Great tutorial! But you didn't use the star quad wiring method so you don't get star quad benefit. Is it intentional? You need to connect Red-Yellow to +, Brown-Orange to - to make star quad work. It is useful to mention. Kind regards.
Hey, I just noticed, aren't you supposed to use the opposing sets of wire(180o) apart from each other? That would be the orange/brown, red/yellow, at least that was what I was told to do with this cable and Canare 4S11. Anyhoo, I'm making sets of both the 3104 and the 4S11. You inspired me. I'll be using the Viborg Pure Copper Bananas, Viborg Pure Copper Spades, and the CMC 4mm BFA Banana Plug Jack Z-Type Connector which is that spring form contact that looks like a Viborg product. I ordered them all.
Great choice on Viborg plugs they are my favorite ass well, for the star quad cables I have all different paring and there is no difference in the sound. Thanks
You're correct. In the video he shows the table which has the capacitance rating depending on what wires are paired together. Brown and Orange together and Red and Yellow. The table @ :38 shows the capacitance when pairing wires #1 and #3 together vs #1 and #2. Pairing 1 and 3 has a lower capacitance then 1 and 2. In between those pairs is a cord/insulation that is not shown in the illustration @ :38. You just see a gap. That cord/insulation separates pairs 1&3 and 2&4 allowing a lower capacitance. So pair Brown & Orange, and Red and Yellow. Will this make a difference to your ear? He made mention that there is no difference in sound and I believe him because he's making short wires.
I made these cables yesterday. Amazing! They replaced a pair of $2k WireWorld Eclipse 8 cables. I. Am. So. Impressed! Thank you so much. I recommend the locking banana plugs as regular bananas sometimes are too tight and eventually break at some point. Could you create a video on making 3 x 12 AWG (or larger) XLR cables? Amazing work. Thank you again.
According to Audioholics, and I agree with them, the cable size (awg) you are using is an excellent choice for stereo speakers. I am pretty sure the president of Audioholics is an electrical engineer that has worked in communications so he understands how frequency affects cables. They have done different youtube videos on the subject of speaker cables and snake oil in the audio cable industry. Personally I think your speaker cables turned out great and are first class. Well done.
Hello! Can you make a comparison between your reference speaker cables from Mogami and a regular H07RN-F 4x4mm2 copper powercable for 2 or 3 EUR each meter? I believe that you won't find huge differences. Okay, the color code on the single wires.... ;-)
I would rather connect together in pairs the opposite wires (yellow-red and orange-brown). In that case you would get the so-called star-quad configuration often used in microphone cables to make them more noise resistant. Also star-quad is used by Audio Quest in many of it's speaker cables.
@@IliyaOsnovikov I don't know this particular cable and colors but you are suggesting that the pairs that the OP used aren't diametrically opposed to each other?
what he did wrong is double the wire up.... theres no need for that. what you do is cut the casing back expose the 4 smaller cables... remove the casing from each. get your banana plug withought the outter casing... place it in the middle of the 4 wires and wrap the 4 cables around the bananna plug. If you need to solder it. then wrap in electrical tape then shrink wrap it... Or if you have big balls you can cut the casing of all the wires until you just have copper and get a giant sleeve for that lol.
As long as you're using speakers with reasonable efficiency, speaker cable is a non-issue. 16 AWG lamp cord is as good as expensive cable. Large gauge speaker wire is only needed for long runs. Expensive cable is one of the biggest wastes of money an audiophile can invest in.
I have to agree. That speaker wire is way over kill for any home use! Using a single #12 AWG for each connector is more than enough, let alone using double #12. Plus you don't need any fancy expensive wire from some fancy name brand audio supply manufacturer. But feel free to waste your money if you like.
I think most people would agree that the best you can hear is all you need. The problem is we have so many perfect 50 karat diamonds with a little circuit board inside with customers to match that it's not even about the sound anymore even though it's still blasphemous to say it. If you want jewelry for your home then God Bless ya, I hope you get what you want. Just don't be leading the up and coming to think that's what good sound has to look like because it doesn't, and it doesn't further the quest for that next more convincing generation of audio. sorry.
Let me guess romex would do just fine to then, people like you are ignorant in knowing what your talking about, maybe your attitude towards listening is not refined in detail quality of caring so much about it, your speakers play the music and that's all that matters to you, it's good enough, but let me tell you there is a difference or I wouldn't be responding to your comment, but that's up to you to compare and if you have then good for you you dont half to be in the mix of snake oil, I've built cables using cheap best buy speaker wire to using monster cable and audioquest cable and they all sounded different the rocket fish cable at best buy sounded horrible, the audioquest cable sounded fatiguing and fast like, and the monster cable sounded neutral and natural sounding and these cables didn't cost that much and I heard a difference and I dont have expensive equipment either if I heard a difference in cables then I will say something
@@shannonwilliams6623 I have done blind swap tests with probably 20 or more people who have spent big money on cables, including $3000 power cords. I snag them every time. It is all placebo.
@Bernie AYALA AUDIO Do you happen to have any commercial interest in audio? Then I would agree that its probably a bargain from a commercial point of wiev
The table @ :38 shows the capacitance when pairing wires #1 and #3 together vs #1 and #2. Pairing 1 and 3 has a lower capacitance then 1 and 2. In between those pairs is a cord/insulation that is not shown in the illustration @ :38. You just see a gap. That cord/insulation separates pairs 1&3 and 2&4 allowing a lower capacitance. So pair Brown & Orange, and Red and Yellow. Will this make a difference to your ear? He made mention that there is no difference in sound and I believe him because he's making short cables. Thank you for your DIY videos. Thinking of making a pair for the fun of it.
What about the Mogami W2921? Is it comparable or competitive to the W3104? Which would you prefer between W2921 and W3103? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!
Is the best bananaplug....no bananaplug ? Just put the naked copper in the hole ? IF. Yes If ...exspensive copper cables makes a difference and pot them in bananas from say 10 dollar each it makes no sense to me.
As a electrician, cutting into a sheath like they damaged the conductors, your can use aS/O cord stripper to strip that without damaging the wires inside.
Viborg banana is great, can take really thick cables. Good screw mounts with hex screws - just love it 👌 Monoaudio on the other hand, the spring is not pure copper. It sticks to a magnet, which shows that it’s not pure copper. Don't know how much of a difference it makes. But it’s a no for me.
Aleks Bogdanoski, true however, any reduction in resistance between the amp and speaker will improve damping factor (if your set up needs improvement in that area)
Thank you for the tutorial - one question, the banane plugs you now advice (viborg vb 401) can only accept a 4mm cable 😅 how can it match with the 2 wires of the Mogami cable ? In that case it would be better to use the Mogami 3103 with only 1 wire per banana ? Thanks in advance for your reply
Professionals use plain oxygen-free copper. Professional sales people prefer silver, gold or more expensive materials. Apart from that I really like your videos. I like your cable also☺
My speakers have 14 AWG wire connecting drivers to crossover. The larger the AWG the less resistance the less resistance the better the sound. My inductors in my speaker are 14 AWG also
Sorry, but i have forgotten your name. I have a simple question. What brand of nylon braiding are you using in the video for making speaker cables? Kind regards, Jeff Allen
There are 4 main physical and mechanical properties that all need addressed for "High Quality" speaker cables. 1 Resistance (not nominal impedance). This affects the ability of the amp to deliver power and provide damping to the speaker. Resistance is related to material, and length. "skin effect" is a non issue at audio frequencies but is a radio frequency property. Shorter is better. Larger is better. 2 Capacitance. This affects the current drawn by the cable to charge the space between conductors when voltage is applied. This is a per unit of length, conductor diameter, and insulation material in regards to it's dielectric constant. Shorter is better. Smaller conductors is better. Low dielectric constant insulation is better. 3 Inductance. Inductance is the inverse of capacitance. It is the expanding magnetic field around a conductor as current flows. This is a per unit of length factor only. Resistance and insulation do not affect this. 4 Dielectric absorption. This is the heating of the dielectric material as it absorbs energy from the changing electric field. Low loss is better. Shorter is better. Conclusions.. A long cable is bad for a complex impedance of the speaker. The best cable is smaller and bigger at the same time as big is bad for capacitance and small is bad for resistance. The ratio of capacitance and inductance produces a cable characteristic impedance. When signal into and out of a cable matches the impedance of the cable, the problems of inductance and capacitance on opposite vector directions cancel and the cable can pass high frequencies with low loss into a restrictive load. Unfortunately a speaker is not a resistivity load and has a complex impedance curve. Making a 8 ohm impedance cable would be physically huge due to the size of the capacitance needed. This is why your TV cable is 75 ohm, your network cable is 110 ohm, and your DMX cable is 120 ohm. To use "short" speaker cables, much of the industry is moving to powered speakers and amp racks at the speakers instead of the sound booth. The signal is sent on several hundred feet of line cable which is about 200 ohm and with a resistive load instead of a complex speaker impedance. Loss is negligible at the entire audio frequency range. Balanced XLR signals have very high common mode noise rejection so hum pickup and other electrical noise is rarely an issue in a commercial sound setup. Not listed above is the physical properties. Solid vs stranded, physical size, appearance, etc. For those using lamp cable or house wire for speaker cables, they handle the voltage and power just fine, but may have issues in longer runs with the insulation and dielectric absorption. This can be compensated for as the loss is greater at higher frequencies, so it is "fixed with the EQ. Disclaimer. I am an engineering electronics technician with background in radio and television broadcast.
