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Just like to share with you guys some excellent quality but cheap speaker cables I made. These were made for around $60 buying components from various sellers. The cable being used is a Canare 4S11 cable (good quality made in Japan stuff). This is same as what can be bought from bluejeanscable.com. I sourced 6m od the Canare cable from Cliff electronics half way from Brissy to Goldy($6 a metre, I got 6m). The sawtooth banana plugs and spade connectors were bought through ebay seller "motho"(selby accoustics). This shot is after I've put the connectors on and got some heatshrink around the twisted ends.(obviously). Bought some nice snakeskin coloured techflex (1/2" 25ft) from ebay seller "furryletters". Put the techflex over the cable and add a bit more heatshrink on the ends and wallla... We have a nice 3m pair of excellent speaker cables. As for sound quality thes are excellent. If anyone has read my previous threads of diy speaker cables of various types I would put these in the same league as my diy cat 6 ones and above any others I have made. These have lower capacitance than the cat 6 ones and slightly higher inductance (measures static). These are easy to make and are nice and fllexible unlike the diy cat 6's which take a large amount of time to make. Spade and banaplugs are a big plus as well. The 25ft of techflex has left me with about 1.4m left over. Enough for a diy digital interconnect I guess. By the way if anyone wants some good acoustic foam for bass traps etc, Cliff electronics has 2.4m x 1.2m sheets for around $60. Think I might have to get some. Regards Simon

I agreed to a request from Myrantz in a Great Audio Debate thread to try an Ethernet audio cable and report back. This is a brief review, and I'm hoping for some feedback. The cable I have is an Audioquest Forest, 0.75m, price $60. Forest is the second cheapest in the range, and is made with a thin silver plate on the copper leads. They claim to be using Cat7 compliant cable which has individually screened leads. The RJ45 connectors are made to look nicer than the plastic stuff on ordinary leads, and the lead is packed into a fairly large box which has a number of claims on the outside, including ones about directionality and speed, which are claimed to be important for audio purposes... This lead is too short to just act as a plug replacement for the cable between the cheap switch and the Oppo 105 in my usual setup, so I had to do some fiddling, and used the lead with an extra switch in place, as a direct connection between a WD Ethernet hard drive - an old cheap "MyBook" running Twonky and the Oppo. I also connected from the WD drive to the Oppo via SMB, to play some DSD tracks. The rest of the system consists of a Moon i-1 integrated amp, and Osborn Eclipse Tower Reference speakers. I also used Sennheiser HD 595 headphones in the Moon's headphone socket. Listening was done with quick swaps between the Forest lead and a certified Cat5e cable of the same length. I also tried the cable both with and against the specified direction. I listened to a range of music with these setups, including classical, early music with small and large groups, some Kraftwerk, music from the HDTracks free sample download, and some of the 2NL hires test tracks. Listening results - no difference. Living with the cable and second switch for a couple of evenings' listening, I got no more than usual from network playback, and for CD, discs still sounded better, with (to me) more natural instrument sound and clearer placing in the stereo image, especially to the sides. Swapping the cables only took a few seconds, and again I could hear no difference with a quick and direct comparison with music ranging from MP3 through CD resolution and 96/24 and up to DSD64. I also used the lead between a different switch and my desktop PC This is a five year old home built computer running Windows 7 with no specialised audio software or external USB DAC, just a standard Realtek chip and headphone socket from the motherboard. I put sound into exclusive mode so that music was played back at native resolution, and used VLC as playback software. I used the Mybook and HD595s again, and also streamed music from a couple of internet sources covering lower resolution MP3 to some online hires samples. Again, there was no difference with any source. I know from previous listening that playing back from my local hard drive gives a marginally more detailed sound (for example, in the saxophone sound on Sonny Rollins' "St Thomas", the saxophone sounds more reedy, and the cymbals at 36secs sound more metallic and sharper); and the differences remained, no matter which lead was in place. What does this tell me? Either there is no difference, there is no audible difference in my own system, or my bias against this lead has come into play. So, now I'll throw this out to anyone who has heard a difference with Ethernet cables to describe their experiences. I don't think that what I've done so far meets the commitment I made, and am thinking about any additional things I can do (without the budget to upgrade my system dramatically for now) in terms of additional listening.

