Speaker wire... Diy?


I am new to this, so please bare with me. I always thought 12 gauge speaker wire, bare on each end, was best. But there is Kimber, Nord, etc, that seem to be incrementally better! Can I buy the components and put together my own $17000 speaker wires? If so, where can they be purchased, and which are good enough to be used? Which terminations are best for sound? Which wire? Length? Guage? 
ddjr
Uh, I hate to be the one to break it to you but just because a cable has arrows 🔚 it doesn’t mean they were controlled for directionality. Follow? I’m pretty sure the dude from Monster Cable never got on board the wire directionality train. The train left the station without him. 🚂 toot! toot!
And all the photons, neutrons, and protons get all turned around.  Little amy is likely liable to forget her lunch money, and johnny his gym clothes. 

Oh man, what a mess.
I was shocked nobody jumped on that line like the hot potato it was GK.

I just could Not rpt Not leave you hanging buddy......
Geoff, ever since you mentioned you live in DC, your directionality thingy kind of lost its mojo for us country boys.
Whoa, Daddy! All the big guns are showing up. Gosh, this is a little intimidating. Easy up, fellas. 😛
A lot of people misunderstand where the concept of cable directionality originated. It was with balanced cables in pro audio and broadcast applications. You see, the concept is all about preventing ground loops in shielding whilst maintaining effective protection from interference. A true shield can only be connected to one ground point else it be rendered ineffective by conducting current due to a ground loop. Cable directionality was always given as the direction of signal chain flow, from source to destination, with the source being the defacto ground for shield. 

 Fast forward to unbalanced cabling used in consumer audio, we find fake shielding is the status quo. The cable aftermarket came up with the absurd notion that the signal-bearing shield could be used as the ground anchor point for another superfluous shield. Utter nonsense I say. Take a good quality Belden 1696 shielded twisted pair cable and use the twisted pair for the signal bearing conductors, and the shield, grounded at one end only (often the preamp chassis), as the true shield without compromising the signal bearing conductors. 
Dave_b

i May have missed it but what make of transparent cable are you using?
@uberwaltz Using Transparent Super Gen 5 Balanced for source and Plus Bi wires for speakers.  The new series outperforms the previous Ultra Level cables I was using.
uberwaltz5,837 posts05-05-2019 11:07pmDave_b

i May have missed it but what make of transparent cable are you using?

>>>>>My vote for funniest question of the week. Of course the week is still young. 

GK
At least Dave understood what I meant , yes it should have read MODEL not make but if that is the best you got it is going to be a loooong week!

Happy trolling...….
You also did not capitalize transparent. Are we supposed to be mind readers? It might be a long week for you but I suspect it will be a short week for me. Wink, wink 😉 
sleepwalker
A lot of people misunderstand where the concept of cable directionality originated. It was with balanced cables in pro audio and broadcast applications. You see, the concept is all about preventing ground loops in shielding whilst maintaining effective protection from interference. A true shield can only be connected to one ground point else it be rendered ineffective by conducting current due to a ground loop. Cable directionality was always given as the direction of signal chain flow, from source to destination, with the source being the defacto ground for shield.

>>>>I’m not terribly surprised people don’t know what “controlled for directionality” means. When I use the term I am referring to unshielded cables, you know, like Anti Cables, which are obviously unshielded, and many other cables. Shielded cables are also controlled for directionality in many cases. Follow?

But you’re right, a lot of people misunderstand where the concept of directionality originated. 🤗
Over the years I’ve had commercial speaker cables to $15K and several DIY recipes. My favorite is a DIY of stacked, soft-annealed .999 silver foils and solid silver spades. Termination is solderless with compression fittings and all internal mating surfaces treated with Total Contact graphene paste. The cable is shielded with grounded, tinned-copper braid.  It entails numerous twists of teflon and pulls through silk and is tedious to build. There is around 1.5 lbs. of silver in it, totaling around $1K at commodity prices. A build with large gauge precious metals is likely prohibitive for a commercial cable at less than $15K MSRP. BTW, distributor and dealer margins on commercial cables are the highest in audio.
WowWee! So DIY cables, people either love them or hate them. Seems like there is absolutely no in between. I myself am a do-it-yourselfer, actually a guitar maker. I'm completely confident that I could put together speaker wire as well as any industry leader. I'm just completely unaware of the materials and theories behind it. Helix cables sound like a good idea. Silver, correct terminals, silver solder, this is all new to me. But I still cannot see paying anywhere near 10 grand for speaker wire...
GK

Mindreading?

