The Speaker Cable Guide: Part 2 - DIY audiophile cables! 

comprehensive and so well demonstrated Guido, thanks!

Fantastico done a great job I've done a lot of your things you recommended with great results thank you very much for your Channel

Très beau travail, the only thing I can say is to test it with a multimeter to make sure there is no short between the wires before connecting it on the amplifier. Thanks for your great video as usual.

Woohoo! Great job, man! A good amount of expensive cables are most likely pricey due to the time and work involved. All the more reason to DIY what you can, as long as the quality is there, which it obviously is with those cables you just made. Bravo!

Just bought this cable from France which takes a week more to get it delivered to HK. After one day of run-in, the sound have improved a lot. I use the whole cable for bi-amping. Two core to high and four to the low. It seems that it is more nautral then my original (silver + AQ mix) in which it sounds like one driver as a whole instead of coming from 2 seperate drivers.

Amazing! Might have to do this.

Hi My cable has finally arrived in New Zealand and I have made them up as a tri wire set up as my speakers are tri wired. I initially had the cables lying on the floor running to the speakers and they sounded very smooth and detailed but the music was a bit congested and lacking a bit of life. I then raised them off the floor using the cardboard centres of toilet rolls standing on end with a vee cut in one end (to locate the cable). Wow what a difference in sound! The sound really opened up and the life that was missing was all there. I am very happy with the sound of this cable and I find in my system that they are better than my Nordest flatline 2 speaker cables that I was using. The cables are connected between a Plinius SA100 MK2 class A power amp and Mourdant-Short 880 Performance speakers. Thank you so much for making me aware of this cable as I was looking at some other options - all of which I believe would have been inferior to this cable. Remember don't leave the cables lying on the floor or you are missing out on most of their potential! Regards Kevin

Thanks. I ordered the kit from US and it’s on the way.

Well done

I built this cable according to your specifications in July / August, extremely happy with the result. First tested on my old Onkyo NT-TX747 amplifier, and then switched to my new Hegel H160. This cable did more to the sound than replacing the amplifier ... A few months later, the sound is the same, but I see that the unprotected copper oxidizes quickly?

might have to give these cables a go. a good of mine recommended some HIFI occ Copper T16x1mm 18 awg cables from Ebay also

I have tried Ramm Audio Am5Mk2 speaker cable after the recommendation from this channel and seriously surprised with its performance. Didn’t stop there and tried Elite8 XLR interconnect from Ramm Audio and they are the best cables so far i ever listen to. I have replaced Audioquest rocket 88 and Audioquest Yukon XLR interconnect with Ramm Audio cables and extremely happy with the thick and clean mid range it can produce.

I already had my eye on this speaker cable for a while before seeing this video. I eventually took the plunge and bought some from Audiophonics based in France, 6 meters worth to start with. I tested it on my Bi-amped system and all I can say is, wow, superb sounding cable. Bass extension, clean, clearer mid range with a nice extended top end, massive soundstage, transparency, speed, focus and superb imaging is what you get. This speaker cable should be on anybody's short list of speaker cables if you have a high-end revealing system. A bargain cable for the DIYer and I highly recommend it. I tested out some Canare 4S11 (5 Euro Meter) which is great sounding cable that replaced my Van den hul ' The Wind' (40 GBP per meter back in the day) which blew it away. The Amadeus 5 Mk2 blew the Canare well out of the water and then some. I use 2+2 connections ( 2 locking bananas + 2 spades) for each cable length, 4 x 3 meter lengths for Bi-amping from 4 mono bloc amplifiers into a pair of Monitor Audio PL200 floor standing speakers.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Caro Aldo I followed your suggestions and I'm very happy. In few months a did several upgrades to my speaker cables as you suggest. I started with Ramm Audio Amadeus and finally I got the Neotech NES-3001 for the High Frequency and the Neotech NES-3002 for the Low frequency. AMAZING nothing to compare with the other cable that I owned before (very expensive one - NBS, Nordost, Audioquest). I would like to thank you for your advise. kindly recommended. Don't use the any Silver cable this is my recommendation. Non rispondere a sti ingegneri da tastiera che sono solo capaci a dirti che 1 feet is not 1 meter. Nessuno di loro ha seguito i tuoi preziosi consigli. Questa gente e' da bannare e non degna di ricevere risposta alcuna. GRANDE

Great vid. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you. However, I just pay whatever Audioquest prices are for their best cables. I love them!