@@brandonlamondin6228 This is the premium Audiophiles pay for. I mentioned it as a study in physics for the perfectionists to realize the best speaker cable is just a compromise at best. It is very true the differences in short cables are very difficult to measure, but do affect long cables over 100 feet. The take away is short cable is the best speaker cable. This length issue with cable is not lost in the commercial realm. Big heavy speaker cables are giving way to either powered speakers, or amp racks placed on or under the stage near speakers as it does affect the sound. Controlled impedance balanced shielded line level signal is then sent to the powered speakers or power amps near the speakers. Days of 100 foot speaker cables are mostly history in commercial audio. The lower resistance of short cable impacts the ability for an amp to damp unwanted cone movement in a big way. Damping factor is the inverse of resistance. An amp such as my QSC with a damping factor over 100, gives an effective output impedance of 0.001 ohms for damping cone movement. A 14AWG speaker cable of 100 feet has a 100 degree F resistance of 0.2525 each way, which changes the damping factor from 100 to about 2 which considerably changes the sound. These are real world numbers if you wish to do the math. Look up copper wire tables and find the resistance per 1,000 feet and scale to 100 feet X2 for round trip. Look up the damping factor of your amp in the specifications. Damping factor is the inverse of the effective active output impedance or ability to stop unwanted come movement. In a living room with each speaker only 5 feet away, this is minimal. The best speaker cable is SHORT.
@@brandonlamondin6228 They really aren't inaudible. If you cant hear the difference a good cable makes, then you either don't have a good enough setup or you need your hearing checked.
I love your response and the explanations you gave. What would make this even better is explanation and examples of application for us 'amateurs' to learn from you information when we try and build our own speaker cables. Thank you for sharing. EDIT: @ Isettech: Excellent reply to ChildOfGod. But, can you please explain the practical application of your information to the manufacture of DIY speaker cables (and cables to connect PreAmps to a PowerAmp, which is why I am here researching the manufacture of my own cables. I need to manufacture an RCA - Mono 6.5 TS connector to connect the sound card in my computer (ASUS Xonar STX) to a Phonic MAX 1600 to power my Dali Concept speakers. Thank you. EDIT: Bottom line is shorter the better and thickest guage I can get away with, with the shield of the RCA wired into Neutral at the P.A. end in order to 'ground out' the EMR back into the return path to the Xonar..? Is this correct? Thank you.
How long can I make the cable? I need 6 yards on both sides. What about the length longer than 8 meters can the amplifier still handle it. e.g. primary i25? Thank you.
Please try this type of cable for long runs Mogami W3082 Could Be The Best Sounding Speaker Cable For The Money ua-cam.com/video/dnKfyuiW9O4/v-deo.html
nice show and it surely will work fine. But i am wondering, are these not overkill for home use? I mean, these kind of professional cables are meant to travel long distances, 50 mtr or more.
I warmly welcome. Thank you very much for this guide. I have already ordered all the pieces of the puzzle. Waiting for them to reach me. I am very curious how this cable will fall out against the background of Nordost Red Dawn LS. I'll let you know how. Happy New Year.
Brass and gold are not as good as copper so why degrade it ? This is the same guy that promotes an expensive brand i recall of pre made cables. Not required imo. Keep it to silver (unlikely) or just copper. I have the tools and experience to solder or crimp, I also have the connectors if required, but i think it degrades at every step and lets face it, next to no one would ever tell the difference. I would put money on that.😊
Two weeks into listening to my DIY 3104s and I must say I'm very impressed. I'm a huge 2 channel music guy and I love listening to my Martin Logans ESL X and dual 1100X. In my opinion the floor standing speaker list is VERY SHORT when comparing however they are also good revealing weaknesses in your system. The first 100hrs or so listening, the 3104s were muddy, poor sound stage, and subpar bass. Now into nearly 300hrs of signal passing through, it sounds like I've installed another set of cables. The center stage is wide but tight enough to pick out where each artist is onstage. I listened to some older music that I'm familiar with the detail and it was like WOW....hearing voice definition, breathing I haven't heard and the guitarist actually plucking the strings. I can continue writing but let me just say, as an audio/video enthusiasts, I've always "chased the dragon" trying to get the best sound possible from whichever system I had...and sometimes spending considerably more than putting the Mogami 3104s together. These by far are the best sounding cables I've listened to (in my system) for the money. Ended up making 2 pairs of 8' cables to bi-amp my speakers. Wish I could share a pick of the finished cables.
I almost reacted like "300hrs? You're bullsh!tt!n", then I remembered that to a lesser extent, a run of Audioquest speaker cable in my system took a while to settle in. My wife and I noticed it on some slack key guitar music about two months after I installed them. I wasn't running music all day long to break them in like I normally do with new components. Coherence was mainly the "issue". Some things like distortion, you can't get used to. So, I don't entirely buy the "you just get used to the sound" argument when it comes to break-in (it's a real thing folks). So, yeah, I'm going to try this build out, what the heck. I might even do two pairs and see if bi-wiring makes a difference. If it doesn't, it'll just look like it is doing something? :) I'm excited either way. Tekton Moab, PS Audio M700, Gustard A26, PS Audio P3, AudioQuest whatever XLR and speaker wire.
Yes you can use shielded speaker cable, shield should not connect to the speaker end but it must be grounded on amplifier chassis somewhere to get full benefits. Thanks
Thank you sir for making this video! Often times cables that look like these are sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, yet are likely made in a similar method to what you have shown. I look forward to trying this myself!
Why would you use 4 x 12# instead of simply using 2 x 9#? I mean, it just complicates things, especially if you're putting just one banana pair at each end?
@@Tharbamar I'm not gonna pretend I know more about cables than you, but I am an engineer (although not primarily electrical, but you can't avoid knowing certain things) and I don't see any benefit in using star quad cable geometry for power cables. I figure the only reason why this particular mogami is star quad is that there are four conductors in it. Shielded quad stars have some obvious benefits for signal cables, not for ac power cables. Though, my question was maybe poorly phrased - I don't mind that the cable is quad, I am actually asking why didn't you put 4 banana on one end, because that's what it's for. Mogami has bunch of 2c options for speaker cables, they are still using quality deoxidized/crystal copper, you are still getting mogami quality, but without paying for two extra conductors you don't use. As for unshielded quad config, I would be really surprised if you could link me to some measurements that would prove some benefits. If anything, 4 instead of 2 should only raise capacitance without even affecting inductance. Don't matter, ofc, especially for such a short run, but that's the only theoretical difference, right?
I agree Mogami cables are the best for many applications - very good & honest - real value for money. One of the best regardless of price - which is relatively cheap. ... However, I don't like that you are connecting the leads of the 2-2 speaker cables in the 1-2, 3-4 method. If you use the 1-3 (starquad) configuration you get a much lower capacitance - on an average a little over 21% reduction on capacitance from 100Hz to 100kHz. Try it. You can easily swap them. You should use Orange+Brown and Yellow+Red. You will see an improvement. Thanks for all the great videos.
Hi, I asked yesterday about the brand braiding you used and you kindly replied very quickly, thank you. Is there a specific name associated for the braiding? I went on their site and they offer make different types. Thanks Jeff
4 mm is way overkill, especially since you double it up. Literally nobody needs more than a single pair of 2.5 mm cables (10 awg). Or you can use a quad cable with thinner ones that add up to about 10-11 AWG. There is just no upside in making your cables ludicrously heavy and unwieldy.
You are mostly correct, you only achieve a few different things: 1) less resistance. 2) more surface area for the high frequency signals that can be in an low frequency audio signal (200-300MHz). Maybe an advantage? :-)
@@friedmule5403 www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/top-ten-signs-an-audio-cable-vendor-is-selling-you-snake-oil - 10 awg is already way way overkill for speaker cable and the low voltages that are used, and going to massively thick and heavy cables with all the expense and inconvenience makes no sense. And that whole surface area thing is irrelevant.
