[freakydrew]

lol...fair enough, I have read this recipe elsewhere with different variations, all using silver wire for both. one just braided three silver wires together and used that. I just don't want to waste the silver on the ground if it is not necessary.



thanks

 

[freakydrew]

sorry for another post, so many questions...lol...
another question about covering the silver wire. would a PTFE Teflon heat shrink tubing work? Apparently it the heat shrink has a high recovery temperature, I am not sure what that means, but the product I am looking at is around 625 F.

 

[Robot Metal]

Is there a cheaper/similar alternative to Eichmann Silver Bullet? (For a silver cable) Paying $150 for plugs is a bit insane, so I'm looking for the nearest step down... (~$50)

 

[Prog Rock Man]

I want to make a braided (twisted) cable. This one appears to have three wires, so how does that work? Or do I need four?

 

[dorkvader]

I'm not a real expert, but it would appear there are two copper and one silver cable in your example. From that, I concluded they are using two cables for signal and one for ground, probably because it looks nicer than a twister pair to some people.

Were I you, I would use either a twisted pair, or four-conductor (I think if you look up "litz braid" you'll get some nifty resources) cable. Starquad is also a popular choice (from reading the cable gallery posts).

for a nice visible braid, I would recommend four, but I've only made 6 or so cables and am by no means an expert.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prog Rock Man /img/forum/go_quote.gif I want to make a braided (twisted) cable. This one appears to have three wires, so how does that work? Or do I need four

Three is enough: one wire for left, right and ground.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Three is enough: one wire for left, right and ground.

Sorry, I don't understand. I thought ICs were signal and ground only. Which is left and right?

 

[apatN]

Ah! I am sorry for the misunderstanding.

I did not see that those were RCAs (thought they were TRS-plugs). In that case you will need two wires per cable: one for signal, one for ground.

 

[Headphonez]

I'm planning on using just the four main wires inside a Starquad L-4e6s then heat shrinking over it. But my question is: Is the copper braiding and the threads and tissue paper stuff inside the whole Starquad wire necessary?
(I want to make a new cable to recable my headphones)
And since the tip and the middle of the plug (Neutrik NTP3RC) are left and right, does that apply to the left and right of where the sound comes from of the headphones too? 
 
 

 

[Bureiba]

Can someone help clarify the use of heatshrink and techflex?
 
From what I can tell, heatshrink is only applied at the ends/Y split to make the wires more tight for proper fitting - or is it applied across the entire cable?
What are the benefits of wrapping the wire in techflex/nylon? Also, are all techflex somewhat transparent (mesh)?
 
Thanks

 

[Good Times]

Heatshrink is an insulation that you use when wires are cut and exposed, and made its way as a strain relief as you noted. It's used on a y-split for convenience. You wouldn't ordinarily use it for the entire run, as it's unnecessary, and adds to the stiffness (=bad) of the cable. It's main use for me is to protect the exit of wire from the termination or plug, so that movement doesn't cut through the wire's sheath. 
 
Techflex is primarily cosmetic, although does add to the strength of the cable if it's in a rough environment or being handles a lot. But mainly cosmetic. Techflex is mostly transparent since when it's applied, the weave opens up a bit to reveal the colour of the underlying cable. You can get higher density Techflex but it's stiffer, and you can get nylon multifilament which is soft with no see-through (but doesn't expand like Techflex does). 
 
One shortcoming of Techflex is that it's not laterally flexible (i.e. you can't twist it), so if you have a single RCA cable for example, it's not an issue as it can twist on the jack. But if you're making a cable with a directional plug on it (like an iPod dock plug) then don't use techflex. 

 

[Bureiba]

Thanks Good Times!
 
I am planning to get a pair of Grado SR80i and recable (along with some other mods), and came up with the following parts list. How does it look? Are the sizes good? I'm not sure whether I will go with techflex or nylon at this point (maybe I'll do a mix - techflex before the split and nylon after, since after the split I don't want to see the colors of the bare wires).

Canare Miniature Star Quad L-4E5C (.189" diameter)
Switchcraft 3.55mm Plug Straight
Techflex (1/8" before/after split)
Nylon Multifilament (3/16" before Y split, 1/8" after)
Heatshrink (3:1, 2:1? what size?)

 

[raresvintea]

I want to choose and make and rca interconnect cable for my car audio install. IN the car are diffrent interferences and some unwanted noises.
I see that some made cables with 3 wires braided togheter per channel, two for ground and one hot wire. The major aspect of this cable is the flexibility! That, because in the rear of the player the space is very tidy. Are those type of cable good for rejection of unwanted noises?
 

 

[jazh23]

Hi, is a good choice the Canare L-4E6S wire and canare F-12 connector to recabling the Superlux 681?

 

 

[askjeebs]

So I thought I'd give this a go, needless to say I probably won't be doing it again anytime soon. Soldering irons don't seem to like me very well. My temperature-adjustable station decided not to heat up so I had to make do with a 30W fixed temp pen - which was not very fun and somewhat painful.
 
Used Gotham GAC-4, neutrik 3.5mm male (NYS231L) and female plugs, switchcraft RA 3.5mm plugs and Neutrik male RCA connectors. The plan was to make 2 3.5mm male to female short cables, a 3.5mm short interconnect, a short 3.5mm to 2xRCA and a long 3.5mm to 2xRCA. Probably spent 6 hours struggling with soldering irons, techflex and stripping wire with my fingers (not a good decision). The space inside the connectors for soldering wires is a lot smaller than it looks in pictures, especially with the neutrik plugs - if you solder to the inside of the solder terminals (which is almost necessary to get the shield to fit over the connector) you've only got 2 or 3mm to move your iron and the cables around in. I found that crimping the strain relief on the connectors was also quite difficult. I ended up breaking it on two connectors. I'm not sure if it was the way I was crimping it, or if the cable was too large (it shouldn't been) but it would pay to be a bit careful here. I found techflex a nightmare to work with: it frayed and ended up making the cable too large to fit into the neutrik connectors, so if you're using it with these neutrik plugs you may have to terminate the techflex outside the connector and cover it with heatshrink or something.
 
And after all that, the long RCA cable didn't even work and at that stage I couldn't be bothered trying to work out why.
 
Long story short - a good soldering iron and knowing what you're doing will help you to avoid going insane.