Cable Asylum

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

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Original Message

DIY might save you a bundle but ...

Posted by machani on April 6, 2006 at 18:41:14:
... pay attention to design.
IMHO, ICs are just as critical as any other cable in order to experience nice sound. I also believe that, while both design and materials are important, a well designed cable can take you a long way with materials taking you even further.
I've become a big fan of shielded designs, having once tried DIY solid core high purity silver (unshielded) ICs ala Greg Weaver SST design costing around $20. While those cables had excellent smoothness, detail and soundstaging, the noise floor was not low and it began to bother me. I feel EMI/RFI do affect the transparency of a cable (at least in my environment they do).
My system cannot be considered true hi-end, but I've had good results with some cheap cables: BlueJeans Belden 1505F, around $30 a pair, and Acoustic Research MS230, around $40 a pair, both which are I believe are well designed.
Those cables have been smoked by another recent foray into DIY ICs ala Jon Risch shieded twisted pair design, with high purity copper solid core conductors damped with layers of teflon tape, cotton and air and the separated almost 1/4" from the shield. A really thick IC but dead quiet, transparent and with cavernous stage.

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C N Machani