@@Smokey66s That's true, but it's a bit of a catch 22 when you need a tow truck to tow your cable to the car you want to tow because it's too heavy to carry. :)
I have done A/B testing with different types of plugs. Brass is a no go. I could definitely hear a difference between brass and copper. So, if you have a choice use copper connectors, preferably copper spades.
Really lovely advice. What do you recommend for a 4 way speaker system which is active driven. Two Mogami 3104 per channel or 4 Mogami 3104 per channel?
I’d say at the most two per channel. Each wire is 11 awg and with two runs per channel you’d be doubling up to get the 4 drivers (8 individual wires/2 = 4 for the 4 drivers. Essentially each driver would then have a run of 9 awg. Wayyyy overkill unless you’re running a lot of power over a long run. If the drivers have a standard 8 or 4 ohm impedance, the run is under 30 feet, and the power to each driver is under 600 watts id say you’d be fine with one run per channel. Each driver would have an 11 awg wire and the losses over that wire would be nearly nothing.
After watching this video. I bought the Mogami w3104 with CMC pure copper banana plug and replace my old cable, the Van Den hul. It's so much difference. This new Mogami make me feel the hi quality cable in reasonable price. Thank you so much.
@@itsgiodudez I'm in Thailand, there is some company import from Japan to sell here. The CMC is a good banana plug too. So if you in The USA just find the cable in Part Express.
Mark Ironside what do those cost though? I’m just talking cost of material here. Silver is only $17 an ounce yet a set of silver cables could cost like $4000. What are they doing to copper to make it cost $1800 for some cables. The biggest determining factor of how it performance is gauge and length and obviously silver is a better conductor so you might see some improvements there.
Good video, but i was curious a few years back about wire size for speakers. I tested this theory about wire size so i went out and bought some 16, 14, 12, and 10 gauge wire. I tested these different size wire's on my home stereo and i couldn't hear any difference in the sound eminating from my speakers. I also went out and bought some lamp cord and wired it to my stereo speakers and guess what, i still could not hear any difference in the sound quality. So my question to all of you viewers is it possible that some people can hear sutlle differences in sound quality.
@@Tharbamar Ok thanks I found it. They look great!!! I have been designing my own speakers and those cables will work nicely. I'm looking for an end game amp that's affordable so I keep my eyes on channel. I'm maybe going for a hegal.
To keep the surface of the copper strands from tarnishing which can have an effect on signal transference over time, maybe I would suggest the use of solder for an airtight connection. Soldering is a simple thing that most will be able to do correctly with little practice. Or at least have your copper ends tinned.
Thanks for suggestions, For that issue I do annual cleaning of all my Audio cables and components, I’ve been doing that every year for last 20 years. It’s good old habit I learned growing up in pro studio, thanks
I don't think so use high-grade silver yes not silver solder, but there should be no issues tarnishing his put shrink wrap should prevent any air getting to the Bare metal you could smear them with oil like 3 in 1 would prevent tarnishing
@@Tharbamar Yes cleaning connections would be a good candidate for an educative video. Also using fluid electricians tape after tightening or soldering would probably be optimal. Seals it much better from air and moist
Hello Mr Tharbamar.How many gauges are these cables?It looks like they are quite thick and i can directly make bi-amping cables with them without twisting them.Do you recommend that?Thanks!
I am going to build my own cable after looking at speaker cables in the $2 - $4K range (too much dough). BTW, for those who suggest that this is too much for a home stereo system, it all depends on the system. If one is using 1 kW+ power amplifiers and have clean and/or well-conditioned source power, these will be great and are not overkill. Excellent video!
It is likely to be overkill, it depends on what the impedance is and cable length really. It would have to be a crazy long length for it not to be overkill for most 8 Ohm runs.
Funny how you believe in cable "break in" I'm guessing that you bought Mogami because, as the video claims, you can get high end hifi cable for low-fi price by DIY. But cable burn-in is something these so called snake oil selling audiophile cable companies introduced. Just saying if they are right about cables having burn in, might they know other stuff that is critical to audio cable design. Just saying... Makes you think.
Last you for a very very long time, my guess is that after a year or two you would want to upgrade. You see your ear is very clever it soon gets sick/tired of the sound that comes out of your speakers then you want to upgrade. This applies to right through all your hi-fi equipment.
Thanks for the video. Would having separately shielded wires make a difference? I know on analog video signals (especially unamplified), shielded of utmost importance. If you run unamplified video signal for any distance close to a pcb, there is a ton of video interference. Once amplified, the video signal isn't as susceptible to interference. I don't know how susceptible speaker wires are (probably not nearly as sensitive since it's an amplified signal at that point).
@@Tharbamar sorry think question got lost in translation. This cable has 4 different colour wires red, yellow, orange and brown. Which two should I make red and which two white connectors ?? Love the videos. Would love a balanced XLR cable video.
Vic Green yes for the look. There is no difference on sound on a 3 meters cable runn. I have a paire of 3m Vivaldi cables (2€ meter) and a paire of 3m Audioquest Rocket33 (30€ meter) Amp: Yamaha as2100, Dac: Nad D7050, Tidal Streamer: Bluesound Node 2i, Interconnect: Audioquest Big Sure + Audioquest Evergreen Optical cables and speakers:Dali Rubicon2. Both cables sounds the same. I have lately borrowed a silverplated QED XT anniversary to test it in my system and guess what? Neither me nor my two invited freinds could notice any change in sound on all the 3 different cables 😥
First, loved your video! Any thoughts on using Monoprice Nimbus Series 12AWG 4-Conductor CMP-Rated Speaker Wire (www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13712&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoZLfp6zf5wIVkJOzCh0mKQvcEAQYASABEgJBDvD_BwE) over the Mogami. I need to get 115 feet, so it's a pricey choice between $1 and $5 a foot, do you think there's much of a difference still? Thanks for anyone's reply!
Awesome tutorial! I’m with you, I mostly only use pro cables. The only exception is Supra, I find their power cords excellent. I also like their shielded speaker cables - I find some class D amps sound better with shielded speaker cables. One could also shield a professional speaker cable by manually adding a copper shield over the cable and covering it with the nylon mesh. Now I’m inspired to try the Mogami speaker cables. I’ll build a pair to try... :-D
You should probably avoid shielded speaker cables as it drives up the capacitance of the cable dramatically. And since the signal isn't getting amplified after those cables, shielding isn't really going to do a whole lot unless you are in a VERY noisy environment. That being said, if you think its sounds better that way, that's all that really matters.
Good to hear it, I have some Mogami 3103 cable on the way. I been testing different cables for months and the best sounding one I found was the Mogami 3082 cables. They are very neutral and natural sounding but the wire gauge is little thin for my set up, so decided to go with the Mogami 3103. BTW the worst sounding speaker cables I tried were the Canare 4S11's. They had way too much midrange. People say they settle down after many hundreds of hours but I played them close to 200 hours and they still sounded the same, not willing to wait anymore. The Mogami 3082's also sounded like they had too much midrange at first too but they didn't take long to start sounding more full and after about 150 hours sounded great. I had the 3103's pre burned in. Any updates on your Mogami 3103 cables?
3103 is a great cable. You will enjoy it for sure. Here is my experience: It may sound a bit bright, but in a nice way and depending on your gear. Low bass is also enhanced, not so much the mid bass, and depending on the type of music or the recording it can be a good thing or not. With my EL34 bulb amp and tower speakers is great, I am very pleased with them. So balanced and coherent. Great soundstage and tridimensionality. With my solid state amp and bookshelf speakers, as I said, depends on the type of music, recording,etc. With some recordings the highs may sound forward and disconnected from the mids, sometimes feels compressed. With some other recordings the sound is very refined that makes me crank up the volume... addictive. That has been my experience, it’s worth trying, it’s a very very good cable.
