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DIY cables question

Hello,

I first dipped my toe into hifi during covid and being on a budget, I slowly bought used to build up my system including a decision to DIY my own speaker cables. I bought 20ft of Mogami 3014 wire along with some gold plated banana plug connectors and while having zero soldering experience gave it a go. To date everything works fine but I’m left questioning whether my potentially "shoddy" soldering work is my weakest link and is holding back my setup. I’ve been flip flopping back and forth on just buying some used name brand speaker cables so I can stop the torment. I guess my main question is, when wires work, is it black or white, meaning they either connect or they dont, or can bad soldering limit the max performance of the cables or furthermore my entire setup?

Aside from my DIY speakers cables everything else is name brand, I use AudioQuest Earth RCAs (TT to Pre) and AQ McKenzie XLRs (Pre to Hegel H360), and a Curious USB cable ( Stream Box S2 Ultra to Denafrips Pontus II)

Thanks in advance.



sc0rpi043

Showing 15 responses by sc0rpi043

sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@millercarbon

All valid points!, outsourcing to someone experienced on here may be the happy medium between cost savings and quality 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@vinylzone

I actually came across a speaker cable company who sold their wire with the recommendation to go bare, interesting for sure, makes sense to cut the middle man out.
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@tsushima1 

are you recommending to silver solder bare wire to the terminal post directly? 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@rockaway07866

Will do, thanks!
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@ oldhvymec 

Thanks for taking the time to provide such detail, seems like the consensus is no solder w/connectors or go bare wire all the way. IF I can find the time I will give it a go, just been spread so thin lately, its hard to even sit down and listen to some tunes. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@facten 

I think this may be my sweet spot between time savings (busy life),cost savings, without sacrificing quality. Do you mind revealing who you ultimately chose to make you cables? Thank you for providing the link too, every here seems so helpful its awesome. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@speakermaster

Yeah, that seems like the consensus so far, or bare wire altogether. appreciate your input. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
 @rockaway07866

Haha, Thats actually the video I followed when I made mine. Definitely not as clean as he made his but it was my first time. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@andy2 

Would you say the DIYers who offer their services on the forum can compete with the upper echelon of manufacturers? 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@facten  Got it! thanks again
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@pauly 

interesting, so have you tried bare wire yourself in comparison to connectors? I think my setup is fairly cold and analytical, Im looking for anything to warm it up slightly over neutral. My Hegel with the Quad z3s I have seem wonderful with jazz and strings but cold with pop, rock, reggae and hip hop. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@paulcreed 

Hey Paul, the problem was, after I tinned the wires, the banana I used had a gold tube the wire slid into and I almost had to feed the solder down the tube out of my eyes view so while the cable was sturdy, I just could quite see down in there to see what the finished product looked like. If anything, probably put too much solder down the connection point which Im assuming was far from a "clean" job.
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@bobthenailer

Sounds like a potent set of cables there! , Ill look into it. 

Thanks!
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@paulcreed sage advice, thank you. 
sc0rpi043 OP
15 posts
 
@pauly  gotcha, thanks!
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