DIY cable gallery

[sbelyo]

On 10/24/2021 at 3:13 AM, jamesmking said:

is the mill spec cable silver or silver plated?

personally I have always found cables which are silver or silver plated to be bright, shouty and lack ambience. I only use updated copper cables. I use Cardas chassis wire for my builds and use Cardas golden reference for speaker, power and some inter-connects. Van den hull first is not bad but I think lacks a bit of bass - it can also cheaper second hand than the Cardas. I even find silver plated/solid silver fuses to be bright.

 

Its silver plated.  It sounded just like you describe.  I was wondering if it would settle down with some break in.  I think I prefer copper myself.  Think I'm going to start using Cardas for chassis and interconnects now

[jamesmking]

6 hours ago, sbelyo said:

Its silver plated.  It sounded just like you describe.  I was wondering if it would settle down with some break in.  I think I prefer copper myself.  Think I'm going to start using Cardas for chassis and interconnects now

The cardas chassis wire is rated at multiple KV so its great for valve amps. It is enamel coated so ideally you need a solder pot to burn away the enamel and tin the copper. I tried a high temperature large tip soldering iron but could not reliably get rid of the enamel. A solder pot (once its slowly) heated up to temperature) works well and consistently.

I once rewired a valve amp completely solid silver wire, cost a fortune, total garbage. I simply could not listen to it, clapping sounded like a popcorn maker, violins were so bright and edgy it almost made my gums bleed. I removed the sold silver wire within an hour of finishing the rebuild and put it in the bin. 

I use the Hank Thompson track "orange blossom special" from "live at the golden nugget" to detect brightness/forwardness. If the violin on the left hand side hurts you have a high frequency emphasis issue. If the bass on the right isn't warm you have a dry low frequency issue. If the entire track is fatiguing you have bad high frequency issues.... it might not be your type of music but it is a live recording in a casino with plenty of ambience and things going on in the background - this is especially true between tracks and on introduction before the first track. 

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by jamesmking

[bbest]

On 10/24/2021 at 9:13 AM, jamesmking said:

is the mill spec cable silver or silver plated?

personally I have always found cables which are silver or silver plated to be bright, shouty and lack ambience. I only use un-plated copper cables. I use Cardas chassis wire for my builds and use Cardas golden reference for speaker, power and some inter-connects. Van den hull first is not bad but I think it lacks a bit of bass - its cheaper second hand than the Cardas. I even find silver plated/solid silver fuses to be bright.

 

For my HiFiMan HE-6 were made custom cable with pure silver + UPOCC copper, proportion 1/3. And it sounds balanced and transparent at same time.

[sbelyo]

On 10/25/2021 at 12:43 PM, jamesmking said:

The cardas chassis wire is rated at multiple KV so its great for valve amps. It is enamel coated so ideally you need a solder pot to burn away the enamel and tin the copper. I tried a high temperature large tip soldering iron but could not reliably get rid of the enamel. A solder pot (once its slowly) heated up to temperature) works well and consistently.

I once rewired a valve amp completely solid silver wire, cost a fortune, total garbage. I simply could not listen to it, clapping sounded like a popcorn maker, violins were so bright and edgy it almost made my gums bleed. I removed the sold silver wire within an hour of finishing the rebuild and put it in the bin. 

I use the Hank Thompson track "orange blossom special" from "live at the golden nugget" to detect brightness/forwardness. If the violin on the left hand side hurts you have a high frequency emphasis issue. If the bass on the right isn't warm you have a dry low frequency issue. If the entire track is fatiguing you have bad high frequency issues.... it might not be your type of music but it is a live recording in a casino with plenty of ambience and things going on in the background - this is especially true between tracks and on introduction before the first track. 

 

 

 

I'll try to find that just to see.  I use Dire Straits Brothers in Arms to judge upgrades

On 10/26/2021 at 4:52 AM, bbest said:

For my HiFiMan HE-6 were made custom cable with pure silver + UPOCC copper, proportion 1/3. And it sounds balanced and transparent at same time.

I Have those headphone and am considering making a cable from Cardas cable.  Need to finish my dynahi first

[Craig Sawyers]

I'm using 2x Cardas 33x4 shielded as my tonearm to phono stage cables. The phono stage is balanced, so I'm using the four cores in star quad configuration to Neutrik EMC series XLRs.

Sounds great; I have no plans to change it any time soon.

[bbest]

http://www.cardas.com/chassis_wire.php

Quote

ultra pure copper, Golden Ratio

Good choice who likes musical, audiophile sound.

In my TVC (volume control) I used replica of Nordost Valhalla 7N

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33015770781.html

Balanced, transparent, not colorized sound. Good choice for internal wiring.

Edited April 27, 2023 by bbest