@@centinel8944 Just got the Mogami 3103 cables today and have been listening to them with a variety of music and I've got to say I'm liking them a lot. I like a little brighter presentation, brings my 20 year old pair of DIY Dynaudio speakers alive. They are a 3 way design so already have a lot of detail the midrange and seem to be working just perfectly with the Mogami 3103 cables. The speakers are full range, but I'm using them as big satellites to go with a pair of Dynaudio 30w100 subs in stereo. In my experimenting I tried Supra Classic 6, they had a excellent soundstage and detail and were very easy to listen to but were too heavy on the bass and mid-bass. Also tried the Canare 4S11 as a I mentioned, tried the Mogami 3082 which are nice, but a little lacking in midrange energy, some Audio Quest type 6 wires which were OK, but I didn't find them to be all that musical and many other types of wire I had collected over the years, but played that old collection for about two minutes each and said nope. The Mogami 3103 cables seem to fall right about in the middle of Mogami 3082 wire that was a little too dark in the midrange and the Canare 4S11 that are too bright in the midrange and so far 3103 Mogami's seem to be the Goldilocks of speaker cables, just right. I considered the 3104 wire but was worried being basically the same design that they might sound like the Canare 4S11 (maybe somebody could comment on that) and besides 4mm wire although Mogami lists it as 12 gauge is really much closer to 11 gauge and is plenty thick enough for my relatively short run. I did get the 3103's pre burned and froze. From my experience wires do "burn in" and no it's not just me getting used to the sound. I ran the Canares for almost 200 hours and never heard a change, but with Supra and the Mogami 3082's I did, the Audio Quest had already been used for years so they were already fully burned in. I don't know about the Cryo thing, but it was part of the deal and couldn't hurt, so why not.
@@phoebus could you provide the measurement of the wraps, braiding, that correspond to what was used in this video when using the mogami 3103 instead? thanks.
I agree with you somewhat. Lets not forget that most speaker cable manufacturers say its x% grade of copper, hell I personally know a whole bunch of manufacturers who will use copper plated aluminum cable to connect the crossover board with the individual drivers. Pure copper DOES make all the difference there and also connecting the speakers to the amp. Certainly thicker cable can make a lot of sense of we are covering a whole bunch of distance, but other then that, its all snake oil 99% of the time.
Thank you for the video, what are your feelings about Bi Wire Mogami 3104 , I have a pair of B&W 702-S2 , does bi wire make a difference some say yes and some say no, if I was to bi wire what other color is + beside the red, Thank You
I dont even use speaker cables. I solder the amp terminals directly to the terminals on the speaker. Best damn sound I have ever heard lol. J/K: great video.
Same here. Collateral benefit - smaller form factor. And with sufficient battery energy, my whole system is PORTABLE and can be carried by only three people.
Nothing beats garden hose filled with mono-crystalline mercury as the conductor - maybe solid brazed copper tubing - sure it's a bit stiff & not very portable, but that's HiFi for you ;-)
Hi Sir thanks for sharing...why are some cables so expensive ? up to $100 per pair, they are not coated with gold either? what to look for in good speaker cable?
I use 12/3 cabtire SOOW I use the green ground and connect it to the common ground of the amplifier at one end only and to one copper bus .the speaker ends are the same only I cut the ground wire flush to the cabtire .#12 SOOW is capable of carrying 18 amps at 600V .Using 12 /4 like you have done in SOOW is much cheaper than that cable .And you will be able to deliver 36 amps of current
I'm glad I killed interest in being an Audiophil young. The tom foolery is just ridiculous, treating digital and electrical signals like butterfly wings.
I watch a lot of video on speaker wires , amps , and speakers .I love your channel the best as you have a great ear for sound and actually look at all the good and bad before making a dicission. Thank you for a great channel . I wish I could get the denon amp you ordered from Japan but I am scared as I don't want to be screwed if something goes wrong . My future speakers are going to be sonus fabre olympica nova 5 , and hope I can soon
If you’re going to do all this then make sure you don’t use bare hands to twist the cable ends together because the oils in our skin get rubbed into the cable ends and will tarnish and degrade the transmission of energy in this area a lot faster than normal. The best thing to do is use a new, clean lint free cloth to twist the ends together and then spray a little amount of Deoxit on the twist and it should not oxidise or degrade for about 5 years at which point you cut the twist part off (about an inch) and cut your ends again so the perfect solution is to solder the ends together with silver infused solder and obviously don’t touch the bare metal with your bare fingers before you solder!!!
Awesome video! I have been watching your channel for a while now and thoroughly enjoy all of your videos. Thank you for sharing this great DIY on some great looking cables. I’m looking forward to making some very soon. Currently I’m using Blue Jean cables and I’m going to do some A/B testing. Good job buddy!
I haven't heard such a powerful bass from any cable, it's impressive. I could use a better scene, height, width, depth. I wonder if the color scheme of connecting the wires affects something. In the film, yellow is combined with orange and form a black plug Red with brown, form a red plug. I didn't think about it at home and did: yellow and brown - black plug. orange and red - red plug. Is this correct?
Great tutorial! But you didn't use the star quad wiring method so you don't get star quad benefit. Is it intentional? You need to connect Red-Yellow to +, Brown-Orange to - to make star quad work. It is useful to mention. Kind regards.
If you use this cable for bi-wire, will you loose the star quad benfit?
Hey, I just noticed, aren't you supposed to use the opposing sets of wire(180o) apart from each other? That would be the orange/brown, red/yellow, at least that was what I was told to do with this cable and Canare 4S11. Anyhoo, I'm making sets of both the 3104 and the 4S11. You inspired me. I'll be using the Viborg Pure Copper Bananas, Viborg Pure Copper Spades, and the
CMC 4mm BFA Banana Plug Jack Z-Type Connector which is that spring form contact that looks like a Viborg product. I ordered them all.
Great choice on Viborg plugs they are my favorite ass well, for the star quad cables I have all different paring and there is no difference in the sound. Thanks
You're correct. In the video he shows the table which has the capacitance rating depending on what wires are paired together. Brown and Orange together and Red and Yellow. The table @ :38 shows the capacitance when pairing wires #1 and #3 together vs #1 and #2. Pairing 1 and 3 has a lower capacitance then 1 and 2. In between those pairs is a cord/insulation that is not shown in the illustration @ :38. You just see a gap. That cord/insulation separates pairs 1&3 and 2&4 allowing a lower capacitance.
So pair Brown & Orange, and Red and Yellow.
Will this make a difference to your ear? He made mention that there is no difference in sound and I believe him because he's making short wires.
I made these cables yesterday. Amazing! They replaced a pair of $2k WireWorld Eclipse 8 cables. I. Am. So. Impressed! Thank you so much. I recommend the locking banana plugs as regular bananas sometimes are too tight and eventually break at some point. Could you create a video on making 3 x 12 AWG (or larger) XLR cables? Amazing work. Thank you again.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
You bought wires for 2k? Lol
According to Audioholics, and I agree with them, the cable size (awg) you are using is an excellent choice for stereo speakers. I am pretty sure the president of Audioholics is an electrical engineer that has worked in communications so he understands how frequency affects cables. They have done different youtube videos on the subject of speaker cables and snake oil in the audio cable industry.
Personally I think your speaker cables turned out great and are first class. Well done.
The pure richness of the thumbnail made watch this video and now I want to create my own speaker cables.
bidon
Whats the use of that giant cable when the wires inside the speakers are thin as hair
Hello! Can you make a comparison between your reference speaker cables from Mogami and a regular H07RN-F 4x4mm2 copper powercable for 2 or 3 EUR each meter? I believe that you won't find huge differences. Okay, the color code on the single wires.... ;-)
I would rather connect together in pairs the opposite wires (yellow-red and orange-brown). In that case you would get the so-called star-quad configuration often used in microphone cables to make them more noise resistant. Also star-quad is used by Audio Quest in many of it's speaker cables.
These cables are starquad.
What's the difference as long as you keep the cable colors consistent???.
@@gz4058 Please Read in Wikipedia what is the so-called Star-Quad cable configuration.
@@IliyaOsnovikov I don't know this particular cable and colors but you are suggesting that the pairs that the OP used aren't diametrically opposed to each other?
@@gz4058Yes.
Thanks for your highly informative video. I especially appreciated the pacing of the information and detailed description of each step.
what he did wrong is double the wire up.... theres no need for that. what you do is cut the casing back expose the 4 smaller cables... remove the casing from each. get your banana plug withought the outter casing... place it in the middle of the 4 wires and wrap the 4 cables around the bananna plug. If you need to solder it. then wrap in electrical tape then shrink wrap it... Or if you have big balls you can cut the casing of all the wires until you just have copper and get a giant sleeve for that lol.
As long as you're using speakers with reasonable efficiency, speaker cable is a non-issue. 16 AWG lamp cord is as good as expensive cable. Large gauge speaker wire is only needed for long runs. Expensive cable is one of the biggest wastes of money an audiophile can invest in.
I have to agree. That speaker wire is way over kill for any home use! Using a single #12 AWG for each connector is more than enough, let alone using double #12. Plus you don't need any fancy expensive wire from some fancy name brand audio supply manufacturer. But feel free to waste your money if you like.
