Not Chinese Fakes But Not big $$$ Either

Excellent post. Thanks. Interesting.

That is definitely not for me. Just my personality. I certainly understand why folks that like doing this kind of thing would enjoy it. 
 

I look forward to hearing what you think of the sound.

I hope they sound fantastic and thanks for the post and the pics. All those tiny wires would just drive me crazy personally.

Great job! The cable appears to be of very high quality. Looking forward to hearing your impressions. 

PS: Chris at VH Audio sells high quality products, nothing but positive shopping experiences in last 10 plus years. 

Very Nice!

Excellent work! Always glad to see people put some skin in the game with their systems.  How do they sound to you?

I put together a set of inexpensive 4-conductor Monoprice 12 awg OFC cables in some tech flex, and have been really pleased.

Great job! I admire your work.

Now …. Where is Jason Bourne? 😂. It’s a new thread under “cables” category 

Nice post and work, DYIng, especially on patience scale, is very healing.

very nice!  kudos!  sooo many ways to enjoy this hobby of ours...

Nice post and looks like some fun.  I enjoy doing DIY projects as well and have found buying from Chris at VH Audio a pleasure.  He is such a nice guy and has great wire with helpful ideas and instruction.  I have made his flavor 1, 2, 3 and  4 power cord recipes with excellent results. Also upgraded my phono pre with his nice ODAM caps.  All nice improvements at reasonable prices.  

Thanks for the nice comments to all who have looked.  A review of the sound will have to wait until next spring.  My stereo (version 4.0 since covid started) is awating the arrival of a pair of SoundLab Majestic 745's.  Made two pairs of cables so I can bi-amp off a pair of Hegel H30's running in stereo mode.  I'm excited but it will be a long winter.  In the meantime.................

I reckon a few of those who have disparaged Bose speakers in the past will be eating crow.  🤣

Excellent post. Well done. 

Soundlab 745's way to go big dude but I feel your pain the Wave Radio can't cut it!

Doing it yourself is 10 times as rewarding as buying something. 

Congrats! I also got bunch of stuff from Chris at VH Audio.
Put together two Furutech power cords with Furutech connectors and they’re really tough to beat! Chris is a great guy to interact with and always provides a solid recommendation.

I built the same cables.  I used BFA style banana plugs since i like low mass.  You didn't say how they sound but I'll say that I'm very happy with mine and recommend this sytle cable.  I'm not patient enough to load my photos on another site to post them here but I can post a photo of my cables to my profile and I'll do that.

Jerry

PS  I wouldn't have started out my post talking about chinese fakes.  I scrolled past it several times until I finally decided to open it. 

I built all of my power cables from Furutech components. It was a fun project. I was able to do custom length cables. 

@carlsbad re name, i was hoping to attract the legion of posters who are buying knock off cables and demonstrate there is a wsy to buy local, cut costs and have some fun at the same time?  But that's just me. 7

@bigtwin Very nice post. I cant see well enough anymore to attempt such a project but the multi strand cables (and the flat ones too) seem to be the way to go.

@bigtwin Hope you didn’t find my note negative. Just mentioning why it took me so long to read your post. Very nice post. thanks. I have posted photo of my cables on my profile. Your small cable shrink wrap goes the entire way which looks nicer. -Jerry

PS  I just noticed you stripped this large number of individual cables with a knife.  a squeeze type wire stripper would make your life easier if you are doing more wiring.

Looks like an interesting project. I’m surprised you didn’t wear gloves though. Bare hands will transfer oils and dirt onto those wires.

Most excellent and I could never work with those tiny wires.

@bigtwin Great post!!! 

OCC copper, 10 AWG, superb dielectric, pure copper terminations - those cables should be fantastic! Well done putting them together too. I would definitely try these in my system, whereas I wouldn’t touch those Chinese cables of unknown materials & build quality. Woe to the guy who accidentally mixes a light pink wire into the white bundle, or vice versa. Looks like you’re too meticulous for that to happen :)

Bigtwin: Thanks for the mention and posting. Nice job constructing the cables! I look forward to your listening impressions when you get the rest of your rig up and running. Enjoy :-)

Carlsbad: "squeeze type wire stripper would make your life easier if you are doing more wiring."

Just a quick clarification that most squeeze type semi-auto strippers are terrible, especially the ones that have the serrated jaws. My favorite strippers that have served me well for well over 30 years are the Klein ’Kleinkurve" strippers that you can get at Home Depot. They have circular holes that don’t jack-up the conductor surface when stripping. There are two models (both have blue handles), with one that goes from 10 to 18 AWG, and another that goes down to 28 AWG. I highly recommend both, and they are both under $25-$30.

@carlsbad  I have a stripper/crimper tool but it doesn’t go below 20 awg. With a new box cutter blade as shown, I only needed to put very light pressure on the blade and simply roll it over the wire. The covering came off easily and not one wire was knicked. I was surprised at how easy that part of the job was.

@jrbirdman333 Skipped the gloves as I knew I would clean the wires before securing the spades.  Cleaned them and used a polishing cloth.  

bigtwin:

I use this for solid core (26/22 gauge) 47 Labs and Neotech wire (the short handled stripper Chris linked also looks good - just ordered one).

DeKay

@dekay  Thanks.  In a perfect world, I have just build my last set of cables.  🤣

@dekay I first used strippers like that at Fermilab when I worked there in the 70s.  Didn't know they still made them.  Yellow handle and all.  Get them set up correctly and you can't beat them.

Jerry

@mulveling +100

  I would definitely try these in my system, whereas I wouldn’t touch those Chinese cables of unknown materials & build quality

carlsbad:

Yes, they are the sweet spot for solid core and even stranded (if the insulation is somewhat easy to strip and once properly graduated).

