[Emon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz Apparenlty teflon is the only dielectric other then air that sounds great.

What about Grado, AKG, Beyerdynamic cables, Starquad and a myriad of other high end audio stuff that uses PVC insulation? I rarely see people rushing to replace their Grado cables because teflon will make it sound better.

I'm not really sure I buy the teflon-sounds-better argument...I bought some at the time thinking it did, but I doubt it does. However, I do like working with it, the high melting point is a plus.

 

[JWFokker]

Higher melting temp is a plus, but it's slippery when trying to braid compared to PVC. I don't believe the use of teflon vs PVC makes an audible difference in sound quality though.

 

[Garbz]

hmmmmm. Oh well. It's just what i've read anyway. Personally i don't see the merrit between cables other then the conductor itself. Should have mentioned that the post above is only what i've read.

I can't find the site now, but the guy was braiding individual pairs of strands together. Like 3 pair, then took 3 of thoes and braided, then took 3 of the 9 groups and braided etc. The end results was terminated with spades and looked nasty, but that's the site which I'm referencing my teflon vs pcv comment from. I remember being pretty surprised that cat5e comes with teflon coated wires

 

[bubbagump]

another myth dispelled.

 

[Garbz]

bugger. I'll go put my teflon coated wire next to the snake oil and the $450 wooden volume knob.

 

[Emon]

Teflon IS a superior insulator...but audio applications are very low end compared to oh, industrial and aircraft. Teflon, polyimide (Kapton), a myriad of other insulators a lot better than PVC. Take a look at CS Hyde if you're curious about all sorts of polymers. Infact, they sell high performance mousepads made from teflon laminates...I had one of the original ones a while back, it rocked, but it wore out over time. Cheap though.

 

[Rslice97]

If anyone is interested this website has some good information on what materials are good for audio applications.

http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/i1.htm

Enjoy!
Richard

 

[bubbagump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rslice97 If anyone is interested this website has some good information on what materials are good for audio applications. http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/i1.htm

interesting link. Although apparently he spent hours of blind listening tests on all the various dialectrics, conductors, sheilds etc, yet doesnt' specify any specifics on the differences in how they sound to him, just his preference. maybe i'll bring a coulple cables to the upcoming meet for a blind test.

 

[Garbz]

He does mention though his aversion against PVC is that it's bad for the copper, which is why teflon is preferred. Anyone out there know how bad? Will my interconnects degrade in my lifetime?

 

[robert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz He does mention though his aversion against PVC is that it's bad for the copper, which is why teflon is preferred. Anyone out there know how bad? Will my interconnects degrade in my lifetime?

*conflict alert*

the conventional wisdom has, for some time, been that the reason stranded teflon coated is silver plated cu is that the teflon attacks cu.

gurus with pistols at dawn???

 

[Garbz]

/me searches for a guru.

Incidently i was playing around with my speaker cables today. I've dropped to the whatever works for you position. Currently my bass driver has $500 cables, and my tweeter has $10 cables in bi-wire, and I like it much better, so ... all bets are off i'm out of this discussion

 

[Naga]

sooo, solid or stranded core cat5e??

 

[JWFokker]

Whatever you can get cheapest, though I'd look for something shielded if possible. Could be a bit pricier though. Stranded vs solid core makes no difference sonically.

 

[Garbz]

It makes a massive difference astetically. You do not want 8x24ga of solid copper tugging on your headphones.

Stiff, nasty to work with, anoying, more likely to generate microphoics, etc.

Get stranded for headphones!

 

[DJ The Rocket]

I recabled my AKG Q701 with some stranded cat5 that I had sitting around basically since this thread was first started, and it's a huge success! The headphones sound BETTER than stock!

To be fair, that's mostly because the stock AKG cable is horrible. I don't know what's wrong with it, but it introduces audible crud somehow, regardless of length. A 1" bit soldered to good wire sounded about as bad as using the entire length. I had to drill out the removable cable connection and rewire both earcups to be rid of it all.

I think it looks great, I used some parachute cord from walmart to wrap it. The cat5 is the easiest cable to thread through the parachute cord than any I've tried before. I thought about doubling up and using 8 cables, but I just went with 4 and it's working great!