My DIY Speaker Cable !

soundsgreat

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Hi All,

Here's one of my DIY effort at speaker cable. This is 3 meter cable as this enough for me ! Pics of the measurement taken from Phone cam Please bear it ( hadn't bought the digicam then)

The Cable is based on the twisted pair design but after lot trial and error and after lot testing with various pattern of braiding this is one which gave me the best result !

The main problem with the twisted pair cable's are the Figure of eight problem ( I think you already know this),so tried hard to avoid this by using 3 pairs of wires.

I have used 6 16 gauge pure Copper with Silver coating each capable of handling 6-8 amps of current, So the total of 36-48 Amps of current Each Cable is capable off !

Another main problem of DIY cable is the inductance and capacitance, if both are not kept at bay ! well expect some fireworks baby ! So I've managed to keep both under control..As least the Values as much better the result !
The Value's are as follows :
1) Inductance for 3 meter is 0.011 Mh
2) Capacitance for the 3 meter 10.30 Mfd

Consider this and also compare this with commercially available one's

Just to give a few examples, Kimber 4 TC is 44 pF/ft, 8 TC is 100 pF/ft, Cardas Quadlink 5C is 23 pF/ft and the Goertz starts at 500 pF/ ft and goes up from there !!

As with Inductance they are almost similar in range of .345uh /ft to .715uh/ft ( small change here and there from brand to brand)

So I think you get the idea ! any doubts or questions, you know the drill !

I've attached the pics ! so Enjoy my friends !

Regards.
 

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Hi Anil,

Thanks for checking out man ! Yes it did take lot of R&D to finally arrive at this !

But as always DIY is not an easy thing right ?? Did my best !


Regards.
 
It's the interest, money & time. As you rightly said DIY is not easy thing....involves lot of homework & R&D


Hi Anil,

Thanks for checking out man ! Yes it did take lot of R&D to finally arrive at this !

But as always DIY is not an easy thing right ?? Did my best !


Regards.
 
Hi All,

Am very sorry to inform you guys that the values of the cable ( Shown in the pics ) are not correct ! The reason is I had failed to take the initial Value of the meter to calibrate ( meaning the default value of the meter with any load )

After checking them today when replying to anil's post ( since he was the first one to reply) I noticed huge glitch in them ! As per that Value the capacitance and the inductance was huge and was in no way acceptable !! so as I had taken the pics long time back I thought to recheck the Values again just to re-confirm,then I realised the mistake I had made earlier !


The old Values, Inductance .011mh or .011 /ft (this is not as bad as the capacitance) Capacitance 10.3mfd (10300000000pf :eek:) or 1030000000 /ft you know what I mean !!

So here's the new and correct Value !!

1)capacitance =0.013nf ( or 13pf for 3 meter) or 1.3pf /ft
2)Inductance =0.02mh for 3 meter or .002mh /ft

Iam very sorry once again for the mistakes !! I've attached new pics taken today so that its made clear that Am not bluffing or anything
 

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Hi Guys,

Here's my new speaker cable effort !! its a 16 gauge wire braided 3 into positive and 3 into negative, Unlike last time where I had braided all 6 into 1,this time I've put them separately ( to test the results) i,e 3 braided into one for + and 3 into. Am still not sure whether I'll join both or run them separately to the speaker !! still in the R&D Zone ;)

Once its done will post the results !! so far in their existing state I comapred it to the one Am using and it did make a small difference in sound,The mids opended a bit and the whole sound stage was bit more open and wide compare to the existing one (this could be right or could be wrong also as Its not properly burnt and might sound different after burning)

Anyway please checkout and give me some feedbacks ( need em badly :p)

Am unable to put the pics here for some strange reasons ( uploader pages just dies ) so here the link for the web Album

Picasa Web Albums - handsome - My New DIY Sp...

Regards
 
Hi Guys,

Here's the Speaker Cable that I did for my friend,this time I wanted to try something different and bit economical (he insisted ) so I only used a pair of wire per channel ( as opposed to 3 or 6 that I usually do!) these are 16 gauge pure oxygen free copper wire.