I enjoyed watching you make speaker cables I use canare cable

Nice video! Did you also try this cable (Amadeus 5 MK2) as single cable for red and black (so 2 cables in stead of one)? Does it match the neotech 3001 of you do that? Regards, Tini

Thanks, I will be trying these. On their web site, I was unable to figure out if the wires were twisted inside the cables. I assume that they tested the inductance and added twists if needed though.

I recommend getting the Miccah pure copper 14awg for $40 for a 12 foot pair with gold banana plugs. They sound amazing even when compared to cables that cost in the thousands

Good job u inspired me

Thanks nice video

9:12 Oxidation isn't an issue in every case; silver connectors can oxidize, but silver oxide conducts even better than pure silver! The silver oxidation also provides a "coating" against further corrosion. IMO, I agree that spades are the most reliable audiophile connector, but in general, I think the SpeakON connectors by Neutrik are the most reliable. 11:30 those parts are a wise choice, without those, the cable has no strain relief. So if something/someone pulls on the cable, the outer isolation can move in respect to the inner wires diminishing the cable construction (SpeakON has built-in strain relief though). 14:48 Can I use my cigar cutter on that cable too? 😜 16:33 I'm sorry to be "that guy", but bi from bi-wire is pronounced as bye in English, not as bee. 22:02 If you're into "cable direction" and there are no arrows on the cable to mark the direction, generally the letters can be used as marking. The start of the text is the input and the end of the text is the output. Even IF the direction is a thing, it's debatable if it applies to AC signals/noise, since the negative potential of the signals effectively goes the opposite direction. 28:33 The advantage of spades that need to be crimped on the copper with a crimping pliers, is that "automatic" crimping pliers has a self adjusting mechanism so that there's always the right amount of force applied to squeeze the spades on the copper. With screws/bolts there's a potential risk that they come loose over longer periods of time or that the bolts are screwed too tightly and the copper leads get squeezed too flat. 29:50 now that looks very neat! looks like you've got the skills for it! 👍

Do you have recommendations or a video on how I can DIY Bi-Wire speaker cables using the Ramm Audio cable?

17:35 Can I swap the yello and white? Like, White Red Blue and Black Green Yello? as oppose to your Yello Red Blue and Black Green White?

Thanks for yet another great video! When connecting RME ADI-2 PRO FS R to two Genelec 8320A, what XLR cables should I use? Shielded vs unshielded vs filtered? Silver vs copper? OFC vs OCC? Etc... What is your recommendation for optimal reference grade performance for mastering?

Thanks a lot for the good video. Can i ask where you got those cable splitters from ? I didn`t find those ones on the homepage of Ramm audio.

Hi Excellent video thanks. I have speakers that are tri wired and was wondering if I can use just use 1 pair of wires to go to each terminal on the speakers or will I need to run 2 of these cables and make one biwired and the other the same as you made in your video? Thanks in advance.

Very cool. I'm going to try building a cable like this. I am going to do it from the cable I'm already using to keep costs under control (van den Hul D-352 speaker cable). Try what a shorter cable with spades will do....

To keep the same resistance is it overkill to do 2 Ramm cable per side for Bi-Wire? Maybe depends on length.

How do you know which direction the cable goes after covering up the sheathing? I didn't see you mark the amp end?

Not to complain because i love your channel and we share the same thoughts/philosopy on hifi gear but didnt you say in part1 to not use shielded speaker cables? This has shielding around each section of conductors. I also have found out about neotech and will be uppgrading my entire cabling to neotech diy. Maybe i choose the little cheaper oyaide occ 5mm2 solid shielded powercable from the fusecentral to the wallsocket because of the length. But in the musicroom I go neo👍 this ramm cable seem to be very affordable compared to the performance. Great Work!

what were the cable splitter collar parts called that you used? Do you have a link or product code for them?

What do you think of Cardas cables?

If you bi wire, your going to have 2 wires together for one post and only one wire for the other post right? I assume you keep the combined two as positive (for example) for both right and left?

Thanks! Great information but one question if you don't mind. My Polk R700 speakers have separate binding posts on the back one to the woofers and one to the tweeters. They come bridged together but they say running a separate wire from the amplifier to the binding posts are better than using the bridge they give you. You can bi-amp but I'm not doing that. Should I use two separate wires to each speaker from each of my mono amps? Also, since this video is from 2020 would you change anything you recommended here?

Hi! Thanks for video. Regarding Bi-Wire, these split into 2 pairs of 2 conductors and 2 pairs of 1 conductor. Are there concerns in this for the single conductor lead? It looks in the graphic that single conductor is routed to highs and double conductor to lows.

Great video. What was the music on the 24:20 mark?

