[eeyssjr]

I found this cable made by Shark (anyone know a www address for shark?). Seems like quite a sorted cable, has solid silver central conductors and silver plated copper sheath, sold at UK store called Maplin for £15 for 1m length.

Shark Silver Interconnect Cable @ Maplin

I am thinking of making a 0.5m pair for around £35 with phonos. has anyonw used this cable, or what do you think of it?

 

[rickcr42]

kinda on topic (No I don't know the specific cable , I use magnet wire),RCA plug shootout for DIY cables

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazin...cashootout.htm

 

[divie23]

easy, I've just ordered loads from Maplin for a new headamp as well as new interconnects. The wire you mention seems very exotic but I opted for the cheaper Shark Wire, figure 8 type, which costs about £3/metre. Sounds good to me anyway. Oh, its terminated with those expensive neutril pro-fi jacks, also from maplin. But get this they cost £10 for a single pair! I used silver solder for the joints and making the things couldn't have been easier.

 

[eeyssjr]

divie23, those neutrik plugs you mention are very expensive! I was planning to get somewell tasty shark phonos they did. About £8 for a 4 pack They look even better than the neutriks trust me.

Thing is, seems they ahve diconned some of them, and are low on others. Odd. may have to go for something else.

Whats the maplin code for ure cable u used?

Also, how does your DIY interconnect compare to those yo have bought in the past? Comparable, better?

 

[divie23]

The code for the wire is XS39N, its £3.49/metre. Oh and dont trust the picture in their catalogue! The wire is actually a light blue and it totally dosent't match with the Neutrik jacks!

As for sound, I've never bought a pair of interconnects before! I always use the standard issue ones manufacturers bung in for free. I haven't given them a proper testing yet since I'm still building my amp. What I can tell u though is that I replaced the interconnects on my sister's mini Sony CD system with mine, and I was astonished to find how much clearer the sound output seemed to be! Remarkable!

Keep us up to date on the progress of your ICs!

Oh, I'm hoping to post pictures in a week or so once everything is completed.

Div

 

[eeyssjr]

OK, I NEED HELP!!!

Basically i recieved the maplin order today and the cable wont fit into the phono plugs - its too big.

The phono's are 7.4mm diameter, the cable rated at 8mm. I thought i could get away with it, but can't even get the cable in! Has anyone got any tips on how to do this?

divie23, u say your phonos weren't quite right. similar prob?

 

[divie23]

Oops! No mine were fine I was careful to double check the measurements since I made the same mistake as you last time round!

What you could possible do is to use a stanley knife to finely scrape/cut away the excess insulation. It's crude and may turn out ugly however.

 

[raymondlin]

Everyone, I've had this disscussion before in another forum (HiFi Choice) and we disscussed the whole thing from the beginning to the end. which I ended up making 3 pairs of the £3.49 Shark cable i/c with Insert audio Plugs (£12 for 4) and they are so good I use them for my X-Cans and gave a friend of mine a pair (which he uses as his main i/c). My QED Qunex 2 is lying in it's box now.

I also have 4 WBT Midline plugs which retail at £15 for 2 which I still haven't found time to use to make my best pair yet. Some people says the Silver version shark cable lack the midrange that the copper one have, but it supposed to be very revealing.

Just do a search on Shark in there, start with the one call "shark diy i/c thread 1-19".

 

[eeyssjr]

Excellent. Thanks alot for the info ray.

 

[raymondlin]

Glad I can help, btw, did you find the website alright?

 

[eeyssjr]

Yeap, no probs finding the website. Tghat is one looong thread. only read the first few sections, first 5/6 i think.

Anyways, i ended up sending my shark connectors back - well they are packed ready to go. In the mean time i ordered the jz14p (i think thats the code) from maplin. 8mm, gold phonos they are.

Soldered up one cable to day (man i mucked it up twice!).

This silver cable sounds incredible. Just more of all the music. The treble more extended. The bass is, not deeper, but tighter and fuller (not bloated). But basically there is much more music than my £50 cable talk monitor 2 IC i was using.

Well worth the money. The phonos aren't the best - they dont allow soldering of the ground sheath, contact made only with a pressure contact, but they work a treat anyway.

The cable looks the bomb too. Very sweet. Pleased.

 

[raymondlin]

It was a long thread, it lasted like 2 months, but it is a very good souces of info on the shark i/c. HiFi Choice actually printed in their mag about us talking about it!

 

[divie23]

Ray, I noticed that the thread mentioned you guys encountering problems using the Neutrik Pro Fi phonos. They're exactly the ones I've used with the same shark cable without any difficulties, unless of course I over tightened the fitting or something.

By the way, have you noticed a difference between semi-balanced cables and those with the brais hooked up at both ends??

Thanks
Div

 

[raymondlin]

divie - I've only made the semi-balance ones, the reason being connect only the CD end so the noise is carry away by the braid and not pass on to the amp. By connecting at both ends won't have this effect. The difference in sound quailty? I have no idea as I have only made semi-balance ones.

I only used Insert audio ones so far because they are good quailty plugs, comparable to any commercial i/c. However the WBT plaugs are in a different league, they are so well made that it makes most plugs feel like tin foil.

 

[morphsci]

Anyone interested in DIY power, speaker or interconnect cables should check out DIYCable.com. They sell preassembled cables and kits, most based on the Jon Risch designs. The kits are a nice way to get all the cable supplies without having to buy 100' rolls of cables.