I finished my most recent interconnects yesterday. This time a pair of 4 wire Litz braid orientation.
My reason for searching out different cable possibilities is to see what different wire type and insulation along with the configuration have on the sound. Buying and returning cables from companies that allow this is not an option as I need a cable that is 17' to reach one of my power amps. This length is custom and not returnable. I may end up with a commercially made cable in the end but I am hoping I can eliminate some of the designs and wires out there and hopefully find one I have built as the one I can live with. The idea of purchasing 5-6 meter cables of a high quality makes me shutter at the potential cost.
I have been using StraightWire Encore interconnects and speaker cables for 10+ years with some different equipment over that time. I would not have said there was anything specifically wrong I would have attributed to the Encore wire. This was a mid level cable from StraightWire and its construction approach was not anything out of the ordinary.
The only consistent complaint I have written about is that I hear a bit of abrasive high end during choirs or sudden peaks in sound levels. I have always attributed them to room acoustics, my deteriorating hearing and possibly a weak link in my system.
My only serious interconnect attempts previously were with Canare LV-77s 22ga. copper and Belden LC-1 25 ga. from Blue Jean Cable. Both have the same double copper braid over laid on each other. I terminated both of them with Canare RCAP-C77 RCA crimp connectors.
In comparison to the Encore both cables sounded a bit masked with less highs and slightly heavy low end. They weren't bad just not as clean and clear as the Encore cables.
After reading many articles I settled on constructing my next set from 24ga. copper with Teflon insulation from Cat 5 wire. I found a company I could buy a 500 ft roll of wire. It took a bit of searching to find a good price and only a 500 ft roll most companies sold in 1000ft rolls.
The braiding was not bad to do. It just takes patience and care to not put kinks in the wire.
The first 18' I braided I decided it was to tight when finished and set it aside and tried another that had one braid of 4 wires every 3".
The braid for the other side is only 10'. I needed 3' but didn't want to have that much difference in the two. Though I am not sure it would make a great difference.
The terminations were with Eichmann Copper Bullet plugs soldered with silver solder.
I decided to use 2 wires for the signal at each end and one wire for the ground at each end with the other for a drain connected only at the end that would be connected to the source. I don't know if using the drain would make a difference but that is what I chose to do.
I ran the new interconnects keeping them well away from any other wires since they are not shielded.
It seemed the best way to compare them was to listen to a few specific pieces of music with the Encores and then plug in the new interconnects.
There was an immediate change. My first thought was that the image of instruments and voices was smaller. As I listened through the first piece of music it appeared that the images weren't smaller but much more precise and focused.
As I listened to more music each note and sound had a much stronger attack. It was instantly there and did not linger. As though what I had been listening to had been clouded.
There was much more mids and highs with the bass a bit tighter. The vocals were much more life like in their appearance.
I played a number of pieces of music that in the past had the slight harshness I spoke of and it was not there.
I had no expectations of this much change in the sound with the cables. Were talking about $40 for the Eichmanns, $6 for wire and $5 for other parts.
I'm not sure if these are that good or the Encores were not as good as I thought.
Today I made a set of 1.5' cables for between my CDP and Pre. It too was noticeable.
If someone is interested give them a try, I would like to hear how they compare to other cables.
My reason for searching out different cable possibilities is to see what different wire type and insulation along with the configuration have on the sound. Buying and returning cables from companies that allow this is not an option as I need a cable that is 17' to reach one of my power amps. This length is custom and not returnable. I may end up with a commercially made cable in the end but I am hoping I can eliminate some of the designs and wires out there and hopefully find one I have built as the one I can live with. The idea of purchasing 5-6 meter cables of a high quality makes me shutter at the potential cost.
I have been using StraightWire Encore interconnects and speaker cables for 10+ years with some different equipment over that time. I would not have said there was anything specifically wrong I would have attributed to the Encore wire. This was a mid level cable from StraightWire and its construction approach was not anything out of the ordinary.
The only consistent complaint I have written about is that I hear a bit of abrasive high end during choirs or sudden peaks in sound levels. I have always attributed them to room acoustics, my deteriorating hearing and possibly a weak link in my system.
My only serious interconnect attempts previously were with Canare LV-77s 22ga. copper and Belden LC-1 25 ga. from Blue Jean Cable. Both have the same double copper braid over laid on each other. I terminated both of them with Canare RCAP-C77 RCA crimp connectors.
In comparison to the Encore both cables sounded a bit masked with less highs and slightly heavy low end. They weren't bad just not as clean and clear as the Encore cables.
After reading many articles I settled on constructing my next set from 24ga. copper with Teflon insulation from Cat 5 wire. I found a company I could buy a 500 ft roll of wire. It took a bit of searching to find a good price and only a 500 ft roll most companies sold in 1000ft rolls.
The braiding was not bad to do. It just takes patience and care to not put kinks in the wire.
The first 18' I braided I decided it was to tight when finished and set it aside and tried another that had one braid of 4 wires every 3".
The braid for the other side is only 10'. I needed 3' but didn't want to have that much difference in the two. Though I am not sure it would make a great difference.
The terminations were with Eichmann Copper Bullet plugs soldered with silver solder.
I decided to use 2 wires for the signal at each end and one wire for the ground at each end with the other for a drain connected only at the end that would be connected to the source. I don't know if using the drain would make a difference but that is what I chose to do.
I ran the new interconnects keeping them well away from any other wires since they are not shielded.
It seemed the best way to compare them was to listen to a few specific pieces of music with the Encores and then plug in the new interconnects.
There was an immediate change. My first thought was that the image of instruments and voices was smaller. As I listened through the first piece of music it appeared that the images weren't smaller but much more precise and focused.
As I listened to more music each note and sound had a much stronger attack. It was instantly there and did not linger. As though what I had been listening to had been clouded.
There was much more mids and highs with the bass a bit tighter. The vocals were much more life like in their appearance.
I played a number of pieces of music that in the past had the slight harshness I spoke of and it was not there.
I had no expectations of this much change in the sound with the cables. Were talking about $40 for the Eichmanns, $6 for wire and $5 for other parts.
I'm not sure if these are that good or the Encores were not as good as I thought.
Today I made a set of 1.5' cables for between my CDP and Pre. It too was noticeable.
If someone is interested give them a try, I would like to hear how they compare to other cables.
