Building silver interoconnects

I found a lot of information on how to build interconnects, but I couldn't find any detailed step-by-step instructions on how to build a pair of short interconnects using silver wire. So I decided to document what I did. If you wish to follow these steps, please just keep in mind that I am no expert.

What's needed:
For the interconnects:
- 24 AWG silver wire
- 20 AWG Teflon tube
- 3502A or 3502AAU Switchcraft phono connectors

For the build (besides the tools):
- Some 20 AWG PVC-insulated copper wire (just the insulation is needed)
- Teflon plumber's tape (or masking tape but masking tape leaves traces)
- Nitrile gloves (because OCD)
- Cotton cloth

The following measurements are for building 1 ft interconnects using the 3502A connector (not a different connector). The lengths take into account the dimensions of the 3502A ensuring that the signal and return wires are the same length after soldering.

-- Cut the wire and insulation:
Signal: Cut 12" of silver wire and 11 3/8" Teflon tube
Ground: Cut 11 5/8" of silver wire and 10 7/8" Teflon tube

Cut the Teflon tubing with a blade. using Scissors or wire cutters will kink the tube making it ugly and difficult to slide the wire in. Make sure the tubing is straight when you cut it, otherwise the length will be too long requiring adjustments later.

-- Use the cotton cloth to wipe the silver wire. Even though the wire I had looked shiny, black tarnish came off when I wiped it. Wiping the wire will also help straighten it.

-- Insert the signal wire in the 3502A signal wire cup (not sure what else to call it) and use a couple of inches of the PVC insulation to help hold the wire in place with an alligator clip:



-- Solder the cup. Wait a good while for it to cool down before touching the alligator clip (e.g. do the next step). After it cools, remove the clip and slide out the PVC. Note that it will be slightly melted and difficult to pull. It's easier to move if you push it toward the RCA connecter and then pull it out but be careful not to kink the silver wire.

-- Make a loop in the ground wire:



-- Attach it to the little notch in the connector. Slide in some PVC and clip it so that it doesn't move, then solder it:



-- Wait for the joint to thoroughly cool, remove the alligator clip, and slide out the PVC (again, it will be melted and difficult to move).

-- Next slide in the Teflon tubes, bend the RCA connector's wire clips (you may wish to bend them as the first step), and tighten them. Important: Before tightening the wire clips, make sure the Teflon tube on the other end is not too long; otherwise, soldering will be difficult. If your initial measurements as above are correct, then everything should be fine



-- Gently twist the wires so that you have 4-5 twists. Then hold the twist in place at the other end with Teflon tape.
-- Slide the two connector casings before continuing:



-- Now create a twist in the ground wire as before and prepare the other RCA connector:



-- Solder the two joints. There's no PVC or alligator clip in this step. Wait for them to thoroughly cool.

-- Tighten the connector's wire clips:



-- Finally, twist the casings. The final results should look something like this:

 

Where'd you source the wire? Looks like solid-core, yes? Was thinking about building different HD800 cables with different materials, but I can't find a source for any OCC Silver (stranded) wire.

 

Yes, this is solid core wire. I got it along with the Teflon tubing from Handmade Electronics. It seems that Sonic Craft has stranded OCC silver.

 

No shield? Impressed by the build quality, but using unshielded, silver solid core RCA interconnects from my player into my integrated amp was my biggest regret in the hobby.

@OJneg You may want to contact Paul Laudati of Clear Day Cables to see if he'd either sell his solid core silver wire or let you know his source. Though my experience with the RCAs wasn't pleasant, my experience using his speaker cables was the exact opposite.

 

OJ, do it properly:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Gauge-0-...725711?hash=item35fca1c08f:g:jcIAAOSwoudW4A3h

 

@batriq

FWIW - This silver wire interconnect recipe has been on the internet for at least a decade and it seems to be a nice design, as is yours.

with more steps than you can shake a stick at!

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

 

No shield. The twists provide some EMI resilience, but the interconnects are quite short and away from other cords.

That blog makes the instructions above look like child's play!

 

Yeah, if only the HD800 connectors weren't so damn expensive. I suppose a solid core cable might fly for a headphone application so long as it was thin.

 

If you buy the Furutech's be prepared to use a drill to make them fit.

 

Disclosure: I'm biased. All this silver-cables stuff is one big nonsense to me. But...

