Home Brew Advice

lunker · 26-03-2007, 2:14 PM

I’m having a final push on putting the “finishing touches” to my home cinema. I currently use standard 1M cables for Digital Coax which I coil up to keep things neater.

As the DVD is only about 10cm away from the AMP I’m looking to get shorter cables but the shortest I can find are 0.5M. This is still a lot longer than I need so I’m going to make my own.

To cut a long story short will these be OK to make a 10cm Digital Coax?

Connectors
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...26m3#more_info

Cable
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...26m3#more_info

What would the quality be like compared to a Mark Grant equivalent?

phils_wicked · 26-03-2007, 4:35 PM

For such a short length of cable I think you would be hard pushed to tell the difference between any cable.

The items you linked to will work fine.

lunker · 26-03-2007, 4:58 PM

Cheers phils_wicked.

I've just got to dust off my soldering iron.

Mr Incredible · 26-03-2007, 8:37 PM

I wouldn't make it soo short as the curvature of the shorter cable may place extra stress on your phono sockets. Besides, Belden 1694A coax cable has a minimum bend radius specification of 7cm.

lunker · 27-03-2007, 6:49 AM

Thanks for the tips

I'll have to take your word about the minimum bend radius specification of 7cm as I can't for the life of me find that any where on the page.

I'm going for 10cm> so I should be OK.

Mr Incredible · 27-03-2007, 8:19 AM

Search for "bend" and find 2.75" (7cm)!

It is 7cm RADIUS, so any cable configured in a semi-circular "loop" will have a minimum diameter of 14cm, which is wider than your 10cm between the phonos.

EDIT.

A quick layout suggests a 500mm cable won't be too far off the optimal length.
Circumference of a 14cm circle is Pi x D = +/- 44cm, so add a bit for luck and there you have it!

Mr Incredible · 27-03-2007, 9:30 AM

I just found a nice plugin for Corel which calculates the length of a curve. The example above: the red line is 464mm long. TBH for a hassle free life and guaranteed quality, I'd buy a 500mm one!

lunker · 28-03-2007, 2:48 PM

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Malice.

I had already purchased the cable by the time I’d read the post. As I had to buy a meter of cable I made a 44cm one. I had fun making it any way and it sounds to my ears as good as the 1M one I was using before.

I’m going to have to look at cable management in the new AV unit.