DIY cable recomendation

[colver]

After purchasing my first decent phono stage i was slightly dissapointed with its sound. It wasnt bad just not as good as i had hoped. The cable runing from my Rega P25 is a low capacitance Klotz with Neutrik plugs. How low the capacitance is i dont know but i suppose anything below 120pF is low . After scouring the net i couldnt find anything at realistic prices, infact many mainstream cables such as Chord, QED etc dont give the cap information.
So after checking out some off the reel unterminated cables i eventually came across Van Damme pro grade classic XKE instrument cable with pure silver plated core and rated capacitance of 110pF. This stuff costs a pathetic £1.35 a metre. Four metres were ordered along with 4 Neutrik plugs at £1.25 each. A spool of 4% silver solder at 99p and a huge bag of mixed quarter metre heat shrink at £3.00. You can easily make up a pair of 1m cables for well under 10 quid and 45 minutes work!
The sound? Well i cant believe it! Unbelievable. Seriously its like firing up a different system, these cables just seem to let every ounce of sound through. They dramatically improved after about 20 hours run in time, (many folk say that burn in is a myth, trust me it aint!) Crap recordings wont miraculously become good ones but the cables will help to extract the best that the bad discs can offer. For all it cost you just have to try them.
If you need anymore information dont hesitate to ask. Colin.

[abril]

I've used it on many occasions and recommend it highly,at 4.8mm dia it is quite flexible and if you use it in a pseudo balanced form the capacitance drops to only 50pf per metre,and it fits the Neutrik plugs perfectly.
I'm sure I will continue to use it for a long time yet (and I believe J7 uses it too).

[colver]

How can a cable be so good at such a low price? Some manufacturers are producing cables at sick amounts of money (4 figures) and who's to say that they will be much if any improvement!

[Ulver]

It's very simple. There are always some idiots who will buy expensive stuff and if they are willing to pay for a power cable some 20k dollars there will always be a manufacturer who will give them that. In the end everyone is happy . Cable is a cable, it's not magic. Just like amplifiers for tens of thousands of dollars. You don't pay for the components and hardware because it costs nothing, only a few hundreds of dollars max. You pay for The Sound...
My cables are also DIY and they are far better than my friends magic audio cables for 500 dollars. That's why he is very angry at me
Off topic... Just bought a Dual 1219 and it's AWESOME, got it for about 170 dollars.

[aardvarkash10]

finally a cable thread that I feel I can endorse...

Well done on your find and build!

[vincitsemper]

Hello,

Colin,where did you get the cable from?

Regards,

Victor.

[abril]

This is the stuff I use
http://www.rapidonline.com/Cables-Conne ... 0m-02-3520

[vincitsemper]

Hello Abril,

Thanks for the link,my soldering skills leave a lot to be desired, but the silly cost of interconnect cables means it's worth giving DIY a good go!

Regards,

Victor.

[abril]

If you're not so sure of your soldering and I have some cable lying around spare (can check tomorrow) I'll make you up a pair cost price.

How long do they need to be?

[vincitsemper]

Hello Abril,

Thank you for your kindness but I bit the bullet earlier on and ordered some unterminated cable and plugs!

Hopefully it will work out ok,either that or a lot of swearing until it does!
Thanks again for your offer mate.

Regards,

Victor.

[colver]

Hi Victor im sorry i havnt been on V/E for a few days as been busy at work so i wasnt ignoring you. All the gear i purchased came from Ebay. There are other Van Damme cables available on Ebay but im not sure what they will be like, also the stuff i used was the cheapest at just £1.35 a metre. Ive already got a friend who has several tt's (with hardwire cheap original cables), and is replacing the lot with exactly the same specs as mentioned in my first post. The cables are run in now and have made an incredible difference to my system. I will try post a photo of them tommorow.
I hope all of you will report your findings with them, i will be very interested to know what you think. Colin.

[colver]

Hi Victor i forgot to mention that a decent soldering bolt is worth every penny! I use a 25 watt weller with all replaceable parts and costs around 20 - 25 pounds. Cheap bolts dont get hot enough and make soldering work a complete nightmare!

[vincitsemper]

Hello Colin,

Thanks for the advice mate. For some reason I have always found soldering a pain in the proverbial.

Either I melt the wire's plastic sheath or the solder just doesn't stick to the wire at all!

Time to practice until I get the hang of it!

Thanks again for the advice.By the way,I bought the same wire you suggested as making my own choice would have just been guesswork.

Regards,

Victor.

[colver]

Hi Victor, smear the surfaces with flux first. I use flux for plumbing, its like a mayonaise colour and texture. I you dont flux first then the solder wont stick. Colin.