I am working on 64 wire braid but I need to design a shoulder strap to help support the weight.

 

[Paladin79]

Allan I had no idea you even wore glasses! I hope it was obvious I was being facetious. The largest connector opening I have is about 9 mm and I can barely fit a 32 wire braid into that.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Allan I had no idea you even wore glasses! I hope it was obvious I was being facetious. The largest connector opening I have is about 9 mm and I can barely fit a 32 wire braid into that.

Yes, I knew you were attempting humor

That pic was taken before I had Lasik!

 

[Paladin79]

It's either joke about it or explain the science and sometimes people do not always accept the science.

Anyway the eight strand makes for a very pretty looking cable. I guess the guys are now doing well with the four braid, no word for a few days. I hope all is well and no one gets too discouraged.

I just ordered some headphones that use Litz wire inside the headphones and ofc cables. I was glad to see them list such things. These are 164 ohm so I am anxious to see how that impedance works out. Build quality seemed to be decent so we will see what happens.