Any PSA’ers use it as speaker cable or interconnect?
Thinking of taking a punt and making up a set of interconnects, looking for some opinions/ experiences please.
Thanks.
I’ve made all my interconnects (XLR) with DCA 16 wire, also I used the DCA 12 for my speaker wires. Even used Duelund wire inside my DIY speaker boxes. They were a major improvement to the overall sound of my system which is mostly PSA equipment from the transport, Dac, Pre and power amps. I can’t give you a comparison to any high end cable or such because I’ve never owned nor listened to any systems with them. I just know the improvement was very noticeable to my ears.
Here is a link to a rather long review of the wire and I agree to his findings.
I use the 20 gauge for my horns.
The best $200 that I ever spent on this hobby.
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Thanks very much for that.
Couple more questions if I can throw em in there? 
Did you try the 16 gauge as speaker cable and prefer the 12 over it?
Also,
Were the XLR’s easy enough to make up…not sure the best way to hook up with pin assignments, ground etc.
I’ve made RCA interconnects no problem, but never XLR’s, and my system uses two sets.
Thanks again.
Gaz.
DCA 16 is what I used inside my Speaker Boxes. If your run to the speakers isn’t too long then 16 will work ok.
Here is a pin out
I used regular MTW wire for the ground.
I didn’t like any of the Duelund cables. I bought multiple gauges, both unfinished and completed interconnects. Made speaker cables out of the 12ga. Tried really hard to like it. Sounded bright to my ears. No depth. RCAs, XLR speaker cables. I kept trying because Jeff Day, whom I greatly respect raved about it. Nope. No good for me.
The vintage Western Electric was way better in my opinion. Not reference level like some suggested but very good at a reasonable price. I like the solid core WE cable best. The 12ga solid core made for very nice speaker cables that I used for a bit with Tonians until I bought Auditorium 23s that were a little better. I’ve toyed with the idea of combining the WE solid core cables with high quality silver cable to see what kind of speaker cable I could come up with.
Getting back to the Duelund, it never sounded good to me no matter what system I tried it in. To each their own.
Has anyone directly compared the Iconoclast speaker or interconnect cable to the Duelund tinned copper in oiled cotton cable?
Currently using the latter, and wonder if this would be any improvement.
Appreciate I can buy on trial, but not wanting to do that at the minute, just to get a general opinion. Happy to take off thread.
Thanks.
Thanks guys for the replies, appreciate it.
Going to have a go at making up a set of XLRs and a set of inters.
With the XLR I’m Assumimg I’d connect ground at both ends?
Asking as I know with rca cables, some are shielded, others not.
Always preferred unshielded myself, but not 100% sure how it’d work with XLR.
Thanks.
I am using the Duelund DCA20GA for my interconnects, both RCA and XLR, and DCA16GA for speaker wire. Once I tried the Duelund wire I stopped stressing over interconnects and speaker wire…
I use Duelund silver hookup wire to connect my ribbon tweeters in my two pairs of Decware HR-1 speakers. Took a few days of settling in but I really like the sound.
Have a set of Dueland 12 awg speaker wire and a pair of 20 GA IC with Dueland Gold Connectors and a pair of 16 GA IC with Dueland Rhodium Connectors when I 1st got my speakers I used them for a few months maybe I need to take them out of the drawer and start using them again for now I came from the View that high end cables don’t matter they are mostly snake oil but recently after testing some High end cables I seems to be changing my mind. Having Tested a Loom of Allnic ZL 5000 cables , and presently testing Zenwave audio gold Silver alloy D4 DSR and the D5 cables plus Dave’s silver ribbon cables I have come to a conclusion high end cables do matter! if one has Highly resolving system- Question is what does one want to pay for them some of these Cable manufacturers have 60 to 70 % mark up . Recently I bit the bullet and purchased Wywire Daedalus Speaker cables like them very much but the price is a cost of a component presently I am also trying out Wywire Diamond IC For me cables and connectors do matter yes I find the WBT & Furutech do make a difference in SQ this try one speaker with a cheap connector and one with a high end connector you will notice the difference immediately maybe it is subjective who knows I guess it is a matter of taste and budget
Initially ground the shield at both ends on PIN1 (floating reference ground between pin 2 positive and pin 3 negative). If you have noise, float the PIN 1 at the “far end” of the link, and leave the PIN 1 tied to ground at the “source” end. Usually it is best to ground noise at the “source” of the noise rather than the destination of the noise since this is a lower IMPEDANCE to ground and generates a smaller interference voltage.
PIN 1 is “floating” between pin 2 and 3, so any noise can move the “ground” reference up or down, changing the differential performance. Noise voltage is to be kept at a minimum to mitigate this issue with low impedance ground paths.
If you still have noise, a noise signal that is encoded differential is getting on the cable. XLR will remove all “common” mode noise, that is a signal that is the exact same voltage on each wire. It ignores all differential noise, or a signal that is equal but opposite in value.
RF can enter your system at the op-amp stages and get into the op-amps that apply the differential signal to your XLR cable. Now that the signal looks “differential” the cable assumes it is part of the signal and won’t remove it. XLR can only remove “noise” signals that are the SAME on each wire. Anything that gets turned into a differential signal will remain.
XLR can have what is called CUB, or Capacitance UnBalance. This spec is an indicator of how well the common mode noise is eliminated. Usually, with modern equipment, this spec is less than 3% unbalance. Noise in XLR links is almost always noise getting into the op-amp circuits and getting treated differential verses the cable being “noisy” and not removing common mose noise.
XLR cables are more complex as a “system”. You really have TWO cables in parallel that need to be EXACTLY the same every step of the way. THAT isn’t a realistic expectation. The noise cancellation of XLR is what they do best. A great signal on an RCA cable with noise, isn’t as good as a lesser signal on an XLR with no noise! This is why studios use XLR, noise can’t be tolerated. It is worth the extra cost to eliminate it.
RCA are ONE system of signal reference but are handicapped with ground differential noise as the SHIELD has a RESISTANCE and this resistance times the current in the shield makes NOISE. This inductive couples to the signal wire. Usually, it is so small you can’t hear it.
Most RCA ground paths are substantially low enough to not be an issue with quality cable (look for low shield DCR). If they are poor DCR paths to grounds between equipment, XLR can remove the ground differential problem with a FLOATING ground plane and CMRR properties. But, each differential path can’t be 100% the same and the op-amps or transformer windings aren’t identical either. The SIGNAL can be less pristine. Yes, this is opposite what people think. XLR by nature has more built-in “differences” to manage than RCA. Good XLR design and op-amps or center tap transformers mitigate that with quality cable and I/O stages. In return, XLR offers less noise problems. There is no free lunch, but trade-offs.
Best,
Galen Gareis
Best,
Galen Gareis
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