DIY -> pretty speaker cables

[copmagnet82]

I don't know how many people will find it useful, but this is a quick DIY guide for those who don't like to figure stuff out on their own, are anal about the way things look, are on a budget, or have a wife that does not approve "things that are not pretty" laying on the living room floor.

List of parts you will need to complete this project:

- Belden 5T00UP 10 AWG In-Wall Speaker Wire CL3. I know this is a bit of an overkill, but I just have those "overkill tendencies". I picked black jacket, because the techflex sleeving will not camouflage the wire completely and I didn't want to see white cable jacket through the sleeve.


- Cable Pants 10mm 2-Conductor


- Techflex 3/8" Expandable Sleeving


- Sewell Silverback banana plugs


- 12mm Heat Shrink 3:1 in red & black

 

[copmagnet82]

Tools you will need:

- electrical pliers
- small flat head screw driver
View attachment 13204

- heat gun
View attachment 13205

- small knife (not a plastic one)

 

[copmagnet82]

The steps:

1. Cut your speaker wire to proper length, making sure you leave yourself a little extra slack; I did an average of 25% of what I measured. Do not strip the wire jacket, yet, as it will be more difficult to feed the cable through the sleeve.

2. Feed the cable through the techflex sleeve. Do not cut the sleeve to the length of the wire, until you are done feeding the cable through the sleeve, as the length of the sleeve will change depending on the thickness of the cable you'll be using.

3. Once you get the sleeve over the cable, it's time to trim off excess techflex sleeve.

4. Take a small metal knife that you don't care about and get it hot. Be careful, it will be hot!!!
View attachment 13206

5. Right away, cut off the excess sleeve, slightly melting the ends of the sleeving. You may want to practice this a little to get a nice, clean cut. You should end up with something that looks like this:
View attachment 13207

6. Give yourself some room for error; it's better to cut it twice or three times, than end up with sleeving that is too short. Once you have the sleeve nice and tight around the cable and cut to size, this is what you should end up with on both ends of the cable:
View attachment 13208

7. Strip off the black jacket to get it ready for the pants, making sure you leave the jacket about 0.25" longer then the sleeving, which will get a little longer once you start putting the pants on.

8. Putting the pants on is a major biatch and a half, but this simple trick will make it super easy. Spread a drop of water on the wire insulation and slip it on. Don't dip it in water; in this particular case "the wetter, the better" rule does not apply. Also, if you bend the individual "legs" outwards a little, they slide right into their designated pant-leg. You should end up with something like this:
View attachment 13209

9. Now, that you cables are nicely dressed, take apart your banana plugs. I'm using a 10awg wire, which is fairly fat, so I will not be using silver covers provided with the banana plugs, as the screws are sticking out too far.
View attachment 13210

10. Depending on how many cables you've dressed up, go ahead and take a break

.

 

[copmagnet82]

11. Once you have the plugs disassembled, drive out the screws until they are flush with the inside of the barrel.

12. Before you strip of the insulation, slide in wire inside the plug. The distance between the end of the pant leg and the edge of the plug is how much you need to cut off from the end of the wire to have the plug sit flush against the pant leg.


13. Cut off the excess wire, strip off the insulation, slide the wire inside the plug and tighten up the screws.


14. This is what you should end up with:


15. At this point, it's time to get the shrink wrap ready. My shrink wrap was 6" long, so I cut it into four 1.5" pieces:

 

[copmagnet82]

16. Although it says that you could use a hair dryer to shrink the shrink wrap, unless you like to watch paint dry, I recommend a heat gun. Be sure you place the right color of the shrink wrap over the right plug at both ends of the cable.

17. As I said earlier, due to the thickness of my wire, I was unable to use the provided banana plug covers, and the screws are sticking out a little. Here's a close up of that:


18. All done! Here's a finished speaker cable end:


19. ...and the rest of my cables:


20. Tip: If you are running your cable inside a wall and part of it will be sticking out, slide the techflex sleeve over the cable that will be sticking out of the wall and put shrink wrap over the area where the sleeve ends. That way you can have nice cables on the outside and regular, in-wall jacket, inside the wall. Here's a picture:

 

[copmagnet82]

...and I totally forgot... this is what you need to do, if you are looking for true 3-dimensional or even 4-dimensional sound stage:



































Attach two AA batteries to the ends of the cable, paying attention to the polarity and direction of the flow. What this will do, it will always keep your cables warmed up and ready to transmit the best possible sound. In addition, those two batteries will ensure that the electrons in the outer most shell of copper atom will have proper attraction between each other, as well as they will align in the direction of current flow, thanks to the small magnetic field created by the two batteries, which will dramatically improve the sound quality of your system. This is the latest engineering, which was taken from magnetic resonance imaging, where hydrogen atom, when placed in magnetic field aligns either parallel or anti-parallel to the main magnetic field and things happen. You're system will never sound the same again. Trust me.

