My DIY spiffy looking speaker cable guide..

I'm going to attempt these using some Belden 1313A. Will advise how it turns out.


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They turned out okay, the next set will be better.
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I was looking at the DIY pro audio interconnect thread in the cutting edge forum and while I was pricing them out, it seemed to make sense to try speaker cables to push a couple orders in to free shipping.

Now I've ordered a bunch of parts.

All the cable I ordered is Canare. I'm thinking about getting some Belden 14-3 for power cords.

I love locking connectors so I ordered locking bananas and RCAs from GLS Audio. They are inexpensive but look good and I couldn't find any real complaints about GLS connectors except one guy saying GLS XLR connectors are pot metal Neutrik copies but not describing any type of failure or deficiency in the GLS parts. Any way, the RCAs and bananas are gold plated brass and anodized aluminum, nowhere to hide pot metal in that...

Only one more order to make for the cable pants, heat shrink and braid.

I even decided to go above and beyond and bought a Dymo Rhino 4200 labler and a roll of heat shrink tube label. I think it will work out much cheaper than the custom printing options Ive seen and I can personalize.

For my first speaker cable I'm going to use Canare 4S8 cable which is 16-4 star quad. When conductors are paired its equivalent to 13 gauge wire which should be plenty for the 2 meter cables I have planned. Overall diameter with braid should be just over 10mm and should be a slight squeeze in to the 10mm cable pants I found.

Any way its just one more project for me but I hope they come out looking as good as the cables Ive seen on here.
 
I do not have a hot knife. What is best way to cut tech flex and keep it from unraveling?

Way back on page 1 this is addressed:

if you dont have a heatknife, get a SHARP pair of scissors, cut it at that point, then use a lighter or a torch lighter (ones to start a BBQ), and then burn the frayed edges of the cut techflex with the flame (i use the side of the flame.. if that makes sense). It will melt and bubble quick if you hold the flame there for too long. I would just do it for about half a second... if you need more, do it for another half a second. Your experience may vary.
 
Gotcha DIY?

I posted this in audio theory but kensmith brought to my attention that we actually have a DIY subforum for things besides speakers and subs.... so here it is ;)

final product:
speakercable11ck8.jpg

speakercable12nm0.jpg

speakercable14vc8.jpg


My materials/supplies:
-Canare Canare 4S11 star quad
-tech flex 3/8th
-heat shrink 3:1: 1x 3/4, 1x 1/2, and 3x 3/8.
-wire stripper

supplies1mp0.jpg



heatshrink order:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=73

partsexpress has nice, clean, heatshrink in my experience. Be sure to order the amount specified in my supplies list

star quad order:
www.bluejeanscable.com has cheap Canare 4S11 star quad, and they ship pretty damn fast

this is also where i got my locking banana plugs

techflex order:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=082-336

TECHFLEX CONSIDERATION:
Theres a crapload of stuff techflex makes.
If you go with the stuff i used, its cheap, and it still looks nice
im gonna experiment with nylon multifilament, and clean cut flame retardant however...

http://www.techflex.com/prod_CCF.asp

http://www.techflex.com/prod_NMN.asp

nylon multifilament = super soft, super professional looking
clean cut flame retardant = nice white tracers, EASY TO CUT, a little bit finer threading/softer than regular techflex.

its up to you to use these.

ANOTHER NOTE: If you plan on making 12' cables, 3/8th techflex will SHORTEN BY A LOT. One spool of 25' 3/8th DID NOT make two 12' cables! I had to buy two spools! I got some 1/2" techflex carbon to see how it fit over the star quad, and it did okay, its a hair bigger, so watch out for lumps and stuff though.

1) Take a ruler or something to measure with, then mark the cable with a black sharpie at 6.5".* Do this at BOTH ends.

*Note: 6.5" is about the MAXIMUM length you can do w/ 6" long heatshrink. You can also do shorter of course:

cables1fd7.jpg


2) Do this to only one side of the cable for now. Theres about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch of gray rubber around the cable that youll be cutting off. Take a box cutter or something sharp and precise and sort of saw into it at a very slow rate, if you feel it tearing into the tissue like paper around the cable then back off. You should feel it when you are through the gray rubber though, its not very difficult. Also, feel free to bend the cable to open the cuts and make it easier to follow the slice all around the cable. Try to make the cut straight around the whole circumference of the cable, if it isnt, no biggie, gonna be covered up a lot anyways.

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3) Tug off the rubber outside

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4) Cut all the string and junk, the smaller the scissors the better. We will braid em later...

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Then cut the end off of each of the wires, an inch or so is good, anymore and it will be a hassle to fit it into banana plugs and crap:

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5) Slide the techflex onto the end that you have NOT cut yet. (This step takes a while)

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When youre done it will look like this:

cables6ly7.jpg

I am missing all the images and can not seem to follow without them. There are myriad recipes for DIY speaker cables but these look easy (relatively) to make, inexpensive and sound great. I do not wish to do the moonshine ones (yet). Does anyone know where I might find this tutorial that is so well received in its entirety?
TIA
-D
 
I built a set of these back in 2011 and they turned out wonderful. Now I'm ready for another set and I cant find the pictures. anybody have them?
 
An idea for anyone who happens to use headphones driven by power amps

I made these cables for a friend who uses planar magnetic headphones and wanted the option to simplify the cables between the amp / speakers and headphones.







The idea is that the Spades connect to the amp and then the XLR connect to the cable going to either speakers ( as shown ) or Dual XLR terminated headphone cables.

..dB
 
An idea for anyone who happens to use headphones driven by power amps

I made these cables for a friend who uses planar magnetic headphones and wanted the option to simplify the cables between the amp / speakers and headphones.







The idea is that the Spades connect to the amp and then the XLR connect to the cable going to either speakers ( as shown ) or Dual XLR terminated headphone cables.

..dB

Nice solution, they look well constructed.. What type of wire did you use?

-Dave
 
It was a bulk OFC cable I picked up a long time ago. Is a multistrand 2 core wrapped in a flexible sheath with 2 cores of Fibre twisted with the cables. Decent construction and the sound great. No idea on brand, looks high end oem stuff.

.. dB
 
It was a bulk OFC cable I picked up a long time ago. Is a multistrand 2 core wrapped in a flexible sheath with 2 cores of Fibre twisted with the cables. Decent construction and the sound great. No idea on brand, looks high end oem stuff.

.. dB

Again, nice job. I'm sure your friend will enjoy them. :beerchug:

-Dave
 
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