I think most people would agree that the best you can hear is all you need. The problem is we have so many perfect 50 karat diamonds with a little circuit board inside with customers to match that it's not even about the sound anymore even though it's still blasphemous to say it. If you want jewelry for your home then God Bless ya, I hope you get what you want. Just don't be leading the up and coming to think that's what good sound has to look like because it doesn't, and it doesn't further the quest for that next more convincing generation of audio. sorry.
Let me guess romex would do just fine to then, people like you are ignorant in knowing what your talking about, maybe your attitude towards listening is not refined in detail quality of caring so much about it, your speakers play the music and that's all that matters to you, it's good enough, but let me tell you there is a difference or I wouldn't be responding to your comment, but that's up to you to compare and if you have then good for you you dont half to be in the mix of snake oil, I've built cables using cheap best buy speaker wire to using monster cable and audioquest cable and they all sounded different the rocket fish cable at best buy sounded horrible, the audioquest cable sounded fatiguing and fast like, and the monster cable sounded neutral and natural sounding and these cables didn't cost that much and I heard a difference and I dont have expensive equipment either if I heard a difference in cables then I will say something
@@shannonwilliams6623 I have done blind swap tests with probably 20 or more people who have spent big money on cables, including $3000 power cords. I snag them every time. It is all placebo.
@Bernie AYALA AUDIO Do you happen to have any commercial interest in audio? Then I would agree that its probably a bargain from a commercial point of wiev
The table @ :38 shows the capacitance when pairing wires #1 and #3 together vs #1 and #2. Pairing 1 and 3 has a lower capacitance then 1 and 2. In between those pairs is a cord/insulation that is not shown in the illustration @ :38. You just see a gap. That cord/insulation separates pairs 1&3 and 2&4 allowing a lower capacitance.
So pair Brown & Orange, and Red and Yellow.
Will this make a difference to your ear? He made mention that there is no difference in sound and I believe him because he's making short cables.
Thank you for your DIY videos. Thinking of making a pair for the fun of it.
what if you want to use it as bi-wire? how would you combine?
What about the Mogami W2921? Is it comparable or competitive to the W3104? Which would you prefer between W2921 and W3103? Thanks for sharing your knowledge!!!
Is the best bananaplug....no bananaplug ? Just put the naked copper in the hole ? IF. Yes If ...exspensive copper cables makes a difference and pot them in bananas from say 10 dollar each it makes no sense to me.
As a electrician, cutting into a sheath like they damaged the conductors, your can use aS/O cord stripper to strip that without damaging the wires inside.
Viborg banana is great, can take really thick cables. Good screw mounts with hex screws - just love it 👌
Monoaudio on the other hand, the spring is not pure copper. It sticks to a magnet, which shows that it’s not pure copper. Don't know how much of a difference it makes. But it’s a no for me.
The internal cable in the amp and speaker box is probably telephone wire
Aleks Bogdanoski, true however, any reduction in resistance between the amp and speaker will improve damping factor (if your set up needs improvement in that area)
better option is Supra cable 6mm x2, copper is covered in tin which is better than silver, and no oxygenation occour.
Tthis cable assembly is airtight design, conductors won’t oxidize.
Hi I can't find the banana plugs.
I need to know which others banana will fit this thick cables.
Any help will be appreciated.
I’ve just finished making my Mogami w3104 cable and it’s magical 😍 BUY IT !
That cable could power a whole house, very nice!
Yes and it is completely useless.
@@Marcel1979K Why useless?
@@Marcel1979K useless nah, way overkill yes
@@Blindpulitzer11 they are useless
Thank you for the tutorial - one question, the banane plugs you now advice (viborg vb 401) can only accept a 4mm cable 😅 how can it match with the 2 wires of the Mogami cable ? In that case it would be better to use the Mogami 3103 with only 1 wire per banana ?
Thanks in advance for your reply
Hi I only recommend it because I switched to it for my own cables, it’s tight fitting might need slight trimming for quad cables, thanks
Hi why did you not wire it star-quad i.e. 1-3 and 2-4 as the pairs and get the benefits of lower capacitance and inductance?
Do you sell those speaker wire
I do not, thanks
Professionals use plain oxygen-free copper. Professional sales people prefer silver, gold or more expensive materials. Apart from that I really like your videos. I like your cable also☺
Do you build this particular set of cables for re-sale? I'd be interested in purchasing a pair if the price is right. Thanks!
I do not sell them, thanks
Look inside your speaker. 24 gage wire connected to crossover. Voice coil, 24 gage wire. Are you nuts?
My speakers have 14 AWG wire connecting drivers to crossover. The larger the AWG the less resistance the less resistance the better the sound. My inductors in my speaker are 14 AWG also
Sorry, but i have forgotten your name. I have a simple question. What brand of nylon braiding are you using in the video for making speaker cables?
Kind regards,
Jeff Allen
No problem, it’s made by Techflex, link should be in video description, thanks
6AWg cable for speaker.. Are you connecting speakers directly to the power plant?
Does the Furez TST WP48 fits both the Mogami 3104/3103 I ask this to be sure cause the WP48XL is no longer available
Yes WP48 should work fine with Mogami cables.
There are 4 main physical and mechanical properties that all need addressed for "High Quality" speaker cables.
1 Resistance (not nominal impedance). This affects the ability of the amp to deliver power and provide damping to the speaker. Resistance is related to material, and length. "skin effect" is a non issue at audio frequencies but is a radio frequency property. Shorter is better. Larger is better.
2 Capacitance. This affects the current drawn by the cable to charge the space between conductors when voltage is applied. This is a per unit of length, conductor diameter, and insulation material in regards to it's dielectric constant. Shorter is better. Smaller conductors is better. Low dielectric constant insulation is better.
3 Inductance. Inductance is the inverse of capacitance. It is the expanding magnetic field around a conductor as current flows. This is a per unit of length factor only. Resistance and insulation do not affect this.
4 Dielectric absorption. This is the heating of the dielectric material as it absorbs energy from the changing electric field. Low loss is better. Shorter is better.
Conclusions.. A long cable is bad for a complex impedance of the speaker. The best cable is smaller and bigger at the same time as big is bad for capacitance and small is bad for resistance. The ratio of capacitance and inductance produces a cable characteristic impedance. When signal into and out of a cable matches the impedance of the cable, the problems of inductance and capacitance on opposite vector directions cancel and the cable can pass high frequencies with low loss into a restrictive load. Unfortunately a speaker is not a resistivity load and has a complex impedance curve. Making a 8 ohm impedance cable would be physically huge due to the size of the capacitance needed. This is why your TV cable is 75 ohm, your network cable is 110 ohm, and your DMX cable is 120 ohm.
To use "short" speaker cables, much of the industry is moving to powered speakers and amp racks at the speakers instead of the sound booth. The signal is sent on several hundred feet of line cable which is about 200 ohm and with a resistive load instead of a complex speaker impedance. Loss is negligible at the entire audio frequency range. Balanced XLR signals have very high common mode noise rejection so hum pickup and other electrical noise is rarely an issue in a commercial sound setup.
Not listed above is the physical properties. Solid vs stranded, physical size, appearance, etc.
For those using lamp cable or house wire for speaker cables, they handle the voltage and power just fine, but may have issues in longer runs with the insulation and dielectric absorption. This can be compensated for as the loss is greater at higher frequencies, so it is "fixed with the EQ.
Disclaimer. I am an engineering electronics technician with background in radio and television broadcast.
this needs to be pinned
the levels you are talking about are absolutely inaudible to the human ear... so whats the point bud?
@@brandonlamondin6228 This is the premium Audiophiles pay for. I mentioned it as a study in physics for the perfectionists to realize the best speaker cable is just a compromise at best. It is very true the differences in short cables are very difficult to measure, but do affect long cables over 100 feet. The take away is short cable is the best speaker cable. This length issue with cable is not lost in the commercial realm. Big heavy speaker cables are giving way to either powered speakers, or amp racks placed on or under the stage near speakers as it does affect the sound. Controlled impedance balanced shielded line level signal is then sent to the powered speakers or power amps near the speakers. Days of 100 foot speaker cables are mostly history in commercial audio. The lower resistance of short cable impacts the ability for an amp to damp unwanted cone movement in a big way. Damping factor is the inverse of resistance. An amp such as my QSC with a damping factor over 100, gives an effective output impedance of 0.001 ohms for damping cone movement. A 14AWG speaker cable of 100 feet has a 100 degree F resistance of 0.2525 each way, which changes the damping factor from 100 to about 2 which considerably changes the sound. These are real world numbers if you wish to do the math. Look up copper wire tables and find the resistance per 1,000 feet and scale to 100 feet X2 for round trip. Look up the damping factor of your amp in the specifications. Damping factor is the inverse of the effective active output impedance or ability to stop unwanted come movement. In a living room with each speaker only 5 feet away, this is minimal. The best speaker cable is SHORT.
