Speaker Cable DIY or Not?

[Ninanina]

And I also forgot about the mains cable I have... I must get those made up as well...

[sailor]

Hi Barry, thanks for the warm welcome to AOS. Reading your posts on this thread I find I disagree with a few of your points.

@Ninanina: The Furutech cable you mentioned is very good, particularly on preamp and digital components. The IEC plug is OK. Being slightly warm, it suits some components more than others. I can recommend some others if you like. The wall plug you have will let the combination down.

All the British plugs are at a disadvantage with the totally unnecessary built-in fuse. It's the only plug in the world, that I know of, that does this. The top of the line Furutech is the least offensive of the ones I tried. I have 3 of them I intend to sell because I now no longer need them. The system I have devised does not use plugs and is vastly superior and saves a bundle not having to buy a bunch expensive plugs.

When Furukawa stopped production of OCC conductors, Furutech came up with their Alpha version, as good or possibly better. Barry does not appear to appreciate the audio benefits of OCC. Perhaps he has never listened and compared. He also uses Maplin connectors which use gold over brass.

When brass is gold plated it usually is first nickel plated and then the gold is applied. The nickel is used because it results in a nicer looking smooth and shiny finish. Cheap to do and easier to sell. But:

Looking at some of the ratings of IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard) it uses copper as the reference for conductivity.
Silver 105%
Copper 100%
Gold 70%
Brass 28%
Nickel 7%

So yes the type of connector matters. In fact from my experimenting it matters as much, if not more than the actual cable. Your typical inexpensive connector then employs 3 dissimilar metals, one of which has an IACS of 7% Not good.

The best value banana or spade I have worked with are from Furez. Pure unplated copper which in my system are noticeably better than anything with brass, which sounds 'brassy'

Better still, if possible, is no connector like the gentleman below uses.

@Gazjam,I like your choice of speaker cable. I am using the Duelund 12AWG which replaced hosepipe size 9AWG Harmonic Technology.

Looking at the speaker terminals you have, I notice that the clamping screw has run out of thread with the thin 16AWG. preventing you from fully tightening them. May I suggest getting some small copper washers to insert between the end of the thread and the cable. Use more than one washer per terminal if necessary. The washer will also protect the cable from being graunched by the clamping. Tighten every few days for a month to allow for copper creep.

I may be wrong but your terminals appear to be gold plated brass. If you have some time on your hands you might consider replacing them with inexpensive screw down connectors like Richard Vandersteen uses on all his speakers.

@Barry, some speakers are designed for amplifiers that have low damping factors like the majority of valve amps have and can sound thin when mated to SS amps with high damping. In this case a little resistance in the cable can improve the balance of sound.

[The Black Adder]

I use 6mm Van Damme Studio grade (blue), sound's excellent to me
http://www.van-damme.com/vandamme_pr...speaker-cable/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Van-Damme-B...JwqjcgqWDi7CnA

Alan

+1

I run 7.5m 4mm Van-Damme Black in shotgun per speaker (two cable runs per speaker) - I can't think how Duelund or anything else could better it but one day I'll have to give it a go... I suppose.

[Ninanina]

Hi Charles
I was thinking that Furutech FI-11 IEC would be ok but also thought the Silver plated MK plug may ket the side down a bit so if you have any suggestions I'd appreciate it, which Furutech ones do you have?

[Gazjam]

The Duelund speaker cable is the best I’ve heard in my system, and I’ve tried a lot.
An £8 quid/m Duelund cable bettered a £1000 American high end cable because, well, it sounded better.

Worth a punt, some report a synergy balance issue so may be system dependant, I can attest that I’ve tried it with two different amps (one valve one SS) and two very different speakers andthe Duelund came out best in both.

[Covenant]

Got to say the Dueland didnt do it for me. It sounded dull and lacked sparkle. On another site someone pointed out that the tin applied to the wire is less conductive than the copper beneath. I dont know if thats true but it makes sense with my results, my speakers are pure silver wired internally. Glad to go back to my old Fisual cables.

[Gazjam]

Just goes to show why you can’t make assumptions about kit without hearing it in your own system first, always about system synergy.

Do you still have the Duelund cable Jerry?
Was it the 16 gauge you had?

[Covenant]

Sold the wire to Ali Tait for a third of what I paid Gaz. Not bothered about it though, I have not made many mistakes and there are not many opportunities to test cables from a specialist outlet in your own home. Wouldnt recommend it for speakers with ribbon tweeters or electrostatics.
Sorry to muscle in on the thread.

[Gazjam]

Ah,
know Ali quite likes it with his OB speakers Jerry, didn’t know he had your cable.
Just thinking to make up a couple of interconnects with it, supposed to work better as that than speaker cable from what I’ve read online.

Think Hifi collective is still shipping, might get some.

Cheers Jerry, hope you ‘n yours are keeping safe in the craziness.

[Covenant]

Gaz,
Sent you a PM.