Been using Oyaide for years have you tried there usb cable bloody ripper mate.

By any chance you have tried Ramm Audio Elite8 interconnect cables ?

Greeting Do you know by any chance the inductance and capacitance of the cable Thanks in advance

Are you sure it does not matter which colours to combine in red and black? In the technical video, you explained that you can reduce the magenetic field (induction) by twisting the wires. So I'm thinking maybe alternate + and - wires that are laid out around the empty brown wire? E.g. combine green, yellow and black in one channel and the rest in the other?

Hi. I am Bi-amping a set of JBL Everest DD67000 speaker using 2 McIntosh MC901 amps. This amp consists of a 600 watt solid state amp and a 300 watt tube amp in one chassis. Should I build 2 separate cables for each speaker?

Hello my Dear! @ ,17:19 you cut the hollow, brown one? i would not do this! This is actually the Storage for recommended Snake Oil ! lol....But, all in all: It´s a nice Tonearm-Cable! hehe

What are the metal beauty neck called do you have a part number thanks

So once you're done what kind of gauge does that make 9 awg ?

hello, can i do this as a balance xlr speaker cable also?

Have you tried Neotech rectangular core occ cables?

Great video man,how do i split 6 conductors to 4 for the use of bi amping?

What is the total cost of this build as compared to a cable of similar quality from say, Audioquest ?

Great stuff as always. Even at US prices it's still well below a cable of equal quality from any of the various companies. I may sell my cables and make these. Make first sell second actually!

hi, any different between amadeus 7? because 7 more cheaper.

Thanks! Beautiful cables!!! Do you have a recommendation for a US source? Seems direct from RAMM model is different and price is $50 /foot!