They did the job when I used them to strip Canare 4S11 (just lost a few stands with 16 strips) but it was a painful experience.

I also successfully used them with various Kimber bulk cable years ago.

Hoping that the one's Chris rec'd will be kindler/gentler when I revisit the Canare to add connectors (want fresh/clean ends for that).

I didn't gather from the pics that Big's cable has 48 insulated wires (found out when I reviewed his link) and can only imagine the sense of accomplishment involved with stripping 192 wires for a stereo pair.

I also saved his "link" to the bare 92% copper connectors/spades as they also interest me, but I do not own a crimping tool (don't know what's good/OK/waste of time).

I have a couple of copper bearing solders from Chimera Labs and another source which might be interesting to try.

DeKay

@dekay Any standard wire stripping tool has the crimping feature built in.  On the link to the spades, click on the install instructions and you'll see a pair.  You use the grove for 10 - 12 AWG.  It does not take much pressure to put a solid crimp in these spades.  At $5 a pair, order an extra set for trial.  

Thanks for the info.

Don't see it on the Klein I just ordered, but seem to recall it on a pair long handled strippers that I had years ago.

I already have "copper" spades from Amazon but they didn't pass the magnet test (too much pull) so your pick looks better for the Canare experiment.

DeKay

@carlsbad Re the copper purity, the Banana Plugs are 93% copper but the SP series spades "utilize C11000 100% IACS Copper which are the highest conductivity coppers available for their respective designs".  Note sure how much of a difference it makes but I did like the idea of 100% copper.  

@bigtwin  If you like lugs, then solid copper is definitely the way to go.  Many traditional bananas have problems.  I've had them come apart on me.  

So I use silver plated BFA style "banana" plugs.  Those have the added advantage of low mass which is the main thing I have against lugs.   This is a bit of a sidetrack on this thread but I don't like a huge mass in the signal path like most binding posts are.  I make my own binding posts out of the same high conductivity copper you mention but it is 3/16" tubing pressed into a nylon housing.

Jerry

@carlsbad My experience with Banana plugs has not been that great.  Not keeping a tight fit has been my big complaint.  I have liked the locking style Furutech makes and the BFA style looks to be an improvement.  Right or wrong, I thought the high-quality copper and conductivity would work.  Really amazed they sell these spades for $5 per pair.  They are solid and well constructed. Makes you wonder what kind of magic dust goes into the connectors you see for $200 each.

@bigtwin 

I didn't mean to imply I think you should use the BFAs.  banana vs lug is always a matter of opinion.  I do like your choice of lug.  I agree with the solid copper lug.  Solid copper is soft but that works with a lug.

I do like that you extended the shrink wrap down onto the lug so that you can't twist one lug into the other while tightening.  I've seen amps blown that way.

Jerry

@carlsbad No worries Jerry. We're just two guys having a conversation about cables.  I enjoy hearing other opinions and try to learn something new every day.  That part is easier than i like to admit. 😂

Eric

Nice work! I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts in a few weeks.

@curiousjim  Ha Ha.  New speakers don't arrive until next May.  But I will post at that time.  

@bigtwin : no speakers until May? That’s like six months. I don’t know how you do it. I couldn’t wait that long with no speakers. Life is short. I don’t want to waste months of it

@thyname  If you scan up a dozen or more posts, you will see the Bose set up I'm using right now. It's Sweeeeeeeet. 

On Tues I head to Mexico until the end of April, so there is that going on.  There's a place you would never want to own high end equipment as the heat and humidity ruin everything in time.  But not to worry, as I have the same Bose set up there. 🤣

In the meantime, I go to sleep each night dreaming of these coming in the spring.

SoundLab Majestic 745 with Garnet Red Grill

Ah….I get it now. It all makes sense. I am sure the wait will be worthwhile for you

@bigtwin 

Beautiful speaker! I’ve been a fan of panel speakers since the late seventies and still have a pair of Acoustat’s. But tell me, why are the 745’s so heavy?

Thanks.

I just made some interconnects for the same reasons, a fun and rewarding project

@curiousjim The weight question is above my pay grade.  I can only opine that the sum of all material required to build these monsters adds up to 185 pounds. If you are really interested in a detailed answer, contact Roger at roger@soundlabspeakers.com   He will usually answer within a couple days.  It's nice that the founder of the company still answers his own emails.

I’ve built cables for years, most recently a few subwoofer cables for my RELs (3) made from Canare /Neutrik/AQ plugs...it’s fun and who does’t like heat shrink tubing? However, I recently bought a 13 1/2’ foot pair of the newest version of the Kimber Kable 8PR speaker cables that now use the "varistrand" copper...they’re amazingly good and were 426 bucks bucks a pair. Go figure.

@bigtwin how did these cables turn out and sound?  Worth the effort and 💰?  Just curious since I have made DIY cables from VH Audio.  

@tksteingraber They sound as good as any cable I have owned.  Was able to switch in and out with XLO Signature 3 - 5.2 and Silversmith Fidelium cables.  I couldn't really tell the difference between the three sets.  Maybe I don't belong to the Golden Ear Club, or maybe it's really difficult to hear a difference once you start comparing well build cables.  Cost wise, I spent +/- $1000 (CDN) for an 8 foot pair.  That made them the least expensive of the three sets by quite a bit.  I really enjoyed the project.  For me, building is always more enjoyable than simply buying.  So in summary, I would say the cables are a winner.  I have sold the XLO and the VH Audio Chela speaker cable is now in the system long term.

👍👍