Of the many DIY speaker cable recipes, two stand out immediately as the most used, respected, and tested; Chris Venhaus' excellent Cat 5 as mentioned above (must be teflon, plenum doesn't assure this), and Jon Risch's Belden #89259 recipes (also interconnects). I made a set of (12' bi-wire) CV's Cat 5's two months ago and they provide the most amazing high freq' clarity I've ever heard (w/o glare), mid's are perfect, and bass is tight and beautifully clean. Total cost for my set was $37. While I've never owned $1,000+ cables, I would assume that whatever benefit they may have over these would be so minute as to not be worth the money. The downside is that the Cat 5's take lot's of time, effort, and blisters to make. I spent a month braiding, braiding, and braiding. Although, from what I've read, I must have gone way overboard on on detail because most people have made them in between a weekend and two weeks. Anyway, read the reviews CV has on his website. Just make sure that your Cat 5 is TEFLON, I originally bought plenum from Home Depot and quickly realized there is a big difference. A friend of mine, Gomer, has vastly simplified the process for these so that a it only takes a few hours using a dill to wind the pairs into a lrge cable. His idea is new (3 weeks) and relatively untested,but could prove to be the next grea thing. From preliminary tests, his cables exhibit better technical #'s for C, I, and R. http://beyond_gomer.tripod.com/ As for Jon Risch's recipe, I have not made the speaker cables, but I did make his interconnects using the Belden 89259 (got 10" free from Belden) and they are terrific, they have a terrific overall balance and clarity. The are quick and easy to make also, just 30 minutes for 3 sets of 2' IC's. The speaker cable should only take an hour or two. The downside is that it is very hard to find short lengths (20-30') of this cabe for sale, and you may have to buy a 100' spool for $110, but use the left over to make IC's or put it up for sale on AudioAsylum or Audioreview and you'll sell it in a day. http://members.nbci.com/Jon_Risch/i1.htm Here is an excellent listing of many DIY cables and interconnects. It should get you started: http://www.msu.edu/user/churches/diy.htm I
