Cable Building

Wait, they're in China???!!!

I totally missed that, the site looked like one of those small time mickey mouse murican geek gearz outfits.

I'll check out their taobao store and compare the price. I can probably get it shipped direct fairly cheaply, so worth it to try it out even if ...

Guess stripping double the length and going 8x 24awg will probably be the best bet (and most work). Will check it out when I get home after doing my annual CNY sentence at my MIL's
(Mable will be closed for the week anyway).

 

Anyone building headphone cables with Duelund tinned copper? I use the 12AWG Duelund for speaker cables and their 18AWG as SE ICs (4 wires each) to great effect. I have 8m of Deulund 20AWG on the way from PCX I'm planning to do a balanced cable for my Focal Elex with it. I also have a BAL Audeze-style cable I made with Neotech OCC coming back to me soon that'll I'll re-terminate for the Focals as well. I'll do pics. I'll compare. It'll be fun hopefully.

 

Does anyone make pure copper (not copper alloy) mini 4 pin XLR connectors (for Audeze, ZMF, etc)? I'd kind of like to have one or two really nice Forza cable made for personal use with this pure copper 4 pin XLR plug, but if the mini 4 pin XLR plugs are copper alloy, it doesn't make any difference.

I guess you can say that the plug in the amp is copper alloy so it's a stupid idea, but who knows, it might sound better. I like the idea of pure copper all the way through the cable.

 

I have a super hard time believing the contact is pure copper. Pure copper is not very strong at all, the contact would bend easily if there's any misalignment when plugging connectors together. And consider, it has to mate to a connector with female contacts, which have to apply spring force to the pin to ensure a good connection. No way in hell someone is making a female contact out of pure copper, so you can't have pure copper all the way through cable/connector system.

Said the one-time connector engineer.

 

could just be a lie but…

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKBQQy8

 

At least with the XLR style connectors, the barrels have notches that ensure alignment before you can push the pins into place. Neutrik advertises a "tulip style" mating surface, which is significantly better than a pin and I'd be less worried about it deforming to the point of losing contact. I still wouldn't go with bare copper or gold plated; I'd much rather have a rhodium plated surface there.

 

You think I should get the rhodium plated version of that connector instead?

 

I'm pretty sure almost everything copper-based that Viborg makes is tellurium copper, not OFC.

 

So not actually much different then a copper/bronze alloy

 

Tellurium is typically <1% and in theory does not affect electrical conductivity at those levels.

Bronze/Brass is somewhere >15% alloying content and does significantly affect electrical conductivity.

Rhodium is a hard metal that has good wear resistance and corrosion resistance, which makes it a good coating over copper. Platinum and Palladium are similar, but both cost more and are less conductive and less wear resistant.. so why bother?

Gold has poor wear resistance but good corrosion resistance.
Silver has poor wear resistance and poor(ish) corrosion resistance, but weirdly some of its corrosion/oxidation byproducts are semi-conductive. Silver contacts can also self-clean a little a bit with mid/high voltage arcing, but if you're doing that in an audio setting then something is very very wrong.

 

Ah journeys with silver, those were the days. Silver plated = highly variable in most cases, good silver with the right dielectric can sound very good indeed. I've been through a number of silver interconnects and speaker cables, some were a hot mess, some were sublime.

The benefit to me has always been transient response when compared to copper. And good silver always had a nice timbre from 1k or above. Below that it tended to be a bit restrained and in some cases lean in the 200hz-800hz area. In the end lots of joy can be found in silver.

I don't use silver anymore having found good copper to be more to my liking in creating a palate that can be further improved with vibration control, speaker placement, and room adjustments.

 

Saw this in the internet old farts group (facebook) and smiled.

 

6m of @yotacowboy's el cheapo Ag 6C wire incoming. There's gonna be a marathon stripshow in my livingroom and my wife ain't gonna be happy

 

So I needed some XLR cables for my Bifrost 2 to feed both my DIY headphone amp and my speaker amp.
I ended up going the DIY way using some pure silver balanced wire "Xangsane SP-9001-Ag" that had great reviews.
Connectors are Furutech/EIZZ.

This resonates a lot with my impressions, this extra "meat" / "body" / "bloom" on the copper is actually desirable on some systems and I missed it at first. But then the refinement and definition from the upper mids is just addictive. Cymbal, high hats and voice sibilances go from being an aggressive sheen to a less harsh yet more defined succession of micro information.
I found bass to be less prominent overall, but also more articulate. Some bass line melodies now live a life on their own and are more now "readable" without having to contest with the low mids for their spot under the sun.

 

Thanks yotacowboy for sharing about these Mable silver cables - looks like you've inspired a few of us to give them a try. And since I also need to bi-wire at the speaker end - could you share a pic of how you've done it?

 

Kind of confusing looking, but the top left is high frequency positive, bottom left is high frequency negative; right is LF+/LF-. I'm just running the wires bare at the speaker end.

 

After a few false starts, I've figured out a way to strip the Teflon sheath fairly effectively. The vice holds it steady while I slice 4-5" at a time. I got through 1m in a reasonable time and should have 6m done in a few more evenings. The shielding loosens and comes back fairly easily and I think I'll be able to pull it off in one go.

 

Mable Audio looks to be a cool source! I just checked out their website. This wire (http://www.mableaudio.com/en/productview.asp?sid=8667) looks to be about 14 AWG (30X.08mm strands) and would save me stripping the jacket for headphone cables - I usually do an un-shielded braid. Has anyone tried this stuff? I have a note with a few questions into them and will report back.

 

30 * .08mm (30*~40AWG) == roughly 25 AWG not 14. I haven't tried that specific stuff though. I usually don't use something as thick as 14awg for headphones anyhow (or at least it would be from multiple conductors 14 x4 or8 is annoying to use with headphone connectors.)

 

Am I doing the calculation wrong here? .08mm * 30 = 2.4mm? Agreed about 14 being a pain. I would normally use 20-24 AWG.