 

[Ponzio]

...and I totally forgot... this is what you need to do, if you are looking for true 3-dimensional or even 4-dimensional sound stage:
View attachment 13219

Attach two AA batteries to the ends of the cable, paying attention to the polarity and direction of the flow. What this will do, it will always keep your cables warmed up and ready to transmit the best possible sound. In addition, those two batteries will ensure that the electrons in the outer most shell of copper atom will have proper attraction between each other, as well as they will align in the direction of current flow, thanks to the small magnetic field created by the two batteries, which will dramatically improve the sound quality of your system. This is the latest engineering, which was taken from magnetic resonance imaging, where hydrogen atom, when placed in magnetic field aligns either parallel or anti-parallel to the main magnetic field and things happen. You're system will never sound the same again. Trust me.

You had me ... up to this point. Do I need my wizards hat for the final procedure or will my existing aluminum Buck Rogers To Infinity and Beyond chapeau do?

 

[Ponzio]

All kidding aside, thanks for the detailed instructions.

 

[ReUpRo]

Re: DIY -> pretty speaker cables

Thanks for making the detailed instructions.

...and I totally forgot... this is what you need to do, if you are looking for true 3-dimensional or even 4-dimensional sound stage:

Jeez! After all that effort to dress up the wire, you use Magic Tape to attach the 4D enabling battery. At least use black electrical tape, and the benefit is that it will have better electrical properties. LOL!

My only serious gripe is that you used somewhat nice banana plugs and discarded the outer casing. Why not start with something like this,

http://www.parts-express.com/banana-plug-black--090-460

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks for making the detailed instructions.
Jeez! After all that effort to dress up the wire, you use Magic Tape to attach the 4D enabling battery. At least use black electrical tape, and the benefit is that it will have better electrical properties. LOL!

My only serious gripe is that you used somewhat nice banana plugs and discarded the outer casing. Why not start with something like this,

Banana Plug Black | 090-460

For those Sewell Silverbacks, I prefer the same approach. I don't care for the outer shell, but the inner piece has 2 set screws. Use a little B/R heatshrink and it turns out nice and slim.

 

[j_garcia]

Nice work. The banana pants are shorter than I like though.

Thanks for making the detailed instructions.
Jeez! After all that effort to dress up the wire, you use Magic Tape to attach the 4D enabling battery. At least use black electrical tape, and the benefit is that it will have better electrical properties. LOL!

My only serious gripe is that you used somewhat nice banana plugs and discarded the outer casing. Why not start with something like this,

http://www.parts-express.com/banana-plug-black--090-460

Or just buy some that don't have the sleeves

 

[copmagnet82]

My only serious gripe is that you used somewhat nice banana plugs and discarded the outer casing. Why not start with something like this,

Banana Plug Black | 090-460

I paid the same price for the nice ones, and I got the benefit of two screws and gold plating .

 

[copmagnet82]

Nice work. The banana pants are shorter than I like though.

now that you pointed it out, I guess they could be a little longer, damn it

...thanks for ruining it for me


lol -------------------------^

 

[ReUpRo]

Re: DIY -> pretty speaker cables

I paid the same price for the nice ones, and I got the benefit of two screws and gold plating .

That's cool.

The best part of DIY is that one can make the project as cheap/costly and easy/complicated based on personal preference.

 

[j_garcia]

now that you pointed it out, I guess they could be a little longer, damn it

...thanks for ruining it for me


lol -------------------------^

They sound the same so doesn't really matter. The batteries make all the difference

 

[ARES24]

This is one of those things that is only relevant to audiophiles... No one else will ever notice this and those that do will think it an entire waste of time.






I am so doing this!!

 

[mattsk8]

I think the batteries help w/ skin effect too...

Nice write up, thanks for sharing!! I did a similar thing, but I used 25' Walmart extension cords for like $7 each. Cut them up and pulled the 14 gauge wire out.

 

[ARUN]

Hi. Do you mean to say one battery on the speaker side and one on the amp side?

What should be the polarity on speaker side and amp side?

Pls reply

...and I totally forgot... this is what you need to do, if you are looking for true 3-dimensional or even 4-dimensional sound stage:

View attachment 13219

Attach two AA batteries to the ends of the cable, paying attention to the polarity and direction of the flow. What this will do, it will always keep your cables warmed up and ready to transmit the best possible sound. In addition, those two batteries will ensure that the electrons in the outer most shell of copper atom will have proper attraction between each other, as well as they will align in the direction of current flow, thanks to the small magnetic field created by the two batteries, which will dramatically improve the sound quality of your system. This is the latest engineering, which was taken from magnetic resonance imaging, where hydrogen atom, when placed in magnetic field aligns either parallel or anti-parallel to the main magnetic field and things happen. You're system will never sound the same again. Trust me.

 

[killdozzer]

Real pretty! I want them!

 

[Speedskater]

The batteries were a joke.
At least I hope they were a joke.

* * * * * * * *
Other than the battery post, nice cables.