Diy interconnects RCA connectors.

Thanks Steve for your response. I can respect your background and experience playing music. I checked out your design,it is interesting.
My design is taken from checking out what other diy info I could find. I run my wires in parallel to one another keeping about 3/8" between them. I don't use any shielding. Like many others, I believe the more insulation around the wires,the more congested the sound becomes. I use shipping tape to keep the wires apart. One run contains the signal wires,the other the ground. I also use cotton sewing thread to bind the two runs together a certain points.

One thing I'd like to comment about. I did an experiment to see if there was an audible difference between silver wires. The reason why I did this was to test out the theory that teflon insulation,when used on silver wire,produces that characteristic tizzy sound that people talk about. I know what this sound is like because I once bought a pair of pure silver IC's,what's known as the PSS quartet. The guy used two 28awg solid core silver wires,encased in teflon,in a twisted pair design. They were open sounding,with bass like I've previously described. But that tizz wasn't natural sounding at all. And it was very noticeable compared to a number of other Ic's I've had. So I made two interconnects. Both comprised Neotech Upocc solid core copper wires for the signal and ground. The only difference was the silver wires. So in one set I used the Neotech upocc silver solid core,28awg encased in blue  teflon. The one you used in your design. In the other IC,I used the Jupiter solid core silver wire encased in cotton. That was the only difference between the two. After I had built them I tested them out. Initially,I couldn't hear much difference between them. But as the cables burned in,I could hear the difference slowly emerging. And after a few hundred hours I knew for sure. The Neotech silver teflon wired one was producing that slight tizz whereas the Jupiter wired one wasn't. And the Jupiter wired one was a bit more dynamic with a cleaner,clearer top end.

I've also tried different awg Jupiter silver wires and can hear the difference. It would seem the higher the awg yield more upper midrange. If your system lacks a really open midrange,I recommend the 23awg Jupiter encased in silk. The highs are very slightly rolled off (or maybe the midrange is coming through louder),and the bass impact is slightly. more significant. My favorite Ic right now has 4 28awg Jupiter cotton wires,and two Neotech solid core copper wires. One 22 awg (makes thicker deeper bass) and one 24 awg. My experimenting with awg has proven what many others have already claimed. The thicker the wire, the sound becomes "thicker",more full. The soundstage become more 3d also. A total of 19 to 20 awg has given me the best results for what I like. Now,if your listening to vinyl,I can see you might want a thinner awg. The sound is already thick. And the thinner wire produce a slightly more detailed accuracy. I'm happy with the Ic's I've produced. They've bested many other's I've had over the years that cost more.

The Audio Metallurgy GA-0 with the upgraded wbc rca's is the last Ic I was using until I made my own. My design sounds significantly better to my ears. And the GA-0 got many rave reviews. It's a good,very warm sounding Ic. But not as detailed. Oh,it's smooth and "audiophile"sounding though. Almost tube like on a solid state system. Like those tube modeling guitar amps they make nowadays. If anyone is interested,my first design used Clairvoyant Cables occ gold plated copper wire. I bought a bulk roll of 24awg on Ebay that I got on bid cheap.This wire is enamel coated so you have to torch the enamel coating (a lighter works) and test it with a meter. It's a very warm,open sounding wire with slightly plump midbass.Since there is no insulation on the gold plated occ wire,it's noticeably more open than the Neotech upocc. This cable I made bested the GA-0. I used two runs of the 24awg wire. 1 Clairvoyant gold plated wire, 1 24awg Neotech solid core (teflon) and two runs of 28awg Jupiter cotton/silver. The ground was Neotech stranded 16awg (pvc),and Neotech stranded 18awg (pvc). Along with Furutech FP126g rca plugs.
This is cheap and easy to make. It's close to the GA-0 in warmth and bass,but more open and detailed in the top end. If I were to do it over,I'd substitute a 26awg Jupiter silk wire for one of the 28awg wires. This cable could easily compete with $400.+ Ic's out there.Especially if you like a warm sounding cable with a 3d soundstage.

@dayemo - glad to see you’ve moved away from "conventional" geometries :-)

I too used the Furutech FP126g rca plugs on previous IC’s, but I found the KLE Innovations plugs provided so much more detail and a more well defined and deeper bass. Perhaps the combination of the geometry and the plug accounts for this?

As I said previously - theKLEI RCA’s are silver "coated" copper and I found the bass improved as I moved up the product line.

The other thing is - running the wire in parallel is open to noise induction, which effects clarity.

QUESTION: is the signal and neutral conductors in your cables the same gauge?
- I have found I get a better defined and deeper bass by making the neutral conductor twice the gauge of the signal conductor. Food for thought :-)

Anyhow - it sounds as though you have tried many things and found a formula that works well for your system.

