Over the last year, I have been involved in several DIY projects that I would like to briefly present. DIY is usually an inevitable part of the audiophile hobby, often driven by the urge to experiment and try unconventional concepts that are not normally part of mainstream commercial production aimed at larger market segments.
There are niche products available as well, but they are often too expensive and out of reach for many enthusiasts. Another reason DIY has such a special place in our hobby is the desire to perfect an existing component in order to extract the maximum performance from it or customise it to one’s specific needs.
I have made several attempts in this direction — some successful, others not so much. The DIY projects I have undertaken are relatively simple, mainly involving woodworking and soldering, with a basic level of difficulty. I tend to avoid more complex projects such as building a power amplifier, DAC, or phono stage.
The project I am most satisfied with is the optimisation and refinement of my Fostex FE 108 Sigma-based horn speakers. It involved removing the speaker cable terminals, creating notch filters, and adjusting the damping material.
Other projects I recently worked on included building speaker and interconnect cables, which ultimately turned out to be a waste of time and money. However, I do not regret these attempts because of the knowledge and experience I gained along the way.
Let me start with the first and most successful one.
Speaker Optimisation
I decided to start this experiment for two reasons. First, I became aware that some parts of my speakers were of mediocre quality. In particular, the connecting terminals and internal wiring seemed to deserve an upgrade in order to get the most out of the speakers.
My initial plan was to replace the terminals with high-quality WBT Nextgen ones and replace the internal wiring with the same cable I use to connect the speakers to the amplifier.
Then another question naturally arose: Why do I need binding posts at all?
The answer is simple: because of the convenience they provide when changing speaker cables. Binding posts are useful when one wants to replace speaker cables without the hassle of removing the speaker drivers and soldering connections.
The fact was that I had already tried several different speaker cables, including custom DIY silver-in-cotton cables, and had already settled on Belden 9497 tinned-copper cable.
These cables, characterised by their neutral tonal balance and transparency, are used for internal speaker wiring by Shindo and are a perfect match for my system. I am quite certain I will not replace them anytime soon.
Therefore, in my case, the flexibility provided by binding posts was not really necessary.
On the other hand, there is a well-known principle in Hi-Fi circles that the shorter the electrical path, the better. Removing the connecting terminals completely from the audio signal path eliminates one mechanical and one soldered contact. According to the concept of the shortest possible signal path, this could only be beneficial.
So instead of replacing the terminals, I decided to remove them completely and use cable fittings mounted on a multiplex board. I selected high-quality fittings with rubber insulation rings and screwable caps, providing excellent acoustic and vibration isolation at the point where the cable exits the speaker cabinet.
Removing the binding posts and soldering the speaker cable directly to the driver terminals turned out to be a success. It is difficult to claim a definite improvement without a proper A/B comparison, but my impression is that removing unnecessary contacts — obstacles in the electrical signal path — has resulted in slightly better overall performance.
The modification was also cost-effective, as it saved me a considerable amount of money that would otherwise have been spent on high-quality binding posts.
Interconnect cables
This project was inspired by Michael Methe’s DIY silver-in-cotton interconnect cables. I had also read some very positive feedback about using silver instead of copper wire for interconnects, especially regarding its natural presentation and detailed high frequencies.
I bought the necessary parts and did not compromise on the quality of the RCA plugs. I have to admit that creating these interconnect cables is a rather time-consuming process. First, one has to remove the plastic insulation from the multi-strand wire, then cover it with a cotton sleeve, braid it, and finally solder the RCA plugs.
Once I installed them in my system, the difference compared with my previously used standard copper interconnects was quite noticeable. I was astonished by how much additional detail I was able to hear with the silver-in-cotton interconnects.
I had the impression that the entire frequency spectrum had been filled with acoustic information that was previously missing.
After several weeks of playing in my system, the cables had completed their burn-in period. My impression was that these cables made my system sound too analytical. In other words, it became difficult to simply enjoy the flow of the music while being constantly presented with details that somehow disrupted the coherence and balance of a good recording.
My next plan was to try DIY Belden 8402 microphone cable interconnects, which I discovered at Jeff’s Place. However, I then came across very positive feedback about Goldkabel Profi Line interconnect cables and decided to order a pair because they were also reasonably priced.
Buying these cables turned out to be one of the nicest surprises I have experienced. They transformed my system completely, and the improvement was so dramatic that I had the impression I had replaced the amplifier rather than the interconnects.
The Goldkabel Profi interconnect cables completely outperformed my DIY silver-in-cotton creation. I plan to write a separate article about them because I believe these cables deserve special attention and are absolute winners in terms of quality-to-price ratio.
In the end, it turned out that spending four times more on DIY silver-in-cotton interconnects compared with the Goldkabel Profi cables was a waste of both time and money.
But this kind of unpredictability is exactly what makes the audiophile hobby so interesting. This is also how valuable lessons are learned.
Speaker cables
I will not go into too much detail here because the technology and results were similar to those of the silver-in-cotton interconnect experiment.
After all the effort and money invested, the Belden 9497 speaker cable — which costs one third of the DIY project — completely outperformed my handmade alternative.
Providing a more relaxed and realistic presentation, Belden has become my speaker cable of choice.
Conclusion
There is absolutely no guarantee that a DIY creation will outperform a commercially available component. Nevertheless, I believe it is worthwhile.
In the end, experimenting and trying new things is what keeps this hobby exciting, engaging, and rewarding.
Thank you for stopping by!