[Sheep1234]

Does someone know how to put a 'print' on the heath shrink of the plug? I mean like the golden stuff on cables like this https://shared1.ad-lister.co.uk/UserImages/69fff2ff-c63a-4ca4-9099-622e5c1a1334/Img/DPP_0001.JPG

 

[Paladin79]

There are printers that will do it but mostly I have had 1000 printed at a time. It is not super expensive.

 

[Allanmarcus]

There are printers that will do it but mostly I have had 1000 printed at a time. It is not super expensive.

It is if you want 2

 

[Paladin79]

I am a Gemini and I rarely want just 2. I know I have seen printers that handle heat shrink tubing but they are not cheap and I would be amazed if they did gold.

I have had to have several types of heat shrink printed before and unfortunately there is usually a set up charge so ordering a couple pieces is not cost effective as I recall.

https://markertek.resultspage.com/search?w=heat+shrink+tubing+printers&sitepref=1

Here are printers from Markertek, but they mainly have black, yellow, and white heat shrink cartridges.

I do own one of the label printers but I usually rely on folks that sell and print on tubing for a living when I need something.

 

[HirschiAUT]

Hey guys, i am just getting started with building diy cables and am in need of some help

Just recently i finished my first cable, a balanced cable for my Oppo PM-3 to connect to my L&P L3 DAP.



I braided it with cables i "harvested" from mogami 2534 quad cable, connectors are 2.5 and 3.5 4pin from Lunashops.
They were horrible to solder, but fortunately i have a friend who solders SMD free handed and helped me a wee bit

To protect the solder joints i secured the ends of the cable to the barrel with a piece of adhesive heat shrink.

So far so good, but the next project troubles me a bit.

My DAP also has a 3,5mm line out / spdif out connection, and i want to build a digital cable going from 3,5mm to RCA.

For the connectors i will most certainly stay with the trusted Neutrik/Rean stuff, but i am totally lost about what cable to choose...

Can anyone point me towards something suitable for this application?
Preferably something easy to get in europe, for example from thomann.

Hope someone can help me
Cheers, Mario

 

[Paladin79]

If you can get Belden cable there, Belden 1505A or 1505F (an rg 59 coaxial cable) works well. My people have probably built a few thousand spdif cables using it with no failures. I believe Belden is worldwide but I could be wrong. If you want a smaller coaxial cable then 1855A is the way to go, same specs as the 1505. Such cable has a copper center conductor that you need for low digital frequencies and it is also double shielded.

You can solder coaxial cable, I generally use Canare connectors made for the 1505A but the tools can be expensive since they are specialized crimp connectors. Rean/Neutrik I use on a daily basis and they are excellent connectors.

Going to 3.5 with such cable, I hope you are talking about a mono connection since coaxial cable only has two conductors so it is well suited for RCA connectors.

 

[bcowen]

Hoping you guys can help me. I'm looking for a copper-colored nylon sleeving. It's a larger diameter opening, maybe 3/4" - 1" or so. I bought a number of feet many years ago from a seller on Ebay however the item no longer seems to be on Ebay or anywhere else for that matter... and I've used the last of mine up. It looks like this:



...it has a slight metallic sheen which you can't really see in the photo. It doesn't really need to be like that though, just looking for something similar. I figured this would be the best place to ask

TIA.

Try Wire Care. Not sure if they have an exact color match, but they go all the way up to 4" in PET sleeve in a multitude of colors (and materials other than PET are available too). I've purchased from them several times with a positive experience each time.

https://www.wirecare.com/category/braided-sleeving/general-purpose/flexo-pet

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Thanks BCowen. Wirecare has the black, grey and white. I actually did a lot of email digging and found out I got it from an Ebay seller FuzzyLetters like 5 years ago. Looks like he no longer has copper, but does carry silver in a couple of sizes. I sent a few messages out to manufacturers across the pond to see if they could custom make it for me. Big minimum purchases though

I love wirecare, great prices and an awesome selection. I actually just got some sleeving from them yesterday

 

[Paladin79]

I do have some litz wire on the way, 26 awg, high strand count. I have probably experimented less with litz than other wire but I have liked the sound of any I have heard. Unless I am greatly mistaken when I soldered some of it, Sennheiser uses litz in some of their stock cabling. This is not OCC litz.

I also rediscovered some Belden cable that has some impressive specs. 9397 is the part number, 105 strand count, 44 awg, high conductivity copper (which I imagine is their term for ofc).

https://objects.eanixter.com/PD3199...c=232709184.2.1519669399086&__hsfp=2769168951

 

[Allanmarcus]

I do have some litz wire on the way, 26 awg, high strand count. I have probably experimented less with litz than other wire but I have liked the sound of any I have heard. Unless I am greatly mistaken when I soldered some of it, Sennheiser uses litz in some of their stock cabling. This is not OCC litz.

I also rediscovered some Belden cable that has some impressive specs. 9397 is the part number, 105 strand count, 44 awg, high conductivity copper (which I imagine is their term for ofc).

https://objects.eanixter.com/PD3199...c=232709184.2.1519669399086&__hsfp=2769168951

Nice looking wire, but it seems to only be available in a 500' spool ($535 from markertek). Also, looks to be double shielded, which is probably great for mic wire, but would suck to have to strip that.

