# Pair of DIY Speaker Cables



## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Here's a few quick shots of a pair of cables I made for a friend for Christmas. He just picked up a pair of Klipsch bookshelves and a Marantz receiver, so I thought I'd make him something to dress them up a bit. 

I didn't take any pics of the process because most of it was done late at night before we got together for Christmas, but basically they are just 10ga wire, sleeved in hockey skate laces. The laces were a real tight fit on this thick wire, but they were just about perfect when I (eventually) finished them. Then some heat shrink to secure at both ends. The banana plugs are BFA style, which I am a huge fan of. They make a MUCH more secure and stable connection than typical bananas do. Rock solid. I stripped the ends of the wires and screwed them into the plug terminals, then covered with heat shrink and screwed the casing on. Nothing too complicated.

I don't know if they worked out or not yet, but I assume so, and I think they look cool. Just thought I'd post in case anyone wanted an idea how to make some simple dressed up cables that look much nicer than plain old wire.


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## Wardsweb (Apr 2, 2010)

Nice job. Not to many hockey skate laces shops around south Texas.


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

Heheh, don't worry Luther, lots of different shoelaces will work. As long as they feel like there's a hollow middle, you can try just about anything. Smaller laces for thinner gauge wires. People seem to like using "paracord" rope too. I picked up some cheap stuff at the camping store and while it frays easily, I think you could get some nice looking results with the better stuff.


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## jgourlie (Jun 16, 2012)

Hockey laces. That's a new one. 

I have always used tech flex for my DIY wires, but I am liking the laces.


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## lcaillo (May 2, 2006)

Mechman, our local hockey puck, will love these!


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## Owen Bartley (Oct 18, 2006)

jgourlie, I know there won't be a shortage of those in Lethbridge!

I've seen some really fun interconnects done with patterned skateboard shoelaces... stars, skulls, leather, as long as you can snip the ends to get a hollow tube, you can use 'em! The only catch is (unlike techflex) you're limited by the length. I think the longest I found was 120", which gave me a final length of about 8' (96") after sleeving. The thick 10ga. wire stretched the width pretty much to its max and stretching the weave that way took about 2' off the length. I was going to sleeve the individual exposed ends in techflex too, but I didn't have any red on hand so I ran with it bare. I think it still works.


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## jgourlie (Jun 16, 2012)

Owen Bartley said:


> jgourlie, I know there won't be a shortage of those in Lethbridge!
> 
> I've seen some really fun interconnects done with patterned skateboard shoelaces... stars, skulls, leather, as long as you can snip the ends to get a hollow tube, you can use 'em! The only catch is (unlike techflex) you're limited by the length. I think the longest I found was 120", which gave me a final length of about 8' (96") after sleeving. The thick 10ga. wire stretched the width pretty much to its max and stretching the weave that way took about 2' off the length. I was going to sleeve the individual exposed ends in techflex too, but I didn't have any red on hand so I ran with it bare. I think it still works.


You could also sleeve the exposed ends with cablepants....I picked up some cable pants from ebay seller furryletters I think his name was.

The look pretty sweet in my opinion.


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