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Cable Survey

The idea for this thread came from @sautan 904 op titled “Who thinks $ Speaker cable really better than generic 14awg cable?

My reply:

From op:

SO WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? OR I AM THE LAST PERSON TO FIND OUT THAT EXPENSIVE CABLE JUST A RIP OFF?

Some are, some are definitely not. It really is a matter of discovering what brands out there (and there a lot) offer the best performance for your money. Some are really worth the money and clearly they offer a big increase in sound quality. It seems the dealers you used were not very discriminating about what brands they carry. This does not surprise me since I have found many are not well informed. You really need to seek out somebody who has compared different makes of cable and really believes in what they are selling.

So I thought it a good idea to pool knowledge on this subject and make a list of what people are using and why. This is my current preferences:

Speaker: Hi Diamond 7

IC XLR: Hi Diamond XLR 3

USB: Vovox

Ethernet: AQVOX, Vovox

Power: Belden

The Hi Diamond speaker cable was so much better than other cables I have tried to date. The increase in musicality, depth and detail in bass, increased sound stage and cleaner more detailed top where some of the benefits I had with this cable. The same can be said of their XLR interconnect.

The Vovox I have only been able to compare with some generic cables, and it is much clearer than those. I intend trying some other brands in the near future and I will post my findings.

Ethernet cables I find make a difference and I am currently using both Vovox and AQVOX, compared to various generic makes and the blue Meicord these are both much preferred, opening the sound stage and lowering the noise floor.

Power cables I haven’t so far experimented with a great deal, I’m using heavy Belden cables that are part of a dedicated mains spur arrangement, so that each individual piece of equipment has its own spur. In order to test cable types I will need to introduce a mains block (Shunyata?).

toetapaudio

Showing 11 responses by toddverrone

toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
Indeed, the helix cables sound amazing. Plus, they look interesting and are fun to make. I also like the fact that you can customize them to your system.

Want 10 gauge silver plated copper? No problem. 14 gauge rectangular copper OCC conductor? Do it! Silver connectors? Rhodium? Gold? Choose your own adventure..

Now, if you hate DIY and/or need brand name bragging rights to feel good, these are not the cables for you. But if you want incredible sound and a super low noise floor for the cost of a few hours and a few hundred dollars to do all the cables in your system, you’ve found Nirvana.

These guys have good, inexpensive cables to harvest power conductors from: http://www.vt4c.com/shop/program/main.php
But you can use any power cable as a donor, or buy wire in bulk.

Power connectors at a good price from here: https://www.sonarquest.net/

Or here: http://www.acoustic-fun.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_29

I like the sonarquest because their attachment system let’s me use Spade connectors on the ends of the cables, which I prefer. But the iego connectors area very popular and well liked on this forum, so again, your choice.

As for ICs, there are so many choices. I went with solid silver conductors from vh audio, which is also where I purchased my KLEI pure harmony RCA connectors.. but again: what do you want?

Speaker cables? Forget about it! You have a dizzying array of materials to choose from. I used cryo’d silver plated copper from take five audio. Really, there are so many choices, I’m not even going to bother listing them. If people have questions though, Steve or I are happy to answer.

Man, we sound like a tag team sales force! Ha! I just love making cables and sharing knowledge and Steve's design is solid.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@mmrkaic - I've measured them. My cables are 5' 7.5".

Does that sound about right?
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@maine95 I made a pair of ICs using the helix design and the pure harmony connectors. I didn't use mundorf, but I did use 24awg solid silver in cotton. I purchased mine from vh audio. I used his unicrystal OCC silver and, instead of teflon or PET tubing, I used his hyperflex tubing. It's amazing stuff. https://www.vhaudio.com/wire.html  Then, for the neutrals, I used an OCC copper magnet wire I bought off eBay. It sounds great and helps the IC keep it's shape better.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/112418636937

If you look at my system page, you can see the ICs.

toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
They have the same attributes you've ascribed to yours: high level of clarity, good separation of sounds, bigger soundstage and I also noticed greater bass clarity
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@maine95.  
Sorry for the slow reply. I'm a mess from a mountain bike crash..

The neutral stays in place without a problem using the foamed Teflon tube from vh audio. It's squishy, so I just kept the neutral coil a little tight and it locked itself in place around the foam tube.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@mmrkaic (why do mentions not work with all members?)

Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to perform those measurements. If you do, I could make a new PC and send it to you to measure, since I need one anyway.

Out of curiosity, why am I being subjected to the Spanish Inquisition when everyone else recommending commercially available cables is not? I've yet to see a manufacturer who provides the info you're asking from me..
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@mmrkaic. No Masters in physics here, but I did study biochemistry and taught chemistry and physics. So I understand the skepticism. I was skeptical too, that's how I ended up doing DIY. Constantly seeing people talking about cables made me curious, but I wasn't willing to drop lots of cash to see what all the fuss was about. My initial experiments confirmed that they do make an audible difference, so then I was willing to use more expensive and better materials..

I practice and teach yoga. There's plenty of science behind some of the 'claims' of yoga, but plenty of claims without any scientific studies to support them. But I don't care about science when I'm practicing. I just do my practice and notice changes in my bodymind. After 20+ years, I'm aware of what yoga can and cannot do for me. I've decided to take a similar approach to audio. Use logic/skepticism to keep my mind in check, but remain open enough to notice things. Because if you're always skeptical, you can miss a lot. But if you're always open, you can be filled with a lot of rubbish.. so I walk that line between the two, often falling to either side. But that just helps me see the line more clearly.

That said, I just looked and LCR meters aren't too expensive. I'll need to get one soon.. because curiosity is fun!
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
To be clear, I put the cotton insulated silver inside the hyperflex. The hyperflex is mostly there to protect the signal from kinks and maintain even spacing of the neutral away from the signal. I used the hyperflex in place of the solid teflon or PET tubing used in most DIY IC designs. It's more flexible and doesn't kink when bent.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@maine95 - nice. That's exactly what I did with the vh audio silver in cotton and an OCC copper neutral. They should sound great. Let us know what you think.
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
Notice they never said cables didn't make a difference. They were mostly commenting on stupid high prices. Two separate issues. 
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@kosst_amojan - I couldn’t agree more that DIY is the way to go for cables if you are even remotely handy and don’t have a super busy, lucrative career.

Plus, then you can experiment with materials, geometries and conductors. I find it fun and fascinating. The cables you described above.. speaker cables? Otherwise, that sounds like overkill for a pair of interconnects. 😁

I made a couple of pairs of speaker cables from braided CAT 6 cable.. they sounded incredible, but man, pulling all the wire out was a pain. I’d definitely buy some OCC solid copper instead of harvesting it from CAT 6 if I were to do it again. But I won’t, as I’m currently using a counter rotating helix design that sounds even better.

One geometry I never tried that seemed interesting would be a single, large diameter signal with a neutral made from multiple small solid conductors, braided around the signal conductor. One for the future..
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