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Author Topic: Is this stuff any good?  (Read 5802 times)

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Offline Nick's Picks

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Is this stuff any good?
« on: August 18, 2005, 04:46:21 PM »
I picked up a 100' spool of teflon coated silver plated coper wire on eBay for short money..
wondering what I might use it for?  I was thinking power cables....maybe some mic cables.

eBay discription and a pic:

100' 14ga Teflon Silver Wire For Audio Cables Mil Spec?

This is a new coil of 100' of Teflon coated, silver plated fine stranded wire, 14ga. As seen in last picture the spool is marked with a Mil type number. This stuff is great for speakers, woofers, and other audio runs. The Teflon coating is tough, and will not nick through like plastic. It is tough for critters to chew through if put in walls. Since audio signals travel mostly on the outer surface of the conductors, the silver plated copper conductor is great for low loss. It sucks up solder like a sponge, and will not melt like plastic when heated.

This came from a new spool from a government contact. It had one small spot that the insulation was nicked so the whole spool was rejected.  Feedback from buyer of other wire like this that I have sold,  said it works great and out performs Monster cable they were using, with clear differences they could hear. (Your results may be different).

Wire is like spool shown.

Offline momule

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2005, 05:47:29 PM »
IMO it would be a bit big for mic cables as by the time you got three strands of it and a shield of some sort it would be twice the size of Some Star quad.. (and I would personally want to use 4 conductors and a shield) But YMMV

Im pretty sure the  regular star quad is 4 conductors of 21AWG , Mini star quad is 4 conductors of 24AWG Which was still a bit big for my taste. Just to give ya a size refrence

It would however prolly work pretty well for some IC's, as you would only need two strands which would keep the OD down... I would also suggest going with a litz braid if ya decide to Make IC's out of it...

I chose to go with the Belden 1804A for my silver plated mic cables. it offers as much isolation as the star quad and is the size of active cables..
see here for pic's . http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=47566.0
the first cable is mini star quad sleeved in Nylon techflex , the second is the beldon silver plated cable
AKG 463's (uno ck62) > Mackie Onyx Satellite > Microtrack II

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2005, 06:02:34 PM »
yea, mic cables were the farthest project down the list...dont really need them.
same goes for ICs right now..i've got two pairs of killer ones allready.
but power cables..I think it would work well.

what should I use for sheilding?
any pointers here...appreciated.
:)

Offline momule

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2005, 06:10:38 PM »
ya should work out nice for some power cables..

ya would need to use something like this. (you may be able to find it cheaper Im just using this link as an example.)
https://www.wirecare.com/wirecarephp1/wc_product_list.php?prod=MB&prodline=ES
AKG 463's (uno ck62) > Mackie Onyx Satellite > Microtrack II

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2005, 06:53:40 PM »
thats what I was thinking..
but would it be affective shielding?


Offline momule

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2005, 06:58:00 PM »
ya its the same thing other cables are shielded with . the tighter the braid (the less you stretch it) the More RFI/EMI pollution you will avoid..

AKG 463's (uno ck62) > Mackie Onyx Satellite > Microtrack II

Offline Todd R

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2005, 10:42:33 PM »
Should be good for speaker cables, Nick.
Mics: Microtech Gefell m20/m21 (nbob/pfa actives), Line Audio CM3, Church CA-11 cards
Preamp:  none <sniff>
Recorders:  Sound Devices MixPre-6, Sony PCM-M10, Zoom H4nPro

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2005, 07:14:24 AM »
yea, maybe i'll make a pair w/them.  Looks like I'll have enough.

Offline Lil Kim Jong-Il

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2005, 11:54:25 AM »
Do you really need to shield the power cable?  I ask because I have some PCs that are made using the Chris VenHaus recipe and they are not shielded - the ground wire is spiraled counter to the twisted pair that carry power.  They are dead silent.  I would recommend checking out his recipes and then replace his recommended wire with that wire you have.  PartsExpress has Marinco and wattgate plugs for a decent price.

I looked on ebay and there are quite a few listings for mil-spec wire teflon coated copper wire.  I wonder how this stuff compares to the single crystal drawn OFC wires?  I'm assuming it's pretty close.  I ordered some smaller guage wire to make a few short cables. 
The first rule of amateur neurosurgery club is .... I forget.

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2005, 04:08:29 PM »
Thank Michael...
i'll check out that recipe and those plug sources.

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2005, 05:53:21 PM »
got the cable today...
its very thin.  certainly could be mic cable.  Would be very skinny for speaker cable..comparred to the individual strands of my Gregg Stralley cable.

Offline Lil Kim Jong-Il

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #11 on: August 22, 2005, 07:00:45 PM »
got the cable today...
its very thin.  certainly could be mic cable.  Would be very skinny for speaker cable..comparred to the individual strands of my Gregg Stralley cable.

I was looking at the specs for the canare starquad and they list the equivalent cross section for a pair of conducters at 21-23 AWG depending on which series.  I ordered some 20awg and some 26awg.  I think I'll just use a single 20awg conductor per leg for the balanced cables.  I'd like to try using the smaller guage to braid 4 conducters for unbalanced ICs to try in my home system.

