World Domination Part Two - Making a Cable

[Anonymous]

idc:True, but my comparison is with SHB rather than QED. I suppose I should add another £2 to cover my R&D and training and £2 for use of the kitchen, some electricity and a coffee.

no .... do it proper ... sell them for £240 per pair ..... some people think that more expensive cables are better ... you will sell loads on ebay

if you sell 5 pairs a day (worldwide), less work, and you will soon be retiring ... aim for the Chinese market ... they like British brands (such as Burberry etc) ....

IDC Audiophile Cables sounds very professional ....

 

[idc]

I thought about IDC Cables, but settled on Out Of This World Audio instead. If I was to sell my cables for £240 all I would really need to do is to buy some better looking phonos and some fancy sheathing to go over the cable. The Solar Mk1 are very functional.

 

[Anonymous]

.... and state in your adverts that they need at least 300hrs to 'break in' ..... and offer a no quible refund (only) valid for 7 days

 

[Anonymous]

idc:I thought about IDC Cables, but settled on Out Of This World Audio instead. If I was to sell my cables for £240 all I would really need to do is to buy some better looking phonos and some fancy sheathing to go over the cable. The Solar Mk1 are very functional.

idc, so register 2 companies .... one called Out of This World Audio, and the other IDC Audiophile cables .... makes 2 different sets of interconnects .... send them both to a hifi magazine to do a 'comparative test' .... one will be a clear winner

jokes aside, have a look at this Van Damme LC-OFC interconnect cable ... £4.50/m unterminated .... could be a good one? .... it's not the normal OFC ....

it's the same stuff the old Hitachi interconnect was made of (owned a pair and was really good .... have won a pair of Hitachi's on ebay on the weekend and hoping they arrive tomorrow or on monday... been looking for a pair for nearly a year)

 

[idc]

Thanks for the link Dim_Span, that is a company I have already bought stuff from, including the Van Damme that I will be using for my headphone recable.

I have made another longer cable......

....tested it with my new Multi meter that arrived today and it is now being used on my own system. The Proel cable comes as one and it can be split. I just split the ends to fit the phonos, and I am now look for a way to stop the whole cable dividing. I just like the look.........

After more listening, the most obvious difference between the OOTW Solar and SHB is that the Solar gives me a far wider volume range that is listenable. Why would that be?

 

[idc]

Next is going to be a headphone cable. I have had real problems trying to figure out what goes to what from XLR connection to the jack plug. Then I found this super free to use website.....

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/

....which has made figuring out the connections very simple. So this is what I need to do......

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/connection/xlr-jack-stereo.html

 

[Anonymous]

The SHB interconnect cables that I own have some other gadgets connected to them (think they are suppresors or something similar) .... perhaps that makes a difference to volume?

 

[PJPro]

idc:.....I am now look for a way to stop the whole cable dividing.....
Get some heatshrink? Available from Maplins.

 

[Big Chris]

PJPro:idc:.....I am now look for a way to stop the whole cable dividing..... Get some heatshrink? Available from Maplins.

Or don't bother. Most if the I/Cs I've had, have been two seperate cables not joined at all.

 

[Anonymous]

If you could make another set I could arrange a proper test against some leading brand names that I happen to have in my workshops this very second and report my un-biased findings? I am eager to see if DIY cables out-perform leading brands aren't you?

 

[idc]

I'll do that David, I have some on test already with a fellow forum member, results to come, but in a while.

EDIT - I would use this as a guide only. I would not recommend the cable and connectors I used. The sound is muddled and not as good as the stock AKG cable. It is also impossible to fit the mini XLR properly as the outercasing will not screw in place without being twisted by the cable. It is safe to use, but not very pretty.

I have now made a headphone cable which is called the OOTW Meteor. First measure, cut the cable and ensure ground to ground, signal to signal and return to return.........

White is the signal, blue the return and the bare wire with some heat shrink is the ground.

 

[idc]

Here 1 is ground and goes to the sleeve, 2 is signal and goes to the tip and is white and 3 is return and goes to the ring and is white

 

[idc]

The jack soldered. I put some heat shrink over the white wire to protect it against the heat generated as you solder the rest of the phono. It gets very hot and the helping hand acts as a heat sink to take away some of the heat. You cannot see the ground as it is under a piece of plastic that acts as a barrier to protect it. That was fiddly getting the plastic out of the way to solder and then push it back into place. The soldering is by tinning the wires, tinning the contacts and then placing them against each other and applying the soldering iron from the otherside of the connection. The heat them melts the solder on the connection and the wire and with a puff of the rosin core which is an acid that keeps the join clear, they fuse together.

