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Has anyone tried making their own interconnects?

Hey guys,

I've posted a few threads lately asking about DACs and Class D amplifiers and such. My current system consists of a recently acquired Marsh P2000 pre amp, Aragon 2004 amp, Emotiva XDA-1 DAC, Squeezebox Touch and Silverline Minuet Supreme Plus speakers. I'm also running all Blue Jeans cabling.

I was listening to some Diana Krall last night and it really hit me that I'm pretty comfortable with the synergy that I have with my components. I really enjoy listening to my system.

So, I was wondering if maybe I could try just a little bit of tweaking, since I'm no longer feeling an urgent need to change any components.

My interest is in making my own interconnects. I really have no desire to spend even $100 on an interconnect, but I've found that it is possible to get some good silver or silver plated copper wire at very reasonable prices.

I have a good soldering station and am fairly proficient with a soldering iron, so I figured that I could try my hand at making my own.

Have any of you tried this? What were your results? Which connectors did you use?

Thanks.
tonyangel
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
Yes, I purchased some interconnect wire and soldered on connectors. Cardas Audio use to and still may sell cable only. I sourced connectors from Parts Express. Before buying Cardas cable I tried a lots of small gauge control wires found on construction job sites, mostly low voltage alarm, com and mechanical sensor wire. I had a lot of fun testing various gauges of multiple strand and solid wires. The results varied. My ears liked multiple stranded small gauge copper wire best. Your results may vary.

Then one dark day a local audio type collector handed me a large box of speaker and interconnect wires from various well respected cable manufacture's. I fell in lust with MIT's sound, hate the stupid looking boxes but loved the sound. These day I use Cardas Crosslink for pre>amps, I put on the ends and MIT interconnects, purchased used here on A'gon.

Good Luck
sfar's avatar
sfar
1,756 posts
 
Yes, I put together half a dozen pair of relatively inexpensive interconnects using two or three kinds of cable and connectors, not all of which I can remember.

The wire that was easiest to work with was Mogami shielded microphone wire, bought from markertek.com. The connectors I liked most were from Vampire Wire.

It was a fun project and the results compared favorably with the other interconnects I have from DHLabs, Canare and others.
bigtee
803 posts
 
I made a few cables from an old recipe I saw somewhere. You use 1/4" plastic tube (the type you use for connecting an ice maker.) Purchase some of the white tape you use for sealing pipe connections etc. (Teflon tape) wrap the plastic tube in the Teflon tape just barely overlapping. Purchase some Radio Shack 22 gauge magnet wire (copper) and wrap around the tube spacing about 1" per turn. This forms your shield. Once you have wrapped the wire, wrap it again with the Teflon tape. When you pull it just a little, it will adhere to itself. Wrap it as you did the first time barely overlapping and covering the wire. Next, run one (1) strand of wire through the tube. Using whatever connector brand you want, solder the center wire to the center connection on the RCA connector. The other wire goes to the shield connector. You can use a little strink wrap over the connectors where you soldered to the ends of the tube. Do not shrink wrap any more than this.
You will be shocked how good this cable will sound. Go ahead, compare it to any cable at any price!
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Tony... The short answer to your Q is "no." But for those who are looking for I/Cs or speaker cable of great quality, reliable electrical attribute stats (e.g., resistance, capacitance and inductance), I highly recommend giving Tom Tutay a call. I don't have his number handy, but do a search on the Forum. His tel. number has been posted numerous times.

Tom has made several custom components for me AND interconnects as well. Tom is well known and well regarded in our community. Your Forum search should bear that out from me as well as from quite a few very respected other members.

Bottom line: Tom does great work for a very fair price. Why not road test him for just one set of I/Cs?? See how it goes. It's not a life investment. Just MHO.
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