[Jim Robson]

I have a pair of B&W 605 S2's a my main speakers. These have built-in sub woofers which each have an LFE input and line out. When I first bought them I didn't quite know what to buy to connect them and I bought some rather flexible/thin leads from Tandy of all places, in December 1999! I was thinking of upgrading these leads to either the realisically priced IXOS 1081 (3m=£10)or the very expensive IXOS 1141 (3m=£23) from Avland. Bearing in mind that I'd need at least two 3m cables has anyone any thoughts on what I might do? One lead goes from the Denon amp to the input on one speaker and the other lead goes from the line out of this speaker to the input of the other one (if you follow that <img src="confused.gif" border="0">). I've read loads about speaker cables, interconnects and Scart leads etc but never anything about sub leads. Perhaps I'd just be wasting money? Any suggestions and/or advice gratefully received.

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

i would be interested in the answer to this question as i am about to aquire a rel Q150 though the cable doesnt have to be ixos.

[Jim Robson]

I only mentioned IXOS cables as they were the only sub woofer cables I could find shown at Avland. I'd better check out QED, Audioquest, CableTalk et al to see what's on the market. Does anyone have any suggestions as to other manufacturers or have IXOS cornered the market here? I can't see any tests of sub woofer cables in the mags either so perhaps they aren't regarded as very important? What do other readers use and why?

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: Jim Robson ]</p>

[Nic Rhodes]

Buy yourself some good quality co-ax (RG 59 / RG 6). Stick some decent plugs on the end and try that. In fact if you email you address I will send you the relevant cable to try as long as you post your results here for all to see.

The cable is awesome but a little stiff so I generally use slightly longer lengths. Would 10m do you?

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: Nic Rhodes ]</p>

[General Skanky]

I had the same problem a while ago. In the end I made my own phono to phono from sat coax as then it was the exact length I wanted, and in a rather fetching red heatshrink to finish it. <img src="smile.gif" border="0"><br />It's fine and I'd bet nobody on Earth could tell the difference from it to any other, especially if I didn't say what it really is!

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: General Skanky ]</p>

[ReTrO]

General; When you say Sta co-ax, do you mean aeial fly lead?

If you change it for proper 110ohm co-ax you will certainly notice a difference.

[Nic Rhodes]

[quote]Originally posted by General Skanky:<br /><strong>Standard coax. But it has copper shielding, not the cheapy stuff, ie, tin.<br />Belden prob. does a better cable, but I doubt it'll be a quantum leap as said above, it's bass, not treble etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I offered Jim Belden 1505 or 1694 basically top flight stuff. Apparently he not to DIY orientated so he turned me down <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

The idea of quality co-ax still goes. Now can't a dealer make something up?

Looks like Frustin is interest though <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

Nic.<br />I will take you up on that offer? As a fellow Storm/Servo user i would be interested in your thoughts of your co-ax (obviously you like it) against your original cable. I am at this time using the Ixos 1141.

i have ordered a pair of connectors from lectropaks, £10 inc postage, they better be good.

[Jim Robson]

Justin, are these what you ordered? I spotted these on the Maplin site.<br />CC71N Phono Plug Blk + Red In Stock £9.99<br />"These high quality audio connectors with gold contacts feature the Neutrik chuck-principle cable protection, and also make ground before signal contact and break signal before ground. The outer shell element is spring loaded. The plugs are packaged as a pair (one black and one red banded) with a black housing, and each has two strain relief chucks, black and blue. The blue chuck accepts cables of 3 to 5.5mm diameter and the black chuck 5.5 to 7.3mm diameter."

[quote]Originally posted by SteveEX:<br /><strong>Nic.<br />I will take you up on that offer? As a fellow Storm/Servo user I would be interested in your thoughts of your co-ax (obviously you like it) against your original cable. I am at this time using the Ixos 1141.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Wow Nic! There's a vote of confidence from a gent using IXOX 1141 cable already! I'd love to hear what he thinks by way of a direct comparison.

Looks like you'll be posting kilometres of cable all over the country! <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: Jim Robson ]</p>

DAMN!!!! should i have got the 4mm or 6mm connectors? I got the PP4's. Which i presume are the 4mm entry point ones.

check the phonos out on <a href="http://www.lektropacks.co.uk/acatalog/Lektropacks_Online_Pro_Connectors_25.html" target="_blank">this</a> page, which is where i got them from.

