Cables Details updated Jan 2025 I don't believe in spending large sums on exotic leads and tend to go for DIY assemblies using no nonsense Pro cable/connectors. Either that or some reasonably priced off the shelf solution. The following, are what I'm using in my system. My everyday balanced XLR interconnects. Simple Neutrik digital standard XLR connectors and Elecaudio cable. This Elecaudio cable has Teflon wrapped conductors and double screen, it sounds full bodied, detailed and transparent. I use this between my Sources/Pre and Pre/Monoblocks. Available from Audiophonics.fr My everyday RCA interconnects. I mainly use balanced connectors, but when connecting to other peoples kit, having some RCA connectors handy is useful. I've tried numerous DIY leads, but find this Chord Clearway Analogue RCA hard to beat at its price point. Purchased pre owned, I use short 0.5m lengths if practical. Phono Lead The exception for RCA interconnects, is my Turntable to Phono Stage Leads. I find with the very small signal from low output moving coil cartridges, screened cables can sound a bit shut in. Remove the screen and the same cable can sound more open and have a wider deeper sound stage. My Turntable is mounted at the top of my equipment stack, with the Phono Stage directly below it. There are not many cables in this area to cause interference and unscreened seems to work for me here. I make these unscreened leads myself, using the same cable I use for balanced XLR leads. I strip the cable of its outer jacket, woven Copper and foil screens, leaving just the two conductors and the cotton filler strands. This is then given a soft expandable jacket and some KLE plugs. The finished leads look smart and sound nice, tonality and detail level is good, as is bass, and dynamics are superb. I've tried some quite expensive Phono leads that didn't sound as good in my set up. Premium Phono Lead I went one step further with this design and built a pair of leads using Silver wire. Mundorf SGW105 to be precise. This wire is a single 0.5mm diameter strand, made of 99% Silver, 1% Gold and in a PTFE Sleeve. For each lead, I got a strand of Yellow and a strand of White sleeved wire, plus two strands of soft cotton string (filler) and twisted them together using a rechargeable hand drill. I set the drill to reverse, so it produced a clockwise spiral twist. I had read that you should always twist wires in a clockwise spiral in the Northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the Southern hemisphere. Something to do with the earths magnetic core and why water runs clockwise down the plug hole in the North and anti-clockwise in the South. I don't know if there is any real evidence to show this effects audio, but it costs nothing to do, so I stick to it. I was careful to ensure the same level of twist on each of the two leads I made, with 20mm pitch between turns, measured from Yellow to Yellow twist. On the middle picture below, the unsupported free end of the top lead, has started to unwind. They were held firmly until the adhesive lined heat shrink was applied, so the twist inside the soft expandable ABS sleeve will be identical on each lead. Again no screen was added. The same KLE Silver connectors were used and 4% Silver solder, so it looks similar to the Copper version above. That's where the similarity ends, this is a very special Phono lead, the transparency, detail and dynamics are outstanding. It produces a wonderfully open and dimensional sound. This cable works fabulously between my Linear Tracking arm and Phono Stage. The Silver/Gold hook up wire and ABS expandable sleeve, I purchased from HiFi Collective (UK). HiFi Collective Digital interconnect I prefer a proper 75ohm digital interconnect, so I converted my CD Transport and DAC to BNC sockets for SPDIF connections and use this Van Damme video cable with Neutrik terminations. It was a big upgrade from an (expensive) RCA lead sound wise and cost a quarter of the price. Available as custom build from designacable.com or make them yourself. Speaker cable I only require short (700mm) speaker cables, as my Monoblock amps sit under the Speakers. I use this Atlas Hyper 3.5, a very transparent cable with even presentation and good bass. The cable has a 3.5mm sq multi strand Copper pair, with PTFE (Teflon) primary insulation and PVC Jacket. I got some cheap Chinese "Y" boots/pants of ebay and used Z-Type Banana plugs, Silver soldered to the conductors. The cable is expensive, at around £55/M but I found a 2m unterminated piece (ebay) that was pre owned and reasonably priced. The keen eyed will have noticed, that the Red terminal at the bottom, is on the Left, but is on the Right at the top. This is to match my Amps and Speakers, which have opposite terminal orientation. I twisted the conductor leads during construction to achieve this, it allows easy connection, without the need to twist the (Short and stiff) cable to line the terminals up. Mains Cable I don't believe in fancy mains cables and prefer not to use screened cable. All that is needed, to improve over the flimsy IEC leads supplied with most gear, is a decent amount of Copper. I also dislike PVC primary insulation. The leads I make up, use pro grade stage cable, that has rubber insulation and jacket. Titanex 4mm sq from the wall socket to my distribution block and Titanex 2.5mm sq from there to each appliance. By using IEC Male/Female connectors, the only fuse in circuit, is inside the 3 pin plug at the wall socket. This single fuse gives adequate protection for the cables, each appliance has its own internal fuse of the correct rating. For plugs, I use cheap Chinese copies, the UK 3 pin plug on the left cost £14, the IEC C13 Female cost £8. The IEC C14 Male connector is a Kaiser item at around £7 but I had to enlarge its entry to take the chunky cable diameter. The plugs, I purchased off ebay, cable from custom-lynx.co.uk. (Price indications were typical around 2023). That's about it, nothing very fancy or expensive, but it all performs extremely well.