DIY vs Name Brand

I have built many cables. Interconnects both balanced and single ended, speaker cables and power cables. Probably at least 20 variations. OFC, Mundorf, Neotech, Western Electric, Belden plus many other wire types.
Bang for the buck?, yes. Some were pretty good.
But in the end I couldn't get any of them to perform at the level of some of the commercial offerings.
While my homebrews did many things well they just didn't have the finesse and sophistication of those on the market.
Furthermore, cables are very system dependent.
If you just want "pretty good" then go for it. But if you are looking for something beyond that check out the commercial offerings.
They spend a lot of time and money on developing their products and some are really quite special.
This is my opinion from my personal experience. I'm sure you will find different opinions.
Have fun with it.

I never went down the road of making cables, and as many call this a hobby you would think more would do so along with building amps and speakers.

The manufacturers all have laid out methods on what they do, you can always emulate the practice and take several ideas and methods to make something more unique - some form of this is how many things are done anyway.

Understanding the material choices; solid core, stranded, silver coated, mono filaments...etc along with sourcing well made connectors and keeping various cables working as a loom makes me think why one could not build equal quality of product in comparison to some of the bigger names out there - and perhaps some do.

IMO the difference is some turn this into a business that attracts buyers resulting in revenue streams to grow a business, versus keeping this to yourself is just that.

It’s trial for sure, but at much less of an expense coupled with the enjoyment of initiating the efforts and results of ones own work. IMO, cables are probably the entry level position of assembly versus putting together an amp or speakers.

Now that’s my voice of reason perched on my left shoulder, while on my right shoulder is, well, the audiophile junkie who has purchased a lot of money in cables but they do make the sound come together in a toe tapping addictive way and simply turns up the volume to slip past thinking of it all.


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For DIY interconnect cables, stick with the major bulk cable manufactures.
With brands like Belden, Canare and Mogami.
Stay away from cables that make special audiophile claims.

Great post. I have a full loom of Furutech cables. All the new Mitsubishi- Furutech DPS-4.1Alpha OCC-DUCC 11 gauge collaboration . I would put them up against any cables and at a fraction of the cost of "commercial" insanely marked up names. The power cords are spectacular. I've owned many. I would be happy to have them made for anyone that would like to try them. Therefore removing the DIY issue . Same Furutech NCF FI-50 NCF ( best available from any manufacturer ) IEC's on power cords I've seen these on power cables from $5,000-$15,000 (!).. As an example, a 1.5 meter power cord with FI-50 NCF IECs would be $1550. The retail of the parts plus a $100 termination fee. All work is done by a highly experienced cable terminator. PM me for details....

Speedskater said:

For DIY interconnect cables, stick with the major bulk cable manufactures.
With brands like Belden, Canare and Mogami.
Stay away from cables that make special audiophile claims.

Click to expand...

sage advice ...........

Thanks for the comments. I don't have a huge budget, so the main reason I'm looking at DIY is to save some cash while getting some nice cables. Over the years, I have proven to myself that decent quality cables can make a noticeable and sometimes significant improvement in the overall sound. My current system is fairly modest, at least compared to systems I've owned in the past and many of the systems members on this forum own. Still, I think it's worth investing $2K to $3K on nice cables to get the most out of the components I have.

I've used Furutech connectors in the past and been very impressed with them. Based on my experience with the connectors and reviews I've read on their cable, I'm leaning pretty strongly toward trying to build up a set of power and speaker cables using their mid-range products.

A 1-meter power cable using their FP-S55N cable and FI-28 Rhodium connectors will run me about $360. This seems like a lot of cable for the dollar and I can't think of any after-market cables in this price range that are likely to sound better.

I'll probably splurge a bit more on the speaker cables and build a set with Furutech DSS-4.1 cable and FT-211G spades. With the Furutech splitters, a 1-meter pair will run me about $1300. But I think I'll try the power cables (at least 4 cables for my mono amps and speakers) before going further. If there's a noticeable improvement with these, I'll consider taking the next step.

Do yourself a favor, spring for the FI-50 NCF connectors, used on power cables from $3400-$15,000. I can have any Furutech cables professionally terminated for the cost of the components plus $100... I have the speaker cables you are considering , but with upgraded spades. I LOVE them.

DIY is fun and rewarding. There are a number of decent recipes out there if a person will spend some time searching and reading. There are also numerous varieties of wire, components, connectors and access to cryogenics.

Being one who never has believed that a power cable could impart a sound signature, I wanted to upgrade the look of my installation and I decided to do a DIY set of power cables using Furutech FP-S55N 10AWG cable paired with their associated middle-of-the-range FI-28 connector set. I can tell you that it made a believer out of me for the very first time! The cables lowered the noise floor and the amps seem less constrained when operating near the upper end of their power output capability.