Furez Copper Subwoofer Cable

A subwoofer only reproduces a limited range of audio in your system, most likely a frequency range within 20Hz and 100Hz. With this being said, subwoofer cables aren't as critical as the interconnects responsible for a much wider range (in my humble opinion). So, if you're weighing the benefits of subwoofer cable versus a pair of interconnects between your CD player and amp, I'd say go with the interconnects first. Still, as audio enthusiasts, we can't simply ignore our poor subwoofers, can we?

Today I will be assembling a pair of subwoofer cables from Furez FZ162AA audio cable. This is a reasonably priced cable that features thick 16 gauge oxygen-free copper conductors (99.997% pure, aka 4Ns), a very adequate foamed polyethylene dielectric and a dual-shield (tinned copper braid and a aluminum foil wrap) to help protect against EMI/RFI interference. I'll also be using some Furez FZ100BS black and grey sleeving to dress up the cable a bit, and a set of Cardas GRMO Rhodium over silver-plate RCAs.

The cable itself is nice and thick, thicker than the Cardas Crosslink 1i interconnect cable.

Furez FZ162AA Audio Cable

Taking a look a little closer, you'll notice the thick 16 gauge copper conductors. Normally audiophile interconnects are between 20 and 24 gauge, so this is a bit thicker than typical and thus will have additional capacitance (Capacitance @ 1KHz: 20.86 pF/ft). One could even use it for a speaker cable at this thickness. Whether or not this will be beneficial when used as a subwoofer cable remains to be seen.

Furez cable detail

As mentioned above, I'll be using some Furez FZ100BS black and grey sleeving to dress up the cable. This sleeving is made specifically for Furez products by ViaBlue. To see some of ViaBlue's bling, check out this mini to RCA cable made using their products. The FZ100BS is made from Monofilament Polyethylene Terepthalate (PET) and Fiber Fillers.

Furex FZ100BS black and grey sleeving

Do note that a hot knife is needed to cut the sleeving, otherwise it will fray, as you will see in the image above. The hot knife melts the sleeving together and prevents this. Also note that as you sleeve the cable, you will lose some length as the sleeving is expanding slightly. This amounted to several extra inches for each five foot cable length.

Noting the cable stripped below, you will see the two 16 gauge conductors, one in red dielectric, one in black. You will also see the mesh copper shield. For this particular cable, the mesh shield will be soldered to the ground on the source side and not connected on the other (floating shield configuration).

Stripped wire

Here is the opposite end of the cable after tinning the conductors. Tinning simply means covering the conductors with solder in this case. On this end of the cable, the shielding is not connected, so it is trimmed down and isolated with 3M electrical tape. Note that the black conductor (ground / return) is cut slightly shorter intentionally.

Tinned conductors

Now we will be soldering the Cardas RCA connector to the conductors. This is done by removing the barrel of the connector, then sliding it over top of the cable with the tinned ends and lining them up with the appropriate solder terminals. The red conductor (signal) goes to the center pin and the black conductor (ground / return) is soldered to the inner barrel. The Cardas GRMO requires quite a bit of heat to ensure a proper joint. I find that a solder station with adjustable temperature is necessary. The joints should be strong and shiny when complete. 

Cardas GRMO soldered in place

Once the soldering is complete, the RCA needs ample time to cool (they will be extremely hot to the touch). Then the outer barrel can be screwed in place and 1/2" adhesive heatshrink placed on top to act as a strain relief. 

Barrel and heatshrink added

I tend to like to cover about half of the Cardas barrel with the heatshrink so that some of that shiny gold bling is still visible on the completed cable.  

Heatshrink in place over barrel

All that's left is heating up the heatshrink with the heat gun and we have a completed cable. A second identical cable was made for the right channel and now we have a very fancy pair of subwoofer cables.

A complete set of subwoofer cables

Hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you are interested in having your own custom subwoofer cable (or any other cable) made, please contact Zynsonix for a quote.

The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a cable are for entertainment purposes only, and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.

Pure Silver RCA Interconnects

Audiophiles have had a fascination with silver for as long as I can remember. Silver is about 7% more conductive than annealed copper (59 x 10^6 siemens/meter for copper versus 63 x 10^6 siemens/meter for silver). So on paper, silver is better than copper, but in regards to sound, it's more a preference issue to the listener. Your average silver interconnect tends to be a bit more smooth and detailed than the average copper interconnect. Because the cost of silver continues to increase year after year, silver interconnects will, unfortunately, continue to get more and more expensive. Even still, the sonic qualities are well worth it to many music lovers. 


