DIY audio cables , your first or last one

[Henri K.]

Just recently , friend gave me (for free ) , mint , very little used early 90's Rotel combo . CD player RCD-945AX , Preamp/tuner RTC-940AX and RB-970BX power amp. Lucky streak continued - brother gave me his (also very little used) KEF Q90 speakers , which were stored in a closet for over 20 years . Those are at the moment having ferrofluid in tweeters replaced , so right now I'm using vintage Altec Lansing 75 speakers with Infinity sub woofer (given for free also) .
Rotel combo came with original cables , so I decided to make my first two pairs diy rca cables , cd to preamp , and pre to power amp .
In past , I was into tube gear then , I used cables from Tara Labs , Van Den Hul , XLO etc ...
Now , being on tight budget , I decided to buy Elecaudio RC-602 rca connectors and Canare L-4E6S star quad cable . Total price 20€ ( aprox. 22 USD) , for 1M pair ! And they work/"sound" great . On first photo are original cables and my diy ones , on second detail how I used plumbers teflon tape on side where shield is not connected to rca's .
So , what's your experience with first , or last DIY audio cables you made ?

 

[Genkifd]

ive always used DIY neotech speaker cables in my system and have never tried others. since im building my new system i will be trying another DIY cable Ramm Amadeus 5 MK2. i dont think i will even solder the ends.

just found out delivery to Aus of these cables are a total rip

 

[stretchneck]

Did you ever compare the neotech speaker cable with Ramm - looks like a darn good cable.

 

[kende]

Hello
I just made Speaker wire and IC from neotech . The best diy and might be last.
Regarding the price and sound performance I would put it up to 1000 S speaker cable.
The speaker wire is made in special way Helix design. 14awg neotech solid occ 2x 2meter for live,but 16awg good too, double 14awg for signal is a bit stiff . I removed the PVC coating and each wire goes in a teflon tub 10awg. i sealed the ends with hot glue / and heatsink then gently twisted the 2 wire together every 10cm apart then inserted in cotton tube for more damping. The best dialectic is the hermetically sealed air in teflon.
for neutral I used Milspec 10awg stranded silverplated copper cryo ,(teflon coated) 5meter in helix configuration. The neutral has to be 2,5 x more than the signal.For neutral is better the stranded wire from money saving point and sound too. The helix acting like a shield. The signal wire then inserted trough the helix neutral coil and the end terminated (spade or pin connection). IC I made double- double which means Double signal like above, and double neutral , For 1 meter IC you need 2 meter for signal and 3 meter of neutral . For double-double then (2m signal and 6meter neutral) and for pair then 4m signal and 12m neutral. Signal neotech occ or acoustic revive hook up wire triple CCC. They claim are better the OCC. I am using with tube amp , no noise when no music playing , the amp running cooler. More info here.http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-image-speaker-cable.html http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-image-interconnect.html
Regards.

 

[stretchneck]

Hello
I just made Speaker wire and IC from neotech . The best diy and might be last.
Regarding the price and sound performance I would put it up to 1000 S speaker cable.
The speaker wire is made in special way Helix design. 14awg neotech solid occ 2x 2meter for live,but 16awg good too, double 14awg for signal is a bit stiff . I removed the PVC coating and each wire goes in a teflon tub 10awg. i sealed the ends with hot glue / and heatsink then gently twisted the 2 wire together every 10cm apart then inserted in cotton tube for more damping. The best dialectic is the hermetically sealed air in teflon.
for neutral I used Milspec 10awg stranded silverplated copper cryo ,(teflon coated) 5meter in helix configuration. The neutral has to be 2,5 x more than the signal.For neutral is better the stranded wire from money saving point and sound too. The helix acting like a shield. The signal wire then inserted trough the helix neutral coil and the end terminated (spade or pin connection). IC I made double- double which means Double signal like above, and double neutral , For 1 meter IC you need 2 meter for signal and 3 meter of neutral . For double-double then (2m signal and 6meter neutral) and for pair then 4m signal and 12m neutral. Signal neotech occ or acoustic revive hook up wire triple CCC. They claim are better the OCC. I am using with tube amp , no noise when no music playing , the amp running cooler. More info here.http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-image-speaker-cable.html http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002ahelix-image-interconnect.html
Regards.

Nice - have you experimented against traditional prefab paralleled wires, like Neotech Nemoi?

 

[kende]

Nice - have you experimented against traditional prefab paralleled wires, like Neotech Nemoi?

No I have not, I want to keep the diy price low, but I had the Duelund tinned copper 10awg . It is good cable but this is much better, more information in the records, better deeper bass /wider stage better separation of instruments. I bought the neotech from
https://www.audiophonics.fr/ it is cheaper per meter then here in Canada /per feet.The positive effect is thanks too the teflontube /air and the coil design. At Audiogon ( https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/duelund-conversion-to-diy-helix-geometry-cabling?) some members have compared to 1000 $ cables and was at the same level or better. Other thing, my tube amp runs cooler (the output transformers are cooler)

 

[stretchneck]

Try Ramm Elite 8 - with their matching connectors (go solderless). Amazing, in both price and performance.

 

[Tam Lin]

My last DIY cables.

IC & phono: 33awg litz wire woven in polypropylene hollow-braid


Speaker: Many strands of 24awg litz wire


Power: Belden 83704, shielded star-quad with ground