If you need a connector for an apple powersupply go to radio shack and if you are lucky you will find one… I did and it works great. just make sure you DONT get a mono one.

Posted at 2:50 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by Elliott

I personally prefer Canare’s connector’s and cable. I like their ‘feel’, and yea, not much technical beyond that. That and their cable construction has been pretty good on the stage.

Posted at 3:04 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by mainfr4me

first hack i’ve liked in a long time…hopefully i’ll get to making these sometime soon

Posted at 3:24 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by ryan

i just got a floating add from questionmaker or something as well…about taking a quiz or filling out a questionaire

Posted at 3:27 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by ryan

apple power jacks, at least for powerbook g4s and ibooks g4s and g3s are 2.5mm stereo jacks

Posted at 3:51 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by rmiller021

I’ve been making stuff like these cables for a while now. My betst advicepick some high quality solder, as that may be a weak point in the cable.

Posted at 3:52 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by its-a-me_dewd

Needs a mirror, its suffered the hackaday effect.

Since I have just coined that term, I shall call it HADE or HAD effect.

Posted at 4:09 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by steelmaverick

Clearly I must be a audio-noob…because I don’t know what is wrong with the 3.5 mm audio cables Radio Shack sells, I never had any problem with them. Beyond the price, anyway.

Posted at 5:24 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by TJ

@ 7
Well depending on who you ask there isn’t anything nescessarily wrong with RS cables… beyond the rather huge markup.

Cables are, of course, the most contentious issue in audiophilia. The debate over them is multifaceted and full of recrimination etc. I don’t really want to delve into it (esp. because I am one of those ambivalent inbetweeners about it) but there is a ton of stuff to be found out there if you are interested. However, if we presume that cables do create percievable changes to sound, you can bet that the RS ones (with their ultra cheap materials and shoddy construction) are some of the worst sounding around.

But moving away from that land of controversy, there is little question that different cable arrangements can help with specific audio problems. For example, the star quad used in the above link is quite resistant to EMI. It also has superior crosstalk figures than most other cable. Will either of these things be audible? That depends on how long the cable is, what the environment around it is, what equipment it is connected to etc. etc.

Plus they tend to be more attractive than the RS ones and, depending on configuration, to cost the same or less. Also, you can build them in just the right size and configuration. So why not?

Posted at 5:45 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by bp

WHY MUST YOU TEMPT ME SO, WILL!

I actually had this thread opened up in another window when I decided to see what hacks were up today. I even have a shopping cart filled with $50 worth of diy interconnect stuff at http://www.markertek.com, but I’m not sure if I want to spend the money now. I also reccomend http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72860 for a thread filled with others completed cables.

Posted at 9:04 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by tuckie

@ 9
If your looking for a cheaper source of cable goods, check out http://www.redco.com . They tend to be a bit cheaper than markertek. Not much cheaper, but it might be cheap enough to get you to pull the trigger! ;)

Posted at 10:40 pm on Oct 9th, 2006 by bp

I hope he knows that a cheap multimeter is literally $1 at Harbor Freight when on sale. I mean, for $1, it’s well worth the money, and would work perfect for what he would need it for.

Posted at 12:19 am on Oct 10th, 2006 by super_chris

Rolling your own cables is a great way to go if you have the skill and the materials.
In some custom applications you have little choice!

Posted at 8:11 am on Oct 10th, 2006 by strider_mt2k

hey, the chuink that 3.5mm cables are is ANOOYING!!!

Posted at 8:25 am on Oct 10th, 2006 by grainfinder

This cable is so thin and flimsy. Can’t somebody show me how to make a cable from a firehose? Maybe I can use railroad tracks as the conductors.

LeJupp

Posted at 8:31 am on Oct 10th, 2006 by LeJupp

I have made my own stereo interconnects from various materials, including hacking apart a set of high-quality RCA-RCA to make a standard stereo 3.5mm. Zero crosstalk, as the L and R channels are independently shielded.
p.s. hey grainfinder, no more shrooms for you!

Posted at 11:12 am on Oct 10th, 2006 by Pocketbrain

well what can i say except this is so easy and childish my hamster could do this next hack plz

Posted at 12:36 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by mr chips

$80 for a multimeter? Where does he shop?

You should use thinner wire for short cables like the 8-incher that he is showing, otherwise bending the cable will put too much strain on the socket.

Also, I like to twist a section of the metal braid and solder it to ground. The way he has it, it will sometimes be connected to ground and sometimes float depending on how the cable is bent. That’s bad. Also the soldering of the braid makes the connection stronger.

Posted at 1:52 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by ivan256

Recently I’ve purchased most of my cables from http://monoprice.com Fantastic quality stuff and dirt cheap prices to boot. I’ve seen a few tests done up by home theater buffs and they typically come in ahead of the much higher priced brand name crap. I’m not sure how they are on audio interconnects but I know for video cables they’re topnotch, Also the 12 or optical cables I bought to outfit my home theater work lightyears better then the monster brand cables they replaced (and at $3 a pop instead of $35).

Even still this is an awesome hack. It might be useful for making my own Video game AV adapters, since it’s pretty hard to find good quality cables with proprietary connectors.

Posted at 3:50 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by twistedsymphony

You can find a 2.5mm connector at http://www.markertek.com. Go there and enater this: TecNec AC122 in the part number search engine. That should be what you’re looking for. Best of luck and enjoy!

Posted at 4:25 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by Lewis

another load of shite my hamster made one of these 2 years ago for fuck sake get some hacks on plz and buy the way we all havent got money to burn like some on here example] i bought a 300 $ DOLLER CAMERA AND PULLD IT TO BITS AND TOTALLY FUCKD IT TRYING TO HACK IT COME ON GROW UP YOU LOT

Posted at 4:27 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by steve

. . . . . CALL THAT A HACK!?!?

really, hackaday needs 2 sections
The hacks, and the general things section

that way when, tutorials for simple things like putting connectors on cables come up, they wont interfere with the interesting articles.

Posted at 5:29 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by Maxx

Switchcraft makes a 2.5mm as well. 2.5mm = .097″. Here is the url to the actual item: http://switchcraft.com/products/jack-141.html

Posted at 7:48 pm on Oct 10th, 2006 by maciarc

application of hot glue from a hot glue gun just to keep everything secure would finish this off nice.

Posted at 9:29 am on Oct 18th, 2006 by HeavyWeightGeek

manufacturer of XLR connectors,XLR adaptors,1/4″ phone plugs,1/4″ phone jacks,cabinet speakon,banana plugs,connector box and audio cables,best for your choice.

Posted at 5:59 pm on Jul 5th, 2007 by Jack Wang