I came across this guy's blog quite some time ago, and, as a on-time hobby jeweller, it seems to me that that writer does not even begin to understand the material he is working with. One does not "polish" silver with wire wool: one gouges grooves in it.

Anyway... if people want to do this, the wire can be had from jewellery supply shops. Ask for fine silver if you want it pure[ish] or you will get standard silver which is (IIRC) 92.5% silver.

But who knows? Maybe the silver carries the highs and the copper carries the mids. Make your own allow, add some lead for really heavy bass. You'll need a gas torch, a small hearth, ceramic crucibles, ingot moulds, a rolling mill, draw plates. You'll have to anneal the wire and pickle it. It is all perfectly do-able in a small home workshop and people might even get an interest in making jewellery!

 

There's also the vh audio diy recipe. I can't comment on it either way, and it looks like some of the pricing for materials is on the high side there.

Neotech makes stranded OCC silver in teflon. Sold as chassis wire.

 

I agree about the wire wool. Same goes for not using wire wool on tube pins to clean them.

Another choice is to use cat 5/6 cable. One gets color-coded solid copper wire that is already twisted. All that's needed is the RCA connectors.

Perhaps worth mentioning, the interconnects cost me < $20 a pair.

 

It's long since that I vowed to leave behind the more controversial stuff in the audiophile world, especially cables, but hey...

Twisted-pair networking cable, CAT-whatever, is highly optimised for carrying the digital network protocols that it is made for. It is not in the least designed to protect analogue signals from external interference. It's a conductor sure. so it will conduct, just like any other wire. Hmmm... might as well use any other wire

By the way: if CATn cable takes your fancy or meets your need, especially if you are doing networking with it, check out the Blue Jeans Cables article on CATn flyleads. Apparently, most of the ones we might buy are rubbish! These cables, in the retail market, are not tested or certified, and probably are not actually CAT-anything! As a retired hands-on IT/systems manager, that came as shock to me. My in-the-wall cabling was all installed and tested by pros. My flyleads ---- haha, local-shop stuff! The flipside of that is how amazingly robust this form of networking is, that it still works with probably-inferior cables!

Of course, I'd luuuuurve to see what happens if some of those fancy, absurdly-expensive (but the connectors are nice) audiophool networking cables were tested for CATn compliance...



Hey, back to silver... it's beautiful

 

It's not a crazy (or novel) idea to use cat-n cable for analog signals ... that's what Bottlehead uses for all their signal wiring in their higher-end kits (eg. stereomour II, crack-a-two, mainline, beepre).

 

I like to use instrument cable like they use for guitars for unbalanced interconnects, robust and low capacitance. Sounds great and it's cheap.

 

I don't think I've ever heard an engineer on this --- and, ok, I admit that I might not understand them if I did . But I'd like to try.

 

A further upgrade IMO is to use the OCC Silver sourced from VH Audio (no affiliation). I actually just got in from my shop where I am breaking in a new amp and I brought out my main system interconnects (OCC) and compared them to the solid core pair the I am using out there and the OCC is not only smoother but has more body and soundstage. I wanted to test out the amp at it's best. I use the 24 gauge so as to avoid breakage problems down the road.

 

Back in the early aughts I used cat 5 cable as it allegedly had 4 nines copper purity, as in 99.99%. It actually sounded thin, but it was cheap and plentiful. And I did braid the already twisted copper. I thought the less thick connectors made more of a difference. The audio jewelry continues to pervade the market, to this day.

 

Another advantage for the CAT-5 was that the fire hazard rated version also had PTFE (Teflon) insulation.

 

OK, I have to eat my words on CATn cables for analogue audio. I never mind loosing a good argument

The Strange World of Cat 5e and Cat 6 (Belden)

But, at least it has little to do with virgin-pure copper, and much more to do with twist geometry and stability leading to noise rejection. Assuming of course, that there is actually a genuine noise problem in the first place.

I wonder why audiophools are obsessed with companies like Audioquest, not to mention the "boutique" companies, when they can get real information from real engineers working for the companies that are probably spending $$millions on real R&D, rather than throwing together a funny recipe, deciding what it ought to do, and then doing some pretend listening to confirm it.

That, to me (as reader of my posts might have noticed: any offence is purely intentional ) is the utterly unacceptable face of the audiophile world. Of course, there are other faces too, both objective and subjective, that are entirely genuine and acceptable. But anyone approaching this "hobby" has one enormous farmyard of shit to wade through. Hey, I'm still trying to wash the stuff off my legs!