Home made cables, what have you built?

[Tony V.]

Ive been building all sorts of cables for home audio along with live sound. Ive built XLR microphone cables, Speakon cables and speaker wire, RCA interconnects.
I am not a beliver that high end cables have to come with a high end cost to them as you can make them yourself for a fraction of the cost of stores. I also dont believe that a high cost cable make any audible improvement over a cable made with quality parts that can be bought on amazon or places like Monoprice.
Below is a sample of a speaker cable I built for home that simply used some oxygen free 12awg stranded opper wire with some braided sheathing heatshrink on the ends to keep it clean and some gold plated connectors bought from Monoprice.

What cables have you built for yourself and what do you think of my above thoughts?

 

[NBPK402]

I made some speaker cables years ago that were the coax (I think rg5) cable kind, an my experience was not good. I was running I believe a Adcom 555 at the time, and with the cables...a stereo source sound almost holographic. I found out it was driving the Adcom into oscillation.
Since then the most I have done is buy the connectors I want to use on my Monoprice cables. I might make some milspec silver clad wires this time if I have enough wire left for my front 3 channels this time.

 

[mechman]

Inspired by your thread at the old forum, I’ve done all of my speaker cables.

 

[Tony V.]

Looks great Steve!

 

[Mike-48]

@Tony V. -- My impression is, boutique cables are sold mainly on psychological factors.

A recent example: A manufacturer let me evaluate a 25-ft pair of balanced audio interconnects, MSRP $2200. I tried them and had 3 friends come over. Two are sound professionals; the third, an avid, lifelong classical concertgoer. In blind tests, we all thought my existing cables neutral and found something odd in the treble of the expensive ones. My current cables cost $125.

All that is to introduce the "third way" for those of us whose soldering skills are terrible. Pro audio shops (such as Pro Audio LA, the source of my interconnects) will make up cable assemblies to order at extremely reasonable prices, and will use such excellent parts as Mogami 2549 and Neutrik connectors in doing it. That's my go-to when I need audio cables.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Where to begin? Like Tony, I’ve pretty much done it all.

For starters, back in the ‘90s I made this “snake” for my HT system from 8-channel Mogami stock and Dayton Super RCA connectors.

I’ve made my own component video cables with Canare LV-61S stock and Neutrik RCA connectors (pictured). Don’t have a picture but I’ve also made regular RCA audio cables with Canare L-4E5C stock and Neutrik RCAs. As you can see, I pretty much keep it simple - no sheathing or heat shrink.

I’ve made cables for all my bass guitars, using Canare L-2T2S stock and Switchcraft 226 right-angle plugs. See the red one in this picture.

“Business end” of the bass rack - I did all the signal and speaker cables pictured, as well as the main power cable. I also built the patch panel.

I also did all the cabling inside the rack. Shown is a previous incarnation.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[Tony V.]

Nice work Wayne! I still have a 24 channel snake that I built sitting in a box that at some point I need to dig out and redo so I have it ready to use with my portable system I've put together.

 

[Mike-48]

Wayne, Tony, Steve: Very nice!

Years ago, I made my own RCA cables from Canare wire and connectors. But I just don't seem to solder neatly, and when one shorted out, I decided having them made was worth it.

I realized I have made some cables recently, after all. I put together a speaker cable for our pair of Audioengine A5+ powered speakers from fat Monoprice wire and [these screw-on bananas] from Parts Express. They are great connectors: they make firm contact, can be tightened very well, are insulated, and the setscrews are accessible without removing any housing.

 

[GFOviedo]

View attachment 23449
Inspired by your thread at the old forum, I’ve done all of my speaker cables.

Is that a monoprice banana speaker plate? If not, may I ask where did you buy it. I like that it comes with the labels.

I've made a few cables years ago. I'm going to try to find pics. At the moment, I am re-arranging my whole set up including the TV stand. I've been looking to possible use an enclosed network rack to put all of my devices in there, but they are pretty expensive. I may end up just building one.

 

[mechman]

Is that a monoprice banana speaker plate? If not, may I ask where did you buy it. I like that it comes with the labels.

I've made a few cables years ago. I'm going to try to find pics. At the moment, I am re-arranging my whole set up including the TV stand. I've been looking to possible use an enclosed network rack to put all of my devices in there, but they are pretty expensive. I may end up just building one.

To be honest, I cannot recall where I got it from. It's been too many years.