homemade speaker cables

[muttonchopsrule]

i thought about posting this after i saw the thread about making cables. one of my buddies has his own full sound system so he can do sound for bands at local halls and the likes, and his idea for speaker cables is pretty intriguing. instead of spending hundreds of bucks on a bunch of 50'+ speaker cables, what he did was just cut the ends off a couple of $10 extension cords and soldered the 1/4" jacks on the ends. doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me...i mean, extension cords are obviously designed to handle some high voltage, and it saves a lot of money.

is it as safe as it seems to do this? i can't imagine it doing any harm, as long as you're sure the solder joints are 100%. but this won't harm any of the other equipment, will it?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: homemade speaker cables

That's a brilliant idea. You can buy those power cords for $1, and solder some 1/4 ends on them. Never thought of that....thanks. I usually buy speaker cables from Carvin, since that's the cheapest place for them.

 

[Marcel]

Re: homemade speaker cables

ever compared a good and a cheap speaker cable. I'm quite sure i hear a difference....

 

[Scott_F]

Re: homemade speaker cables

Here's what I found when I recently bought cables from Lord Valve., The price is in the connectors and the labor involved. The difference between a 20' guitar cable with Neutriks and a 1' guitar cable for my pedals was $22 versus $18. Cable is cheap, labor and connectors isn't.

When you look for extension cords, make sure you get a really big thick one. Especially if you're going to run long distances.

The down side is the lack of shielding. Running those with florescent lights nearby might be an issue.

 

[Jag513]

Re: homemade speaker cables

Speaker cables don't really need shielding. Since it's a low-impedance circuit, only an extremely powerful EMI source can make shielding an issue.

To Muttonchopsrule, if you're looking into doing something, it's good to read up on what you're looking for. http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/cords/index.php is a great site with tons of good information

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: homemade speaker cables

cool, thanks for the info. i've been thinking about doing this just to make a couple spare 2' cables for connecting my head to my cabinet.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: homemade speaker cables

Speaker cables don't really need shielding. Since it's a low-impedance circuit, only an extremely powerful EMI source can make shielding an issue.

To Muttonchopsrule, if you're looking into doing something, it's good to read up on what you're looking for. http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/cords/index.php is a great site with tons of good information

That's a good read. If you search this forum, you'll see that I've often said something akin to "I'm not sure the electrons really care."

I did think and kinda still do regardless of this article, that your speaker cable ought to be shielded if you're going to the trouble of getting a quality cord. That being said, I know guys that use heavy gauge electrical lamp replacement cord for their speaker cables with great success. I did like the point hte author made about construction quality and workmanship. That is a big deal. Nothing pisses me off more to have a cable connection start to give way as I'm walking around my 25 square feet of playing room! I like to move around when I'm playing.

There is a lot of hype out there for sure. I've seen some truly outrageous prices on some of this stuff. I think the average price of the cables that Lord Valve is making are about 20-24 bucks for the average 10-15' length, depending on which connectors you use, Neutrik or Switchcraft.

I've paid about 20 bucks for a decent quality cable at my local mom and pop shop. I am impressed by the indestructable impression those Neutrik connectors leave me with. And, Lord Valve, love him or hate him, has a high attention to detail which I expect out of a cable maker.

Good article. The gist of it is, for most of us, at reasonable lengths, anything short of the cheapy, giveaway cord, will do probably do the trick. I really cant' hear much difference if any from the guitar cords I was using versus the new LV ones. I can hear a difference in the speaker cable though. I'm getting more highs in the amp/head.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: homemade speaker cables

cool, thanks for the info. i've been thinking about doing this just to make a couple spare 2' cables for connecting my head to my cabinet.

heavy duty two strand lamp cord from home depot and some patience with your soldering iron will get you there if you wanna go cheap.

I bought an extra 4 feet of the guitar wire from Lord Valve when I was there that day (what a name to give yourself). I'm going to by some connectors and solder up my own pedal cables. I think he sold it to me for like 50 cents a foot or something ridiculous. If I buy some tubes from him at some point, I'll probably get a bit more cable shipped my way.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: homemade speaker cables

This was Lord Valve's email where I found out that he was even doing cables....

----------------------------------------------------------------


Greetings from the Valve Lord...

I've been debating on whether or not to do a mass e-mail offering the
cables I've been making for musicians for nearly thirty years; cabling
is a very touchy subject with some people, and there are fierce, never-
ending flamewars fought over which company makes the best ones. Debate's
over, here it is. ;-)

I'm not going to make any "audiophool" claims for mine - I'm not going
to say they're "fast" or "time-aligned" or "pure" or any other such
audiophool nonsense; what I *will* say is that I have *really* good
assembly chops, and that it's so rare for one of my cables to fail in
the field that it's damn near unheard of. I have cables in pro service
that are 20 years old and still going strong, and cables on tour with
major road shows.

