making my your own cables?

[boxer82003]

what do you guys think of making your own cables out of coaxial cable and soldering or using the push on ends.

just curious

[Kevin D]

We do it all the time at work. Not for rack work, but getting signals from point A to B is all over RG6.

Moving this to another forum as it's not Rotel specific.

Kevin D.

[boxer82003]

We do it all the time at work. Not for rack work, but getting signals from point A to B is all over RG6.

Moving this to another forum as it's not Rotel specific.

Kevin D.

so there is nothing wrong with it i have about 40 ft of it and was thinking of making my connections from my pre amp to my amp is there a prefference of the solder type vs rg-6 to rca thread on type of connector i imagine there the same

[Lex]

long as you know it's not optimized for analog audio. Yeah, it will carry the signal, but that's about it. IF you are looking for high grade audio transmission, come see me, lol.

oh, from pre-amp to amp, I wouldn't really recommend this if quality is important. foil shielding is the enemy of analog audio, and no cheap RG-6 is what is used in fine audio cables worth their salt-

I mean think about it, if the audio and video cable was all the same, their would be no reason to manufacture video cable, and any other cable, it would all just be 75 ohm coax.

doug
CATCables.com

[boxer82003]

Can you explain why it’s the enemy I mean the foil shielding.

I don’t mean to be ignorant but the coax I will be using has a copper clad center conductor wrapped in a foam dielectric then wrapped in a foil shield which is then wrapped with a steal braid multiple strands. Its 100% shielded double shielded, I guess I could get a quad shielded coax but unnecessary

this could go on and on which i am sure it has in the past.

my real question is will I really notice a sonic difference.


thanks

[Brandon B]

If the core is "copper clad", that means it is copper clad steel usually. Steel is used as the cable is more resistant to damage from being pulled through conduit, suspended across rooms, etc. But it is pretty poor for audio, and if your equipment is even half decent, then yes, you'll hear a difference.

BB

[Karma]

long as you know it's not optimized for analog audio. Yeah, it will carry the signal, but that's about it. IF you are looking for high grade audio transmission, come see me, lol.

oh, from pre-amp to amp, I wouldn't really recommend this if quality is important. foil shielding is the enemy of analog audio, and no cheap RG-6 is what is used in fine audio cables worth their salt-

I mean think about it, if the audio and video cable was all the same, their would be no reason to manufacture video cable, and any other cable, it would all just be 75 ohm coax.

doug
CATCables.com

HI,
Lex is being kind. I’m not so kind. Conventional RF coax is horrid for high quality audio signal transmission. I have designed my own cables. I certainly had the option of using coax. It would have been much, much easier. I went in a completely different direction with great results.

Cable design and construction is not trivial if you are concerned about quality sound. It must be approached from electronic/mechanical engineering and artistic point of views. You need real goals. You need to understand the sonic consequences of your design decisions. It requires research, trial and error, and an understanding of materials and conductors. And it requires an incredible amount of time. Not least, it requires a good test system that really informs you about your trials and gives consistent, diagnostic results. Do not forget that the cables must also be reliable and reasonably user friendly. I have seen cables that were literally impossible to use in a system because they were so unwieldy. No good.

I really respect Lex and what he has accomplished. Not only has he solved the sonic and mechanical problems he has also made his cables commercially viable. My cables could never be produced commercially at a decent price because there is too much manual hand work involved. It's not the cost of materials but the labor. Having been through the exercise I tend to steer people away from designing their own cables unless they are willing to spend the necessary time to accomplish something good. If you don't care about good, well, use anything in your junk box. Any old wire will get the electrons from here to there.

I assume you are speaking about interconnects. Speaker cables are another and very different challenge. I've designed those too. Not easier, just different. Maybe harder.

Don't use coax. IMHO!!!

Sparky

[Kevin D]

Yeah, definitely don't use is for equipment hook-up. When I said we used it, I meant for long runs through a house, where normal cables would be too expensive or too impractical to use.

Kevin D.

[dyazdani]

Same here - I'm using RG-6 to run some lines through the attic for component video runs to my projector. I wouldn't use it for audio signals though if I had any choice at all.

Just how far is your amp from your pre?

[boxer82003]

it will only be about 3 or for feet away not far at all

[dyazdani]

I'd just get a nice pair of 1.5-2.0m interconnects from CAT. It's not worth using the coax for that short of a run IMHO.

[aud19]

I've made my own cables and for anything of decent quality it's almost no cheaper and certainly way more difficult to do your own then to just buy from Doug at Cat Cables. That's my advice

[boxer82003]

i just found 2 sets of component cables would they work for a connection from my pre/amp to my amp, i am trying to save a few bucks would i notice any sonic difference? or should i bite the bullet and go buy some cables.