Author Topic: Another DIY power cable  (Read 15343 times)

tubeguy

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #20 on: November 05, 2010, 08:27:44 PM »
@TG  would you mind sharing with us what kind of a system are you running currently in your home?
we just love eye candy aswell the more we see the bigger our hunger gets for music

Nothing special.
Tannoy monitor gold 15" in home made back horn.
Single end 300B
Home made nos dac with tda1541
Marants sa11
home made ic's costing $20 pair
copper speaker wire from the 1950's (made by western electric I think)

Offline kajak12

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #21 on: November 05, 2010, 08:30:50 PM »
any photos
i know the marantz sa11 do you use it as transport?
speaker wire pure copper or plated?
tannoys are beautiful and famous
its not ordinary rig tg
show us your dac please
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

tubeguy

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #22 on: November 05, 2010, 08:36:13 PM »
dac is spread all over at the moment. still haven't finished the output buffer. May even use tubes :)

I plan to use the marantz as a transport when the dac is finished. May even sell it and just use an old one. I have several, CD50, CD65se, CD6000

Yes, speaker wire is pure copper.

Offline Jehuty

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #23 on: November 05, 2010, 08:36:55 PM »
@TG  would you mind sharing with us what kind of a system are you running currently in your home?
we just love eye candy aswell the more we see the bigger our hunger gets for music

Nothing special.
Tannoy monitor gold 15" in home made back horn.
Single end 300B
Home made nos dac with tda1541
Marants sa11
home made ic's costing $20 pair
copper speaker wire from the 1950's (made by western electric I think)

Nothing special is quite an understatement there tubeguy.. Pics would be awesome  :)
Not all that matters can be measured, not all that can be measured matters.

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #24 on: November 05, 2010, 08:39:33 PM »
The cable you see is older, the new bunnings solid core stuff does not have the white around the cable it is thinner but copper diameter is the same, and is now just the red you see in the picture near the plug.

Steven,  the double insulated solid core copper wire (red inside white insulation) was still available from Bunnings last time I visited,  I bought some,  and will likely buy more next time I'm there - I like it better than the single insulation wire as it doesnt get as "bendy".
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline kajak12

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #25 on: November 05, 2010, 08:46:33 PM »
dac is spread all over at the moment. still haven't finished the output buffer. May even use tubes :)

I plan to use the marantz as a transport when the dac is finished. May even sell it and just use an old one. I have several, CD50, CD65se, CD6000

Yes, speaker wire is pure copper.
tg look at kajak12 killer system my dac looks like shiezer! dont worry about cosmetics  what it sounds like counts
cd50 will make a more musical transport then the marantz s11 i can help you if you like
« Last Edit: November 05, 2010, 09:06:57 PM by kajak12 »
still discovering the link between electronics and audio reproduction.so much to learn and so little time

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #26 on: November 05, 2010, 09:12:24 PM »
@TG  would you mind sharing with us what kind of a system are you running currently in your home?
we just love eye candy aswell the more we see the bigger our hunger gets for music

Nothing special.
Tannoy monitor gold 15" in home made back horn.
Single end 300B
Home made nos dac with tda1541
Marants sa11
home made ic's costing $20 pair
copper speaker wire from the 1950's (made by western electric I think)
You are a god. I have had Tannoy monitor gold 15" and are great speakers. I use axiom 80 now and altec 515c.

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #27 on: November 05, 2010, 09:20:49 PM »
@TG  would you mind sharing with us what kind of a system are you running currently in your home?
we just love eye candy aswell the more we see the bigger our hunger gets for music

Nothing special.
Tannoy monitor gold 15" in home made back horn.
Single end 300B
Home made nos dac with tda1541
Marants sa11
home made ic's costing $20 pair
copper speaker wire from the 1950's (made by western electric I think)
Do you have any TDA1541A chips. Do you think the S1-S2 sound any different than standard.

Offline Upfront

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #28 on: November 05, 2010, 11:39:28 PM »
You do realize that the power coming from the wall is AC (obviously not judging by your post)
Both the Active and neutral should be of equal cross sectional area and the whole lot shielded by the earth...


Best regards, TG

I understand quite a bit more than you may realize. And yes it will be shielded by the earth when it's done.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2010, 07:22:12 AM by ozmillsy »

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #29 on: December 08, 2010, 10:33:53 PM »
Upfront,  any progress on this monster power cable?
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline vitavoxdude

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Re: Another DIY power cable
« Reply #30 on: December 27, 2010, 04:04:46 PM »
Tube guy - "Cables don't make a difference" ??? and that from someone who uses vintage cable???  You have just got to be kidding.
When trying to make a good sounding mains cable I can show you around 20 ways of not making it.......................... I know there are lots of high priced  poor value for money cables out there and your admission of $20 interconnects tells me they are home brewed and probably tuned to your system.  Tannoys and 300B's says a lot about the path you have already been down.

The cable required varies according to what piece of kit you are running, i.e. double insulted CD players do not benefit from an earth wire as they only have the hot and neutral connected at the device.  Power amps have different requirements to pre amps etc.  Usually most systems are earthed via the power amp which can prevent earth loops.  I still prefer to have all the cases for music gear at the same potential so will not lift earths.  Anyone who's ever got the earth belt will think twice about messing around blindly.  Some equipment also have built in mains filters which dump noise to earth and in the absence of a proper earth will give you a nice belt if you touch the case and something earthed  that will wake you up sharpish, beware.

Shielding of the cable with the earth is a good idea but difficult to achieve practically.

I have found wildly differing results from the quantity of copper contained and the number  and geometry of strands,  even insulators make a difference.  It was shortly after I demonstrated mains filters and mains cables back in the 80’s that they became ‘flavour of the month’ and every one jumped onto the bandwagon to high prices.
A recipe that works pretty well and remains relatively flexible is high voltage test cable plaited together,  it comes from RS and Farnell  in several colours and is not expensive.  The way I look at mains feeds  in audio is a cricket bat smacking your butt every 50th of a second, it’s a mechanical shock hitting the primary windings in your transformer and then after it has set the cores vibrating it goes onto strike at your diodes, the capacitors have to damp this shock wave into something resembling pure DC, a big ask and probably why PIO caps do a better job as they damp better than electrolytics or polyester etc at lower frequencies.  Going back to the cable the harder the insulator surrounding the conductor also affects the sonics.
All this harps back to the usual arguments that 1 metre of cable after hundreds of kilometres of mains feed cannot make a difference, well to all those naysayers water filters work and so do having mains filters and specialist mains cables.  IMO they can either destroy or make a system and do not mind demonstrating this to nay sayers.  Looks like a piece of wire is not just a piece of wire.  The best cable I ever made was a platinum feed with a 36 amp capability, trouble is it was bloody expensive and was bought by a dedicated audiophile back in the UK who uses it with Cary valves and Klipshorns, he has very good ears.
Start at your consumer inlet and wire in a dedicated ring main just for the audio, >30 amp should do it or if that proves to difficult / expensive then get yourself some ‘ for audio mains cables’ and start enjoying the benefits.  ;D

We all like different things so lets all agree to disagree and if any common ground is found then worship it.  Mine is the KD hence being present on this forum.