@@brandonlamondin6228 They really aren't inaudible. If you cant hear the difference a good cable makes, then you either don't have a good enough setup or you need your hearing checked.
I love your response and the explanations you gave. What would make this even better is explanation and examples of application for us 'amateurs' to learn from you information when we try and build our own speaker cables. Thank you for sharing.
EDIT: @ Isettech: Excellent reply to ChildOfGod. But, can you please explain the practical application of your information to the manufacture of DIY speaker cables (and cables to connect PreAmps to a PowerAmp, which is why I am here researching the manufacture of my own cables. I need to manufacture an RCA - Mono 6.5 TS connector to connect the sound card in my computer (ASUS Xonar STX) to a Phonic MAX 1600 to power my Dali Concept speakers. Thank you.
EDIT: Bottom line is shorter the better and thickest guage I can get away with, with the shield of the RCA wired into Neutral at the P.A. end in order to 'ground out' the EMR back into the return path to the Xonar..? Is this correct? Thank you.
How long can I make the cable? I need 6 yards on both sides. What about the length longer than 8 meters can the amplifier still handle it. e.g. primary i25? Thank you.
Please try this type of cable for long runs
Mogami W3082 Could Be The Best Sounding Speaker Cable For The Money
ua-cam.com/video/dnKfyuiW9O4/v-deo.html
nice show and it surely will work fine. But i am wondering, are these not overkill for home use? I mean, these kind of professional cables are meant to travel long distances, 50 mtr or more.
Does anyone own Mogami W3103 and Mogami W3104 and care to tell whats the difference between them in terms of sound?
I warmly welcome.
Thank you very much for this guide.
I have already ordered all the pieces of the puzzle.
Waiting for them to reach me.
I am very curious how this cable will fall out against the background of Nordost Red Dawn LS.
I'll let you know how.
Happy New Year.
Brass and gold are not as good as copper so why degrade it ? This is the same guy that promotes an expensive brand i recall of pre made cables. Not required imo. Keep it to silver (unlikely) or just copper. I have the tools and experience to solder or crimp, I also have the connectors if required, but i think it degrades at every step and lets face it, next to no one would ever tell the difference. I would put money on that.😊
Don’t lie! When did I promoted expensive cables? Prove it.
Two weeks into listening to my DIY 3104s and I must say I'm very impressed. I'm a huge 2 channel music guy and I love listening to my Martin Logans ESL X and dual 1100X. In my opinion the floor standing speaker list is VERY SHORT when comparing however they are also good revealing weaknesses in your system. The first 100hrs or so listening, the 3104s were muddy, poor sound stage, and subpar bass. Now into nearly 300hrs of signal passing through, it sounds like I've installed another set of cables. The center stage is wide but tight enough to pick out where each artist is onstage. I listened to some older music that I'm familiar with the detail and it was like WOW....hearing voice definition, breathing I haven't heard and the guitarist actually plucking the strings. I can continue writing but let me just say, as an audio/video enthusiasts, I've always "chased the dragon" trying to get the best sound possible from whichever system I had...and sometimes spending considerably more than putting the Mogami 3104s together. These by far are the best sounding cables I've listened to (in my system) for the money. Ended up making 2 pairs of 8' cables to bi-amp my speakers. Wish I could share a pick of the finished cables.
I almost reacted like "300hrs? You're bullsh!tt!n", then I remembered that to a lesser extent, a run of Audioquest speaker cable in my system took a while to settle in. My wife and I noticed it on some slack key guitar music about two months after I installed them. I wasn't running music all day long to break them in like I normally do with new components. Coherence was mainly the "issue". Some things like distortion, you can't get used to. So, I don't entirely buy the "you just get used to the sound" argument when it comes to break-in (it's a real thing folks). So, yeah, I'm going to try this build out, what the heck. I might even do two pairs and see if bi-wiring makes a difference. If it doesn't, it'll just look like it is doing something? :) I'm excited either way.
Tekton Moab, PS Audio M700, Gustard A26, PS Audio P3, AudioQuest whatever XLR and speaker wire.
There's no "break in" for cables dude...
Yeah but does it give that spacious open sound ? Over the years of trying so many cable brand I end up with Cardas Audio quadlink 5c speaker cables .
Yes it will and this one is even better
How to DIY Best Sounding Speaker Cable in 2023
ua-cam.com/video/dnKfyuiW9O4/v-deo.html
Like this choice of cables and build. Nice job! I am ordering the wire and other pieces to make my own new high end quality cables for my speakers!
@Tharbamar if a person could , can you shield your speaker wires. But the question can you ?. Before I do it do you know if that's safe thank you.
Yes you can use shielded speaker cable, shield should not connect to the speaker end but it must be grounded on amplifier chassis somewhere to get full benefits. Thanks
A cable company would want over $1000 for comparable cables. Gonna try to make these. Thanks
Hello from France. I have a question: wich lenght do have the cables sold by ebay there is non mention of the size. Thanks forward
As far as I know most sellers priced per foot for these cables.
Thank you sir for making this video! Often times cables that look like these are sold for hundreds if not thousands of dollars, yet are likely made in a similar method to what you have shown. I look forward to trying this myself!
No link to the parts express banana plugs. They have two types that look like what you have here.... link would have been nice
Yes because they are no longer available and I found better one, thanks
Excellent! Thanks for posting!
What happens if I use all four conductors of wires in that cable for one banana plug? I want to use two giant cables for my speaker
It’s very good and that’s how I use.
I use 0.8mm solid silver slipped through medical Teflon tubing. Surprisingly cheap and because it’s shiny it’s great for the higher frequencies
Why would you use 4 x 12# instead of simply using 2 x 9#? I mean, it just complicates things, especially if you're putting just one banana pair at each end?
I don’t see any complication in making the cables, Main points of using it is Star-quad and Mogami Neglex Conductors.
@@Tharbamar I'm not gonna pretend I know more about cables than you, but I am an engineer (although not primarily electrical, but you can't avoid knowing certain things) and I don't see any benefit in using star quad cable geometry for power cables. I figure the only reason why this particular mogami is star quad is that there are four conductors in it. Shielded quad stars have some obvious benefits for signal cables, not for ac power cables. Though, my question was maybe poorly phrased - I don't mind that the cable is quad, I am actually asking why didn't you put 4 banana on one end, because that's what it's for. Mogami has bunch of 2c options for speaker cables, they are still using quality deoxidized/crystal copper, you are still getting mogami quality, but without paying for two extra conductors you don't use.
As for unshielded quad config, I would be really surprised if you could link me to some measurements that would prove some benefits. If anything, 4 instead of 2 should only raise capacitance without even affecting inductance. Don't matter, ofc, especially for such a short run, but that's the only theoretical difference, right?
I agree Mogami cables are the best for many applications - very good & honest - real value for money. One of the best regardless of price - which is relatively cheap. ... However, I don't like that you are connecting the leads of the 2-2 speaker cables in the 1-2, 3-4 method. If you use the 1-3 (starquad) configuration you get a much lower capacitance - on an average a little over 21% reduction on capacitance from 100Hz to 100kHz. Try it. You can easily swap them. You should use Orange+Brown and Yellow+Red. You will see an improvement. Thanks for all the great videos.
I will try that, thanks
what if you want to use it as bi-wire? how would you combine?
Hi, I asked yesterday about the brand braiding you used and you kindly replied very quickly, thank you. Is there a specific name associated for the braiding? I went on their site and they offer make different types.
Thanks
Jeff
All I know or called is Nylon breading.
Thank you !!
Thanks for showing us that idea in speaker cables DIY,
I liked it, and I provably would try it too
Speaker cables don't need to be "run in " or "broke in". They are just wire. Only electronic, speakers and work boots (haha!) need to be broken in.
4 mm is way overkill, especially since you double it up. Literally nobody needs more than a single pair of 2.5 mm cables (10 awg). Or you can use a quad cable with thinner ones that add up to about 10-11 AWG. There is just no upside in making your cables ludicrously heavy and unwieldy.
You are mostly correct, you only achieve a few different things:
1) less resistance.
2) more surface area for the high frequency signals that can be in an low frequency audio signal (200-300MHz).
