Mogami, Belden for DIY hi-fi lines
Sep 7th, 2007 by Will Eifler in Audio Cable, Hi-Fi / Audiophile
The audiophile community tends to be very strong on DIY in general, especially when it comes to cables that would otherwise cost a lot more to buy from a manufacturer. Interestingly enough, not everyone is after the Oyaide, Van den Hul, or pure silver lines - often Mogami and even Belden wire is used. While they may not be necessarily be using Mogami instrument cable in their custom lines (although some do), there some wire configurations produced that aren’t widely known. I’ve researched a number of these, and here are some interconnect combinations that work well.
RCA Connectors
The absolute best RCA plug you will find for the least money is the Eichmann Bullet Plug. The design has proven superior to any other copper RCA plug, not to mention absolutely all brass RCA plugs, and is the first choice of the DIY crowd. They also make a silver version.
I’m also going to mention the Oyaide (pronounced oh-yah-ee-day, in case you’re ever on the phone with them) RCA connectors, a beautiful pure silver RCA that’s going to cost a whole lot more than the Eichmanns - Oyaide connectors of any type are generally $60-$100 apiece at a bargain.
Wire
The cable of choice among those looking for high-end Mogami wire is the 2803 model, a proprietary “dual concentric” design (diagram) now being used very successfully by Audience in the Au24 series (it is widely rumored that they are actually using Mogami 2803 in the manufacturing of their cable). Very tiny AWG even for a line cable, but it has a tremendous sound. Can be obtained with great difficulty for $70 per meter. The people at Echo Loft Lounge are the most active in procuring this wire, making large group orders to meet the quota for an order from Japan (the only way to procure this wire).
Next in line is the Mogami 2497 model, which while is 1/3rd the price of 2803, is just as hard to get. Similar dual concentric design, but with larger diameter. Much easier to terminate than 2803 - the extremely fine strands of the 2803’s conductor are very easy to cut/break. The audio quality of 2803 is considered higher than 2497, but the latter is a very substantial step up from most offerings.
The diagram appears to state that 2803 and 2804 are made with OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper throughout, which is much superior to regular OFC, as OCC long, continuous cells of copper, while OFC is more granulated (see comparison here). I am not positive on whether 2497 is made OCC or not - this may be part of the difference in price.
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At any rate, both of those cables are amazingly hard to get ahold of. If you’re looking for something a little more easily available and less expensive, you may want to try some of the “recipes” some enthusiasts have come up with for using Belden cable. But before we check that out, let me mention that there is an online DIY store called DIY Audio Store that is using normal Mogami 2893 miniature quad wire, which is what we normally use for our adapter cables at TCF, for an unbalanced interconnect. I would say that this is your best Mogami option if you need a cheap solution. I personally have achieved great results using all four of the conductors in the larger 2534 quad wire in an unbalanced design.
In this article by “Mikey”, an Echo Loft forum member, he relates his experience with two different types of Belden wires, the 89259, an unbalanced coaxial wire, and the 89207 (pdf), a balanced wire. I would encourage you to read it through, as I think it will show you that these designs can be a suitable component of a high-end rig. In the end, the 89259 wire sounded warmer due to a slight high-frequency roll-off, whereas the 89207 was far more detailed, especially in the high frequencies. A note: It appears that the 89207 is wired with one of the conductors as the ground, and one as hot.
I would probably recommend just using Bullet plugs or a comparable copper or silver RCA as the connector.
Let’s start with balanced cable. In normal balanced cable there are two conductors, which carry the hot (in-phase) and cold (inverse-phase) audio signal. It’s the same audio signal traveling along two wires, but the cold wire carries an inverted wave phase version of the signal. Now here’s the reason for this: Everything with an electrical charge emanates an electrical field, usually evident as electro-magnetic and radio-frequency fields. These fields can affect any electrically sensitive materials within their reach to a degree. Since audio is a delicately preserved article, and in signal form must pass through electrically conductive metals, any interference caused by outside sources will result in audio degradation. Internal reflection can also cause slight audio degradation.
Unbalanced cable is basically for short length use. It may be a guitar cable, a small patch cord for a patchbay, or anything with a length shorter than 30 feet. The reason unbalanced cable is only usable for fairly short distance is for the same reason balanced cable exists - it is simply much more susceptible to outside interference, and therefore has the potential to introduce more distortion.
There are a number of different brackets that define audio cable quality. Knowing which one your needs fit into is important, as you can spend a sum on high-end lines that would cripple the largest of budgets. One of the questions I’ll discuss is whether or not the audiophile extreme of the market is even valid, and then where it fits into your needs.
Copper values have gone up 300% on average since 2004. Camden copper was at a record low of $0.84 in first quarter 2002, giving a fantastic stock-up opportunity for cable manufacturers everywhere. but a steep increase 2006-2007 has led to a current market price of $3.23.