The latest guitar cables I've been building feature a new wire from Italy
by a company called ProEl. The jacket on this cable is astonishingly
tough, but the cable is surprisingly flexible. It features a conductive
plastic electrostatic ("triboelectric") shield in addition to the normal
braided copper shielding; the electrostatic shield does away with
microphonics and static electricity discharge noises which often occur
when the cable slithers around on the floor. The jacket is a high-tech
looking translucent plastic which is a light gray ("transparent pewter")
in color, allowing the tinned braid shielding to show through the jacket
for a very snazzy-looking (but tasteful) effect. It's also available in
clear, which makes the cable a very shiny silver color overall. I stock a
couple of hundred meters of the clear-jacketed ProEl, but I prefer the look
of the transparent pewter jacket. If you need a stereo or send/return pair
or otherwise need to differentiate between two cables, order one with a
clear jacket. The performance is the same in either case.

The 18-gauge OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) center conductor features a foamed
dielectric insulator, which is something not normally seen in guitar cables.
This process produces a cable with *extremely* low capacitance; low
capacitance is important in low signal-level, high-impedance wiring networks,
which is *exactly* what a guitar rig is. The longer your cables are, the
lower they need to be in capacitance to deliver a full-bandwidth signal to
your amplifier. Truth be told, if you run a 10-foot cable between your
guitar and your solid-state amp with no stomp boxes, you're not going to
gain anything by using super low-capacitance cable; if, on the other hand,
you have a complex effects chain with a couple of 25-30 foot cables feeding
a tube amplifier, you will *certainly* hear the difference low-capacitance
cabling will produce.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: homemade speaker cables

continued...........................

I prefer to use Switchcraft connectors; I'm an old fart and I've been using
them for 40 years. I do, however, stock all of the common Neutrik connectors.
Neutriks are cooler-looking than Switchcrafts, although I don't consider them
to be any more reliable or durable. I'll use Neutriks by request, but they do
cost more than the equivalent Switchcraft connectors. Your choice.

I'm not going to do a "price list" for all the different configurations;
it'd take me forever, since there are a jillion of 'em. I'll be glad
to provide a quote by return e-mail for anything you specify. For a
guitar cable, I need to know how long you want it, and whether you want
Switchcraft or Neutrik ends. I also need to know if you want two straight,
one right-angle and one straight, or two right-angle connectors installed.
Just for eyeball purposes, the price for one of the most popular styles
(15-foot, one straight and one right-angle Switchcraft plug) is $23.
This is a *much* more durable cable than the "fancy" stuff they sell in
most music stores, which uses Chinese plugs that crap out on the road.
(A lifetime guarantee doesn't do you much good when your cable craps
out in the middle of a show. Neither does gold plating ;-) My guarantee
is one year; you won't need to use it.

I also offer mike and speaker cables, custom studio wiring harnesses,
keyboard/drum snakes, feeders, insert cables, stereo guitar cables, etc. -
all made to your specs. Tell me what you need and I'll send you a quote.
Bassists, I have all configurations of Speakon cabling available - just ask.
I also stock Belden, Canare, Mogami, Alden, Horizon, VanDamme, and other
premium wire and cable, and I'll be glad to make a recommendation if you're
not sure what you should order.

BE ADVISED - if you need your cables yesterday, you'd better haul ass
on down to the local Guitar Center, because I am *not* fast - I don't
keep anything in stock besides raw cable and connectors, and I build
strictly to order. If you can't wait a week or two for the good stuff,
go with the mass-market wires from GC. My regular customers know that
what I build is worth waiting for. Try a couple and see. ;-)

Phone orders are accepted betwen 1:30 PM and 10:00 PM Denver (Mountain)
time, Monday through Saturday, at 303-778-1156. Visa-MasterCard-Paypal.

Thanks for reading -

Regards,
Lord Valve

 

[RiffRaff]

Re: homemade speaker cables

I've had good luck buying the switchcraft jumbo mono plugs and using oxygen free cable I get at radio shack. I braze the wire to the plug using a high silver content paste and a small brazing torch, takes a bit more time and needs to be done carefully but the resulting connection is very strong, the wire won't oxidize and the connection is highly conductive. Does it sound better than a store bought cable, I doubt it but I've never had one break on me and it's much much cheaper than a comparable guage pre made monster cable.

 

[rammer69]

Re: homemade speaker cables

back in the early 80s a couple of buddys worked in the local music store, i had them make me some SPeaker cables for our PA we were putting together, i could not believe my eyes,when he pulled the cable off of the spool, & its just LAMP CORD ? yep says he,it's fine as long as it is used for speakers ... well my brothers & I have been making our own with HEAVY lamp cord ever since....the only problem that we ever had was a bad solder joint ..(anyways we blamed it on the (joint) he he