CATV Based Interconnects

Hi Maneck,

Interesting ......

I am from the CATV ( cable TV ) Industry, and have experimented using CATV RF Coax cables for Power Cords.

Which Cable are you using ? ( RG-59, RC-6, RG-11 ) ?

Any particular weave or are you using just 1 RF Coax, in its native state ?

Cheers

Ampnut...when I meant CATV I meant CAT 5 twisted pair.
Again I have "plaited" them(3 wires). This time I have used two strands for negative/ground and one for live. I found that to be a little better than just a twisted pair.

BTW I have also been toying with the idea of using catV coax wire for powercord but I am just worried about the insulation properties of the PVC sheaths. Any wire with insulation which can widthstand upto 1000V, let me know.(this basically is the standard for house insulation wire now).

and I assume you are using solid core coax ?
BTW which of the RG's and RC do you recommend ?

Manek.

To be honest one doesnt need to make the interconnects out of cat 5. just purchase a RJ45 to RCA balun connector, plug in a RJ 45 factory crimped patch cord and play just to find out if its worth a DIY attempt. I kinda fell lazy to go to LAM road to find such a Balun so just soldered a pair for myself with standard 60/40 solder(which I know is a complete no,no in audio circles). I also use lead free solder from time to time.

Maybe we should discuss the pro's and cons of various solder compositions ???

Manek.

1. Just shooting from the Hip, I suspect that adding a ferrite balun ( Is that what you are toying with ? ) will mess up the sound BAD... particularly at Low Freq.

2. Yes, there are several god CAT-5 interconnect designs on the net. Check tnt-audioaddicts.

3. Siva also offered some Belden TEFLON CAT-5 wire for DIY. That is the last word in CAT-5 selection for this application... IMHO


4. Dont worry too much on the Dielectric withstand capability... most stuff will work !

CATV Coax is rated for over 2000 Volts DC.

I have even used thick Microphone cable in my experiments.

Anyone wants to try the CATV Mains cord, PM me and I will send it to you for trial. No Cost ... I will pay the sending freight, and you pay the return !

To me the CATV Mains cable is Fast and Rhythimic, if somewhat hard sounding. Most difference ( IMHO again ) will be at the CD player, and much less at the amplifier. Very little diff with Valve amps ( In my Very limited experience on this subject).


For mains cable I prefer to use the thickest easily available RF Cable.... Full Copper centre RG-11.

Careful.... MOST of the good quality RG-11 ( available in India ) use a coper jacketed steel centre, centre conductor.

thks....what do you think of the finolex coax ? Are they also steel coated with copper or are they solid copper ?



manek.

Finolex Coax is full Copper, but the Dielectric is not quite the level of Commscope (USA)..

Though should be worth a try, because the Braid (shield ) on the Finolex is also full copper, while the shield on Commscope is a Mg-Al alloy.

Im not sure if you will find someone willing to selll a few meters of Finolex RG-11.

With the spiralling prices of copper in the past 1 year, all manufacturers are relacing copper whereever possible....

tks for the info.
yes copper prices have been up.

manek.

amp_nut,,,

The guys who DIY must meet and try out these DIY thingies !

what say you ?

manek.

ABSOLUTELY !

Tell me where I I will be there !

Alternately, all DIY or even those who want to DIY are welcome to meet at my place (Mumbai).

I have a DIY Valve Pre that any DIY is welcome to borrow for a listen at his home.

Any other DIY interested in meeting... besides Maneck ?

hey...you did a valve pre ? How is it ? What valves is it based on ? rectification ? so many questions !...and yeah I almost forgot...how does it sound ?

there seems to be another kit shop opened in chennai called keen kitts. Website is not complete yet.

manek.

Ampnut.
......and talking about a ferrite baluns..... I thought I would use the connectors which directly connect to the pins of the RJ45 with plain soldered wiring.

What are ferrite baluns ???

BTW some people also use ferrite cores round their cables...is that what you are talking about ?

Manek.

A noob question in line...
Is it any good to use good thick speaker cables for a DIY Power cord ?

I wouldnt do it(for safety, nothing else) as the insulation rating is around 300V only for most branded speaker cables. I have thought about it many times though. But thats just me.

If you can strip the cables and do a good shrink tube job, but it may not be airtight and the cable may start to oxidise very fast. Not to mention dont know how good the olefin would work as a dielectric.

Ampnut has used RG coax cables and insulation rating is high. Thats an option I want to pursue.

Manek.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

1. Just shooting from the Hip, I suspect that adding a ferrite balun ( Is that what you are toying with ? ) will mess up the sound BAD... particularly at Low Freq.

Isnt this usually put in case of any RFI effects ? does it have an impact on the Bass ?

I was under the impression that it is good to put in Power Chords..would you have any experience in that ?

Most data cables (Eg USB cables for Video/Digicams) also come with one..i guess the idea here is to again avoind noise.

A noob question in line... Is it any good to use good thick speaker cables for a DIY Power cord ?

This IS an option, particularly in view of the following :

1. Maneck finds that beter copper purity improves the sound ( interconnects Only ?? )

2. Speaker cable is available in High Purity Copper, OFC, at relatively low cost. ( less than Rs 100 per meter for a wire pair )

3. The Power Cord does main duty at 50 Hz, so the Multi Strands usually deployed in low cost OFC speaker cable should not carry a major sound penalty , due to skin effect ( wanna know more about 'skin effect' ? )

On the other hand, most Audiophile Power cords use a shield ( seperate sheild on each conductor is prefered ). That is not available ion Speaker cables, unless you want to create your own shield usin Kitchen Al foil or Copper tape.

These are just some coments. Would be great if other forum members also share their knowledge / experience...

Let's meet!

And when we meet, someone please teach me how to solder!!