I don't think there is just one solution, but we all benefit from sharing our experiences :-)

Cheers

As far as my cables having wires running parallel, I don't hear any
"noise" as you put it. They're just more open sounding than any Ic's I've had in the past. And those had alot of insulation material around the wires. Now,is it because of the Neotech Upocc wire I'm using,or the wires running flat and parallel? I can't actually say.  The ground wire total awg is close to the Eichmann ratio which is 1.4 times thicker than the signal.
Having experimented with the gold plated enameled ooc wire,and the Jupiter cotton or silk,I do believe that the sound is better with little or nothing around the wire itself. My cables wires are held together by a strip of packing tape. Which as you know,is very thin. All it does is keep the wires from moving around and crossing over one another.

I do agree,the KLEI copper Harmony was significantly more detailed than the Furutech 126G. But,I would say that it's because of the silver coating on the KLEI plugs,since both are using copper pins. The only difference is the silver on the KLEI plugs. But using thicker guage silver wire,in ratio to the upocc copper wires,increased the amount of detail just as much.
My initial test was between tow cables I made,identical except for the plugs.Thats when I realized the KLEI Copper Harmony was producing less bass to a noticeable degree. Increasing the awg from 24 to 22 might have made up for this,but I didn't bother. I sold that cable to a guy who was happy to be able to get it from me. He bought some other cables I initially made and was impressed. And that one did sound significantly clearer than the older ones I had first made.

But for now,I think the Neotech dg201's from Soniccraft are the way to go. They're just a bit more expensive than the Furutech fp126g I could get on Ebay,but worth it. The only thing I didn't like about the Neotech's were that the solder didn't stick as well. I had to use more and make sure that the joint was solid as it tended to break loose when I moved the wires around after I soldered them. In comparison,the Furutech's formed a solid joint the first time. Now the Neotech's dg201 have a slightly bigger opening as well,so this is a plus as well.
As far as your design is concerned. I really think you should try the Jupiter silver wire. Or maybe the Cardas bare silver wire. Or,if it's possible,remove the teflon casing from the Neotech wire and use a cotton "piping" sewing sleeve instead. Because that tizz the teflon produces is annoying. Oh,your ears can get used to it,I admit. But when I changed my test ic with the Jupiter silver wire,I then realized how much the teflon was adding to the sound. The same goes for the gold plated occ enameled wire vs the Neotech Upocc teflon wire. The non encased gold wire is more open sounding. And it seems the Ic breaks in faster also. My speakers,especially my new SVS, already have a pronounced midrange.
So the gold wire isn't needed for added warmth. The gold seems to bring the soundstage up closer a bit. And I like a deeper soundstage personally. Especially in vocals. I don't want to "see the singers tonsils"if you know what I mean.

@dayemo - thanks for the additional details on your developments/findings.

I think it would be very interesting if we were able to get together to discuss our individual approaches and compare notes.

I’d also like to compare our two approaches on a single system - I’m all about trusting my ears - sounds like you are also :-)

The fact that you are not hearing any noise in a cable where the conductors are basically "exposed" to environmental noise. supports my findings that (in my house at least) there is "normally" very little noise in a household environment, i.e. provided you allow enough space between cables and ensure you only allow them to cross at angles that minimize the induction process.

But I do believe that all of that is very dependent on location

I had put a halt to any further development of the Helix Interconnects, because better materials might significantly reduce their cost effectiveness - and I’m all about bang for the buck.

I will certainly give your findings some consideration. I also hear Duelund wire (thanks to Grannyring's post in a different thread) might "up the anti" as well.

Will I scratch that itch? Hmmmm, hard to say, but I do have a spare set of cables to play with. :-)

Cheers - Steve

Dayemo,
Sorry for hijacking the post but I've got a question about some power connectors you mentioned in another post, but thought it'd be easier to get you here because the other post is a lot older.  

I also though maybe you're thoughts have settled in a bit since you've had a chance to use them  Do you still prefer the Silver plating in the power connectors from Sonarquest? I've found that there are other sellers on epay that are selling the same thing for a lot cheaper , but silver isn't available.  I don't want copper because of tarnishing and the need to clean them, which leaves gold or rhodium. Have your opinions changed?  Is it worth paying more for silver?  I can get 10 pairs of gold or Rhodium for $100.  BTW, although I do listen to jazz, most of my music taste is for rock.  Given that I'm older and my ears are tired, I like it less pronounced on top. FWIW, my Pre, Amp and DAC are all tube driven.  
Thanks,
Don