A silver interconnect starts out with a number of cut strands of pure silver wire. The number of strands varies depending on the geometry of the cable. In this case, each interconnect will be using three wires, one for the signal and two for the return. Typically, silver wire is rated at at least four nines (99.99% pure) and some of the more expensive wire can get as high as six nines. 

High purity silver wire

Silver wire will sometimes come pre-sleeved with Teflon, and in some cases you have to sleeve it yourself into empty Teflon tubes (or your dielectric of choice, some interconnect builders use unbleached cotton). I find a general rule of thumb is to get a Teflon sleeve at least a couple of gauge sizes larger than the wire itself (eg: 22 gauge Teflon tubing for 24 gauge wire), otherwise its far too difficult to sleeve. Once one gets about 3 feet in, the friction gets to be too much, so it's better to get the silver pre-sleeved if one is making a long cable. The advantage of sleeving the wire as opposed to pre-sleeved wire is that you are actually getting pockets of air where the silver is not touching the Teflon. Since air is a better dielectric than Teflon, it's more ideal. You may be thinking to yourself "well, with air touching the wire, doesn't it become oxidized over time?". Copper oxidation can deteriorate the conductivity of the wire, but silver oxidation is highly conductive, so there's nothing to worry about ;)

Teflon sleeved silver wire

Once the wire has been sleeved with Teflon tubing, it can be braided. I've chosen a standard Litz Tri-braid for these interconnects. Electrical tape is used to hold the braid in place before the decorative outer sleeve is placed on the cable. 

Completed braiding process

Soft black nylon multifilament is now added over the cable for a more attractive and finished look. A hot knife is used to cut these sleeves to size to prevent fraying at the ends. 

Cable Sleeved with black nylon multifilament

As an added touch, a piece of custom labelled heatshrink is added to each cable to denote the brand. 

Custom blue heatshrink

Color coded heatshrink is added and Cardas GRMO Rhodium and silver plated RCAs are soldered to the ends using Cardas Quadeutectic solder. As described in more detail in the Cardas RCA Interconnects post, a large amount of heat is necessary to really make sure the wire is well attached to the barrel of the RCAs. Once these are secured, black adhesive heatshrink is added to act as a strain relief system between the cable and the RCAs.

Cardas GRMO connectors

After a signal test with the multimeter, these are ready for action. 

Finished silver interconnect cables

Craving a set of solid silver interconnects of your very own? Contact Zynsonix Audio today.

The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a cable are for entertainment purposes only, and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.

Kimber TCSS - The perfect marriage of Teflon and copper

I've been using Kimber TCSS for years. It's an excellent wire made from low-strand count high-purity copper (as Kimber calls it: Hyper-pure VariStrand™ copper) and the insulating dielectric is high pressure, low temperature extruded Teflon. It's 19 gauge, but the dimensions are small for 19 gauge, so it's easy to work with as interconnect wire, internal hook-up wire, and Kimber even uses multiple strands of the TCSS for it's higher end speaker cables (4TC, 8TC and 12TC). You'll also find it being used in Russ Andrews power supplies and other various cables.

The reason that Kimber TCSS stands out as much as it does is that most of the copper you find with extruded teflon is silver plated. Sometimes a silver plated wire isn't desired for an application, but Teflon, being the pretty much the best dielectric aside from air, is. Teflon, a synthetic fluoropolymer, was developed by DuPont and has a dielectric constant of 2.1. This is slightly better than Polyethylene and notably better than PVC and older materials like Bakelite and Formica. Between the low strand count, high purity copper and the Teflon dielectric, the Kimber wire exhibits a crisp and clear sound.

I've seen some comments on Audio Asylum and the like that the clear and white TCSS variants sound the most clear. Since this has spread around the campfire, Kimber now offers their speaker cables and interconnects using a braid of white and clear. I personally find the clear to be the most attractive, as you can see the copper strands on the inside.

I've made use of Kimber TCSS in a variety of cables, including:

Kimber TCSS and Solid Silver in Teflon Interconnects with Cardas RCAs

Headphone Cables - This one on a Denon Headphone with ViaBlue Connector

Headphone Extension Cables

Phono Ground Cable

TCSS and Solid Silver Mini to Mini Cable

...and another Headphone Cable

Making use of the Kimber wiring as a headphone cable can be a little stiff, but it's generally not too bad on a longer cable. As always, custom cables making use of Kimber TCSS can be requested at Zynsonix.com.