DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[Allanmarcus]

Well I havent a lots of references, but I will say quite good to good, just a little lest than this one :
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/112314148441?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=412736653541&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

But rember, sommer wires are relative high awg

About the number of strand ... i don't know, there is a a lot inside a wire, but 102 ... can't say for sure.

Count them!

 

[gug42]

Perphaps when i put the connectors ...

 

[gug42]

Well by the way, in fine, my only regrets is to have buy 100ft of black paracord ! (ok really good money value ! And i can use it for my shoes )
For sure I will try to find a more fun/colored paracord !

Two cables are ready for soldering process

And by the way I modfied my point : the wire is equally flexible as the one in the ebay ling ! (I was comparing 4 wires versus 2 ... sorry)

 

[sharktopus]

Moving on, I wonder if the person who asked about XLR's and the star quad ever got a cable made? He is probably realizing why it was hard to find a definitive answer about his situation when he searched the web.

Anyway if anyone sees some antique looking paracord for sale in the states say something. I am in the middle of a steampunk cable build and hope to maintain the theme throughout. Black with white stripes perhaps.

I did indeed get my cables all finished.

I tested them out with a few different pieces of kit, including an amp I've owned since high school and never had the interconnects to actually use. I'm busy re-reading all the posts that I missed over the last few weeks. What can I say, I've just been enjoying my current setup too much

 

[sharktopus]

I also finished the new cable for my HE500's. Canare star quad to neutrik XLR connector with corresponding single ended adapter. Let me say this about that, those hifiman SMC connectors are a pain to solder!

 

[Paladin79]

nice looking setup

 

[Paladin79]

This is an 8 wire braided occ copper cable I just completed for a gentleman on this site. Neutrik male and female four pin mini xlrs so the cable is easily switched over to a balanced amp. These are the HD 650 connectors that folks are not too crazy about but i did not find them to be too difficult. This cable, those headphones and a custom Crack amp using a Valhalla 2 for a preamp makes for some exceptional sound, especially when listening to binaural plus recordings.

 

[Letmebefrank]

Tom thanks for the great conversation, great food, and this beautiful cable. I've redone some of the heat shrink and I'm loving the way it looks. This cable is fantastic.

That bottlehead crack you made is a work of art and it sounds unbelievably good. I have to get one now!

 

[Paladin79]

Frank I was curious how the occ copper compares with your stock cable. Notice any differences?

Also if you want to assemble a Crack you can always use my shop and I will help out as needed. I did swap out some of the wire and I can help with high end interconnect cables.

 

[Letmebefrank]

I only listened briefly last night so I probably wont have a full impression for a couple days. The cable looks and feels great though. it has a nice weight to it that feels reassuring without being too bulky.

I might take you up on that offer, it will be a while before I build one though.

 

[Paladin79]

Having worked with a few of them now, the constructed 8 wire braid is not a bad way to go. We lost no length when we took it down to four wire braids on each side since it was such a tight braid with which to begin.

 

[Allanmarcus]

So, I finish my 8 strand Fostex TH900/Sennheiser HD580/600/650 cable. I have two questions.

1. The Fostex pinout has the large pin +, but the Senn pinout has the large pin -. I wired mine for Fostex, since that is what I have. I have heard people exchange fastest and Sennheiser cables all the time. How much of an issue is it to have the + and - reserved on both channels?
2. Anyone have an optimal length for the cable between the Y split and the tips? I'm starting to lean towards 12-14".

here's the cable and my blog entry about it.

 

[Paladin79]

Having just built a y split yesterday I know Frank had closer to a foot split on a previous cable but nine inches is more what I went with. Think of something hanging from the bottom of your ear or lower, 12-14 inches seems like a lot if you are talking each cable from the split being that length.
Also remember that I was unbraiding 8 wire braid to make said split so that was taking a while and I generally try to keep such work to a minimum when I can.


On the reversal on the Fostex and Senn, you must be talking about balanced cables (photos are not coming through on my work computer), try that on a TRS and you just combined both channels. I will have to give it some thought, you might be able to get away with it on some amps and at least you are not hooking them up out of phase so I would suspect people have indeed got away with it. Would I do it? Doubtful.

I found some things on the subject but only when talking about speakers.

" If you connect both speakers with the connections reversed at either the amplifier or the speaker you have simply reversed the absolute phase of the system. This means that a signal that should push the speaker cones outward (a positive signal) will now pull the cone of both speakers inward."

Your ear might or might not be able to tell much difference depending on the drivers used. Some folks claim it will distort high frequencies, others say it might cause damage eventually. When in doubt I play it safe.

 

[CarlosUnchained]

Hi! I'm new around and need some help to build my own cable for the Audeze LCD-X.
The goal is to get a mini 4 pin XLR female terminated in the LCD connector and two small cables:
4 pin mini XLR to ¼ and 4 pin mini XLR to 4 pin XLR.

1) I have no idea what kind of wire to get, I want something affordable but good quality, no snake oil.

2) I can't find any seller of the connectors to the LCD model. Any help here?

3) I'd like to know which brands sell good looking ¼, 4 pin XLR connectors and spliters, something a bit fancy would be nice.

4) I'm not yet decided if going sleeved or not. What are the mechanical differences between the two?

Any answer to any of those questions would be great!

 

[keberwein]

Hi! I'm new around and need some help to build my own cable for the Audeze LCD-X.
The goal is to get a mini 4 pin XLR female terminated in the LCD connector and two small cables:
4 pin mini XLR to ¼ and 4 pin mini XLR to 4 pin XLR.

1) I have no idea what kind of wire to get, I want something affordable but good quality, no snake oil.

2) I can't find any seller of the connectors to the LCD model. Any help here?

3) I'd like to know which brands sell good looking ¼, 4 pin XLR connectors and spliters, something a bit fancy would be nice.

4) I'm not yet decided if going sleeved or not. What are the mechanical differences between the two?

Any answer to any of those questions would be great!

I’m sure plenty of people will jump in here, but I’ll take a swing. First, there’s a really good resource on building your cables here. The trickiest part is soldering the “jumper” on the mini-xlr connectors. If you need two, just buy four—give yourself some room for mistakes.

1) Wire: I’ve always liked Canare L-4E5C. Some folks like Mogami W2893 because all four wires are different colors. They’re both balanced microphone cables. The Mogami has better shielding, but depending on what your plan is, you might end up stripping that off anyway.

2) As for connectors, I’d personally go with Redco for the mini-xlr and Neutrik for the large xlr. Neutrik is pretty much considered the “slick hotness” connectors.

3) If you want more “fancy” connectors, Double Helix makes some nice full size XLR, and they’ve got some cool y-splitters too.

4) Sleeve or not to sleeve. A lot of folks will strip the shielding off those four-conductor microphone cables and do a “litz braid” instead. The litz method will help reduce interference. However, with short cable runs, (5 ft.?) it shouldn’t be a problem. If you’re planning on a longer cable run, just keep the shielding on and strip your wire at the y-split. I prefer the litz method because it makes the cable lighter and more flexible, but it’s up to you.