View Full Version : WTD; High quality speaker cable offcut.
Sherwood
26-01-2017, 18:01
Hi,
I am repositioning my monoblocks so that they are adjacent to my Magneplanar speakers. Have just bought a pair of XLR cables to handle the feed from my Cambridge CXN streamer but I am having trouble sourcing a very short length of speaker cable. I want to keep the run from power amp to speaker as short as possible (say 50cm) so only need one meter of cable in total. Does anybody have any good quality offcuts they are willing to sell. I was thinking of something like the Atlas Hyper 3.5 but willing to consider other high quality cables. Funny how dealers react when you ask for a one meter length. Surely you mean two one metre lengths they ask! No, just one thanks!
Geoff
hifi_dave
26-01-2017, 18:07
I have some Chord Odyssey.
I would probably use some RG8/U.
Good stuff for short lengths.
Sherwood
26-01-2017, 18:23
I would probably use some RG8/U.
Good stuff for short lengths.
Presumably that would be just using the central connector, one for each channel! Would not have thought that would be very high quality.
Sherwood
26-01-2017, 18:29
Perhaps I should have added that I will connect the cable to the speakers as bare (soldered end tips) wire. The Maggie 1.7 has an allen key socket which I have found works best with bare wires. The amp end will be terminated with some bananna type plug. The cable cannot be too thick as I will have problems fitting it into the speaker socket which has the same diameter as a z type bananna plug.
thanks
Presumably that would be just using the central connector, one for each channel! Would not have thought that would be very high quality.
Yes. It's pretty much the cable used for the old Chord Signature speaker cable.
Still, if it is not "boutique" enough...
Sherwood
26-01-2017, 18:50
Yes. It's pretty much the cable used for the old Chord Signature speaker cable.
Still, if it is not "boutique" enough...
I am no fashionista!
Have a look here and see what you think - http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?34137-I-m-thinking-of-some-new-speaker-cable&p=582246#post582246
The spec of the Belden is also around that page.
It's made up of 7 solid cores and sounded pretty good to me.
Sherwood
26-01-2017, 21:40
Have a look here and see what you think - http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?34137-I-m-thinking-of-some-new-speaker-cable&p=582246#post582246
The spec of the Belden is also around that page.
It's made up of 7 solid cores and sounded pretty good to me.
Interesting! I pity poor bloody Simon having his boss standing over him like that. Are you suggesting that Simon is working with the Belden stuff?
Sherwood
27-01-2017, 09:56
Have a look here and see what you think - http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?34137-I-m-thinking-of-some-new-speaker-cable&p=582246#post582246
The spec of the Belden is also around that page.
It's made up of 7 solid cores and sounded pretty good to me.
Decided to give the Belden a try! Did I see somewhere in this thread that you had sourced some cable separators to keep the assembly tidy?
Geoff
Yes. I will try and dig out what they were as they came from eBay.
Firebottle
27-01-2017, 10:15
Have a look here and see what you think - http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?34137-I-m-thinking-of-some-new-speaker-cable&p=582246#post582246
The spec of the Belden is also around that page.
It's made up of 7 solid cores and sounded pretty good to me.
I've got a flock of pidgeons so I think I'm going to throw the cat in :sofa:
When the Chord cable is terminated (and yours presumably Kevin) the screens are all unconnected, so what use/effect are they?
Wouldn't the leads work just as well if the outer and screens were all stripped off, leaving just the inner core on its own?
I've got metres and metres of RG-8, maybe I'll put it up for sale.
:scratch:
It acts as a Faraday cage - apparently. ;)
RG58 is a bit different to the RG8 is it not?
Firebottle
27-01-2017, 10:44
It is RG-8, just corrected it.
This 'Faraday cage' is bullshit. The inner core goes in at one end and out at the other, with no RFI filters or anything, so the 'cage' does nothing.
All I can see is that is holds the two inner cores slightly further apart when made up in a twist.
There is a version that uses the shield. I think there is a link to it in the original thread.
Firebottle
27-01-2017, 12:29
That begs the question of where the shield is connected to?
From what I remember, it is linked to the "signal" path of the other cable.
Sherwood
27-01-2017, 15:21
I'm going to give the Belden cable a try and have some arriving tomorrow. I have bought some spiral wrap to make the job tidy.
In order to allow a smooth bend each cable will be around 60cm long rather than the 50cm i had planned for intially.
Given Allan's comments about the shielding is it worth dispensing with it altogether and only using the central core cable instead?
Geoff
I never completely removed the shield. It just seemed like too much work.
This is the version of the cable I was referring to with the shields connected: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Belden-89259-Speaker-Cables/
Sherwood
27-01-2017, 16:21
I never completely removed the shield. It just seemed like too much work.
This is the version of the cable I was referring to with the shields connected: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Power/Belden-89259-Speaker-Cables/
OMG! I think if I attempted this it would end up looking like a couple of brillo pads with tails!:scratch:
Hopefully, because I will be using such short lengths the lack of screening will not be an issue.
Geoff
I just trimmed the shield back, and made sure there was no possibility of contact between the core and shield.
It seemed much easier, and sounded pretty good. I only stopped using the cable as I changed my speakers.
Sherwood
30-01-2017, 19:37
I'm going to give the Belden cable a try and have some arriving tomorrow. I have bought some spiral wrap to make the job tidy.
In order to allow a smooth bend each cable will be around 60cm long rather than the 50cm i had planned for intially.
Given Allan's comments about the shielding is it worth dispensing with it altogether and only using the central core cable instead?
Geoff
So much for Farnell! Ordered cable for next day delivery last week. UPS have just claimed they could not find my apartment today despite having the correct address of my detached house, and the fact that there is an official road sign on the verge right in front of my house! No way that they came to my place today!:steam:
UPS were supposed to pick up a parcel I was sending back to the UK from an access point on the day I dropped it off.
They picked it up the day after even though I was comfortably within the drop off time.
Very frustrating....
Sherwood
31-01-2017, 19:46
The Beldin coaxial cable finally arrived today and I am making up the speaker cables now. Treating it as directional (though somewhat sceptical of that) so text reading from amp to speakers.
It's a bit more flexible than I expected though the core cable is very stiff. I went for 75cm lengths though in hindsight it is probably flexible enough for me to have stuck to 50cm runs.
With 7 thick strands it strikes me as a cross between thick multi strand and solid core.
Looking quite tidy with spiral cable wrap. Just need to get some heatshrink to tidy up the ends and prevent any stray shielding from touching core wires and some z plugs for the amp end.
Geoff
When I built mine, I trimmed the outer jacket back a bit more and stripped the shield so that there was no possibility of the shield touching the core. This was tidied up with a bit of heatshrink.
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