Shielded wire I can’t be liking this

[Beebe]

The Teflon you would use on the drain wire would be something like this:

22 Gauge Clear Teflon Tubing, Sonic Craft

 

[King Fan]

Attaching again.

Thanks. Makes sense, looks good.

 

[King Fan]

Just closing the loop, I got in my Belden 8451 and used it to take 5E3 signal way over and back to the ground switch hole. Excellent stuff, a real find where you need two conductors. As mentioned by these cable pros, the absence of a huge densely shielded braid like on the Canare 4-conductor mic cable makes this far easier to prep and ground.



FWIW the nominal 22ga conductors look and strip like 24ga — but they still have more conductor girth than the whisker in RG174, which in my experience is sufficient.

This will be my new 2-conductor go-to. Hmmm, do they make a 4-conductor version?

 

[Beebe]

Just closing the loop, I got in my Belden 8451 and used it to take 5E3 signal way over and back to the ground switch hole. Excellent stuff, a real find where you need two conductors. As mentioned by these cable pros, the absence of a huge densely shielded braid like on the Canare 4-conductor mic cable makes this far easier to prep and ground.

View attachment 940738

FWIW the nominal 22ga conductors look and strip like 24ga — but they still have more conductor girth than the whisker in RG174, which in my experience is sufficient.

This will be my new 2-conductor go-to. Hmmm, do they make a 4-conductor version?

Nice! I think the 4 conductor versions are snakes... so just two of these cables wrapped in another jacket.

On a related note, I just ordered some of this 1 pair 26AWG Mogami audio console cable at 30¢ a foot to see how it looks for wiring to guitar output jacks.

The main picture doesn't show a drain wire, but it says it has one.

The brown jacket option might lend a vintage vibe and would match my new old stock Russian military PIO caps.

Mogami W2944 Console Cable (Yellow, By the Foot)

Yellow 2 Conductor 26awg Console Cable - Sold by the Foot

www.performanceaudio.com

 

[Beebe]

I know the OP closed the loop earlier, but I just wanted to add that the Mogami cable I mentioned above worked out great by the way. The 26 gauge felt sturdy enough, but I used both conductors for extra support.

 

[BenTobith]

View attachment 937038

This is the way that I connect the ground lead to the metal braiding. Just solder a short piece of wire to the braid, fold it down beside the cable and slide a piece of heatshrink over it. It makes for a sturdy connection that also looks neat and clean.

I use this same method with Mogami W2333. Works well.

 

[The Ballzz]

I recently used that Belden 8451 in a somewhat different way. I needed to come from the Treble pot in an amp to a send jack and from a return jack to the Master pot in an amp with an effects loop on the rear. Being that the Treble and Master pots are beside each other on the front panel, I was initially going to use the shield/drain as the negative to the jacks, red for send and black for return, all through the same wire. I instead opted to use a separate cable for each, wired as follows: Drain/shield connected at only one end to chassis/Earth ground, red for positive of the jacks and black to signal/amp "0" volt common and negative of the jacks. The loop and amp overall is dead silent!
Just My $.02,
Gene

 

[BSG1]

Just extended this topic..

Apart from the input to a faint preamp first stage, where else can shielded best add value?

I have seen it on NFB back from the speaker output to wherever it connects to the PI or easier stave cathodes.

Anywhere else?

Where is it overkill and just not needed at all?

NFB over mains wiring was my initial issue. Then I was trying to kill some hum that wouldn't go away no matter the wire dress i used. I haven't done it yet and may never do it, but some of the MV mods I've seen seem to dictate use of shielded cable.

 

[BSG1]

LOL I hear ya, @Mongo Park . On a bad day, it's frustrating. I've had both stray-strand and melt-thru issues, for sure. On a regular day, it often isn't needed, either. On a good day, tho, *when* the stars align and you get into the flow, it's kinda fun, like nano-surgery.

What exact cable are you using? I like the 'real' RG-174, or for more conductors, Rob's suggested "Canare L-4E5C Mini-Star-Quad Microphone Cable", rubbery trivial-to-strip outer coat, easy-to-twist shield, rigid easy-to-strip inner layer. My results aren't pure eye candy, but they work.

View attachment 935189

That's some very tidy wiring, I'd be darned proud if mine looked like this. And, aren't those Jupiter caps nice, about $20 each? So, off the subject of wiring, I read something the other day that if you are reading the print on a (NOT electrolytic) cap left to right, then the right lead should be attached to positive the left to ground. Is that true? Does it really matter?

 

[King Fan]

So, off the subject of wiring, I read something the other day that if you are reading the print on a (NOT electrolytic) cap left to right, then the right lead should be attached to positive the left to ground. Is that true? Does it really matter?

Not quite true -- well, not at all. It's about caps that have an outer foil end. Some caps like Jupiters, Sozos, the old blue molded 'Ajax' mark the outer foil end. Caps without a marking are usually printed in random orientation, so without a mark, print direction isn't a thing. And some caps don't have an outer foil end.

Then +/– isn't the correct answer either; it's about low impedance, which can get very complicated. (Our amazing friend Rob Robinette usually marks the open foil end on his nice layouts). The gold-standard discussion is by Mr. Aiken:

https://www.aikenamps.com/index.php/where-to-connect-the-outside-foil-on-capacitors

But if you don't have a scope, and for an easy-to-digest discussion, there happens to be an excellent chat *today* by @Peegoo and @theprofessor in this thread. See especially posts #3 and 7...

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/new-build-5f2-a-two-stroke-with-6l6.1126277/

 

[Solaris moon]

Although this was sped up it's still the same idea. This is in response to the earlier post referring to this song. This is the best version of this song you'll ever hear!

 

[Jerry garrcia]

I find shielded wire my least friendly part of amp making. It just doesn’t have the mojo I am looking for, the wires are dinky painfully small. One little hair like thread going astray and the whole thing is pooched. I’m not building a amp to go to Mars, weight reduction is minimal here. I’ve tried a few kinds but they seem to be much the same to me.
That is my rant and now back to regularly scheduled amp fun.

I hate them! But unfortunately they are needed sometimes due to my ignorance in making a proper layout

 

[mountainhick]

I like using Gavit shielded. The shield/ground can be done very neatly by separating the weave with the end of a pin, then a toothpick, about an inch from the end to make an opening to pull the inner insulated center wire through. This leaves the weave intact, not a mess like unraveling it. Then heat shrink insulation sleeve over the entire length. The 22g center is easy to work with