I'll put my best lps up later. Every single stereo shop I have talked to, I have asked them, if u were on a desert island, which would u pick of these 100 cds, which would you pick as the best sounding cd. Every single stereo shop said that the best of these 1 out of the 100 cds is all 100 of the them. Listed in alphabetical order. 1. Baden Powell- baden plays Vinicius (1973) Spanish, best acoustical guitarist I have ever heard 2. Baden powell-solitude (1971) 3. Don baker_ duckin & Divin (2006) worlds best harmonica 4. bamboo (1971) as clear as flute can get 5. Beatles-love 6. Beatles- revolver Beatles- yellow submarine 7. bud Shank-magical mystery (1971) Absolutely perfect sound, I keep this under beatles, its beatles songs 8. beck-sea change MFSL 92003) much better remaster, the lp goes for $300 9. George benson& jack mcduff (1964) jazz 10. blind faith(1971) Deluxe Edition, the extra cd worth it 11. dave Brubeck-time further out (1961) 12.dave Brubeck-time out (1958) jazz 13. Kenny burrell midnight blue (1961) jazz 14. tracy chapman tracy chapman (1994) this can be on lp, too 15. John Coltrane a love subpreme (1958) jazz !6. John Coltrane-ole (1963) elvin jones drums 17. Ry cooder- a meeting by the river (19990 pure analog, better than the later digital remaster. The remaster is the only one u can get on lp that's great must have cd 18. Keith cooper- sacred dance (2000) strums guitar with both hands 19. Mike cooper-trout steel(1970) great acoustic guitar 20. Cure- disentigration, mixed up, 7 wish cds, not perfect sound 21. the exotic sounds of martin den- primativa (1958) perfect sound 22. willie Dixon-I am the blues. walter Horton on harmonica 23. Dylan- blood on the tracks- not perfect sound (1968) 24. Dylan-hard to handle (1995) not perfect sound 25. Dylan MTV Unplugged (1996) perfect sound 26. Bill frisello with dave Holland & elvin jones (2001) must have for great sound 27. Emmylou harrisspyboy live (1999) dont get this mixed up with plain spyboy. clearest ever heard at all frequencies 28. Michael hedges-oracle (1996) 29. jimi Hendrix-blues new cd of old stuffgreat sound 30. dave Holland-hands (2010) great acoustic guitar 31. the best of HOOKER N HEAT (1971) 32. lightnin' Hopkins- blues hoot (1961) DCCCD remasteranalog steve Hoffman 33. Freddie hubbard-straight lifejazz. George bensen on guitar. This is CBS original, I dont like remaster 34. dave grusin-discovered again (1976) direct to disc, great 35. James gang-rides again(1971) lp is great 36. Jazz at the pawnshop)1979)analog recorded in café in open box for sound 37. J. K. & Co.-suddenly one summer(1968) boy played all guitars 38. Elton john-tumbleweed connection (1971) mick ronson guitar lp is great 39.albert king-I'll play the blues for you (1970) 12 track version 40. Leo kottke 6 & 12 string (!969) 41. Led Zeppelin 3 (1971) lp is better 41. The Maureeny Wishful album (1967) jimiie Page, better than led zed albums 42. Little feat-waiting for Columbus- (1973) perfect sound recorded in cathedral. MFSL analog tube remaster with better tone 43. Nils Lofgren-acoustic live (1998) 44. Antonio Lysy at the Broad-music from argentina (2009) analog recorded. cellos. Great audiophile 45. herbie mann- live at the whiskey a go go (1961) flute, great sound 46. dave Matthews & tim Reynolds-live at luther college (2008) 47. medicine head-new bottles old medicine (1970) 48. Mississippi fred mcdowall- I dont play no rock & roll (1969) black acoustic guitar blues 49. modest mouse-this is a long time (1996)analog recorded 50. van morrison-astral weeks (1968) remaster. one of the finest albums recorded all acoustic in 2 days. acoustic bass is wild 51. Penguin café orchestra- a brief history (1971) 52. Autumn Shuffle-Per af Ugglas (2007) analog recorded, hybrid sacd or xrcd, I like both 53. Quicksilver messenger service-happy trails (1968) 54. Quicksilver messenger service- live at the filmore (1968) 55. quicksilver messenger service-quicksilver messenger service (1968) 56. rolling stones-letit bleed (1969) ry cooder guitar. bob lutz 2002 remaster. a great remaster. sold unmarked in storesas a hybrid cd, as all of stones cds. 57. sonny Rollins-thebridge 91962 jazz just only greaton saxophone 58. Santana1, abraxas, & 3. abraxas on lp is mind blowing, especially the 1st lps. 59. shanti (1971) amazing inside your head mid east recording 60. Horace silver - cape Verdean blues (1964) rudy van gelder 24 bit 2003 remaster.Rudy made his own electronics & was afraid thieves would steal it, he guarded it. 61. Son house-father of the delta blues (1965) black acoustic guitar 62. Jeremy steig-howling for judy91971) blue note, great flute 63. Jeremy steig-wayfaring stranger ( blue note, best flute air I have heard. 64. cat stevens-tea for the tillerman (1971) 65. Steve Stills-super session (1968) 66. taj mahal-live & direct (1975) direct to disc 67. taj mahal - taj mahal (1968) 68. ten years after-recorded live (1971) 69.traffic-welcome to the canteen (1971) I'm crazy on this jazz rock cd. 70. U2- Joshua tree. not perfect sound. 71. the string quartet tribute to U2 Joshua tree (2004) 72. peter walker-rainy day raga (1966) mind blowing India like acoustic guitar 73. war-all day music 74. war-war (1971) worth getting for great 10 minute track 75. jennifer warnes-the hunter 919920 raincoat is better, but I like deep bass on some tracks 76. Jennifer warnes- raincoat the remaster is much better, the MFSL remaster by analog tube remaster has better tone. 77. who- live at leeds (1971) Deluxe Edition, any remaster has better sound 78. who-now & zen (2005) best sound hits version 78.who-quadrophenia (1971) the 2nd remaster 10 years ago has better sound than the bob lutz remaster. fans complained they couldn't find the analog version of tapes. 79. wilco-being there (1999) This sounds analog 80. George Winston-December (1985) 20th anniversary remaster. has a crisper sound hdcd best piano cd made 81. Gretchen yanover-bow & cello black lady beautiful cello tone

Question. Why don't you use crimp tip before you put it into the spades?

If the 12 gauge is too thick for my binding posts, should i peel back some strands backwards against the wire and add the shrink wrap tubing over these strands to cover them up ? Would this be okay ??

why didnt you use copper spades that are crimped and then soldered, surly that would be the best option for these cables ??? ps lovely cables i may treat my self :) good vid

I can't understand the deal about having 3 same separated cables if at the end they going to be joined together. ¿?

Hi. This cable looks good and sophisticated, I was going to buy but I stumble upon a neotech nemos 3080 with occ solid ectangular conductors, about the same price, not so sophisticated build though, simple made, but has Teflon insulation. Have you tried it? What's your opinion on this?

For all of the expense going towards wire with supposed benefit from continuous crystals, those spade plug screw joints don't seem to provide remotely the same quality of continuity. The set screws will only press the wires into the housing at two spots and the screw will likely act like a wedge to spread the wires apart rather that hold them together. A simple crimp, by contrast, is created with so much force that it effectively cold welds the strands of wires together and creates a 360 degree joint between the two metals.