I thought it was all just a case of mind over matter.

I don't mind and you don't matter.

😎😎😎😎😎
Silver is tricky. But silver is the best conductor. It shows you that conductivity isn’t the end all do all some people say it is. 
OP

I whole heartedly encourage you to try making your own cables after you have decided which direction to pursue.

It will certainly cost a lot less and be educational in the extreme.

But yes a lot of choices to narrow down first and as per usual ask 10 audiophools and you will get 11 different answers...
Good luck !
Just as an example I have found silver to be bright and exaggerate the highs and lose some of the lower end.
Solid core copper was too bass heavy and muddied.


Tinned copper strands worked fine.

However that’s my system to my ears.

A lot is going to depend on your system and if you feel that right now it is already bright and needs taming or is it dull and needs life?

Only your ears will know in the end.
I don’t hate silver
I don’t hate DIY’rs
I don’t hate GK
I don’t hate a nicely developed treble region
I don’t hate a natural but supple midrange 
I don’t hate a fully rounded and tactile bottom end
I don’t hate it when I put my .....well, you get the idea 💡 
@ieales - re:
Helix Cables are utter nonsense, as is the verbiage on the web page.
Have you tried them? obviously not 

Many others around the world have tried them and prefer them to commercially available products.

I leave it at that :-)




It ain’t gonna have that swing
if it ain’t got that network thing

BTW...As I was alluding to earlier (morning is my favorite time )

I don’t hate it when I plug my power cord into my Transparent conditioning box

I love a nice tight connection!
Don’t be a negative Nellie with silver. it depends on where in the system it's used, the purity.,gauge ,how long the break in period is, and whether it's been cryogenically treated. In fact two cryo treatments are preferred for silver. so, yes, sometimes silver is superior to coper, especially in transparency, dynamics, resolution.
My wife says she notices a huge enjoyment factor when I use my garden hose cable...I mean cables 😗
I have a tattoo Chattanooga Tennessee. But it’s around the girth if ya know what I mean. 
It is existence of some sort. Luckily, teleportation is your thing so you do have a quick way out. Now, it makes sense why you would be so inclined. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Have you tried them? obviously not

Many others around the world have tried them and prefer them to commercially available products.

I leave it at that :-)
@williewonka 
It's entirely possible that the Helix cable could make someone prefer their sound. I just can't imagine what the system sounds like sans 5mH in the -ve lead.

Some eat MickieD's. No accounting for taste.
The power of the Peter...DHC is what we’re talking about?  Or are we back to DIY stuff again 😕
Does anyone have a theory why - all things being equal - cables with white jackets sound better than cables with jackets that are black or another color? Just curious. You can actually test this theory by wrapping your existing cable or power cord with white tape. Check it out. No, I’m not hot dogging you. 🌭
GK deals with the subliminal, existential reality of audio.  More of a Zen like sensibility toward things acoustic.  Suggestibility flows vigorously through such psychologically fluid frontiers.  PT Barnum maneuvered through similar terrain quite successfully, sans the adornment of misappropriated and dubiously applied scientific theory.
Dave b - still a little sore from the spanking, eh? It’ll be OK in a few days. A cold shower probably wouldn’t hurt. 
This is a thread about DIY speaker cables.  Not you two.  Why don't you and your buddy start your own thread?
Whatever floats your boat!  I’ve used so many different types of cables over the decades and have not found any that do my sustem(s) more justice than Transparent or MIT.
Ok, one vote for transparent cables. One for helix. anyone else have any luck with do it your self speaker wire?
Systems...thought I’d correct the spelling before our resident Kat finds it and wants to spank me again 😱