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: Frustin ]</p>

[Jim Robson]

Thanks for the link Justin! I did spot those on the Lektropaks site but at £3.50 each they didn't add up to £10 so I thought you must have found them somewhere else on the site. I forgot you said inc postage! <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> We actually have a Maplins in Brighton & Hove so I'll maybe take a walk down there on Monday.

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Jim Robson]

Aha! There seems to be a few differences of opinion here! With an active sub would it actually matter all that much as only the rumbling bits (LFE) are sent to the sub which then amplifies it.

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

PS Ta Nic! I've sent you an e-mail. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[General Skanky]

Standard coax. But it has copper shielding, not the cheapy stuff, ie, tin.<br />Belden prob. does a better cable, but I doubt it'll be a quantum leap as said above, it's bass, not treble etc.

[Nic Rhodes]

Jim, Frustin and Steve Ex

Happy to supply all you guys some cable. Unfortuunately my HD went bag minutes after my last post. Lost everything. Can you guys re email yo addresses and how much cable you require. Sorry about this but I am in chaos here. Lashed something together on the wifes pc to write this. Not even sure whether email works yet! So bare with me if it doesn't.

The real annoying thing was I had just installed new anti virus software and was in the middle of backing everything up when it happened.<br /> <img src="frown.gif" border="0">

seriously need cheering up.

[Nic Rhodes]

Her keyboard doesn't work well either, is it me?

email sent.

[Noel]

Been thinking of doing this myself for a while and decided to take the plunge.

My local dealer has a 50m reel of CT100 for £16, but I don't know much about this cable. Will this do, and can I also use it for a composite video cable from my VCR to projector?

Many thanks,

Noel

RCA plugs are here. Hope the plastic around the outside of the wire isnt too thick.

corrected typo

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Frustin ]</p>

[Noel]

This works really well. I've been putting off doing this for ages as it means running more cable through the loft space, but I got around to doing it last night. The improvement over the previous cable (not great), is huge.

While I was in there, I also made up a pair of phono interconnects from Sky Digibox to amp (15m), and a composite video cable from Playstation to projector. Because all these runs are quite long, I'd previously been using cheapy cable, and there's a big difference. One reel of cable £16, 8 gold phono plugs £24, one soldering iron £5. I'm fairly convinced I couldn't have bought the cables I needed off the shelf for £45......!

A great solution if you can use a soldering iron!

[Nic Rhodes]

[quote]Originally posted by Noel:<br /><strong>This works really well. I've been putting off doing this for ages as it means running more cable through the loft space, but I got around to doing it last night. The improvement over the previous cable (not great), is huge.

While I was in there, I also made up a pair of phono interconnects from Sky Digibox to amp (15m), and a composite video cable from Playstation to projector. Because all these runs are quite long, I'd previously been using cheapy cable, and there's a big difference. One reel of cable £16, 8 gold phono plugs £24, one soldering iron £5. I'm fairly convinced I couldn't have bought the cables I needed off the shelf for £45......!

A great solution if you can use a soldering iron!</strong><hr></blockquote>

<br />Now all we do is educate the masses. Co-ax works great as an audio lead. The cable I mentioned above works to 3GHz I'm sure it will be fine at 20Khz. (great digital lead as well as it is 75ohm. Look for BNCs or the (rare) 75ohm RCAs for this and video applications though.

Re supplies of the co-ax I promised. I put it in the post this morming. You might have it tomorrow.

<br />I look forward to three more opinions.

[General Skanky]

For all, go to <a href="http://www.belden.com" target="_blank">www.belden.com</a> for good info on the stuff Nic is on about.<br />You can definately make good stuff yourself. Why pay shop prices?<br />For ref, also look at <a href="http://www.tnt-audio.com" target="_blank">www.tnt-audio.com</a>

P.S. You can buy belden stuff at <a href="http://rswww.com/itc/scripts/RSHome.jsp?RefreshID=973595780050" target="_blank">http://rswww.com/itc/scripts/RSHome.jsp?RefreshID=973595780050</a>

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: General Skanky ]</p>

[quote] Look for BNCs or the (rare) 75ohm RCAs <hr></blockquote>

After asking one of the hardware guys here at work about using 50ohm or 75ohm. He said that unless you are using frequencies in the high megHz then it wont make any difference.

I have a question Nic:

What is the diameter of the wire in mm? I just realised what they (leconepts) mean by 4mm and 6mm! i have 4mm.

