A good long time ago I had intended to post in this thread, but like many other things, this DIY interconnect cable project was put away in plastic snap bins and somewhat forgotten about. Sometimes the best intentions... well, you know the drill.
On this grey Saturday morning in NY, with rain increasingly a threat throughout the weekend, I pulled out those bins and am pretty committed to making
something.
Wire choices range from tried/true inexpensive Mogami Neglex W2549 (in blue or red), with Canare F-10 RCAs, to the rather more pricey/exotic Oyaide PA-02, a piece I bought some years ago from the late Lee Weiland at Cryo-Parts, it's been deep immersion cryo treated.
PA-02 is very fat diameter wire, something I didn't pay enough attention to when I first bought it. Over time I did acquire various RCAs that will accommodate it's 8mm girth, including ETI Bullet Plugs, Keith Eichmann's newer KLE Innovations Copper Harmony Plugs, and the Zavfino 1877Phono ZSP4.
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I think another budget cable using the Mogami wire and Canare RCAs is too boring, been there done that, super excellent value for money but not what I want after cracking open these bins. Instead I think it's time to put that long dormant piece of PA-02 to use.
I've also been there done that with the Eichmann plugs, and while I love their low-mass design and sound too (probably the most neutral plugs I've ever used), I bought those 1877Phono plugs wanting to give something from that brand a try. They have a lot of really nice stuff, perhaps our resident phono enthusiasts know this brand well?
I know little about them other than they are based in Nova Scotia. I've seen online mentions of their stuff being made in Japan, or Taiwan, neither of which were definitive references for me. Nova Scotia does seem a bit off the beaten path for a phono parts manufacturer, but I don't rule out the stuff is actually made there.
So the DIY interconnect project will be the cryo treated PA-02 wire fitted with 1877Phono ZSP4 RCA plugs. Hopefully I don't get too side tracked and actually have a finished cable by the end of the weekend. The wire is just a twisted pair with an outer braid shield, so not much soldering involved, but I'm undecided about fully floating the outer braided shield (my typical preference), or attaching it to the (-) return at the source end.
Other than that, fitment should be pretty straightforward, though this wire does only just barely fit inside the ZSP4's outer barrel. The wire is pretty stiff, which is atypical for cryo treated stuff, usually that makes wire far more supple and flexible, if it did in this case then the pre-cryo treated PA-2 must be a real bear. Hopefully it won't fight me too much.