IC Construction Questions

[WntrMute2]

I've been trying a few different IC recipes over the past few years and a basic question arises. I want to construct a pair of 9 foot interconnects to go between a tube preamp and a tube power amp. I have 4 constructs in mind. 1) A twisted fine silver wire pair like VH-Audio's cotton insulated wire with teflon center core and teflon tape wrap. http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html 2) A twisted 24 gauge pair that has a braided shield of all silver plated copper. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-feet-22-...wisted-Pair-/381446722697?hash=item58cfff1489 3) VH-Audio's V-Twist copper. http://www.vhaudio.com/v-twist-cu24.html And finally 4) a coaxial design of silver plated copper core surrounded by a silver plated copper braid http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-feet-26-...E-Wire-Coax-/231904860799?hash=item35fe9b5a7f. These are just examples, the gauge of the wire may be adjusted. My question is does the fact that the two legs, positive vs return, have different geometries affect the signal/sound as this is the easiest to construct not to mention the cheapest design?

 

[WobblySam]

I've been trying a few different IC recipes over the past few years and a basic question arises. I want to construct a pair of 9 foot interconnects to go between a tube preamp and a tube power amp. I have 4 constructs in mind. 1) A twisted fine silver wire pair like VH-Audio's cotton insulated wire with teflon center core and teflon tape wrap. http://www.venhaus1.com/diysilverinterconnects.html 2) A twisted 24 gauge pair that has a braided shield of all silver plated copper. http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-feet-22-...wisted-Pair-/381446722697?hash=item58cfff1489 3) VH-Audio's V-Twist copper. http://www.vhaudio.com/v-twist-cu24.html And finally 4) a coaxial design of silver plated copper core surrounded by a silver plated copper braid http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-feet-26-...E-Wire-Coax-/231904860799?hash=item35fe9b5a7f. These are just examples, the gauge of the wire may be adjusted. My question is does the fact that the two legs, positive vs return, have different geometries affect the signal/sound as this is the easiest to construct not to mention the cheapest design?

Well, you seem to have made the jump to some esoteric cable. So, I'm not sure my suggestion will be what you want to hear. You can certainly find information on the web concerning lumped modeling of various cable construction. With tube electronics, at least for me, good shielding was of paramount importance. Others may have a different take. I've made a number of ICs over the years - some for audio, others used in conjunction with moderate levels of RF (<1KW).
I've found that triax is most effective. A 20 ga twisted pair with a 95% to 98% braided shield offers decent flexibility and excellent electrical transfer. I used the shield as a telescoping connection at the source end. You can try it either way depending on your situation. Of course, it's only copper wire - no silver plating, nothing esoteric. I generally use Belden brand. In any case, with your tube electronics, you may need to experiment a little to minimize stray noise pickup.
Good luck with your cables.

 

[WntrMute2]

Thanks for that information. I too have been using a twisted pair that has a braided shield (triax if I understand you. Just like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-feet-22-...722697?hash=item58cfff1489&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true). I liked this cable just fine but the capacitance was very high especially in the 8 foot length I needed. I have ended up using VH-Audio's V-Twist with KEI RCAs. Sounds nice but I don't know if it is better!

 

[whoaru99]

Triax is a coaxial-type cable with three concentric conductive elements separated by insulation.



Twisted pair with a braid overlay would be STP (shielded twisted pair).



Currently, in my tube setup, I'm using non-shielded cables made from the 24-ga solid wires stripped from Cat5 network cable. They're just the two insulated wires twisted at maybe 2-3 turns per inch.

 

[gslikker]

Yes it is.

If you g??gle "triax capacitance elimination" you get a link to a Keysight parametric measurement handbook, look at figure 2.9 where it is described how to get rid of the cable capacitance.