[source direct]

Sigh - I have a question that I feel may be stupid, but here she is...

So I have heard that Belden is a decent cable company, and I have visited their website, but my questions arise from my visit there. So do they just sell cable , as in a conductive metal stretched out into fine wires and arranged in some fashion so that you can put what every type of male/female ending on the cable that you need? I need something to go from my cd-player to my OBH-11, which both have RCA jacks. Do I order the metal (cable) from the people and then I equip the cable with a jack?

Any help and guidance would be appreciated.

 

[blr]

To be honest I've never heard of Belden, so I can't help you with this. However, there are tons of companies that make terminated cables in almost any way you want. RCA to RCA is the most popular version and this is what you need.
Look for makes such as van den Hul, MIT, IXOS, Tara Labs, Kimber Cable, QED, Nordost etc etc etc .
With cables generally you get better cable for more money. IT also allows you to fine tune the sound of your system.

 

[dhwilkin]

Belden is the type of cable most often used in DIY designs by many audiophiles. It sounds pretty good and transparent compared to entry-level consumer cables like RadioShack Gold and whatnot. No idea how it compares to the better high-end consumer cables.

I believe Belden only sells the raw cable, and you must do the actual cable construction yourself.

 

[source direct]

Great, thanks.

So now I have more for you -

Belden sells scads of different types of cable, are there certain types that I should use for interconnect purposes, explicitly for CD player out to headphone amp?

Who makes some good plugs (terminations, jacks, males, whatever) for me to use with my cables?

or, should I just go over and bug the folk at the DIY forum?

 

[MacDEF]

Does Belden actually make cable intended for audio use? I've used their stuff for computer applications for years, and I've heard of people using their CAT-5 networking cable for speaker runs, but do they actually have "audio" cable?

 

[DanG]

Your best bet to find out about using Belden A/V cable for interconnects is to go to http://www.audioasylum.com and visit their "Cable Asylum."

However, I can tell you that the cable most often recommended for interconnect purposes is the 89259 cabling.

 

[KurtW]

I've made some cables from the Beldon 89259 and they sound pretty good...you probably have to spend close to $100 or more to improve on them. It works well for audio because it uses copper wires and Teflon insulation. This is not the case for the majority of Beldon cable however. The problem is this cable is generally only available in a 100 foot or larger lengths. You can also buy cable from DH labs or Kimber and probably others and still save some money by making your own. There are lots of options for male RCA plugs, but the ones that use teflon for the insulation are the best. As DanG says, there is a lot of info in the link he gives.

The biggest problem with DIY cable is that you usually can't try it out ahead of time. It is important to match the cable with the rest of your equipment and your tastes. I think the cable makes more difference than various good RCA plugs, so one option is to borrow someone's commercially built cables like DH Labs or Kimber where you know the wire is available seperately.

 

[DanG]

KurtW, do you mean Kimber?

 

[dhwilkin]

Quote:

MacDEF said... Does Belden actually make cable intended for audio use? I've used their stuff for computer applications for years, and I've heard of people using their CAT-5 networking cable for speaker runs, but do they actually have "audio" cable?

I don't think Belden specifically makes audio cables, but their cables are high-enough quality that they work well for audio. Could be wrong on that, though.
Quote:

DanG said... Your best bet to find out about using Belden A/V cable for interconnects is to go to http://www.audioasylum.com and visit their "Cable Asylum."

Agreed. Specifically, there's a guy called Jon Risch who is very knowledgeable about Belden DIY, and he responds quickly to any questions addressed to him.

 

[DanG]

The only problem with Jon Risch's advice is that he has become almost an audio god at the Cable Asylum for his regular and twisted-pair recipes for interconnect cable using Belden cable. Because of this, he seems a bit biased toward using copper-only cable and, in particular, his own 89259 recipes.

 

[dhwilkin]

True. There are probably better DIY designs w/ Belden available. But for a first try, the Risch designs would not be a bad place to start, simply because it would be very easy to get specific help.

 

[Videoshielded]

Most recording studios and video studios are cabled with either Belden or Canare. At least, that's what the pro sound guys keep saying.