- Jul 28, 2022
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I like to tinker with things, tweak this or customise that, sometimes the results are astonishing and other times not so but the common pattern here, these projects of mine are done at small costs.
Just to give an instance, one of the spring clip speaker terminals on my Presonus 3.5 active speakers broke; the original coil was launch into the atmosphere and never to be seen. It was still Ok using the same cables as long as it remained stationary but it still bothered me, I initially tried to contact Presonus for the spare parts but this wasn't an item that was stocked.
So I thought in for a penny in for a pound, I decided to galvanise the spring clip speaker terminals from the Presonus and replace them with proper binding post, some soldering, some acrylic glue, easy-peasy! As you can see from the photos, these quality 4mm compatible banana plugs have been installed on both active and passive speakers.
This modification now allows the use of thicker cables or 4mm banana plugs. Also, I attached to the base with glue, speaker spikes and all this was achieved at little costs. I'm getter a fuller sound from using better quality cables, the original spring clips only allowed small bell type wiring.
One of the other things I like doing is making my own cables and experimenting with different types of AWG wiring, hoping that, this would bring the desired outcome. The silver metallic coloured cable from the photo is one I made from scratch, I brought the insulating sheathing and pure silver strands separately from AliExpress. I think it cost me around £48 for 3 meters of silver wiring including the pin-shaped banana plugs.
I replaced the old Chord X speaker cables from my Dali Zensor 1 speakers with these pure silver ones and almost immediately the sound had so much more clarity and I was enjoying these more than the original Chord cables. The only trade off was, the silver extenuated the brightness, it wasn't harsh but it was in your face. I think these cables would have been perfect for polite sounding speakers and you want to give a little edginess to the sound.
I was seriously thinking about going back to the Chord cables for a more balanced sound, but I'm a real sucker for transparency, warts and all, so I didn't want to sacrifice that, until the little devil in my head kicked me in the groin.
Oooooh,
.....try those cheap orange cabling you got for my nephew. He swears blind that these are most perfect sounding cables, he's ever listened to, Yeah what does he know about Hi-Fi...but what have I got to lose?
I had about four meters of it left from the original reel. I gave those oranges cables the Jason treatment, applied some glossy swingers hotpants on each end of the cable. heat sink the ends and presto, perfect. I'm still waiting for the gold plated banana plugs to arrive from eBay, the bare copper will do for now.
Yes, so how does it sound?
These are the dogs testicles, these are fr........gin amazing and only £4 something a meter!!!
My nephew was absolutely spot on. The music became more energised, I was loving it. How can something so cheap can better the Chord, or cables made from pure silver?
BTW, if anyone wants my silver cables, I'll send them to you free of charge
So please, if you want to share your most inexpensive or most cost effective HiFi discovery, let's hear them.
Also, the seller on eBay who sold me these cheap is no longer selling but in case you're interest I've provided the SCP cables link below, you can purchase these directly from the vendor.
Note description of SCP orange cable from photo
scpcat5e.com
Additional Information
My Nikamichi banana plugs arrived today, fixed up the SCP speakers cables and yeah these look Pukka!
Just to give an instance, one of the spring clip speaker terminals on my Presonus 3.5 active speakers broke; the original coil was launch into the atmosphere and never to be seen. It was still Ok using the same cables as long as it remained stationary but it still bothered me, I initially tried to contact Presonus for the spare parts but this wasn't an item that was stocked.
So I thought in for a penny in for a pound, I decided to galvanise the spring clip speaker terminals from the Presonus and replace them with proper binding post, some soldering, some acrylic glue, easy-peasy! As you can see from the photos, these quality 4mm compatible banana plugs have been installed on both active and passive speakers.
This modification now allows the use of thicker cables or 4mm banana plugs. Also, I attached to the base with glue, speaker spikes and all this was achieved at little costs. I'm getter a fuller sound from using better quality cables, the original spring clips only allowed small bell type wiring.
One of the other things I like doing is making my own cables and experimenting with different types of AWG wiring, hoping that, this would bring the desired outcome. The silver metallic coloured cable from the photo is one I made from scratch, I brought the insulating sheathing and pure silver strands separately from AliExpress. I think it cost me around £48 for 3 meters of silver wiring including the pin-shaped banana plugs.
I replaced the old Chord X speaker cables from my Dali Zensor 1 speakers with these pure silver ones and almost immediately the sound had so much more clarity and I was enjoying these more than the original Chord cables. The only trade off was, the silver extenuated the brightness, it wasn't harsh but it was in your face. I think these cables would have been perfect for polite sounding speakers and you want to give a little edginess to the sound.
I was seriously thinking about going back to the Chord cables for a more balanced sound, but I'm a real sucker for transparency, warts and all, so I didn't want to sacrifice that, until the little devil in my head kicked me in the groin.
Oooooh,
.....try those cheap orange cabling you got for my nephew. He swears blind that these are most perfect sounding cables, he's ever listened to, Yeah what does he know about Hi-Fi...but what have I got to lose?
I had about four meters of it left from the original reel. I gave those oranges cables the Jason treatment, applied some glossy swingers hotpants on each end of the cable. heat sink the ends and presto, perfect. I'm still waiting for the gold plated banana plugs to arrive from eBay, the bare copper will do for now.
Yes, so how does it sound?
These are the dogs testicles, these are fr........gin amazing and only £4 something a meter!!!
My nephew was absolutely spot on. The music became more energised, I was loving it. How can something so cheap can better the Chord, or cables made from pure silver?
BTW, if anyone wants my silver cables, I'll send them to you free of charge
So please, if you want to share your most inexpensive or most cost effective HiFi discovery, let's hear them.
Also, the seller on eBay who sold me these cheap is no longer selling but in case you're interest I've provided the SCP cables link below, you can purchase these directly from the vendor.
Note description of SCP orange cable from photo
H-16/4OFC-OR-1000-D
H-16/4OFC-OR-D Dca RATED PREMIUM SPEAKER CABLE - 4C/16 AWG 65 STRAND OXYGEN FREE COPPER, UL CMR, EN50575 Dca-s3,d2,a3 HD PVC JKT- ORANGE 500FT/152M BOX
Additional Information
My Nikamichi banana plugs arrived today, fixed up the SCP speakers cables and yeah these look Pukka!
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