 

[Anonymous]

All of which proves there is a down side to digital cameras.

 

[idc]

Next pinch the metal flanges that act as strain relief to keep the cable in place.......

Then slide on the plastic casing used to keep the metal outer casing free from shorts. I have used another strain relief from a phono and the outer casing go on........

 

[idc]

The extra strain relief which comes from a phono is really to fill in the end of the jack as the cable is so much thinner......

 

[idc]

Next the mini XLR. First the case and strain relief goes on. The case was so tight I had to use washing up liquid to get the cable through. That would cause a further problem later on......

Then solder the wires into the tip of the XLR. A tiny amount of tinning on bothe cables and the connection was enough. Then a touch of the soldering iron to the connection and the heat was enough to give me a puff of rosin core and the solder was done...

 

[idc]

Before I screwed the XLR together I tested for continuity. So long as the multi meter beeped and the numbers went above 1, I had continuity. I checked each part of the jack with each part of the XLR to ensure there were no shorts. There was not......

 

[idc]

The finished product. Well not quite as since the XLR case is so tight I cannot screw it totally into place. I will get some heat shrink to finish it off...........

 

[Anonymous]

Can we have some more photos? I feel we've been cheated.

 

[idc]

Sorry Tarquinh, thats all for now

I forgot to say, the phono and mini XLR are from Switchcraft and the cable is Van Damme.

 

[jimdonnelly]

idc:

I'll do that David, I have some on test already with a fellow forum member, results to come, but in a while.

I was eager to give the OOTW Solar Mk1 a blast. Intial thoughts as follows

Good rhythmic bass, maybe a tad lean but nothing to shout about. Maybe a slight lack of detail at the top end but no charging into overly bright. Vocals are fabulous and there is a clear separation of instruments. Neil Finn could have been in the room with me. Locked out by Crowded House can sound a little disjointed but this cable held it all together and made the track enjoyable when sometimes it can grate (on my system anyway). The fab midrange again came to the fore when playing the New Radicals, again the bass was rhythmic and tight.

Kids going to bed shortly and I am looking forward to listening some more. A very impressive start and I am sure it will improve more with few hours burn in. The fact that I am itching to listen more tells its own story. A more detailed report will be provided in a couple of days time.

I am very privileged to be part of the OOTW development programme.

Good job IDC

 

[idc]

Cheers Jim. Since I refused to tell you what I thought first, this was my impression. They are forward and bright and have more of a 'silver' cable sound than the silver SHBs they replace. Yet they are multistrand copper. The midrange is there in spades with bass and treble more recessed than before. The upside is with detail and on headphones, phenominal sound stage and separation.

The big difference I noticed was instead of my amp limited to volume between 7 and 10 as a listenable range, that increased to between 6.30 and 12. Have you noticed more volume range?

The OOTW Meteor headphone cable is significantly different to the stock AKG, more to come!

 

[idc]

Tester in Chief Jim. I am not happy with the Meteor headphone cable. It does not sound as good as the stock cable. I am particularly not happy with the poor fit of the mini XLR. Can I modify it for your Goldrings? I would take off the XLR and put on a mini jack. But I neeed to know if your CDP will take a full sized 1/4" jack and whether the Goldrings use 3 pole jacks such as below non 3 or 4 or 2 pole such as 1 or 2. Thanks.

 

[jimdonnelly]

idc:

Tester in Chief Jim. I am not happy with the Meteor headphone cable. It does not sound as good as the stock cable. I am particularly not happy with the poor fit of the mini XLR. Can I modify it for your Goldrings? I would take off the XLR and put on a mini jack. But I neeed to know if your CDP will take a full sized 1/4" jack and whether the Goldrings use 3 pole jacks such as below non 3 or 4 or 2 pole such as 1 or 2. Thanks.

The Goldring cable is a mini 3 pole jack. To use them directly with my CDP I use the provided standard size 3 pole connector which the mini jack slips in to. (3 and 4 above).

Another cable to try? You are spoiling me Mr IDC.