I've used double shielding this time for various reasons. first I've used the heat shrink tube for primary shielding for Airlocking the Cable and reducing the capacitance and inductance of the cable.Second an Nylon Braiding type shield to further reinforce the primary shielding and Avoid static,dust and a bit heat.

We compared the Cable with branded(will not name) cable that I had loaned him for time(until I gave him this).The sound stage was very wide and expensive with the newly made cable and the mids and highs we very open and sweet,the bass was full bodied and deep.

We played Anya latest Album and Ana morchora (something I forgot,sorry bout that) both imported Cds.

Here's the Pics of this Cable.

Please Please do post your comments and feedbacks (anything positive or negative doesn't matter) as this is why I do these things and this is one of the opportunity to correct myself of any mistakes done !!


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Hi,

Just remembered the Name of the artist its "NANA MOUSKOURI" And the as mentioned earlier the other singer is Anya,she has sung among others THE LORD OF THE RINGS Theatrical.


Regards.
 
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Hi All,

Am very sorry to inform you guys that the values of the cable ( Shown in the pics ) are not correct ! The reason is I had failed to take the initial Value of the meter to calibrate ( meaning the default value of the meter with any load )

1)capacitance =0.013nf ( or 13pf for 3 meter) or 1.3pf /ft
2)Inductance =0.02mh for 3 meter or .002mh /ft

Hi,

Just happened to notice that 1.3 pF/feet compares WILDLY with the commercial Kimber cable value you mention as 44pF/feet...i.e. 33 times better than Kimber??? Similar deviation of several orders of magnitude for the inductance figure too...Perhaps you may want to re-run the numbers again...just a thought...
 
Hi,

Thanks Srinath for checking out thread and posting your comments !! As I've already said in the earlier post I had a doubt thats why I measured thrice and finally posted the updated spec with photo's (where you can see the Values yourself).One more thing I have merely quoted the values of the kimber I didn't make or anything the values are very much available on their website so just took figures and put here thats all

It is infact much lesser then any branded cable,Actually that is the main reason for me to venture into my own cable making ( so that I can control the entire spec at lowest levels)

I've attached the Kimbre cables spec ( taken from the website) so its made clear that I've nothing to do with their spec's (I've not deliberately manipulated or anything)

Any further quires Srinath Please do not hesitate to ask or comment !!

Regards.
 

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Hi,

Great !! so whats your take on her ?? I liked it ( to be frank that was the first time I heard her)

Glad to know that you've heard all of her works !! have seen her DVD aswell ? Am planning to buy it but nowhere its available !!


Regards.
 
I have four Enya albums.

  • Enya - A Box of Dreams - Oceans
  • Enya - A Box of Dreams - Clouds
  • Enya - A Box of Dreams - Stars
  • Enya - Shepherd Moons

I like them all.
 
I used to listen to Enya in the 90s but my interest waned a bit due to the sameness of her music. But I do listen occasionally even now. Before Enya, I used to listen (in the 80s) to the Irish folk group "Clannad" that was made up of her older siblings and cousins. They were best known for the soundtrack for a TV series on Robin Hood.

Enya is a great musician but her output has been very limited. She has only recorded 8 albums in all. Of these I would recommend "Watermark", "Shepherds Moon" and "A Day Without Rain" as the top 3.
 
Hi,

Thanks Ranjeet and particleman for the comments.I will be on the lookout for the one's you suggested particleman.

Regards.
 
Shreekanth, I have all her 8 albums, plus a recently picked up "best of" collection.

Particleman, Clannad is very good, cant find any new albums these days; though I heard a collection is out recently. Nice to know more people interested in Celtic/irish music.

Some similar artists I like are Kitaro, Maire (Moya) Brennan, Celtic Women, David Arkenstone, Vengelis, Secret Garden etc. to name a few.
 
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Hi,

Thanks Buddy for the Info,Hey can I borrow the Cds:D ( if you don't mind ;) ,otherwise forget that I even mentioned )


Regards.
 
Hi,
Buy her "Paint the sky with stars" which are her greatest hits and see if u like the music. If u do like it then start buying her albums which are easily available at least in mumbai.
Actually i heard a song of hers orinoco flow in an assorted compilation and had really liked it a decade or m ore ago. Some lovely tracks.
Regards
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Red Mahogany finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
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