Bravo. Hai spiegato molto bene. However as audiophiles, we are an extremely fussy group. No matter on how many times we wash our hands, there will always be a minute amount of oil/debris that will make contact with the bare wires. Solution is to wear latex and powder free vinyl gloves. Please correct me if I'm wrong! Pace a tutti.

Good vid, but there's no benefit to splitting the signal path with lengths under 3 meters, you'll also get a stronger signal from a single conductor of equal properties.

and now there's something even better, OCC single Crystal silver and copper rectangular wire, outperforms the round wire significantly, their top of the line cable is called Sahara for the copper and Amazon for the silver.

Is it suitable for Bi-amping？

Wow! Great video. It is $50/ft in the US and you paid ~45 Euro per meter.?

You say that soldering is bad. I can understand why, but when soldering is good and when is it bad? Do soldering a crossover is bad for the sound quality?

Banana plugs actually have more surface area than spade connectors so technically banana plugs actually will get you a more solid connection. If you want to be scientifically technical.

intresting video. Thank you. But I can confirm that the signal direction is total BS ;-)

I use & insist upon solid core cable.

I doubt that those spades are really of high quality. First of all, they seem to be made of some sort of brass and have smooth gold plating (with a nickel base) thus are most likely having the hard serfice. That would prevent them from making the best possible contact with the binding posts. IMHO spade connectors have to be made of soft copper with direct gold or silver plating. In that case spade material conforms to the binding post surface imperfections and forms air-tight solid connection. And second, such screw connection could not provide any good quality contact for the multistrand wires. A good spade should have either criming type connection or at least some gold/silver plated copper crim-on ferrule should be used between any stranded wire and spade's clamping screw .

Aldo I made a mistake on the date. 1989 sorry about that

ma sei italiano?

Air tubes are not technology. Technology has circuit boards inside of the device.

I see read people ☺☺😅😅😴

First

Eleven godge? Wth?

I think you should check your math! At 50 us dollars per foot it would equate to 145 euros per meter not the 45 euros you claim. Are we talking apples to apples?

Where are you? did you give up? Furthermore if dielectrics burn in then the capacitor is damaged. If you mean electrolytic capacitors they have to be formated. The dielectrics of it is aluminium oxyde. The higher the capacity, the thiner the oxyde film and even the lower the voltage. If you are using electrolytic capacitors in your audio path you'll get some bad and inconstant results because their capacity tolerance is normall -50/+100 %. Precision elko's are a bit better. Polycarbonate and especially PTFE are far better and lasting over years without degrading. Tell wich audio engineers are talking such bullshit. I've studied electronics engineer decades ago and be specialised in audio recording and playback on STUDER tapemachines if you know them. Even I devloped Hi class audio speakers with precision frequency range and cabling inside. I know very well what I'm talking about.

So much bs.

A beautiful aesthetic upgrade but so much nonsense and bs regarding sound characteristics. Reminds me of the flat earther movement.... Lovely job none the less.

Indents, really, what kind of snake oil engineering is that? Any AES paper on those. Also directional cables? As you can tell the electricity where to go by inverting the cable. wow

Really bad twisting and construction....

The arrows showing the direction on the cables jacket is for manufacturing purposes only. The arrows have absolutely nothing to do with electricity flow. Electricity flows 100% identical through both ends of the cable. There is no right or wrong way to connect the cable. Only a very picky individual who calls themselves an " Audiophile" would even say such things. Remember people, Audiophile and Pedophile are very close. One just means they'll do anything and everything mentally and physically to obtain the sound quality they feel if perfection to them. Key word " Them". I say that because audio is subjective because everyone has different hearing. Most audiophiles claim to hear " Soundstage" when Soundstage was created to justify an audiophiles mental health issues of a created false reality.

Again a huge BS story. Go and buy a bit thick stranded twin cable (which has a marker on one side). Strip the cable, and do not touch the copper. As long as it's stays around 2 x 4 to 5 meter, you have a perfect connection. As when one doesn't uses plugs, you have a perfect connection! Every other solution is inferior. Total cost 8 Euro! Nothing, but nothing will beat this.

You're talking alot of bullshit. Burn in of speaker cables!! LOL!! What do you want to burn in? The electrons do not travel in the cable they only shaking because it's AC. So there is no preference of the direction. Did you ever heard about the skin effect? Apparently not. All electric cables are OFC, because it's electrolytic copper. It's always funny to watch your videos because it's religion and esoteric. Once another guy like you want to persuade me that a vinyl record has e frequency range up to 70 KHz. LOL!