What cable to use for audio (phono) diy connections?

[Dave Plowman]

Yup - you've got more money than sense. ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Alan Deane wrote on Sunday (01/02/2004) :

OFC = Snake oil along with the 'antenna boosters' for mobile phones.

Any reasonable screened copper cable is perfectly adequate for this application. Gold plated connectors look good and do prevent corrosion, but then so does perfectly ordinary cheap nickel plating.

Connecting the screen at both ends should not cause a ground loop problem, if the ground is isolated at both ends. If there were a problem, it is usual to isolate the ground at the farthest end from the input. This would mean cutting both ground connections where it connects to your DAB system.

Hint:- Pulling the phono plugs a little way out disconnects the ground connection first, thus enabling the ground loop problem to be easily tested.

[ng_abuse-subscribe]

Harry Bloomfield retched What cable to use for audio (phono) diy connections? onto my recliner:

You might be lucky and Harry might FOAD!!!!!!! YAY!

[ng_abuse-subscribe]

Harry Bloomfield retched What cable to use for audio (phono) diy connections? onto my recliner:

Don't listen to this cowboy. He's been on TV you know. Watchdog.

[James]

Many thanks for the replies. To sum up:

1. Now I understand that each phono plug socket has two solder tags. Aha. Current set-up doesn't have the shielding connected at all. Ooops.
2. My original intention was to use the junction box as a sort of permanent patch panel. In a 3-socket pair connection I thought it would save me soldering two wires to each tag in the middle socket. My impression from all the posts is that this is probably not a good idea?
3. Connecting the shielding at both ends or at one end. Some divergent views.

Off to Maplins...

James

[Richard Savage]

Is that a polite comment or one that I should take exception to? Maybe your tag says it all? ;-)

[Owain]

"James" wrote | 1. Now I understand that each phono plug socket has two solder tags. | Aha. Current set-up doesn't have the shielding connected at all. | Ooops.

That explains a lot :-0

| 2. My original intention was to use the junction box as a sort of | permanent patch panel. In a 3-socket pair connection I thought it | would save me soldering two wires to each tag in the middle socket. | My impression from all the posts is that this is probably not a good | idea?

You probably won't get two wires into each phono plug because the cables will be bigger than the hole in the plug.

Remember I said you can join two stereo phono leads together end-end using a Twin Phono Coupler QT64U? You could use two of Two Into One Adapter YW39N to join each lead together and give you a plug to go into equipment in the cellar.

Much better would be to use a Phono Socket 6-Way JH95D at 99p which is 6 phono sockets mounted on a paxolin panel. Common together the sockets in two rows of 3 and mount the panel on (thinks: what did I use last time?) an old flat tobacco tin. You will then have two rows (L and R) of commoned sockets into which you can plug your kitchen lead, your lounge lead, and a lead to your cellar equipment.

| 3. Connecting the shielding at both ends or at one end. Some | divergent views.

If you use the Phono Socket 6 way to make your little patch panel and you find after setting it up you want to disconnect the screen, you can just cut the commoning link on the back of the panel which will be much easier than remaking the cable connections. Much easier to reinstate the continuous screening later if you need to, too.

Owain

[Richard Savage]

Quiet agree, when I was rattling on about lots of money I was thinking in terms of what is reasonably priced cable when considering performance over a few metres becoming (very) expensive over the distances mentioned by the OP. WRT gold plated connectors; some of the ones I've had from CPC seem to be made to a much higher spec than their non-gold counterparts for little increase in price. I've no doubt that what you say about the plating is true, but struggling with a (mechanically) cheap connector may not make sense for the OP in the long run (no pun intended).

Regards Richard

[Dave Plowman]

Heh heh. This is a practical group - about DIY. Esoteric notions that adequate cables sound different is best kept for the loony audio groups. You may know that there's a standing challenge with a large cash prize for anyone who can tell the difference between adequately specified cables in a properly conducted test - and so far, no one has succeeded. And adequate cables for interconnects cost pennies per foot, not hundreds of dollars as do some on the market.

[Dave Plowman]

While it's possible to make an interconnect that would affect the performance adversely, I'd say it would cost *more* than one which didn't. And by the nature of an interconnect, it works *before* the amplification you have control over, so how it can have an effect on distortion when you change that level, I'm not sure.

Cable parameters consist of three things - resistance, inductance and capacitance. If the output and input of two devices were a 'perfect' match these might have some effect under some circumstances. But on domestic gear, they aren't. You have a low impedance output feeding a high impedance input. The amounts of the three cable parameters would have to be *far* higher than any normal cable to have any audible effect on performance.

[geoff]

In message , anyone writes

I am the company

[Lurch]

Basically, you're amplifying the noise with the audio source. It becomes more noticable at higher levels of amplification. I know this is right, I've done it when installing ICE, you can tell easily that the volume is the same but the background noise is louder when the source volume is turned up.

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Dave Plowman]

To all intents and purposes, cables don't have 'background noise' in the lengths we're talking about. Of course any subsequent amplifier will make a difference to the noise of the source, but that noise comes from the source electronics, etc, not the cables.

[N. Thornton]

screen is connected at both ends. Standard screened wire should do fine. Ignore the snake oil nonsense, and dont bother with gold flashed connectors unless: a) your place is so damp you get corrosion (gold is corrosion proof) b) the gold plating is specified as thick enough to prevent this - most gold finishes are just cosmetic.

Regards, NT

[Dave Plowman]

Many gold finishes at the cheaper end aren't gold.

[Craig Graham]

CPC certainly do credit card purchases without an account. Never tried Farnell but they're in the same league as RS- I've done credit card purchases with RS.

-- Dr. Craig Graham, Software Engineer Advanced Analysis and Integration Limited, UK.

[Craig Graham]

Had to keep my face straight about 18 months ago when a guy in a hifi shop was telling me all about how coax digital interconnect gave a warmer sound than optical.

Aren't OFC cables claimed to be polarised so you have to connect them the right way round?

Saw a pig fly past yesterday.

-- Dr. Craig Graham, Software Engineer Advanced Analysis and Integration Limited, UK.

[Lurch]

Hmm, I seem to remember posting a reply to this but it hasn't arrived yet! Anyway, it basically said you do need an account, that's what CPC told me. I currently have a cash account, I can pay by card per order as with any other non account requiring supplier. Erm, I was going to write something else here but it's gone. No, wait a minute....., no, it's definitely gone!!

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Lurch]

Yes, agreed. I was meaning cheaper, non screened cable would be more succeptible to allowing noise into the source signal that can be amplified rather than actually introducing it into the source signal.

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Lurch]

Or, for the lazier person something similar to these,

can get various sizes and combinations premade, these are what I found without looking too hard.

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.