I like the build design as it as close to no connector as I have seen. Connectors degrade sound compared to bare wire hook up. That goes for binding posts and connectors. I usually bypass both! Many aphile type posts and connectors are very heavy and thick not making for the best transfer. Many contain brass.
These look promising in design. If you don’t like the plastic look then neatly heat shrink over it for a clean look. |
I have some coming in to test vs Neotech and bare wire. I will report back. Will be interesting.
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The banana plugs. I am going to add them to the wiring harness going from the outboard crossovers to my Living Voice speakers. I use a Duelund bare wire right now. |
Night and day difference between Duelund and Belden sound. Don’t let your preconceived notions of tinned wire cloud or block an open minded hearing of this great wire. I had the same conventional knowledge and thinking. This wire has lots of folks selling off high dollar cables made of silver and copper. I am just one of them. Belden is closed in and dark sounding compared to Duelund. Two very different sonic signatures and designs actually.
Supra also makes tinned wire, but it also has a different sonic signature from Duelund. You have to consider the type of copper used, tinning process employed, and the all important dialectric. Duelund uses natural cotton fibers impregnated in oil and that certainly impacts the resulting sound also. Tinning is but one attribute in the total recipe.
Easily the best value in cable I have ever experienced and I have owned and tried MANY.
Give it 150 hours of burn in and smile big when you sell your $3000 cables. |
Yes I have tried the Belden wire, but not the braiding you mention. Also, I have never liked the sound of silver over copper cable. I have always found it to be a tad edgy and a tad lean in the past. I am open minded enough to realize there may be one I like however. I actually replaced all the mill spec wire in a set of Tekton Double Impact speakers with the Duelund wire and the improvement was substantial. Looks to be the very same wire as shown in your link.
Sound quality is so very subjective and terms like closed in and dark are relative. It may be we like entirely different sound signatures. I suspect this is in part true.
The Duelund wire is also Cryo treated as an FYI. |
I have 8 of these installed now. I like the design. Very simple and easy to use and solder. In terms of sound, this is just my initial impression as I only have some 6 hours on them. They have impacted the natural warmth the Duelund wire has by brightening things up a tad. Sharper leading edges and more brilliance. This however is not a good thing for me. I miss the natural warmth and ease. I hope this comes with time. I will report back after some 50 hours. |
Funny that folks are asking about cryogenic treatment. I have not done any a/b testing as yet. However, on my current speaker project I am going to send out all my parts out for cryo treatment based on the overwhelming positive comments from folks who have tested.
After 24 hours I still find I lost a bit of the weight and resonate beauty/ tone of my music collection. These connectors, as of 24 hours, highlight the upper mids and highs in much the same manner a yellow highlighter makes words and phrases jump out on paper. I prefer the words not jump out at me, but rather allow me to enjoy the text on my own terms if you will. The bare wire has all the words (details) but they are not highlighted in the manner the banana connectors seem to convey.
Remember this is in comparison to direct, bare wire connection and not vs. other connectors.
Only 24 hours thus far and perhaps things will change. If not, I will have 16 of these to sell 😢
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Living Voice OBX RW speakers, , Lyngdorf 2170 with many mods/upgrades and killer digital front end. BPT & CPT Power conditioning, dedicated 20amp lines etc.... |
Can we work out a trade Larry? I build you something or mod something and you cook a crossover circuit I am building. Deal😉?
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Ok, these are now pretty much broken in. Anyone want to buy 16 of these connectors? Not! Ha!
They have settled down and did take the better part of 100 hours. Still a smidgin more brilliance in the upper mids and highs compared to my bare wire, but now delivered in a smooth and musical manner. They are very smooth and resolving while maintaining the all important musicality. Nice find and thanks to the OP and LAK for making us aware!
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Yes burn in is required for best sound. It took about 100 hours or so before they totally smoothed out and let the full, natural beauty of my cable come through. I’d say that both the body and smoothness of the mids and highs improved over the 100 hours.
Since these are soldered both the connector and solder joints need run in time. I do wish these were solderless. The designer would do well to offer a set screw type of design for best sound IMHO. Solder has a sound and it does not conduct as well as both the wire or connector it joins together. This could be done pretty simply.
They are nice sounding connectors and I like the overall design and quality very much. |
I will report back after 200 hours. I am not sure I agree with your assessment of solder adding benifits that outweigh the proposed effect of micro arching at these low voltage signal levels. My ears and experience suggest otherwise. I am open minded however and perhaps in this instance the resulting sound is not compromised.
No need to thicken the material at all. Leave it as is and drill a hole for a set screw that is mounted in the outer plastic case. (Perhaps two) The screw forces the wire up against the wall of the material. Nice direct connection with no solder. The outer case will need development and it will cost more. It should be made to support the wall of the connector material. |
@lak
I use WBT with 4% silver I believe. |
You must have three hands! One feeding solder, one holding the iron, and one holding the screwdriver. I like the idea a lot, but impossible to do while feeding solder. Can do it if just reheating and setting two more heavily tinned parts. Thanks for the tip!
I use tinned Duelund wire which won’t oxidize and still like the idea of a properly designed solderless banana. Wonder if the builder reads this thread? I sense he is. |
Seems only a couple of us own them. |
Yes indeed. Very smart and good set of jumpers! |
