Silver DIY Interconnects

Sean, perhaps this is what you were referring to in your two camps discussion above, but at what point does capacitance become a problem? George Cardas states on his website “…Ray Kimber, Bill Low, Rodger Skoff, and myself…common use of multiple parallel conductors…if you measure the capacitance of each of our cables, they are all about the same, 45 pico farads per foot more or less.” I believe the capacitance of Goertz is even higher. Comparing this with Venhaus’s assertion that his IC is 3.5 pf/foot, it appears that maybe there’s some room to work with before problems occur? (I’m a chemist, not an engineer, so I’m a bit weak on electrical theory. Maybe the difference between 3.5 and 45 pf is not significant?)

The Cardas site goes onto say “Capacitance by itself means little unless viewed in the light of conductor inductance and resistance.” Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to measure these parameters on my DIY trials; so I have to rely on what it sounds like to me in my system.

Someday, I’ll have to get some Belden cable and try Risch’s design. I’ll have to get over my phobia regarding stranded cables first. In the meantime, the idea combining different gauge solid cores sounds intriguing…

I have tried to build DIY cables with mixed results. I did like the challenge. Fact is that the cable mfgs have the edge because of custom fabrication. In many cases you cannot duplicate the best cables because of specialized designs (patents), custom dielectrics, custom cable cores, 6-7 nines hot die wire, special windings, cryo, etc.

Audioengr: I can't say that i have knowingly listened to / compared "low purity silver" directly against "high purity silver". With that in mind, my thoughts are that the difference in sonics between the levels of purity that we are talking have little to do with absolute purity but more with how the wire was drawn and the texture of it. My thoughts are that one can have a road constructed with the finest of materials yet still suffer from massive pot-holes and uneven surfaces, etc... Just as such a road does not make for smooth or fast travelling, i would imagine that the same thing could be said for electrons with "jagged" conductors. Just a guess though as i'm not a metalurgist and i don't play one on tv : )

Wdi: I would venture to say that your "phobia" of stranded cables is probably pretty well based, as i too normally prefer solid core conductors. Having said that, all i can tell you is that a Mobie or other "good quality" burner can work wonders on "fixing" many of the problems that we associate with stranded conductors.

Other than that, i would HIGHLY encourage you to experiment with whatever raw parts you have available. It is quite possible to take one interconnect and work through quite a few different configurations with a little soldering. That is, if it uses more than two conductors : )

As far as capacitance goes, how much is "too much" will vary with the components that you are using. Some IC based SS designs may have a fit with a short run of "reasonably high" capacitance cables whereas most tube based gear will sing and dance under the same conditions. With that in mind, most braided / multi-conductored / heavily shielded interconnects end up right around 30 - 45 pf / foot and i don't think that this amount is really too much of a big deal on a "decent" component. Most "basic" interconnects are well under 25 pf / foot, which means that you could literally run two to three times the length of "generic" interconnect as some of these fancy ones and end up with the same appr amount of capacitance.

I will say that the Goertz "flat" interconnects are VERY high in capacitance ( much like their "flat" speaker cables ) and can throw some designs for a loop very quickly. I measured a 6' run of their Silver Sapphire's as clocking in at appr 1320 pF total !!! That works out to appr 220 pf / foot !!! In comparison, the reading that i took off of a run of the Belden 89248 / 89259 combo mentioned above worked out to about 8 - 9 pf / foot. The Magnan 3's that i have worked out to about 30 pf foot, which i really thought would have been higher than that. As you can see, one foot of the Goertz Silver Sapphire would be equivalent to almost 25 feet of the Belden twisted pair cable !!! As such, you have to be careful when working with ANY "exotic" designs as they can be QUITE reactive in very small quantities.

Sonic Genius: I agree that consistency in design / construction is a hard thing to do for a DIY'er. In this regard, the cable manufacturers do have a big advantage in terms of repeatable designs and consistent spacing / impedance due to the use of automated machinery doing most of the labor. As such, one really has to work at paying attention to what they are doing in order to build "consistent" and "repeatable" cables when doing DIY. Having some basic test equipment to compare your results as you go surely doesn't hurt either : )

I'd just like to stress that many "cable manufacturers" are not manufacturers at all. Many are actually "resellers" of pre-manufactured cables that they have their name put on for them. As such, they probably don't have the know how or test equipment to actually verify / compare designs and results. They leave that up to you to do that for them. At the same time, you'll probably end up paying them tall cash for what is basically a commonly available product. As such, be careful what you buy and from whom you buy it. Chances are, they don't have the the knowledge /tools to really make a "better" product.

If you want to know if a cable manufacturer actually "knows" what they are doing and has the tools to design a better product, ask them about their "TDR*". If they have one and know what it is, they'll think that you know what you are talking about and have an electronics background. If they have no idea what it is, you might know what you are talking about. That is, compared to them : ) Sean
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* TDR is an acronym for Time Domain Reflectometer. This is a device that can measure just about every aspect of wire / cable performance known to man. Needless to say, they are quite costly and only those that are "hardcore" into designing / building / testing various cables with the knowledge to know how to interpret such data would own such a device. Then again, you can own a hammer and still not be much of a carpenter : )

Capacitance of 45 pF/foot is a bit high IME. I prefer wires with 3-4 pF/foot. The detail is much better on ALL systems. However, low capacitance is not by itself sufficient. To make a world-class cable, you also need good metallurgy (as Sean mentioned) and bare wires - no conformal insulation.

Audioengr: I see that you are basically in the "air dielectric" camp, huh ??? While i have no problem with that, how does one go about maintaining a consistent impedance with such a design let alone minimize the potential for cables short circuiting themselves ? Sean
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