[JamieMcC]

Not seen much mention of this flat braid for headphone cables is it a type that gets used guessing it would be a bit chunky? To be honest it was the red and black aesthetics and 70% cotton / 30 % polyester covering that piqued my interest horribly vain of me I know...

Neotech UP-OCC flat braid copper wire in 70% cotton / 30 % polyester covering. Rectangular in shape, it is built on a central polyester film on which the braid fits on. Each strand of the braid is 0.05mm in diameter. Then covered in the weaved insulation.

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/wires/neotech-BRDCC-flat-braided-copper-wire-cotton.html

Edit it was after posting that it occurred to me this might not be the easiest of cables to solder on to small connectors

 

[Paladin79]

20 gauge is a tad large as you said. They do list 24 awg, I may grab some of the wire and check it out,

I do like the fact they are using a high percentage of cotton in the covering. Cotton is not always easy to find and the closest I have come on round braided material has nylon and copper interwoven.

 

[JamieMcC]

Should I be concerned with the potential lack of screening with these cables effecting channel separation and noise reduction? I was reminded the stock hd800 cable is two shielded twisted pair cables wrapped together in a spiral along with some rubber o ring like material which I guess is for strain relief.

 

[Paladin79]

Twisted pair is a form of shielding, shielded twisted pair can be better for some applications. I personally use a lot of it for interconnect cables because i have multiple pieces of equipment in close proximity and I like to play it safe.

When you braid cable, IMHO that is a form of twisted pair. As long as you are not laying two wires next to each other, whether they be stranded or solid you should be fine. On cables I build using star quad, I leave much of the cable in tact then twist the wires for the individual channels so shielding is maintained throughout.. I am not sure of the rubber o ring material but in order to make a perfectly round cable, fillers are used to maintain the concentric shape. In the photo is star quad, notice how when you put a coating over twisted pair you get the ribbed effect, fillers can help eliminate that. Going into the back of a round opening on a connector and using a grommet or clamp system, it is nice to have that perfect roundness. The connectors i use here have a small rubber grommet that accepts the twisted pair quite nicely and conform to the shape well. That is just red and black heat shrink tubing, the rest of the cable has copper braid shield and star quad arranged in effectively a twisted dual pair pattern.

 

[JamieMcC]

Ok I see that starquad cable looks nice and flexible.

Ordered some glue lined 3-1 heatshrink tubing just to see if I can patch up the damaged cable as a stop gap and some hd800 connectors from Alixpress. Disappointingly when I looked at ordering the Eidolic ones (first choice) the cost of shipping alone to the UK was more than the $22 cost of the Chinese ones which shipped fee. I already have an XLR connector so while I wait for the Chinese connectors to arrive there will be plenty of time to ponder some more over cable choices.

 

[Paladin79]

It is very flexible, that is Canare and I know Mogami makes some slightly smaller with 26awg wire that is even more so.

You should be able to track down your intermittent issue with your cable. Having it connected and then tapping on it to isolate the break might help. If you have an ohm meter you can also watch the scale for continuity and a safer way to proceed.

 

[HirschiAUT]

You are correct on the signal and ground. As best I can tell the Sommer cable would work for SPDIF, my German is not too good. That cable is HD/SDI capable just like the Belden.
You have to be careful using mono 3.5 connectors in jacks for stereo (trs), the spacing is usually off and they do not often interchange well so you cannot assume a stereo plug will have the same spacing as a mono 3.5 mm. Rean sells a couple versions of the 3.5 mm, one has a larger opening.The larger stereo version is the NYS231L and the cable opening is 6.45 mm, that could be drilled out a bit but not much. As far as I know you cannot use any 75 ohm cable for spdif. 75 ohm is used throughout the television industry and some of it can be copper covered steel center conductor. You definitely want to look for something well shielded with a solid copper center conductor. I am a bit rushed for time this morn but I can try to answer other questions later today.

Thanks one more time for your response.

Regarding the 3.5mm connector, i was going to use a standard TRS connector, using the TIP for signal (center) and SLEEVE for ground (shield), leaving the RING unused.
If this does not work i will try signal on RING, everything else would not make much sense to me, but who knows

What you say about the cable makes sense, and i found one that should suit my requirements.
Sommer cable is also offering a "slimline" version of the cable i mentioned earlier, and i can get it with reasonable shipping (~5€).
It is 75Ohm, OFC 23AWG single conductor, double shield (copper mesh + foil) with an OD of 4.2mm.

http://shop.sommercable.com/Kabel/M...abel-SC-Slimline-600-0854.html#tab_attributes

It is available with two different sleeve materials, PVC and FRNC.
As far as i can tell FRNC is more resistant to fire, but can anyone tell me if there are other differences like flexibility?

