vr6ofpain
09-25-2004, 04:50 PM
I have been intrigued by the idea of improvements in sound from interconnects and speaker wire. A was one of these idiots that bought Monster Cable thinking it was good. I never could really tell the different because I had a Kenwood receiver and Infinity bookshelves that honestly portrayed music so badly than changes would be hard to hear.
Well over a year ago I bought some decent components off of ebay, a Lexicon CP-3 and an Adcom GFA-545. I connected them to my better MB Quart bookshelves(still not that great) and my Velodyno Sub. I noticed quite an improvement in sound quality and dynamics. I really liked the sound of my bookselves being run highpass(80hz) out of my Lexicon. People have been doing this for ever with car audio, couldnt figure out why it has become more prevalent till recently with Dolby Digital....anyway.
So I got the urge to experiment with nicer cables. I had some "decent" MC rca's between the preamp/processor and my amp, but I saw these nice looking Zu Cables on ebay. I bought their lower line Disco interconnects and tried them out. They actually sounded better than the MC's I had. So I was kinda pulled in. I don't have all the money to spend on better cables so I like to just look around. I noticed one "upper end" company is Kimber Kable. There stuff seems to look really cool, but I wondered about its performance considering the variances in reviews I have read about their products.
Here is my DIY part:
So I took notice of their PBJ Interconnect. Seems very simple. Three copper conductors and RCA terminations. They claim the wire is "hyper copper" or some crap. Whatever. I decided that I was going to make some clones. So I copied their braiding, which is actually a common braiding technique if I am not mistaken. I used some "el cheapo" high gauge car audio speaker wire(like 18-24awg), and some Monster Cable terminations I picked up for free from my brother(who used to work for a car audio store). I then made some. I listened to them in my system in comparison with these other crappy Esoteric Audio(car audio company) interconnects I also got for free from my brother. My homemade ones sounded better!!! More volume(transfering more voltage?) more mid-bass(not boomy though), and more dynamics...or at least they sound like there is more presence. I also paused the source and turned the preamp way up to compare the noise at full volume. There was very little from both sets, and they were equal in that aspect, so these copper wires dont seem to be picking up interference. NICE and cost to me $0.00, just took up a little free time, braiding and soldering....but I enjoyed it, for the experimental value. Gonna make more!
Here is my homemade "PBJ":
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/members/redventoglx/MC-PBJ.jpg
Here is the crappy interconnect that my homemade wires sounded better than:
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/members/redventoglx/crap.jpg
And here are the real Kimber Kable PBJ's:
http://www.audioadvisor.com/images/products/kkpbja.jpg
http://members.aol.com/pspa123/images/kimberb
http://i19.ebayimg.com/03/i/02/6c/c7/8d_1_b.JPG
THESE THINGS GO FOR ~$60 used on ebay for 0.5m sets.....DAMN!!!
Well over a year ago I bought some decent components off of ebay, a Lexicon CP-3 and an Adcom GFA-545. I connected them to my better MB Quart bookshelves(still not that great) and my Velodyno Sub. I noticed quite an improvement in sound quality and dynamics. I really liked the sound of my bookselves being run highpass(80hz) out of my Lexicon. People have been doing this for ever with car audio, couldnt figure out why it has become more prevalent till recently with Dolby Digital....anyway.
So I got the urge to experiment with nicer cables. I had some "decent" MC rca's between the preamp/processor and my amp, but I saw these nice looking Zu Cables on ebay. I bought their lower line Disco interconnects and tried them out. They actually sounded better than the MC's I had. So I was kinda pulled in. I don't have all the money to spend on better cables so I like to just look around. I noticed one "upper end" company is Kimber Kable. There stuff seems to look really cool, but I wondered about its performance considering the variances in reviews I have read about their products.
Here is my DIY part:
So I took notice of their PBJ Interconnect. Seems very simple. Three copper conductors and RCA terminations. They claim the wire is "hyper copper" or some crap. Whatever. I decided that I was going to make some clones. So I copied their braiding, which is actually a common braiding technique if I am not mistaken. I used some "el cheapo" high gauge car audio speaker wire(like 18-24awg), and some Monster Cable terminations I picked up for free from my brother(who used to work for a car audio store). I then made some. I listened to them in my system in comparison with these other crappy Esoteric Audio(car audio company) interconnects I also got for free from my brother. My homemade ones sounded better!!! More volume(transfering more voltage?) more mid-bass(not boomy though), and more dynamics...or at least they sound like there is more presence. I also paused the source and turned the preamp way up to compare the noise at full volume. There was very little from both sets, and they were equal in that aspect, so these copper wires dont seem to be picking up interference. NICE and cost to me $0.00, just took up a little free time, braiding and soldering....but I enjoyed it, for the experimental value. Gonna make more!
Here is my homemade "PBJ":
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/members/redventoglx/MC-PBJ.jpg
Here is the crappy interconnect that my homemade wires sounded better than:
http://www.parts4vws.com/images/members/redventoglx/crap.jpg
And here are the real Kimber Kable PBJ's:
http://www.audioadvisor.com/images/products/kkpbja.jpg
http://members.aol.com/pspa123/images/kimberb
http://i19.ebayimg.com/03/i/02/6c/c7/8d_1_b.JPG
THESE THINGS GO FOR ~$60 used on ebay for 0.5m sets.....DAMN!!!