Magnet wire interconnects

[JonTee]

Made up a pair of interconnects out of Radio Shack magnet wire, rca jacks, and packing tape, from this site recommended by Zobsky:

http:www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize.htm

Just finished auditioning them on my Sherwood tube receiver using a cdp. I must say there was a huge improvement over the cheap I/C's I was using. The sound was more defined (instruments, voices) especially midbass and bass. I auditioned them by hooking up one side with magnet wire and the other with the I/C"s I had been using. I then reversed the speakers from the receivers mode controls to be sure I wasn't imagining a difference. Followed that by auditioning both sides with the magnet wire. Damn, sounds great!

I plan on making up some more and comparing them to some Monster Reference II I/C's I'm using on some of my newer amps. The jacks on the Reference won't fit on the older equipment.

The magnet wire comes in a package of three rolls of 22 guage, 26 guage, and 30 guage and costs $5. The male jacks I bought were $3 per. Total cost for one set was approx $12 and change.
The one roll of 30 guage magnet wire will make all the I/C's I will need.

Hard to imagine that some cheap, spindely, 30 guage wire could make that much difference but it did. Kind of like pushing water thru a skinny hose as compared to a large one at the same pressure: stronger stream coming out the end

Jon

 

[BrianB]

Hi Jon,

I'm not at all surprised by your findings. Indeed, ever since reading about this home-brew "tweak" in Listener Magazine and trying it out for myself, it's been a top recommendation of mine to customers with a DIY bent. I wouldn't be shocked to hear that you prefer your new magnet wire interconnects over your much more expensive Monster cables.

I really don't know why so many North American and European audiophiles think that thicker means better when it comes to interconnects and speaker cables. They ought to travel to Japan.

In my opinion, Japanese audiophiles may be the most sophisticated listeners in the world. Many of the very best vintage American single-ended triode amplifiers and horn-loaded loudspeakers were purchased by Japanese music lovers a decade before such components began to be appreciated again in the West in the mid-1990s. And guess what? These same Japanese prefer to use teeny little custom-made wires in their systems.

At present, only couple of the Japanese high-end companies that manufacture such wires - namely, Final Labs and 47 Labs - are represented in the West. But nearly everyone over here who hears these cables is blown away...

Cheers,
Brian

 

[BrianB]

P.S. I suspect that your post might cause some consternation around here. Why? Because it splits the difference between two camps of thought:

1) Those who believe that cabling can make a big difference in sound, and thus maintain that the pricing of high-end audio cables is justified.

versus

2) Those who believe that wire is wire, and therefore believe that boutique audio cables are nothing more than snake oil.

I think that the truth lies somewhere in between. On the one hand, cabling CAN make a big difference, as you have found. On the other hand, most (but not ALL) high-end audio cables are indeed overpriced.

I say these things as a high-end audio dealer who has always approached audiphile cables with a fair amount of skepticism. Yes, there are some truly great high-end audio cables out there that sound even better than magnet wire - and that don't an arm and a leg - but they are few and far between.

 

[millerdog]

Way cool Jon!
do we have another convert?
Wires make a big diff! I don't consider them tone controls; more like bottlenecks.

 

[steamshooter]

I ran across that article some time ago, but, never tried it. You say it's worth it? Looks easy and cheap enough for me. Use 'em for all sources?

Wires make a big diff! I don't consider them tone controls; more like bottlenecks.

Bottlehead-bottleneck-bottlebaby-bottlebeer. I'm starting to understand
Brad

 

[JonTee]

When I was into my car bug a few years ago I had a later model Vette that I raced in gymkhanna's and on the drag strip. To get better performance from it I found information recommending tweaks to increase performance. They included spark plug wire recommendations, air filters, etc. None of these alone made huge differences, but, subtle increases in performance some better than others. By the time I had finished the car had gained approx 45 horse power and would consistently run .4 to .5 tenths better in the quarter mile and four to five mph faster than before the tweaks.

The synergy of the tweaks used together made noticeabale and verifiable improvements.

Do I believe wires make a difference in sound? Most definately. In addition, when used with other tweaks, can make a "synergy" difference in a system.

Jon

 

[millerdog]

That reminds me of using roger clips and yellow jacket wires.

 

[roncla]

Performance of anything.

Its my belief that the total performance of anything is not normally due to just one item.Look at a porshe its not the engine or the suspension or any singular thing, its the synergy of all the items together.
In regards to audio i believe the same thing, i presently have fostex fe-103e horns (my own design) and drive them with gainclones which i have tuned to the performance of the horns/room. The speaker cables are simple 22 gage solid core copper wire.The room is treated with bass traps, mid traps and HF adsorbors (behind the listening position).
I believe if you really want high quality sound you have to develope this amp/source/speaker/room/ect ect synergy.
ron

 

[zobsky]

good for you!

i'm surprized these interconnects aren't more popular. IMHO, they sound way better than they have a right to, for their price.

cheers

 

[Thatch_Ear]

The Litz is a great way to make ICs as well. 4 strands are easy to braid, even thin magnet wire if you take your time.
<http://chimeralabs.com/diy_braid.html>
OFC, INCLUDING, the RCA plugs tend to leave out a lot of noise and opens things up as well. Remember, gold plated brass relies on the gold which does not carry a signal near as well as copper. When I made my pair I ground the gold off where the solder connections were going to be made and tinned them before soldering the wire to the plugs.
Interconnects can be choke points but some DIY can get you a pair as good as any out there for a very reasonable cost.

 

[roncla]

ron

Yes its good for me.
Not really getting where i was heading.Theres a lot of newbies reading these posts and some of them will assume that just changing an innerconnect will up grade their system to somewhere around the equal of a 10K$ system.I have seen it before.
It takes a combination of things to get good system performance and innerconnects are a link in the chain , so to speak.
thanks
ron

 

[zobsky]

to summarize, .... a chain is only as strong as its weakest link