DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[Albator75000]

OK, I'm going to research on this.
Thank you.
I'll come back if need be

 

[Paladin79]

I am in the middle of a few things but if I get a chance to look for it later I will post it for you.

 

[buke9]

On a XLR connector 1 is ground 2 is + and 3 is -. 1 is where you would hook your shielding to for a normal balanced cable.

 

[buke9]

I have found no difference in the balanced and unbalanced connections on the LC myself but that is me.

 

[Paladin79]

The only cables I have used have all three wires attached to each XLR so I know they are a continuation of the source. If the balanced output of an LC gets me more gain, then I definitely have to try that. Every once in a while works gets in the way of me giving complete answers in here and I apologize for that. My son actually bought cables the other day before i could ship him things I built, such is life.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I believe the balanced output of the liquid carbon use twice as many amps as the SE output, so you should get significantly more power to the headphones.

 

[Paladin79]

I believe the balanced output of the liquid carbon use twice as many amps as the SE output, so you should get significantly more power to the headphones.

It does double the output which I need to do in order to drive some of my headphones. It doubles the milliamperes, One amp times a nominal 100 volts equals 100 watts and thus too much for most headphones. I have seen some cans rated at a maximum of 5-7 watts. Put more than that into them and the little wires that normally carry a signal start acting like little fuses if you are lucky. Think of the warnings about staring at the eclipse without proper glasses only substitute ears and loud sound for eyes and the sun.

Anyway I am going to wire a balanced cable to go from an LC amp to Alpha primes. The pinout is left channel 1-1, 2-2, right channel 3-1, 4-2. The first numbers are for the four pin xlr, second are for the Hirose connectors used by Mrspeakers, only pins one and two are used on each channel.

A balanced cable helps the Cavalli LC immensely, I can hear raindrops pattering on a church used for a Chesky recording. (faintly in the background.) This is a pretty down and dirty cable, four wire ofc 24 awg but it was the quickest method of hearing the amp as it should sound.

 

[domsch1988]

I could use some specific information on Connector and Cable sizes.
I'm planing to do a new cable for my HD600. The connectors for the cups seem to only be available from china (if anyone has a source in Europe, i'd be really glad). They are only 4 bucks a pair, so i'll order 3 or 4 From Ebay.
I'm planing to do 2 Cables. One for desktop use one for mobile.
The base will be earcups to 4pin tinyXLR. From there i'll do two cables. One to 6,3 and one to 3.5. Both significantly shorter than stock.

What infos i need:
- which is the maximum outer diameter cable i can use in the earcups connectors (assuming two singel conductor cables)?
- What size heatshrink fits over the Sennheiser connectors?
- What's the maximum size cable you'd get for tinyxlr-6,3mm assuming i use 3 single conductors?

In the past i've had the Problem of not getting the cables into the connector because of size. This time i'd like to make sure it works before ordering a bunch of stuff...
Also, if you can recommend any specific cable/materials i'd be happy to look into it. Otherwise it'll be mogami (not sure what i can get yet).

 

[Paladin79]

The size heatshrink tubing that fits over the Sennheiser connectors I have is 3/8 inch, approximately 10 mm.
The maximum cable size for mini xlr's can very with manufacturer but 3 mm or 1/8 inch fits the three or four brands I use with no problem and that is certainly small enough for any 6.3 mm connector. Please note that most of the min xlrs can be reamed out a bit to accommodate larger cable.

If I understand your first question, the backs of the Sennheiser connectors I have would accommodate a maximum of 3 mm cable, two single conductors, say 24 awg would fit just fine.

I can recommend all kinds of cable but many are not available in Europe, the Mogami is good cable so you may want to just go with that.

Tom

 

[Allanmarcus]

I was able to get 8 26AWG connectors into the tip. I has to strip them all about an inch from the end, then twist together each pair of 4, then heatshrink each set.

I strongly encourage you to just wait until you get your connectors, then measure.

 

[Paladin79]

As I said I was measuring the connectors I have and from what I can tell they are less common than some of the Sennheiser connectors I have recently seen so waiting to get your connectors is good advice. When dealing with heatshrink tubing, most of it is 2-1 shrink ratio but you should be able to find 3-1 as well. It is a little more versatile and as long as you start with a size large enough before shrinking, you have a lot of wiggle room to make sure it will work for your connectors. The 3-1 often works better to match up to both connector and incoming wires.

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

I could use some specific information on Connector and Cable sizes.
I'm planing to do a new cable for my HD600. The connectors for the cups seem to only be available from china (if anyone has a source in Europe, i'd be really glad). They are only 4 bucks a pair, so i'll order 3 or 4 From Ebay.
I'm planing to do 2 Cables. One for desktop use one for mobile.
The base will be earcups to 4pin tinyXLR. From there i'll do two cables. One to 6,3 and one to 3.5. Both significantly shorter than stock.

What infos i need:
- which is the maximum outer diameter cable i can use in the earcups connectors (assuming two singel conductor cables)?
- What size heatshrink fits over the Sennheiser connectors?
- What's the maximum size cable you'd get for tinyxlr-6,3mm assuming i use 3 single conductors?

In the past i've had the Problem of not getting the cables into the connector because of size. This time i'd like to make sure it works before ordering a bunch of stuff...
Also, if you can recommend any specific cable/materials i'd be happy to look into it. Otherwise it'll be mogami (not sure what i can get yet).

Van Damme is my cable of choice in the EU as it is easier to get, they do a very nice minature starquad for a reasonable price and to me it is a very neutral sounding cable (it is OFC with strands of silver plated copper in it too).

 

[kwatch]

I'm planning to build a balanced custom headphone cable for Hifiman HE-400i. I've build the balanced custom cable for Senn HD600 using Canare L-4E6S Star-Quad cable, but it's too bulky, stiff and heavy. Can anyone recommend me a good cable I can use?

 

[Paladin79]

Canare makes a miniature star quad cable: L-4E5C Mini-Star-Quad as does Mogami , W2893.

 

[Pilotdog68]

I'm planning to build a balanced custom headphone cable for Hifiman HE-400i. I've build the balanced custom cable for Senn HD600 using Canare L-4E6S Star-Quad cable, but it's too bulky, stiff and heavy. Can anyone recommend me a good cable I can use?

Did you use the whole cable or just the inner conductors? I did cable with just the 4 conductors without the jacket and it is more pliable than w2893 with the jacket