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To hell with modesty

Jon, I agree with most of the points you have made.
IT IS expensive to make your own cables, if you add up the failed experiments, the Hakko soldering stations, the $90 WBT crimping tool (plus four other ones), lots of teflon tubing at almost one dollar a foot, Kynar tape, kapton foil, pure copper or silver, various alloy wires and dozens of different connectors.
Right now I have $700 in connectors waiting their turn to be compared to my reference DIY ICs: Xhadow XLR, Xhadow large body RCA, WBT Nextgen Gold and a few others.
My first batch of experiments, which yielded ONE good pair of ICs, cost me U$ 500 in connectors plus $150 in cryo copper wire.

However, I found a way to finance my research towards the holy grail: I sell a few of my DIY cables to friends.
Let me make it clear that I sell to friends only, by custom order only, within my country (Brazil), so this post is hopefully not a violation of AA rules.

Depending on system sinergy (as usual), my ICs have beaten Siltech, Nordost, Cardas GC and GR, Fadel Arts, Harmonic Tech, Audioquest DBS, Van den Hul and several others, mostly in the $500 to $1200 range.
Sometimes we win the shootout, sometimes we lose, but what's most important, I have fun and do not lose money anymore.
I have never had the pleasure of an IC shootout against Indra, Cerious or Nordost Valhalla, but I am looking for a good source of carbon fiber and have some ideas on how to "dope" it. That's the fun part, researching and trying out new ideas.

The exchange of ideas here on AA was the starting point for my new hobby and part-time business, which I find fascinating and extremely gratifying.
DIY does not need to be a money pit, if you sell a few cables along the way. I encourage you to keep trying!

Good luck! :^)
Carlos


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  • To hell with modesty - Carlos 10/26/0519:17:14 10/26/05 (1)


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