I built 2 pairs of the Chris VenHaus cables mentioned in a variety of places and found what Sean says to be true about the direction of the two conductors. The first pair I built was made with both conductor's "direction" going from one end of the cable to the other (opposite of what Sean suggests) and the other pair with the conductors running in opposite directions. The cables were built pretty much that same (that is, both had my signature sloppy soldering ;-)), and I've found that the second pair produces a far more cohesive sound (e.g. a more solid soundstage) than does the first. Its possible that there are construction differences between the two that might account for this difference in sound, but I've heard others parrot what Sean was saying so I'm guessing that this may well be the difference in my case.
As for the gauge of the wire, the recipe I used recommends very fine wire (32 gauge) and suggests that there is in increase in detail and attack when using this gauge as opposed to something larger like 24-26 gauge. My experience with silver cables is somewhat limited, but I do find that these guys are by far the most accurate and detailed cables I have. That said, I should mention that I'm currently using a combination of HomeGrown Silver and Nordost Blue Heaven cables in the system, and not the home made cables. While the accuracy and detail of my home made cables really does exceed the others, the additional warmth that I get from the HomeGrown/Nordost cables is much nicer to listen to. Nevertheless, its interesting to find that absolute conductor size doesn't necessarily reduce resolution or accuracy as I had always expected.
As a side note, my cables were made with 2 inch double helical twists around teflon tubing (as prescribed by the recipe). I believe the idea was to reduce exposure to RFI/EMI by twisting the wires while keeping the conductors separated as far from each other as possible. Its hard to know if more or less twist would help/degrade the sound quality (or make any difference at all).
Good luck with the cables and I hope they turn out great. While my home made cables didnt end up in service with my main system (the better of the two pair is in my bedroom system), they were great fun to build and experiment with.
Cheers, Ken
As for the gauge of the wire, the recipe I used recommends very fine wire (32 gauge) and suggests that there is in increase in detail and attack when using this gauge as opposed to something larger like 24-26 gauge. My experience with silver cables is somewhat limited, but I do find that these guys are by far the most accurate and detailed cables I have. That said, I should mention that I'm currently using a combination of HomeGrown Silver and Nordost Blue Heaven cables in the system, and not the home made cables. While the accuracy and detail of my home made cables really does exceed the others, the additional warmth that I get from the HomeGrown/Nordost cables is much nicer to listen to. Nevertheless, its interesting to find that absolute conductor size doesn't necessarily reduce resolution or accuracy as I had always expected.
As a side note, my cables were made with 2 inch double helical twists around teflon tubing (as prescribed by the recipe). I believe the idea was to reduce exposure to RFI/EMI by twisting the wires while keeping the conductors separated as far from each other as possible. Its hard to know if more or less twist would help/degrade the sound quality (or make any difference at all).
Good luck with the cables and I hope they turn out great. While my home made cables didnt end up in service with my main system (the better of the two pair is in my bedroom system), they were great fun to build and experiment with.
Cheers, Ken