Maybe an advantage? :-)
@@friedmule5403 www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/top-ten-signs-an-audio-cable-vendor-is-selling-you-snake-oil - 10 awg is already way way overkill for speaker cable and the low voltages that are used, and going to massively thick and heavy cables with all the expense and inconvenience makes no sense. And that whole surface area thing is irrelevant.
The upside is that this cable can double as a towing cable.
@@Smokey66s That's true, but it's a bit of a catch 22 when you need a tow truck to tow your cable to the car you want to tow because it's too heavy to carry. :)
of course, Audioquest would charge you about 4000 for a set this gauge.....
You do know you can get y shaped heat shrinks for cables like this, right?
Yes but hard to find the size.
I have done A/B testing with different types of plugs. Brass is a no go. I could definitely hear a difference between brass and copper. So, if you have a choice use copper connectors, preferably copper spades.
James Lester maybe bare wire without any spades or plugs is better than any of them?
@@Lulrii Absolutely.
Exactly how much would it cost for you to make two sets of speaker cables???
About 100USD at the time for materials but I don’t make them for anyone.
Really lovely advice. What do you recommend for a 4 way speaker system which is active driven. Two Mogami 3104 per channel or 4 Mogami 3104 per channel?
I can’t comment on it without trying, thanks
I’d say at the most two per channel. Each wire is 11 awg and with two runs per channel you’d be doubling up to get the 4 drivers (8 individual wires/2 = 4 for the 4 drivers. Essentially each driver would then have a run of 9 awg. Wayyyy overkill unless you’re running a lot of power over a long run. If the drivers have a standard 8 or 4 ohm impedance, the run is under 30 feet, and the power to each driver is under 600 watts id say you’d be fine with one run per channel. Each driver would have an 11 awg wire and the losses over that wire would be nearly nothing.
hi Sir why do you get a 4 core then having to bundle them into 2 core?
why not just get a 2 core
It’s called Starquad cable.
After watching this video. I bought the Mogami w3104 with CMC pure copper banana plug and replace my old cable, the Van Den hul. It's so much difference. This new Mogami make me feel the hi quality cable in reasonable price. Thank you so much.
@@itsgiodudez I'm in Thailand, there is some company import from Japan to sell here. The CMC is a good banana plug too. So if you in The USA just find the cable in Part Express.
what in the world makes a speaker cable cost $1800? im pretty sure i could make a set of cables out of pure silver for like like a quarter of that.
because there are rich people in the world who want to buy them to make themselves feel better, so companies capitalize on that
Actually you can buy pure silver litz speaker cable from Audio Note. Just thought I would save you the time of making your own ;-)
Mark Ironside what do those cost though? I’m just talking cost of material here. Silver is only $17 an ounce yet a set of silver cables could cost like $4000. What are they doing to copper to make it cost $1800 for some cables. The biggest determining factor of how it performance is gauge and length and obviously silver is a better conductor so you might see some improvements there.
Good video, but i was curious a few years back about wire size for speakers. I tested this theory about wire size so i went out and bought some 16, 14, 12, and 10 gauge wire. I tested these different size wire's on my home stereo and i couldn't hear any difference in the sound eminating from my speakers. I also went out and bought some lamp cord and wired it to my stereo speakers and guess what, i still could not hear any difference in the sound quality. So my question to all of you viewers is it possible that some people can hear sutlle differences in sound quality.
Big gauge is just in case. I can live perfectly with Canare 14AWG wires used on 4ohm speakers and 75watts amp.
well, maybe in this case, its not the wire but youre speakers arent much revealing.
I think the only way to notice difference is with power hungry 8ohm speaker and higher volume listening.
Same here..i cannot make out any difference, so cables doesn't bother me anymore...
The links for these banana plugs isn’t good anymore
I will fix them, thanks
"For those of you in Europe and metric countries" No man, its no only Europe who use the standard its all the world except Usa.
wrong
3 countries use imperial units.
3 silly , silly countries. Well at least Nasa has learned.
Hence the “and metric countries”…
Thing I don't understand is why such thick wire when the wire From the crossover to the drivers aren't anything like the thickness ?
Thick wire is to keep the damping factor loss to minimum.
WELL DONE , THANK YOU FOR SHOWING US HOW TO DO A GREAT REFERENCE CABLE FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE OF OTHERS ( COMPARE TO KIMBER KABLE ) .
Dawg, you look a little crazy, if you keep writing all caps like this.
@@pmAdministrator but ALL CAPS means its TRUE!
@@pmAdministrator ...WHAT'S CRAZY ABOUT ALL CAPS...YOU ARE THE LEMMING....CONFORMING TO THE CROWD
@@pmAdministrator looks fine to me
I know that this is an older video, but I have been looking for the big banana plugs on parts Express but I didn't see the same ones.
Please see updated list in video description.
@@Tharbamar Ok thanks I found it. They look great!!! I have been designing my own speakers and those cables will work nicely. I'm looking for an end game amp that's affordable so I keep my eyes on channel. I'm maybe going for a hegal.
To keep the surface of the copper strands from tarnishing which can have an effect on signal transference over time, maybe I would suggest the use of solder for an airtight connection. Soldering is a simple thing that most will be able to do correctly with little practice. Or at least have your copper ends tinned.
Thanks for suggestions, For that issue I do annual cleaning of all my Audio cables and components, I’ve been doing that every year for last 20 years. It’s good old habit I learned growing up in pro studio, thanks
I don't think so use high-grade silver yes not silver solder, but there should be no issues tarnishing his put shrink wrap should prevent any air getting to the Bare metal you could smear them with oil like 3 in 1 would prevent tarnishing
John sweda , sure use high grade silver whatever you can afford to solder with.
@@Tharbamar Yes cleaning connections would be a good candidate for an educative video. Also using fluid electricians tape after tightening or soldering would probably be optimal. Seals it much better from air and moist
how do you clean them...video please
@@Tharbamar
Why do you not solder cable ends before you tighten banana plug?
I preferred direct contact for all my cables.
Hello Mr Tharbamar.How many gauges are these cables?It looks like they are quite thick and i can directly make bi-amping cables with them without twisting them.Do you recommend that?Thanks!
I am going to build my own cable after looking at speaker cables in the $2 - $4K range (too much dough). BTW, for those who suggest that this is too much for a home stereo system, it all depends on the system. If one is using 1 kW+ power amplifiers and have clean and/or well-conditioned source power, these will be great and are not overkill. Excellent video!
It is likely to be overkill, it depends on what the impedance is and cable length really. It would have to be a crazy long length for it not to be overkill for most 8 Ohm runs.
Hi just finished my Mogami W3104 8'x 2=16 ' Cost approximately $11 ca. per ft.all in, now just have to break them in cant wait, to hear them!!
Funny how you believe in cable "break in" I'm guessing that you bought Mogami because, as the video claims, you can get high end hifi cable for low-fi price by DIY. But cable burn-in is something these so called snake oil selling audiophile cable companies introduced. Just saying if they are right about cables having burn in, might they know other stuff that is critical to audio cable design. Just saying... Makes you think.
Thanks for your time and effort
Last you for a very very long time, my guess is that after a year or two you would want to upgrade. You see your ear is very clever it soon gets sick/tired of the sound that comes out of your speakers then you want to upgrade. This applies to right through all your hi-fi equipment.
Hi, just wondering how these cables have performed over the last year? Do you still use them? Like them?
Thanks for the video. Would having separately shielded wires make a difference? I know on analog video signals (especially unamplified), shielded of utmost importance. If you run unamplified video signal for any distance close to a pcb, there is a ton of video interference. Once amplified, the video signal isn't as susceptible to interference. I don't know how susceptible speaker wires are (probably not nearly as sensitive since it's an amplified signal at that point).
I’m going to do this to bi-amp. Which colour cables should I put my red banana plugs on ?
I would start with Red conductor, thanks
@@Tharbamar sorry think question got lost in translation. This cable has 4 different colour wires red, yellow, orange and brown. Which two should I make red and which two white connectors ?? Love the videos. Would love a balanced XLR cable video.
There is only so much benifit you can get from a cable. This is overkill like I have never seen. Waste of money for 0 gain.
But it looks Nice!
Vic Green yes for the look. There is no difference on sound on a 3 meters cable runn.
I have a paire of 3m Vivaldi cables (2€ meter) and a paire of 3m Audioquest Rocket33 (30€ meter) Amp: Yamaha as2100, Dac: Nad D7050, Tidal Streamer: Bluesound Node 2i, Interconnect: Audioquest Big Sure + Audioquest Evergreen Optical cables and speakers:Dali Rubicon2.