Now you got me wondering if Belden has any other wire, say a quad or a mini that used the same wire, but less shielding, and/or is sold by the foot. Let's start with less shielding.

Update: I just found something similar, but with "tinned copper" - not sure exactly how good or bad that is.
Belden cable 1346f and 3084F

 

[Paladin79]

I generally use such wire as it is made to be used but if I come across a version that is not double shielded I will let you know. My price is considerably lower and I have a few hundred feet left over from a built. I am having a custom cabinet made for headphone equipment so I was considering this for highly shielded interconnect cables. Very flexible and small in diameter yet well suited for RCA and XLR connectors.

 

[Paladin79]

Update: I just found something similar, but with "tinned copper" - not sure exactly how good or bad that is.
Belden cable 1346f and 3084F

I do not see 1346f in their catalog but 3084F is 22 awg, not listed as high conductivity, more of an industrial data cable. Generally the high end audio series is under Brilliance cables.Tinned copper is less flexible as you might imagine. They call it flexible because it is listed in automation cables, many of those go by number of flexes before the cable breaks.

What I am describing has a really high strand count, this photo might help.

I did find the 1346F and that is high strand count, it also runs $2.00 a foot and IMHO would be worse to deconstruct than the cable shown in this photo. I honestly doubt if the tinning would help that cable work as a quality audio cable, most wires are either as pure a bare copper as you can get or they are coated like litz wires.

 

[Allanmarcus]

That is nice looking wire. If my reading of the spec sheet is correct, each conductor has a ~1.22mm diameter. A bit thick for an eight strand cable, but should be good for a 4 strand, even if sleeved in 275 paracord (might be tight in 95 paracord). what's your impression of the flexibility of each conductor?

Looks like it would make for a nice interconnect. I was thinking of making some RCA interconnects by combining some different wire. If you look at this cable:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=18535
there are two main cables (red and white) inside the main housing. Each of the cables appears to have 4 sub wires.
1) OFC - small solid core
2) OFC - larger solid core
3) OFC - flat?
4) OFC Litz wire (spiral ribbon?)

PE insolation, not PVC. Not sure if that matters. BTW, these monolith cables appear to be rebranded ethereal EXS cables.

At any rate, the concept I was getting at is mixing different wires in the same cable. Anyone try that?

I was thinking one 24AWG solid core silver, one 24AWG solid core copper, one 24AWG stranded copper (maybe the belden 9397 @Paladin79 is showing), and some copper litz. Then shielded using some braided tinned copper shielding from eBay, and finally sleeved with some nylon multifilament. It would not be very flexible, but generally, flexibility isn't needed for short RCA interconnects.

I figure the outcomes are:
1) a cable that sounds like every other cable, but had a great story behind it.
2) it actually allows for better sound than the average cable
3) my wife figures out how much I'm spending on this crap and kills me (not mutually exclusive option)
4) it sounds bad

 

[Paladin79]

Each wire is pretty flexible, it is 24 awg so not quite as flexible as 26 awg. I get a bit closer to 1.1 mm on my micrometer but i may have been indenting the wire a bit.



Now on to the other cable in question. I do not have a history with such wire but....

you are bringing each conductor down to a single point. Starting with the output of the device you are originating from and then to the input of your amp lets say. The amp has a single wire or a copper etching on into the internal workings of the preamp circuitry.

Cables do not make sound better. They can maintain it, have low loss and pass on sound that is quite good. Now if you had multiple outputs from your dac and multiple inputs at the amp it might maintain that quality but at what price? Oh wait, you are still going down to one connection with ground.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Each wire is pretty flexible, it is 24 awg so not quite as flexible as 26 awg. I get a bit closer to 1.1 mm on my micrometer but i may have been indenting the wire a bit.



Now on to the other cable in question. I do not have a history with such wire but....

you are bringing each conductor down to a single point. Starting with the output of the device you are originating from and then to the input of your amp lets say. The amp has a single wire or a copper etching on into the internal workings of the preamp circuitry.

Cables do not make sound better. They can maintain it, have low loss and pass on sound that is quite good. Now if you had multiple outputs from your dac and multiple inputs at the amp it might maintain that quality but at what price? Oh wait, you are still going down to one connection with ground.

Hey, I never said a cable could make something sound better

I pretty much wrote the same thing in a satirical amazon review of the AC-14 power cable from Pangea. I got one free with an amp I got, and Pangea claims "Two-way multi-gauge geometry with isolated bass conductors enhances audio performance" - I called BS. I posted a question about the "isolated bass" and one guy responded with

These are constructed using multi-gauge strands of high purity copper conductors. Electrical power is comprised of a range of frequencies where each range, bass, treble and midrange values, travel along the optimal AWG wire gauge for each respective range. Frequencies can also be identified by their radial displacement from "0" zero degrees expressed as cycles. Thus, heavy wire is good for bass where incrementally smaller gauges are ideal for mid and high frequency content with the result being a more accurate spectral characteristic.

Might be BS, might not. I am neither an electrical engineer nor a metallurgist. Based on the premise that the above statement has a little validity, and that the Monoprice RCA cable construction, with various gauges and wire types inside the same cable, makes me wonder if there is anything to it. Maybe a better question for the Sound Science thread.