For speaker cables, you can braid multiple 14awg conductors together to make a bigger effective guage.  I'd just start with three strands and see how that sounds using a loose braid of 1braid every two inches so it isn't too much work.   I think independent legs would be better than to braid the (+) and (-) conductors together like the Kimber, but thats just my preference and I think less effort to rework if you decide to add additional strands.     
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Offline Todd R

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #12 on: August 22, 2005, 07:03:07 PM »
Teflon is very tough and very heat resistant, so the teflon jacket is generally much thinner than a PVC jacket or whatever.  14ga is perfectly respectable for speaker cable, even though your new silver stock seems really skinny.  You might want to go with 10ga or 12ga, but 14 is still good.  I'm using canare speaker starquad (4S8) right now on my home office stereo, which is a combined 13ga wire.  Their 4S11 which seemed way too huge, esp in my office, is a combined 11ga.

I think most mic cable is 21ga, 24ga, or 26-28ga.  14ga is really pretty large.  Regardless, I wouldn't use that for your mic cables since mic cables deal with very small voltage levels and are thus much more prone to EMI or RFI noise.  If you were to attempt it, you'd need to twist the wires together by hand and then find some kind of copper or tinned copper metal braiding and insert the twisted wires into the braiding, being certain to tie the braiding to ground in your completed cables.  I think once you got the wires you have twisted, inserted into the braiding for EMI/RFI sheilding, and then got the whole thing inserted into some techflex, you'd have some pretty bulky mic cables.  Not to mention it would be a total PITA.
Mics: Microtech Gefell m20/m21 (nbob/pfa actives), Line Audio CM3, Church CA-11 cards
Preamp:  none <sniff>
Recorders:  Sound Devices MixPre-6, Sony PCM-M10, Zoom H4nPro

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #13 on: August 22, 2005, 07:10:32 PM »
i hear ya on the PITA factor...
it'll make nice ICs, power and speaker cables for sure.
:O

Offline leegeddy

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #14 on: August 23, 2005, 01:43:14 AM »


nick;

these were made for BCostigan. 4x 12awg, twisted, wrapped in teflon and the purple techflex. yes, he wanted purple!  :D

tim has similar cables, but non bi-wired.  the PITA factor is definitely there. raw cables are unrolled from a large spool, quad twisted making sure there's a uniform twist, teflon wrap is added, silver plated spades crimped then techflex is put on.

marc
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"Mics? What mics? This is my hat."

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #15 on: August 23, 2005, 07:31:53 AM »
those look sweet.
i'm sue mine wont be anywhere near that nice. 

if i had crappy cable..i'd be more ambitious.
:)
thanks for posting that pic Marc.

Offline Lil Kim Jong-Il

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #16 on: August 23, 2005, 10:18:05 AM »
Those look nice.  I think the purple sheath is cool.  In the photo, it looks like there is a foil shield.  Is that right?

Braiding 3 is so much easier than twisting pairs.  I imagine twisting those together was a pain. Do you use a jig to do the twists or do you do them by hand?

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Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #17 on: August 23, 2005, 10:32:29 AM »
i was thinking about using a drill.  duck taping the two ends to either side of the drill cam...and then securing the other ends...viola!  twisted up tight.
but..thats in my brain.  we'll have to see how reality pans out.
:)

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #18 on: August 23, 2005, 10:52:37 AM »
http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=28_108_96&products_id=257
this is what I would need for mic cables, right?

and then some techflex over it? 

Offline Todd R

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #19 on: August 23, 2005, 11:25:10 AM »
That's exactly what I was thinking about Nick.  I just came across that exact braiding when I was investigating what I'd need to make some power cables the other day.  But wow, 3/8" plus techflex over it all -- those will be some beefy mic cables!  :o


Edit:  Forgot to add -- Marc, those speaker cables look great!
Mics: Microtech Gefell m20/m21 (nbob/pfa actives), Line Audio CM3, Church CA-11 cards
Preamp:  none <sniff>
Recorders:  Sound Devices MixPre-6, Sony PCM-M10, Zoom H4nPro

Offline Lil Kim Jong-Il

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #20 on: August 23, 2005, 01:09:34 PM »
a cheaper source of good copper braid is here: www.percyaudio.com/Catalog.pdf
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Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #21 on: August 23, 2005, 05:02:40 PM »
sweet!
:)

Offline leegeddy

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #22 on: August 23, 2005, 08:50:08 PM »
That's exactly what I was thinking about Nick.  I just came across that exact braiding when I was investigating what I'd need to make some power cables the other day.  But wow, 3/8" plus techflex over it all -- those will be some beefy mic cables!  :o

Edit:  Forgot to add -- Marc, those speaker cables look great!

thanks todd.

marc
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"Mics? What mics? This is my hat."

Offline JAH

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Re: Is this stuff any good?
« Reply #23 on: August 24, 2005, 09:08:49 AM »
don't forget about the capacitance...it can have affect over a longer distance.... ;)
Taping, it's a team sport!
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