DiY cables

hello,

thought i would share my experience with making cables for my parent's HT. Cable quality is probably not as important nor that negligible for power or AV signal quality. I chose to tread somewhere in between.
using shielded coax cables i made line level interconnects with RCA connectors between my receiver and powered speakers/active sub.

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these are the low frequency line level inputs left, right and subwoofer going into the sub. those are the decent quality rca connectors (approx. Rs.45 each) from MX Inc. India. The cables are Falcon premium OFC cables (India) sheilded coax with dual cores for a stereo usage (they are popular for noise-free commercial microphone cables). see the red and blue in the centre and aluminum shroud which is the common or ground for both. since this is a single channel configuration i used both red and blue.

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as for my video interconnects i used one composite cable and Y/Pb/Pr cables from my DVD player to my projector.

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And the connections inside.

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the cables for the 3 component bunch are regular RG-6 coax cables (Rs.11/m) running close to 30ft without any loss in quality or distortion. those connectors are Monster Cable "type" rca connectors also manufactured by MX India. I used some insulation tape and some heat shrink tubing to get the connectors fit nice and snug. And for the composite cable i use for television the cable is RG-59 (Rs.6/m) and the connectors are the same as the audio interconnects.

I have been using these cables for 3 and 1/2 years with no problems and good quality. i Have pitched them against cheap rca cables and expensive Monster/Audionexus cables. while cheap cables are garbage, the only place where i felt my cables came short was the LFE cable from audio nexus had a negligible edge over mine in terms of bass from the subwoofer. The video cables seemed perfect!

These supplies or their close matches can be found in the electrical/electronics market of your city/town. Of course you'll need the basic tools - solder iron,lead,flux/ pliers or wire stripper/ mini screwdrivers etc.

many more DiY digital, toslink, speaker wire, D-SUB cables that i have made. let me know if anyone needs any info on them.

Kudos to Anil for initiatives on the DiY posts.

Cheers.

Thx, Klone for an informative post with good pics.
I do know that many audio enthusiasts will benefit if they make the effort -I myself have been using "home cooked" IC's/Spkr cables and am pretty happy.

great to know that kamal. by IC's you mean for amps/receivers rite? and speaker cables home brew? would like to know your approach. i tried using havells 2 sq.mm (closest to AWG 14) for a few months before i moved to the basic monster 14 gauge OFC cables. havells supposedly use oxygen free copper and a decent strand count. heard of anyone using good quality ofc electrical wiring for speaker level cables?

thx

Glad to note that there are people who don't buy the chicanery that is bandied around in form of "audiophile" cables.

I made my speaker cables from regular OFC wiring - 2 cores, banana plugs and am quite happy with the result. My setup is a Marantz + Paradigm.

You should reserve that statement until you have properly compared a DIY home made and a good 'branded cable'. Again, this is system dependant and if you're using a Sony 2 in 1, the differences will probably not be apparent.

As Klone says "the only place where i felt my cables came short was the LFE cable from audio nexus had a negligible edge over mine in terms of bass from the subwoofer". Bass extension defines the overall sound to a very high degree. Replicating all frequencies as recorded is the ideal and it takes a lot of science and research to make equipment and cables capable of coming close.

Excellent work Klone, CAT5 is also very good candidate for speaker cables. Also shielded CAT5e is very good to make component cables without the need of converters / baluns.

marantz + paradigm is similar to Sony 2-in-1? Sorry, I din't know that ! I had heard enough sound thru' [sic]audiophile cables and found it mostly daylight loot.

There is enough info on the net if one has the time/inclination, to do proper search & research to find what is good.
For a sampling, pl. follow the link:
Speaker Wire
Or, may be, the McIntosh's president isn't "enlightened" enough.

Hey Klone, Great job, am in agreement with you, most of the branded cables are noe made in China (bulk) and not VFM....where can i source the MX Inc. (cables and inter) from in mumbai?

Hi Nevil,
Champion rubber and spectra connectors both at lamington road, Mumbai. All MX products are available at the former while the latter will offer u neutrik and some other chinese,korean connectors, cables etc. Very reasonable rates. Next to champion is a large store called cable & wires who claims to have great OFC cables in all gauges. I have personally not been to this store but few friends vouch for it.
Regards

Nevil,
as i mentioned, "These supplies or their close matches can be found in the electrical/electronics market of your city/town." It takes a bit of searching and you'll find the one or two main stores that categorically sell these products. if you do find an authorized MX distributor/seller be sure to pick up the latest booklet on connectors. It has all products listed on connectors for a/v/data systems. its a handy book to have to know whats out there. i dont remember if MX has a website.
Also, MX sells a small variety of only connector-ready component cables in specified lenghts. (toslink, Y/Pb/Pr, s-video, maybe HDMI).

that said, i dont say that MX is the best brand in connectors but i tread the middle path and it more than does the job for me when compared to the mc.daddy international brands.

jambumali,

what brand ofc cables did you use?
please let me know. and what connectors as well.

Suniil,
saw your diy HT. Awesome. Sure u can use cat 5 cables for spkr wire. i shud try that but i hate BRAIDING!!! takes forever. are u using braided cat5? as for component cables i made one from cat6 stp cable. worked the same with or without the balun. but somehow i'd rather use co-ax.
let me know abt your diy cables.

thanx