DIY Digital Audio/Video Interconnects

ReTrO · 29-03-2003, 2:11 AM

Can any ideas for DIY digital audio or video cables (coaxial of the 75ohm nature) be posted here for future reference.

I will copy any previously mentioned relevent ideas here also when I have the time, at a later date.

Thanks

Mark Grant · 30-03-2003, 5:20 AM

Some links:

Link to The Max Rochlin Memorial Cable™.

Crimping the centre pin and using the correct crimper would be better than soldering in my opinion, but not bad at all for a DIY cable without the Canare tools.

Another good link to: Chris Whites DIY cable page

More good links at Chris Whites DIY homepage

Link to Ted Drains DIY cable page

Cables on Teds page:

Analog audio using Canare LV-77S cable
Composite video using Canare LV-77S cable
Component video using Belden 7710 cable
Digital coaxial audio using Canare LV-77S cable
S-Video using Belden 1808A cable

Mark.

05-05-2004, 9:22 PM

I must protest to some of the things said in those links.

Firstly, in "The Max Rochlin Memorial Cable™":
It is implied that using a high quality digital audio lead will be superior to a cheapo digital audio lead. It is a digital lead and (depending what you call cheapo) there will be NO difference because it is all 0's and 1's.

Second, in "Chris Whites DIY cable page"
It is written:
""Can I solder these connectors instead?" The answer is no. The advantage of this system is that it uses a mechanical (air tight) crimp. Soldering requires skill to make a good connection. Mechanical crimping requires no skill to make a perfect connection."

This is misleading somewhat, whilst soldering does indeed require skill, why bother DIY'ing if your not prepared to learn skills. And crimping is not more superior than soldering, in fact if using silver solder, soldering would be a theoretically better choice than crimping. It also has less chance of breaking away should the lead come under strain, and provides an all round smoother path for electron flow.

Sorry if that seemed like a moan, that wasnt my intent

06-06-2004, 11:59 AM

Digital interconnects do have the potential for signal loss, but probably not even with a relatively cheapo lead. The spdif protocol is uni-directional, and although each frame of data is error checked, it can't request that it be resent if it fails, so it just dumps it. So you could get a poorer quality signal with a faulty or lossy digital interconnect.

For SACD, I'm not sure. I think some manufacturers use tranfer protocols that are bi-directional, but I don't know much about that.

05-05-2004, 9:22 PM	#3
CoZMoSiS Guest Posts: n/a	I must protest to some of the things said in those links. Firstly, in "The Max Rochlin Memorial Cable™": It is implied that using a high quality digital audio lead will be superior to a cheapo digital audio lead. It is a digital lead and (depending what you call cheapo) there will be NO difference because it is all 0's and 1's. Second, in "Chris Whites DIY cable page" It is written: ""Can I solder these connectors instead?" The answer is no. The advantage of this system is that it uses a mechanical (air tight) crimp. Soldering requires skill to make a good connection. Mechanical crimping requires no skill to make a perfect connection." This is misleading somewhat, whilst soldering does indeed require skill, why bother DIY'ing if your not prepared to learn skills. And crimping is not more superior than soldering, in fact if using silver solder, soldering would be a theoretically better choice than crimping. It also has less chance of breaking away should the lead come under strain, and provides an all round smoother path for electron flow. Sorry if that seemed like a moan, that wasnt my intent
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06-06-2004, 11:59 AM	#4
AVAspirer Guest Posts: n/a	Digital interconnects do have the potential for signal loss, but probably not even with a relatively cheapo lead. The spdif protocol is uni-directional, and although each frame of data is error checked, it can't request that it be resent if it fails, so it just dumps it. So you could get a poorer quality signal with a faulty or lossy digital interconnect. For SACD, I'm not sure. I think some manufacturers use tranfer protocols that are bi-directional, but I don't know much about that. Last edited by AVAspirer; 06-06-2004 at 12:32 PM.
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