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Frustin ]</p>

[Nic Rhodes]

[quote]Originally posted by Frustin:<br /><strong>

After asking one of the hardware guys here at work about using 50ohm or 75ohm. He said that unless you are using frequencies in the high megHz then it wont make any difference.

I have a question Nic:

What is the diameter of the wire in mm? I just realised what they (leconepts) mean by 4mm and 6mm! i have 4mm.

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Frustin ]</strong><hr></blockquote><br /> <br /> .2340 inches is about 5.9mm. I call that 6mm!

<img src="redface.gif" border="0">

Your collegue is quite correct about the 50 / 75 ohm thing. This cables was originally bought for video (Component, RGBHV) and digital (SODIF). It is important here, very important. At audio frequencies it isn't important. Hence any decent plugs for the sub but if you want to use it for digital or video then 75 ohm plugs are recommended.

6mm!!!! damn it i got the wrong RCA plugs i got 4mm ones.

got the cable this morning thanks v.much. Had to send the plugs back and get new ones (6mm instead of 4mm). <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

Still i wont be able to test it out until tuesday as thats when my amp turns up (i think i have already said this a few times. Well i am excited alright! <img src="redface.gif" border="0"> ).

Oh yeah i forgot to ask about my sub woofer...

[quote] ....utilizes a high pass filter BEFORE the power amp, you're going to be even further ahead of the game. This is because a high pass filter removes the bass from the signal going to the amplifier, and on to the speakers. <hr></blockquote>

I got that excert from a web site about sub-woofers and which ones to buy. Can someone explain this to me and will i be able to do it with my Rel Q150E and my amp (denon AVC-A10SE)? Is that why there is two RCA plug sockets on my sub, one says -0dB and the other says -12dB?

thanks

[ 09-08-2001: Message edited by: Frustin ]</p>

[Jim Robson]

Hi Nic!

You've been as good as your word (in spite of my earlier rejection!) and the cable arrived around mid-day (Thursday 9th Aug) today. It's much thinner and more pliable than I'd imagined so I'm looking forward to buying the connectors and trying it out. I'll certainly report my findings as requested.

Thank you again!

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

PS I've sent you an e-mail too.

[Jim Robson]

"I offered Jim Belden 1505 or 1694 basically top flight stuff. Apparently he not to DIY orientated so he turned me down <img src="frown.gif" border="0"> "

I pulled out all the stops today and actually managed to solder the two new Profi plugs on to the cable. My soldering wasn't actually that bad but I was a bit worried about all the stray bits of earth/foil. No shorts yet though! I've connected my two B&W 605's to each other (line out to input) and, spurred on by this success I just have to make up the cable from the amp to the input on one of the subs, when it arrives.

Looks like my DIY skills aren't as bad as I thought Nic! <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

did you make sure that the wire that surrounds the core was crimped to the outer casing?

[Jim Robson]

Hi Justin!

The soldering bit was very fiddly but these £10 per pair plugs I bought in the Brighton Maplin shop didn't seem to have a very satisfactory solution for earthing. I did make sure that all stray wires were as far away from the central copper one, as possible. Unlike an ordinary TV coax aerial plug for example there was no specific way of doing it. I'm a bit disappointed that they weren't a better design or with more detailed fitting instructions. There were excellent dimensions regarding how much wire should be left protruding prior to soldering and exactly how mcu to cut back the insulation etc. Neutrik Profi was the name. They do seem very well made apart from the earth issue and look very professional with Nic's cable. Maybe I've just misunderstood their intentions for this. I must say that the plastic outer cable grip works very effectively ensuring that the wire will not pull out. Maybe I'll e-mail the manufacturer to see exactly what's what. Maybe I should have just paid £1 each for 4 of Maplin's regular plugs, instead. <img src="eek.gif" border="0"> It might have been easier in the long run.

Regards

Jim <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">

PS I just had a thought. These plugs have a black metal casing but I tried to ensure that some of the 'earth' foil/braid from the cable actually touched the 'earth' part of the plug. I think I'll now have to reappraise my fitting. Another snag is that cable grip is not metal but plastic and naturally doesn't conduct electricity. I'll keep you posted but I can't really believe it should be so complicated to fit plugs! <img src="mad.gif" border="0">

[ 10-08-2001: Message edited by: Jim Robson ]</p>