Further information: Genuine REL cable

Item: Nordost Blue Heaven USB (3M) Location: Canberra Price: $230 $185 + Postage Item Condition: Very Good Reason for selling: Too long for my current system. Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, Direct Deposit. Extra Info: There is something of a debate about whether USB cables make a difference to the sound of a system or not. I've personally found that they do, but that the difference is smaller than the difference you get from changing other cables. In my system the Nordost gave more precise leading edges and a little extra air. Probably not worth it (In my system) for the $460 RRP I paid for this cable, but good value at the above price. I'm only moving this along because I need a different length now. Original packaging included. Pictures:

Further information: Original REL cable

Further Information: Like new condition, probably only 100hrs or so use and disconnected only a few times. Fabulous sound, better than any XLR I've heard. Only using headphones now so NLR. Comes in original packaging. XLR 40 is designed primarily for low capacitance as this has been identified by QED as a major factor which leads to a high fidelity experience. Further steps have been taken to eliminate minute timing errors in the cable by the use of a special floating Zn/Mn ferrite jacket alongside use of QEDs unique 'Tri-Conductor' technology reducing signal to ground capacitance to vanishingly low levels. Neutrik XX-14 Nickel Series XLR gold plated connectors are provided as standard with Reference XLR 40 cables.

Item: DIY Speaker cables using Cat5 pair of. Location: Canberra Price: $45 plus post note they are pretty heavy there's a lot of cable in these. Item Condition: Excellent Reason for selling: Not using change in system Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Bank Deposit Extra Info: These work fine very strong cables terminated with quality plugs they took ages to make. Pictures:

Item: Moon Audio Silver Dragon V3, Audeze LCD-2/3 connectors, 10', Furutech gold plated 1/4' Location: Blaxland Price: $260 Item Condition: As new Reason for selling: Surplus Payment Method: Cash, Paypal, DD Extra Info: I have for sale 10' long Moon Audio Silver Dragon V3 cables. They are terminated for Audeze LCD-2/3 with 1/4" Furutech gold plated on the other end. The rrp for these from Moon Audio is 355.00 plus shipping. Beautiful cables - they really open the Audeze up. Pictures:

Item: One pair Jena Labs (Jenalabs) twisted pair interconnect, 95cm tip to tip, RCA connectors. Location: Sydney Inner West Price: $250 Item Condition: Very good Reason for selling: Too many cables Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: Marks on cable are where I used a felt pen to indicate L and R - one dot or two. Pictures:

Item: Pair of Nordost Red Dawn interconnect, 1m long, re-terminated with Eichmann plugs. Location: Sydney Inner West Price: $200 Item Condition: 1 flaw - see pic. Reason for selling: still too many cables Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal, COD Only Extra Info: This pair also has one flaw, but in a different place. Plug ends in much better condition. Original box, mk1 version. Again, re-terminated with Eichmann plugs. Ah, apologies for upside down pic. Pictures:

Item: Chord Signature + interconnect Location: Sydney Inner West Price: SOLD Item Condition: Very good Reason for selling: Too many cables Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Paypal Extra Info: This is a 1 metre example of the above cable. Their top interconnect before the Sarum. With its box. Original owner. About 5 yrs old. No obvious flaws. With Chord's improved plugs. Pictures:

Item: Chord Prodac Pro Digital Cable 75 ohm 1m Location: VIC, 3130 Price: Pending Payment $80 + shipping Item Condition: Very good Reason for selling: No longer needed Payment Method: Pickup - Cash, Deposit Extra Info: This cable is in very good condition. It is a RCA 75 ohm digital cable (so 1 cable only), at 1 meter length. I have been using it recently as a digital cable between the streamer and a DAC, however, I am slowly moving to making my system less complicated. Pictures:

Item: AudioQuest Sky 1m XLR 72v Interconnects (1 Pair) Location: Adelaide (Will post interstate in original packaging at buyers cost) Price: $900 Item Condition: Excellent condition Reason for selling: Spare pair (I have three other pairs currently in my system) Payment Method: Pickup - EFT, Paypal (buyer to cover PayPal fees) Extra Info: Purchased from authorised AudioQuest dealer. Genuine AudioQuest Sky cables. Made a dramatic difference in my system in terms of superior transparency and tighter bass. Legendary reputation! Pictures: See below