DIY DC power cables

[AudioBang]

The topic of AC Cable shielding does open a lot of questions and I did not mean to over simplify the topic in sharing my above findings.

While I did convert the shielding on cable[s] one application or box at a time and then listened, where I heard an incremental improvement at each step, I did not account for say, whether on the amps and preamps, if no shield at all would have produced the same result. So many variables, so little time... and off topic of "DIY DC Power Cables". This has been a great thread and thanks to JS and everyone for sharing their experiences.

 

[AudioBang]

Balanced Interconnects and JSSG - another data point from today's experiment....

 

https://www.stereophile.com/cables/407jps/index.html

 

I found the cable shield overview from this 2007 cable review fascinating so years ago I actually constructed AC, I/C and Speaker cables using plastic washer drain hose for the I/Cs and shop vac hose for AC and speaker, filled them with copper shot and drained the tonnage of shield to source ground[s].

No difference. Having experimented with JSSG, it appears that I may now know why.

But the review does raise the question pertaining to the degree that shield thickness makes a difference done with JSSG.

 

The Experiment:

I had some Analysis Plus balanced cable laying around that uses a thick copper shield that doubles as the ground wired to pin 1 on both ends.

So I disconnected the shield from Pin 1 and added an insulated wire to reconnect to pin 1 [ground] at each end and a second wire to connect the ends of the now isolated shield and ran them outside of the cable [shield]  [I had no choice for the new pin 1 ground wire].

These make-shift 6' I/Cs were run between the preamp and mono power amps which are powered off separate dedicated AC lines.

 

There was a clear and distinct difference to the treble which snapped into a more precise focus, like upgrading a clock source.

The cable manufacturer in the review offers that shields act like antennas picking up airborne noise and re radiate that noise back into the signal conductors. I wouldn't know but is seems to make sense.

 

My system is currently interconnected  using Krell's CAST current mode signal transfer with balanced solid silver cable with uninsulated wire ground touching the foil shield which for me sounded better than any of the balanced XLR interconnects I have tried.

I don't know the criticality of running the pin 1 ground wire within the shield but now onto finding a quality balanced cable with a third insulated conductor within the shield...

 

[JBL]

My latest modification to the DIY DC starquad cable was to cover the entire cable with heat shrink tube.  My hypothesis behind this is that the heat shrink tubing will further minimize changes in wire geometry when bending the cable and further reduce any vibrations of the cable itself.

 

Initial impressions with this latest change is little more clarity and detail.  For a few dollars worth of heat shrink tubing, I would say worth the effort.

[JBL]

I recently added a JCAT USB XE card to my DIY music server.  I am powering it with a Farad Super3.  Initially I used a Farad Level 2 silver DC cable because I had one laying around and did not have an extra DIY starquad solid core 18awg silver DC cable.  Finally got around to making one tonight and replaced the Farad silver DC cable. 

 

Sound quality took a huge jump up.  Dynamics got better, soundstage larger and deeper, more microdetails, and a blacker background. 

 

Another win for the DIY starquad!

 

In case anyone is wondering, the Farad Level 2 silver DC cable is 4x2 strands of 26awg silver wire.  Insulation is unknown and wire geometry is unknown.  Termination is 2.1mm Oyaide to GX16-4.

 

My version of the DIY starquad, if you haven't read the entire thread is 4x18awg solid core silver wire in teflon tubing twisted in starquad geometry with silver tubing plugs for the power supply side and Oyaide 2.1mm plug for the USB card side.  After twisting the wire I cover the entire cable with heatshrink.  I no longer use teflon tape or silicon tape as previously as they are redundant since the heat shrink tubing does a great job of maintain the wire geometry from end to end. 

[Nick90]

May I ask what is the correct method to bundle two 18awg solid core wires to solder them to a DC-2.1 plug? Twist the and or just solder them parralel?

[Smaragdhk]

You should observe the polarity of course, one lead is ground (ring), the other connects to the tip. Do this on both sides. I twist both leads into a spiral shape and wrap with a shield. Then use heat shrink on both sides over the connectors so tue spiral shape remains intact.

[JBL]

If you are using the Oyaide 2.1 plugs, I found putting the wires in parallel for the center(+) conductor worked best.  For the negative side I soldered one wire onto each of the tabs.  

[Smaragdhk]

A good example illustration below:

solder the ring first and then wrap with heat shrink.

 

 

then solder the tip second:

 

 

 

once the cable is soldered and the strai relief of closed, you can twist both leads into the spiral…

 

PS the illustration doesn’t show the heat shrink…

[Nick90]

25 minutes ago, JBL said:

If you are using the Oyaide 2.1 plugs, I found putting the wires in parallel for the center(+) conductor worked best.  For the negative side I soldered one wire onto each of the tabs.  

Thanks! Have you tried your starquad design with and without JSSG shielding?

[JBL]

I have not tried the JSSG but I think John Swenson mentions somewhere in the thread that the starquad geometry is what provides the majority of the noise reduction effects. 

 

 

[R1200CL]

The third S is referring to shield. The G is indicating it’s a guideline. 

[Nick90]

I am in the process of making a Starquad DC Y-split cable. 18awg Neotech is pretty stiff and wonder if my starquad twist is sufficient? 
 

At the beginning of both ends the twist seems tighter and neater, maybe hard to see in the photo. I'd rather wait for your comments before starting the other half. . hehe

 

[R1200CL]

[JBL]

@Nick90The twist looks sufficient to me.  That is about the amount of twist my cables have.  Just make sure you use the two opposing wires together as indicated in the image posted by @R1200CL.

 

Some heat shrink tubing over the entire length of the wire will also help keep the wire geometry stable and prevent the wires from unwinding. 

[agisthos]

On 6/28/2022 at 1:50 PM, JBL said:

Made several starquad DC power cords for my Farad Super3 LPS's.  Used VH Audio 18awg solid core OCC wire with Airlok, Oyaide 2.5mm plugs, OEM Japanese GX16-4 plugs, and Cardas Eutectic solder. 

 

Where did you get the Japanese GX16-4 connectors? I have the Oyiades and the VH Audio V-Quad wire, but trying to find higher quality GX16-4 is very difficult. Aliexpress has some that are supposedly copper pin and gold plated, but of course their claims regarding material composition cannot be trusted.

[kostas6a3]

On 2/14/2023 at 3:54 PM, agisthos said:

 

Where did you get the Japanese GX16-4 connectors? I have the Oyiades and the VH Audio V-Quad wire, but trying to find higher quality GX16-4 is very difficult. Aliexpress has some that are supposedly copper pin and gold plated, but of course their claims regarding material composition cannot be trusted.

Look at these: https://www.tme.eu/gb/katalog/?s_field=accuracy&s_order=desc&search=weipu sf1210

WEIPU series SF12

[rogs]

Thinking of making a starquad EPS cable using 4 separate lengths of the Canare cable.

Would the shielding effect still work, given that all the conductors would be connected to a single terminal at the LPSU end?

TIA