Good DIY RCA cable choice

[Opti-cal]

Looking to make some decent RCA cables of custom lengths so as to get the absolute minimum length needed between components, turntable to phono stage especially.

Considering Belden 8402 and various Mogami offerings but the choice is quite vast. I'd also be quite interested in any recommendations for Duelund cables.
The cheaper offerings from Van Damme are okay but I'd like something a bit better if possible.

Not looking to spend a huge amount say maybe £50/meter max for something of real quality.

These would be for standard unbalanced IC's as I know certain cable is better suited to balanced/unbalanced setups.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[Firebottle]

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/balanced-cables/neotech-nei-3004-symmetrical-modulation-cable-up-occ-o-85mm-p-8940.html

You don't need to spend £50/m.

[mbic]

Go for Klotz Ac110 superb, less than £2 per metre. Buy from Studiospares https://www.studiospares.com/search.aspx?eaSearch=Ac110

[AJSki2fly]

http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm

I was going to make some up with these below, just not got round to it yet. Make sure the silver wire is pure and soft not, should get a very good result. I priced it up and a pair of RCA 1m leads came to just under £50, the equivalent cheapest to similar speakers pre-made on the market are well over £400.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4pcs-Carbon-Fiber-Rhodium-plated-RCA-Male-plug-connector-interconnect/122215160249?pageci=ac0f2c31-c52d-4143-8813-fc582946b62e

https://www.kernowcraft.com/products/metal/metal-wire/item/fine-silver-999-round-wire-a93

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/sleeving/abs-expandable-sleeving.html

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/sleeving/PTFE-sleeving.html

[Opti-cal]

Great suggestions all, thanks.

I've bought a set of these plugs:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dia-10mm-Star-Line-Silver-Plated-Tellurium-Copper-RCA-Plug-connector-2Pair-4pcs/253328974116?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

My reasoning as to why is that I prefer the small amount of conductive material within the plug. Logically this adds the least unnecessary material (although unlikely measurable). The silver plating should guard nicely against oxidisation (of the copper, I'm aware the silver plating may oxidise but doesn't lose conductivity). I will also be using silver solder (again may well not make much, if any difference) as I have some and might as well I figure!

I've gone for Alan's recommendation of the NEOTECH NEI - 3004 cable as its relatively cheap and will fit the plug diameter well.

Re Silver IC's. I've owned quite a few and really like them, however I have found them to be very system dependent. My current system is very neutral and therefore I find with silver IC's it loses 'some' texture. They do add some air and detail, I used them very effectively with my Quads (a touch warm/dark) and when I used WE396a tubes in my DAC (again very warm) so the silver IC's balanced up the sound nicely.

Thanks again all, much appreciated.

[Opti-cal]

http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm

I was going to make some up with these below, just not got round to it yet. Make sure the silver wire is pure and soft not, should get a very good result. I priced it up and a pair of RCA 1m leads came to just under £50, the equivalent cheapest to similar speakers pre-made on the market are well over £400.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4pcs-Carbon-Fiber-Rhodium-plated-RCA-Male-plug-connector-interconnect/122215160249?pageci=ac0f2c31-c52d-4143-8813-fc582946b62e

https://www.kernowcraft.com/products/metal/metal-wire/item/fine-silver-999-round-wire-a93

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/sleeving/abs-expandable-sleeving.html

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/sleeving/PTFE-sleeving.html

That's great Adrian, thanks for taking the time to post the links there too.

Very interesting read that article. As I say in the post above Silver IC's DO have a lot to offer, they just don't have quite enough 'girth' in my system . . . and I do likes me some girth . . .

[AJSki2fly]

That's great Adrian, thanks for taking the time to post the links there too.

Very interesting read that article. As I say in the post above Silver IC's DO have a lot to offer, they just don't have quite enough 'girth' in my system . . . and I do likes me some girth . . .

Your welcome Chris, I find cables a particular minefield, I definitely accept they make a difference and can in fact make a big difference, I have tried various cables out at the low to mid price point over the years, some a waste of time and money, one very well known manufacturers 1m RCA cable about £200 is sonically OK but from a RF interference impact it is appalling and what I find is bad is that it is highly recommended by quite a few reviews, not great at all IMO.

I and a friend have formed the viewed that there is a lot very expensive stuff out their that does not offer great VFM, snake oil and smoke & mirrors stuff, contentious maybe but when you take a £500 phono cable apart and find it is made of a good microphone cable costing £15/m, with a £30 DIN plug and £20 RCAs off the shelf and a £5 worth of shielding to hide it all then it does make you wonder what is going on.