I have a Power Cable project lying incomplete just because I don't know how to solder!!

Wanna meet Friday evening or Saturday morning ?

Saturday morning sounds good to me.

Isnt this usually put in case of any RFI effects ? does it have an impact on the Bass ? I was under the impression that it is good to put in Power Chords..would you have any experience in that ? Most data cables (Eg USB cables for Video/Digicams) also come with one..i guess the idea here is to again avoind noise.

The Balun that I was referring to IS a ferrite core ( Black thingy, usually with 2 holes though which the wire is wound / looped thru.

Yes, its primary purpose is to reject RF Interference (RFI)... Usually to prevent the RFI from being injected by a switching power supply INTO the mains.

The US & EU laws are pretty strict and they dont allow power supplies to inject hash into the Power supply lines. The Same Switching PSU would work perfectly well but not meet FCC specs without the added Ferrite beads / baluns.

They are a necessary Evil, to meet FCC specs, and actually somewhat 'choke' the supply line....

Some DIYs advice its use in a Digital feed, for 'smoother' (smothered ? ) sound .

Saturday is OK if I'm in Mumbai. maybe be scheduled to go out of town but its a tentative yes on my part too.

I'll get my stuff with me.

manek.

Who's place ?

( My place is always open ... )

Let me know.

I am off to Blore tomorrow afternoon, and I return Friday morning...

Cheers

hey,

heard the cat 5 IC's yday again and now have mixed feelings about it. It does acoustic guitar, drums, voices pretty well. brass could be better. played some classical and it was not so good. Very steely and squeaky violins. I guess no amount of brun in would cure that !

POP and rock sounded OK. so I guess they would do for electronic music, hard rock etc...but orchestral music currently is a no no. Will put a few more hours on them just to be sure.

Manek.

Maneck,

How many pairs of CAT-5 are you using per Interconnect ?

Use As few as possible... Specially if they are not of Teflon...

Try taking 4 strands ( 2 pairs ) per channel.

Use only 1 strand for the 'hot' connection and 3 for the ground.

Also, CAT-5 I think presents a fairly hefty capacitance, and are best when driven by Solid State at the sending end.... eg SS CD player to your Valve Pre...

It will probably not be good for your Valve Pre to a SS power amp.

This is all Speculation Only, and your practical feedback, would be far better.

Thanks

Am using one strand for hot and 2 for ground.

Am playing it from my pionner dvd player to a my valve pre and hearing the results on a senn-hd580.

forget to mention earlier...its got a lot of detail.

out of the window they go.....not too hot on them . They are not as smooth and pleasant as my other babies.

manek.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Who's place ? I am off to Blore tomorrow afternoon, and I return Friday morning... Cheers

Thanks buddy Amp_nut for accepting our invitation and meeting up with us here in Bangalore. Unfortunately I couldnt accumulate more members because of the short notice.
For the information of our dear forum members, Amp_nut was at Bangalore and was kind enough to take up the invitation to meet the Bangalore buddies. We had a mini Bangalore-Bombay meet here at my place . Myself, ALS and Amp_nut met up and as usual time flew away before we could realize. We were together for almost 6 hours. Spoke about a lot of things happening in the audio scene. There were exchanges of discussion regarding Bangalore-Mumbai trends. We also listened to some nice music. Amp_nut brought some of his CDs (Jack Johnson, Mary Black...)...some very nice recordings. We also listened to some Knopfler and Patricia Barber. Then we had a nice dinner together (still chatting about audio and sound ) and finally parted with a note that we will certainly meet when we come over to Mumbai...

you are right Abhi, though we spent couple of hours it wasn't sufficient :D. Good late night dinner

AmpNut> thanks for your precious time. Hope you were comfortable

rgds
Sudarshan

Hi Abhi, thanks for proactively setting up the meeting and the warm hospitality at your place.

ALS, thanks for meeting up, despite the other pressures..

Was a lovely evening.

Abhi, yr system sings....

Based on your high praise for the polarised die-electric cable (interconnect ) sound, I am going to explore if I can DIY something similar ....

Thanks also to Siva, Your system was indeed transparent, and changed its presentation like a chamelion, from CD to CD.... rendering only tthe recorded sound and ambience each time, with little signature of its own. Now if only I could hear yr Preamp at my home in Mumbai .... let me know if you ship to a Mumbai customer.

Will also revert to Siva for the DACT Stepped Attn.... internal space in my amp, permitting ...

Lovely trip for me guys... Thanks to you all and for your hospitality !

Hi Amp_nut,
Hope the journey was comfortable...
It was really nice to meet a gentleman like you.
Now, I have a reason to visit Mumbai and I will plan it out soon .

This forum is wonderful..without which I would have never met so many wonderful people around.

Based on your high praise for the polarised die-electric cable (interconnect ) sound, I am going to explore if I can DIY something similar

AmpNut you can try & do it. DIYs 've already tried them. I've come across besides active shielding ICs, there are active shielding speaker cables & power cords

This forum is wonderful..without which I would have never met so many wonderful people around

Very very true Abhi. We are gaining good friends thru' this forum. You plan, let's make one short trip to BBY.

AmpNut you can try & do it. DIYs 've already tried them. I've come across besides active shielding ICs, there are active shielding speaker cables & power cords

Any links ? Much appreciated...

I'll check & PM you the links. Here in B'lore my friend Murthy was successful in making them. I'll give his cont# you can speak to him in detail. I've no deep knowledge on the built, but I know its concept.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Who's place ? ( My place is always open ... ) Let me know. I am off to Blore tomorrow afternoon, and I return Friday morning... Cheers

Hi !

I'm still undecided about tomorrow as I dont know if work will permit me to jam up tomorrow (saturday).
What to do

Manek.