I also found an even smaller one that is 75Ohm with OFC conductor, but it is only single shielded (silver plated copper mesh) and only 30AWG (stranded with 7 strands) with FEP sleeving.

http://shop.sommercable.com/Kabel/M...ssic-Series-MKII-600-0529.html#tab_attributes

Would this also be suitable or are there things speaking against it?
Flexibility should be considerably higher with the stranded conductor and only 2.5mm OD, but i dont want to compromise on quality.

 

[Paladin79]

The first cable shown would work from what I can read there. The second cable is more suitable for RF applications and I cannot say if it would handle SPDIF.

I would go with pvc over a fire resistant type of jacket, most of those I have worked with tend to be a little more brittle.

That is probably a wise choice on the trs connector, like I said, if that is a trs jack a ts connector does not always line up properly. I have heard many stories of such connections working but only when you pull the plug partially out of the jack. You do not want to deal with something like that on a quality audio device.

 

[HirschiAUT]

The first cable shown would work from what I can read there. The second cable is more suitable for RF applications and I cannot say if it would handle SPDIF.

I would go with pvc over a fire resistant type of jacket, most of those I have worked with tend to be a little more brittle.

That is probably a wise choice on the trs connector, like I said, if that is a trs jack a ts connector does not always line up properly. I have heard many stories of such connections working but only when you pull the plug partially out of the jack. You do not want to deal with something like that on a quality audio device.

Yeah i was also thinking that the slimline cable would be the better choice, i will get it with PVC jacket.

One more thing about the RCA connection.
I was going to order this one:

https://m.thomann.de/at/neutrik_nys3730_cinchstecker.htm

But am not sure how to solder it.
The ground connection, whitch is also the strain relief, has no hole to loop the shield mesh through, how do i do this?
I could drill a hole in there but maybe there is another way.

The center connection looks just like a small pit or something.
I would have just stuffen the conductor in there and fill it up with solder, but that doesnt look like a very reliable connection to me...

Any hints or recommendations on how to do this would be really appretiated

 

[Paladin79]

I use that style of connector all the time. You have a solder cup for the center conductor, generally I fill that with solder, tin the center conductor, and then reheat the solder cup and the wire will lay right in there. The ground or mesh solders to the half circle portion down below. I twist the braid together, form a half circle shape, tin the connector then lay the mesh in that half circle. The connector takes solder very well, you will have little issue getting this to work. That plastic piece is a clamp that acts as a strain relief, there is a small plastic section I always break off, they fit better when you do this IMHO. It is a very thin ring of plastic you break.

When I get to work tomorrow I may try to get a couple photos unless I already have some stored, I have shown proper soldering on those RCA connectors on here before lol.

here is one i have at home that might help. I have bent the center conductor 90 degrees for a specific application but yours will remain straight. The braid is rounded to fit into the curve of the connector ground, notice how there are no loose strands between the center conductor and braid, the white is the dielectric. I pre-tinned this one to maintain all the strands of the braid in place. With a straight center conductor, this would lay nicely in that connector and solder easily.

 

[Paladin79]

This should help more, I solder the ground (braid) first then the center conductor.

 

[kn0ppers]

Here are the assembly instructions from Neutrik.

 

[Paladin79]

Very cool I had not seen those before but then unless I am assembling something like a Bottlehead Crack amp I rarely look at instructions.... or ask directions. I think that is a guy thing. Most cable I use must be considered a larger size, usually around a quarter inch diameter, I have rarely not cut off the extra little plastic piece. The connector will not close properly when leaving that piece intact if the cable is too large.

 

[kn0ppers]

Yes, especially when working with Neutrik Connectors I often have to modify them or leave pieces out because most of them are made for really tiny cables.

I got myself a good selection of Neutrik/Rean Mini-XLR Sockets and connectors. Although I always try to keep the shielding and the insulation on the cable as far into the connector as possible I had to go a different route on those and heatshrink over the whole connector to secure the sleeving.

I also use various tools for removing insulation, depending on how much space I have/want to use, what diameter, etc. . Making cables is quite easy, but there is still some kind of a learning curve.One of my favourite tools for stripping wires when I don't have much space (not enough to use bigger tools) is my little Leatherman Squirt ES4.

 

[Paladin79]

I have worked jobs where the main tools were small side cutters and those are what you learned to use to strip insulation. I have used most any type of wire strippers made including some designed for NASA but working with basic tools you tend to get the feel of things. For RF cables, no matter how tight the tolerances, I can use a knife and perform a variety of jobs. I have one that I have carried for over 30 years but I am always trying new ones but rarely do I find one that feels and sharpens quite the same. When I teach, I teach other tools and occasionally talk knife skills but it takes a while to learn just how deeply to cut and with the right pressure, that is hard to explain.