As you rightly point out cables can be very much system dependent so it can be very hard and expensive to get it right unless you know someone who has the same system and has sorted the cable issue out which you also like.

The RCA you have chosen I know of and believe quite a few use them and I was going to try them out as well when I got to making some cable up. By the way I did have a pair Belden 8402 RCAs made up and I do use it, I consider it a pretty transparent cable and it is good for low voltages.

[walpurgis]

At a touch more, Audio Note AN-C is a very nice interconnect cable. Around £80 per metre unterminated.

Unless of course you're feeling particularly flush, then you could try their AN-Sooto at £6776 a metre. Unterminated of course. :D

[Opti-cal]

At a touch more, Audio Note AN-C is a very nice interconnect cable. Around £80 per metre unterminated.

Unless of course you're feeling particularly flush, then you could try their AN-Sooto at £6776 a metre. Unterminated of course. :D

Well you can't expect them to do terminate it themselves for that puny sum . . . .

I assume that stuff is for the Kondo Krew . . .

[StingRay]

There have been quite a few cable posts in the last few years, this is one on XLR: https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?60484-XLR-Cable-shoot-out-including-the-Spotfire-IC/page8&highlight=interconnects

Different people favour different cables, Mogami, Klotz, Sommer all has their fans. Maybe worth getting a few to try out and then sell the ones you don't want or you can buy ready made DIY ones for around £20-£25.

Duelund cables only know of one fan but have read some bad user reviews also.

[Opti-cal]

Just to update this, I went with the Neotech NEI-3004 cable and the KLE style connectors.

https://i.ibb.co/xFCyMzM/neotech-nei3004-wire-350.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)


https://i.ibb.co/4NprZHk/s-l500.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)


I'll post some pics of the made up cable when I get home today but I have to say overall I'm very pleased with it. Only connected the shield at the source end (after reading a War & Peace amount of 'information' as to the 'why's' and the 'why not's' of doing this). Eventually I pulled apart another pair of my favourite sounding IC's and they were connected in this way so I followed suit.

After a couple of 'practice' goes with some bellwire I got in the groove of tipping both cable and connector and really cleaning the tip of the solder iron between every application. Wow, what a difference that makes. All nice shiny finishes without any blobs or oxidisation/discolouring.

Now I'm getting cocky and wondering if I should make some more maybe with these plugs:

https://www.hificollective.co.uk/catalog/innovations-copper-classic-rca-plug.html

Is it worth climbing up the Neotech cable ladder for a notch up in performance or anything else around I should try? Will definitely look into the microphone cable suggestion from others, thanks for that.

Like I say I'm really pleased with the performance of these but the plugs are made in Taiwan and materials quality isn't exactly guaranteed.

Cheers,

Chris

[Firebottle]

Just stick with that cable Chris, good result.

[Opti-cal]

Just stick with that cable Chris, good result.

Good advice as ever Alan.

Might just make a few more of the same then and replace the whole lot and sell the pretty Chord ones . . . .
I think I'm at a stage a lot of people on here go through in their 'journey'. It's an enlightening place to be that's for sure.

Great fun.

[Bourneendboy]

How flexible is the Neotech cable?

[Opti-cal]

How flexible is the Neotech cable?

Hi Bill,

apologies for late reply.

It's medium to slightly stiff I would say. Not quite as flexible as Chord Chameleon (blue one) but not far off. I'm using it to bend 180' from rear of turntable into phono stage sitting below it (about 20cm below) and the cable is 30cm long if you can picture that.

Wouldn't want to put much more pressure on the bend than that.

[Bourneendboy]

Hi Bill,

apologies for late reply.

It's medium to slightly stiff I would say. Not quite as flexible as Chord Chameleon (blue one) but not far off. I'm using it to bend 180' from rear of turntable into phono stage sitting below it (about 20cm below) and the cable is 30cm long if you can picture that.

Wouldn't want to put much more pressure on the bend than that.

No worries and thank you:)

[Nordlys]

Hi Chris

I’m no expert but I have made a ton of hifi DIY cables over the years, from simple one all the way up to exotic ones; 5 layer shielding, pure silver and I even tried gold + all sorts of connectors; cheap to stupid
I’m passionate about cables, I love trying new stuff everting from cables to big amplifiers, room correction you name it...I’m a big kid when it comes to my hobby

I see that you have settled on a shielded one, I think you should make two versions of your cable as it’s my experience that shielded cables, especially short runs don’t really benefit from shielding, I find the unshielded more “open”...just my 2 cents
Hope I’m not “opening a can of worms” here

I always end up back to my Blue jeans & Mogami copper cables - simple good quality copper, no fuss cables