[Meloncoly]

Hello!

I will hopefully be using 2x Canare F12 minis with 24AWG SPC wires (pending in case answers suggest otherwise). I want to do a 4 conductor (I think that's what it's called) design. I'm going to be Litz braiding, and this would be the first time I tried braiding. So my questions are:

1. I should have no problem with the braiding part, I have a pictorial guide thanks to Chimera Labs, but how do I keep the braid intact when I'm soldering? Do I tape it? Clip it? What's the best method of doing so? I doubt my braiding would be good / tight enough that it won't unbraid itself.

2. Should I leave it bare? Or should I cover it with heatsink/teflon? This would be a short interconnect from my iRiver Line out to a soon to be Predator. Should I use different plugs than the Canare? I'm thinking Canares look cool, and since they are bigger than other plugs, then it would make soldering easier for a beginner like me.

3. Since I personally don't like liquid electrical tape (the smell makes me feel dizzy even in a ventilated room, and I feel nausea), would it be fine to wrap the solder connections in small strips of electrical tape instead? Is there a better method of doing so? Is it even needed?

4. And finally for the interconnect questions, how much cable do I use. I'm not asking for a specific length, it's just, do I want a perfect-to-the-spot-no-room-to-move length from connector to connector, or should I aim for a it can move a little approach? I see people have connectors that looks like a perfect fit with their amp. Should I aim for that, or would it be safer to make the cable a little longer so the cable isn't feeling as much tension?

I also have a question about recabling. I know that buying the individual connectors for the HD650 are expensive to me. So I wanted to use the connectors on my HD25-1 II cable. I have a Sennheiser stock HD650 cable coming for the HD25-1 II, which I will be reterminating to a Canare F12 mini. I also will definitely have some SPC cable remaining, so I wanted to see which would sound better with my preference of music. Questions:

1. How do I go about using the HD25 connectors. They look skinnier than the HD650 ones, and it looks like it's enclosed in plastic, and I can't split it like the connectors I've seen. How would I go about replacing the cables within the connector? Would it be better to just buy HD650 connectors instead of trying to salvage these?

2. I also have some mini Starquad mic cable, with the 4 wires inside and that metal shielding. Would using SPC be better or would using the mini Starquad be better in terms of sound quality and portability? These headphones will be constantly used on the go. Durability is not a factor, since I will protect the choice as much as possible with heatsink and MAYBE teflon (since I heard they cause microphonics)

Sorry this is a bit lengthy and thanks for all the help!

 

[4saken]

This is all from my limited experience from making cables. Take what I say with a grain of salt

1. As you said, if you don't think the braiding is tight enough, then a bit of masking tape or something which doesn't leave residue can be used near the solder points to just hold it in place while you solder the wires. Well this is what I did anyway
2. This is just a personal issue AFAIK. If you think it looks better with techflex covering, you can do so. The Canare F12 soldering points are actually not much larger than the smaller Switchcraft straight plugs. EDIT: In fact I'm wrong. They're smaller. I'll take a picture now.
3. Depends how clean the soldering is, and whether it may touch other connections, etc. I've heard of people using resin or something similar to seal the soldering points. I usually don't bother unless I will know the plug will be under some torturous conditions.
4. You should make it long enough so that it doesn't create any tension between the mini plugs (e.g. trying to bend the mini plug downwards). After this length, you can make it as long as you want. I try to keep it a perfect length (i.e. no tension and no excess slack). You should definitely want to pick a length and test it first - generally the greater thickness wires the harder it becomes to bend around if you need it to.

Can't help you with the rest

Sorry.

The solder points on the Canare are actually smaller, but they're perfectly workable.

 

[synaesthetic]

1. Solder it to one plug and braid. Then temporarily tape the wires in place while you solder it to the opposing plug.

2. Leave it bare. No point in making it bulkier than it needs to be, and techflex is just an aesthetic addition. Also, I'm fond of Switchcraft plugs.

3. Heatshrink tubing and a hot glue gun (for strain relief).

4. Make it long enough to reach but not so long you've got slack everywhere. If this is for a portable rig that's affixed together you shouldn't need too much in the way of slack.

And for the other questions...

1. I'd buy new plugs. Trying to salvage old ones will likely just frustrate you unless you're the MacGyver of audio DIY.

2. Some may disagree but cable is cable is cable. Use whichever you think would have the best practical qualities... for a portable, durability, flexibility and weight would likely be the most important aspects.

 

[Meloncoly]

@4saken and synaesthetic: Thanks for the valuable feedback.

@4saken: I thought, since Canares are bigger connectors, it would have bigger soldering points, but I guess I was wrong. I frankly have no problem with Switchcraft plugs, and with that revelation, I will probably purchase Switchcraft plugs instead.

@syn: How would I use the hot glue gun for the application? Would I just cover everything in hot glue (of course making sure nothing is touching at the time) or do I just hot glue the solder joints? And where is a good place online to get small heatshrink tubing? (For both the solder joints and just the SPC cable in general) New plugs sound like a good idea...I wish they weren't so damn expensive for a set. Also, I have horribly recabled headphones before, and I found that a cable change under the same setup had minor sound differences, but you are right, I can live without a new brand cable, I have to work to tell the difference anyways. I just want to experiment and also learn a few things on the way on the same time, so it's more about the learning experience on the way that I'm after, not so much as to the audio quality of the finished product.

Anymore opinions from anyone else?

 

[synaesthetic]

Basically what I've done with interconnects I've made in the past is heatshrink first to provide short protection, then kinda just hot glue all around the area so the plug's jacket fits on very snugly. This provides strain relief, and I usually increase that relief by putting some heatshrink sleeving on the plug's jacket and the wires leaving the plug's open end.

If I had a camera I'd show you a picture of my last cable, a 4-conductor Litz braided mini-to-RCA, made with cheapo plugs and generic wire. Considering how cheap it was to toss together (cost me somewhere around $5) it works very well and looks pretty snazzy. =)

Edit: I usually get my heatshrink sleeving from Radio Shack, because they sell small packages of assorted shrink ratios, sizes and shapes for a few bucks. I used to buy feet of it on the extreme cheap from a radio supply store before I moved to Tulsa, but there aren't any good places around me here.

 

[Meloncoly]

@syn: Thanks for the info. Looks like I would have to resort to Radioshack for the moment at least. Unless I can source some online when I order the Switchcraft plugs. When I apply heatshrink to reduce strain, assuming that I use SPC, should I heatshrink inside the casing, or should I heatshrink over the casing? Which method is better?

 

[Lil' Knight]

You should heatshrink the inside, cover all the solder points. It'll seal the inside solidly.

 

[Meloncoly]

Cool. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[digger945]

Synaesthetic, can u give any pics, and what kind of connectors do u use? I hve only used the Rad Shack gold, but thinkin about the cheaper neutrik plugs, bout 2.50 each at Moon. I have a piece of Mogami Quad 2534 if you want some i'll send you a piece in the mail.
Thanks,
Scott

 

[synaesthetic]

I used some brand-less nickel plated RCA connectors from Radio Shack. They were a couple bucks for two, and I used one of the generic Ratshack miniplugs. I don't have any pictures.