[cyrian]

for just copper cables for some small interconnects would solid or stranded be preferred?

edit: also, what would be a good guage?


i'd go silver or spc, but i dont really have access to those materials, plus i work at radioshack and can get the copper cheaps. along with some cheap connectors. hooray for discount

 

[amb]

Stranded. Solid wires are too stiff, and if flexed too much would become fatigued and break. Thus, the only places appropriate for solid wires are where the the wires are installed once and won't ever move again (i.e., in the wall).

 

[TzeYang]

amb,

Out of curiosity, what kind of wires do you use for your projects? In specific i mean. (hopefully not some expensive silver plated stuffs LOL)

 

[tomb]

Ditto Amb.

Also, 22 gauge is about the biggest you can use that will fit in most of the things we do. Many use 24 gauge, too, so I guess it depends on whether you want ease of flexibility/stuffing or minimum resistance. I've used 22 gauge on everything around here and only found an issue on one type of wire that had a particularly rigid insulation.

EDIT: Most recommend teflon-coated (doesn't melt next to your soldering iron). There's an e-bay seller (Navships - John's Silver Teflon Wire Shop) that sells a lot of this in inexpensive lengths, and it's silver-coated copper.

 

[cyrian]

so 22 awg stranded? is 20 too big?

also, for solder, a good diameter? is silver bearing good? do i want rosin core solder or just solid silver bearing?

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyrian /img/forum/go_quote.gif so 22 awg stranded? is 20 too big? also, for solder, a good diameter? is silver bearing good? do i want rosin core solder or just solid silver bearing?

Yes. You may find PCB's with through-holes that won't accomodate 20 AWG. 22 gauge is just about the limit that's almost guaranteed to fit everywhere. Of course, there's no reason you can't use bigger gauge for power wiring and other p2p stuff.

Solder - Eutectic 63/37 is best, silver is not worth the trouble unless you're soldering something structural. Kester rosin core is a good all-around. The general consensus is that ROHS solder is not worth the trouble at this point. 0.25" or thereabouts is pretty good - not too big, not too small to break all the time. Smaller diameters might be better for SMD work, but it can get to be a lot of trouble from breaking all the time. Of course, IMHO, and YMMV.

EDIT: Please allow me to recommend Tangent's web pages for DIY. He has some excellent guidelines on the types of solder best for our work:

Getting Started in DIY

 

[amb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TzeYang /img/forum/go_quote.gif Out of curiosity, what kind of wires do you use for your projects? In specific i mean. (hopefully not some expensive silver plated stuffs LOL)

For inside amplifiers, I use standard stranded copper hookup wire. For small signal and low current applications, I use 22 or 24 AWG. For AC or power wiring, I use 18 AWG. For high power stuff (i.e., in speaker power amps), I might use something thicker yet.

For audio interconnects, I use Belden 8451 or 9452 dual conductor 100% foil shielded cables. The shield wire is connected to the "ground" conductor on the output end only, which means that the cable is directional. The choice of these cables is for their superior shielding characteristics and excellent sound.

For digital coaxial and composite video interconnects, I use Belden 9221 or 8216 braid shielded coaxial cables. These cables are characterized by very low capacitance and is thus suitable for use in high frequency applications. I also use these cables as audio interconnects where long runs are a necessity and where induced noise interference is not a major problem.

All of these Belden cables I use are slim and flexible, making cable routing very easy. In addition, they all feature very thin stranded copper conductors. I am very pleased with their performance as used in my system and I don't think high-end cables costing 100 times as much as I spent on these would offer any further advantage.

I use mostly Switchcraft and Neutrik metal RCA plugs for these interconnects.

For speaker cables, I use Monster Cable products. I believe that minimizing the cable impedance (and maintaining a high effective amplifier damping factor) is of paramount importance. The heavy gauge Monster Cable, with their copious thin strands and flexible jacket fit the bill nicely. All my speakers and amplifiers use gold plated banana plug connectors, which offer good contact surface area as well as being easy to plug/unplug.

All my headphones have their stock factory cables and connectors.

Nothing particularly boutiquey or exotic...

 

[cyrian]

thank you everyone for all the help i hope my soldering skills havent deteriorated from my last project.

Cy

 

[threEchelon]

I don't see stranded wire recommended for audio outside of head-fi, unless it's litz wire. And you shouldn't have to worry about solid wire breaking inside an amp; you only bend it once.

 

[cyrian]

using it for interconnects... still go stranded?

 

[threEchelon]

imo, no. Pretty much every hi-fi company uses solid or litz wire, and I see solid wire specifically recommended over stranded wire because stranded wire sounds "muddy". People still use stranded wire a lot, but I think they use stranded wire just because it's cheap and available and "works"; iBuds "work" too.

 

[no1likesme]

I would use solid for an interconnect.

 

[cotdt]

i like the silver coated copper because the solder just sticks right on, whereas for copper the solder often doesn't want to stick, even if the copper surface is fresh and clean. teflon coating is also good because it doesn't melt like the plastic stuff. not even your solder iron can melt it, so it is very easy to work with. and also there is the school of thought that says that choice of dielectric coatings matter due to soakage effects, and of course also the skin effect.

 

[cyrian]

what is involved in makind an ipod line out dock? is there much more than soldering wires to the right pins?

 

[threEchelon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyrian /img/forum/go_quote.gif what is involved in makind an ipod line out dock? is there much more than soldering wires to the right pins?

That and removing the rest of the pins and hotglueing the wires.

I'd suggest 28 or 30 AWG wire.