Both cables sounds the same. I have lately borrowed a silverplated QED XT anniversary to test it in my system and guess what? Neither me nor my two invited freinds could notice any change in sound on all the 3 different cables 😥
@@Slim-man1977 You need a more expensives ones! Haha
You are missing the point. He has a specific use in that he is swapping out a lot so needs the beefier cables. It's all about durability.
First, loved your video! Any thoughts on using Monoprice Nimbus Series 12AWG 4-Conductor CMP-Rated Speaker Wire (www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13712&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoZLfp6zf5wIVkJOzCh0mKQvcEAQYASABEgJBDvD_BwE) over the Mogami. I need to get 115 feet, so it's a pricey choice between $1 and $5 a foot, do you think there's much of a difference still? Thanks for anyone's reply!
Awesome tutorial! I’m with you, I mostly only use pro cables. The only exception is Supra, I find their power cords excellent. I also like their shielded speaker cables - I find some class D amps sound better with shielded speaker cables. One could also shield a professional speaker cable by manually adding a copper shield over the cable and covering it with the nylon mesh. Now I’m inspired to try the Mogami speaker cables. I’ll build a pair to try... :-D
You should probably avoid shielded speaker cables as it drives up the capacitance of the cable dramatically. And since the signal isn't getting amplified after those cables, shielding isn't really going to do a whole lot unless you are in a VERY noisy environment. That being said, if you think its sounds better that way, that's all that really matters.
cheers mate !!
Excellent tutorial thank you! I just made my own using 3103 cable. The sound opened and the bass got much clearer. Much cleaner sound
Good to hear it, I have some Mogami 3103 cable on the way. I been testing different cables for months and the best sounding one I found was the Mogami 3082 cables. They are very neutral and natural sounding but the wire gauge is little thin for my set up, so decided to go with the Mogami 3103. BTW the worst sounding speaker cables I tried were the Canare 4S11's. They had way too much midrange. People say they settle down after many hundreds of hours but I played them close to 200 hours and they still sounded the same, not willing to wait anymore. The Mogami 3082's also sounded like they had too much midrange at first too but they didn't take long to start sounding more full and after about 150 hours sounded great. I had the 3103's pre burned in. Any updates on your Mogami 3103 cables?
3103 is a great cable. You will enjoy it for sure. Here is my experience: It may sound a bit bright, but in a nice way and depending on your gear. Low bass is also enhanced, not so much the mid bass, and depending on the type of music or the recording it can be a good thing or not.
With my EL34 bulb amp and tower speakers is great, I am very pleased with them. So balanced and coherent. Great soundstage and tridimensionality. With my solid state amp and bookshelf speakers, as I said, depends on the type of music, recording,etc. With some recordings the highs may sound forward and disconnected from the mids, sometimes feels compressed. With some other recordings the sound is very refined that makes me crank up the volume... addictive. That has been my experience, it’s worth trying, it’s a very very good cable.
@@centinel8944 Just got the Mogami 3103 cables today and have been listening to them with a variety of music and I've got to say I'm liking them a lot. I like a little brighter presentation, brings my 20 year old pair of DIY Dynaudio speakers alive. They are a 3 way design so already have a lot of detail the midrange and seem to be working just perfectly with the Mogami 3103 cables. The speakers are full range, but I'm using them as big satellites to go with a pair of Dynaudio 30w100 subs in stereo.
In my experimenting I tried Supra Classic 6, they had a excellent soundstage and detail and were very easy to listen to but were too heavy on the bass and mid-bass. Also tried the Canare 4S11 as a I mentioned, tried the Mogami 3082 which are nice, but a little lacking in midrange energy, some Audio Quest type 6 wires which were OK, but I didn't find them to be all that musical and many other types of wire I had collected over the years, but played that old collection for about two minutes each and said nope. The Mogami 3103 cables seem to fall right about in the middle of Mogami 3082 wire that was a little too dark in the midrange and the Canare 4S11 that are too bright in the midrange and so far 3103 Mogami's seem to be the Goldilocks of speaker cables, just right. I considered the 3104 wire but was worried being basically the same design that they might sound like the Canare 4S11 (maybe somebody could comment on that) and besides 4mm wire although Mogami lists it as 12 gauge is really much closer to 11 gauge and is plenty thick enough for my relatively short run. I did get the 3103's pre burned and froze. From my experience wires do "burn in" and no it's not just me getting used to the sound. I ran the Canares for almost 200 hours and never heard a change, but with Supra and the Mogami 3082's I did, the Audio Quest had already been used for years so they were already fully burned in. I don't know about the Cryo thing, but it was part of the deal and couldn't hurt, so why not.
@@phoebus could you provide the measurement of the wraps, braiding, that correspond to what was used in this video when using the mogami 3103 instead? thanks.
in my opinion you cannot hear any difference if you would use normal cables. pure copper is pure copper. However I respect your work! Cheers!
I agree with you somewhat.
Lets not forget that most speaker cable manufacturers say its x% grade of copper, hell I personally know a whole bunch of manufacturers who will use copper plated aluminum cable to connect the crossover board with the individual drivers.
Pure copper DOES make all the difference there and also connecting the speakers to the amp. Certainly thicker cable can make a lot of sense of we are covering a whole bunch of distance, but other then that, its all snake oil 99% of the time.
Great video!!!!
Thank you for the video, what are your feelings about Bi Wire Mogami 3104 , I have a pair of B&W 702-S2 , does bi wire make a difference some say yes and some say no, if I was to bi wire what other color is + beside the red, Thank You
Im building a set of these...thanks for the idea and tutorial.
Was it easy to do?
Break in a cable? 16:10
I dont even use speaker cables. I solder the amp terminals directly to the terminals on the speaker. Best damn sound I have ever heard lol.
J/K: great video.
Same here. Collateral benefit - smaller form factor. And with sufficient battery energy, my whole system is PORTABLE and can be carried by only three people.
Nothing beats garden hose filled with mono-crystalline mercury as the conductor - maybe solid brazed copper tubing - sure it's a bit stiff & not very portable, but that's HiFi for you ;-)
they are very very short, who has speakers that close together??
Built for demonstration purpose only.
Awesome job. I really enjoyed watching you work.
Hi Sir thanks for sharing...why are some cables so expensive ? up to $100 per pair, they are not coated with gold either? what to look for in good speaker cable?
Great video my man👍🏽👊🏽
I've always thought how speaker cables can make a difference if the internal wiring of the speakers itself are medium to poor quality and max 14 awg?
There's no fool like an audio fool
There is no fool like trolls.
I use 12/3 cabtire SOOW I use the green ground and connect it to the common ground of the amplifier at one end only and to one copper bus .the speaker ends are the same only I cut the ground wire flush to the cabtire .#12 SOOW is capable of carrying 18 amps at 600V .Using 12 /4 like you have done in SOOW is much cheaper than that cable .And you will be able to deliver 36 amps of current
I'm glad I killed interest in being an Audiophil young. The tom foolery is just ridiculous, treating digital and electrical signals like butterfly wings.
I watch a lot of video on speaker wires , amps , and speakers .I love your channel the best as you have a great ear for sound and actually look at all the good and bad before making a dicission. Thank you for a great channel . I wish I could get the denon amp you ordered from Japan but I am scared as I don't want to be screwed if something goes wrong . My future speakers are going to be sonus fabre olympica nova 5 , and hope I can soon
If you’re going to do all this then make sure you don’t use bare hands to twist the cable ends together because the oils in our skin get rubbed into the cable ends and will tarnish and degrade the transmission of energy in this area a lot faster than normal. The best thing to do is use a new, clean lint free cloth to twist the ends together and then spray a little amount of Deoxit on the twist and it should not oxidise or degrade for about 5 years at which point you cut the twist part off (about an inch) and cut your ends again so the perfect solution is to solder the ends together with silver infused solder and obviously don’t touch the bare metal with your bare fingers before you solder!!!
Awesome video! I have been watching your channel for a while now and thoroughly enjoy all of your videos. Thank you for sharing this great DIY on some great looking cables. I’m looking forward to making some very soon. Currently I’m using Blue Jean cables and I’m going to do some A/B testing. Good job buddy!
Awesome work here my friend 👌
I haven't heard such a powerful bass from any cable, it's impressive. I could use a better scene, height, width, depth.
I wonder if the color scheme of connecting the wires affects something.
In the film, yellow is combined with orange and form a black plug
Red with brown, form a red plug.
I didn't think about it at home and did:
yellow and brown - black plug.
orange and red - red plug.
Is this correct?
Color of conductors is not important, you can pair them any color you like.