Cost of Cables

[Mudcat]

Recently up in the Loudspeaker Forum, Tom Steele posed a question on a thread (that is now locked - before I even got back into town and had a chance to respond - bummer) about subwoofer cables. He asked how a cable could cost $80 to make. Most here should have an idea about where I stand on exotic cables and their exorbitant costs. Since I make all of my cables, and I usually like to cover the wire in something a little more pleasing to the eye than black rubber, let me try and break it down on a per foot basis using my basic speaker cable and 75 ohm interconnect cable:


Speaker Cable

Fixed Costs $16
4 GLS Locking Bannanas (I get them off ebay on a $3.50 averger per plug) $14
Shrink Tubeing $2 (I end up using about a foot total)

Variable costs $3.24/ft
Cable $1.74 (based on a Garden Hose sized 10/4 (261/34) cable from Lowes )
0.75" Techflex Braid $1.5 (I usually use two colors - at $0.75/ft each)

Cost for 1 foot - $19.24
Cost for 10 feet - $48.40 per cable - so double it for a pair for a speaker

Interconnect

Fixed Costs $8
2 Locking RCAs (same as above,I get them off ebay on a $3.50 averger per plug) $7
Shrink Tubeing ( I use about half as much as a speaker cable) $1

Variable Costs $1.00
Cable - 75 Ohm 23 awg stranded conductor, quad shield -$0.44
0.24" Techflex Braid $0.56 (again two colors at about $0.28 each)

Cost for 1 foot - $9
Cost for 4 feet - $12

I use a rather inexpensive polyester braid. Cable manufacturers may use a cloth based braid which can cost up to $5 per foot - but I really doubt it.

Anyway, it is very easy to get an $80 per cable price when you factor in labor and advertising and profit margin.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Yeah, but remember: mfrs. are getting all that stuff a lot cheaper than you can! And 10ga is absurd overkill for a line-level interconnect!

For example, not apples to apples admittedly but here's the quantity price of Belden 4 conductor star quad shielded cable (popular with DIY'ers) from the Mouser Electronics catalog: $626 per thousand foot spool, or $0.63 (rounded up) per foot!

 

[Mudcat]

Hey Rip,

I'm not using 10 gauge for interconnect, I use this for speakers. I'm using 23 gauge stranded COAX for the interconnects. I get it from Allied at about $0.44/ft. 100 foot putups. I do not have to, and nor could I ever get away with buying a 1000 foot spool of wire this size.

I also forgot to add in the Plasti-Dip paint. This is great stuff, many colors, and a very shiny flexible finish. I use it on the connectors and shrink tubes to finish them off.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Hey Rip,

I'm not using 10 gauge for interconnect, I use this for speakers. I'm using 23 gauge stranded COAX for the interconnects. I get it from Allied at about $0.44/ft. 100 foot putups. I do not have to, and nor could I ever get away with buying a 1000 foot spool of wire this size.

I also forgot to add in the Plasti-Dip paint. This is great stuff, many colors, and a very shiny flexible finish. I use it on the connectors and shrink tubes to finish them off.

For both of you:

This shows what it owuld cost DIY for a few cables and what cables cost in quantity rolls What is you are a cable company selling this? You probably buy in much larger quantity even and for less, or you even go overseas for almost nothing like TARA Labs did and make a killing Now they have to spend it on lawyers

 

[Mudcat]

What is you are a cable company selling this?

Huh?????????????

 

[mtrycrafts]

Huh?????????????

You can build cables rather inexpensively even when you buy the parts in very small quantity. Just think what those parts cost when buying in bulk, large bulk like cable companies do, then sell it for a huge markup.
Imagine what TARA Labs bought their cables for overseas and we know what they are selling them on the market.

 

[Mudcat]

When I said Huh????????

It was because what you wrote made absolutely no sense what so ever.

Originally Posted by mtrycrafts
"What is you are a cable company selling this? "

Is "is" suppose to be "if"?

 

[mtrycrafts]

When I said Huh????????

It was because what you wrote made absolutely no sense what so ever.

Originally Posted by mtrycrafts
"What is you are a cable company selling this? "

Is "is" suppose to be "if"?

Yes.