DIY Anti-IC project

Folks, for photo requests, email me directly - thanks. -Gary

Lets not forget say 5% to Jim and Nancy for their idea?LYCBYG,cheers,Bob

I never have time to even read forums like this, let alone actually reply to one, but a customer pointed out this one, and it caught my interest.

Shortly after I introduced the Anti-Cables 5 years ago, happy customers continuously asked for interconnects from me. Naturally, the first thing I tried was the #12 gauge Anti-Cable speaker wire as interconnects, but it didn't fly. Very dumbed down (low resolution). Transients time smeared. Slow and dark. I suppose if a system had an overly excitable high frequency zip, using thick copper interconnect wire may be a good way to counteract the imbalance. For example, the Cambridge Audio 840C is spouted as the best CD player under $5,000, for only $1,600.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=CA840C

You will notice there always seems to be a half a dozen of these used on AudioGon. After guys figure out the 840C CD player has an artificially excitable top end zip, they sell them. One of the ways to deal with this CD player's "coloration" is to use cables to help color it back towards neutral. This are things I have tried, and it works.

I am more interested in making cables that neutral and transparent and allow you to hear how good the components really sound, but in doing so sometimes you can hear more then you might want to hear in a particular system.

Occasionally, I custom make Anti-ICs for customers that need to add a bit more musical "body" in their system. I do this by using a heavier gauge signal wire, but this does come at the expense of doing some time smearing of the music's transients (which quickly makes music sound like a "stereo system" to me). To give you some perspective, using #12 wire (as Gary has), is using 16 times more copper then even this "heavier" gauge version of mine... Wow!

With both speaker wires and interconnect wires, there seems to be a sweet spot for the wire gauge size, I call it "current density". Use to much copper for the amount of current the wire is caring and the music gets time smeared. Use to little copper for the amount of current the wire is caring and bass weight, dynamics, and musical body get lost. I spent two years finding the generally accepted current density sweet spot for the Anti-IC.

It's quite interesting the results Gary got using #12 interconnects in his system. I do understand it leaning towards bass, but a bigger soundstage I have no explanation for... interesting.

I think it is great that Gary is experimenting. This is a great hobby, and experimenting is a lot of fun. I am continuously experimenting myself, as this is how we learn.

I am truly grateful for having such great customers.

I apologize in advance if I don't have a chance to chime in again.

Thanks!

Paul Speltz

Hey there Paul - I thought this may get back to you sooner or later... All I can say is, c'mon over and listen to my system - Comparing my home-brews to my stock Anti-ICs installed between my tube preamp & amp is no contest - I don't hear any dumbing-down of resolution or slowing of transients; only an improvement in these attributes - I do believe that you have done a lot of testing to find the best balance in overall performance, but my "experiment" has proved quite worthy in my system (not trying to save money, either; I think Speltz products are one of the best deals in high end audio). Maybe it's because mine are very short runs; who knows - My original concept was to create a non-cable "buss bar" between amp & preamp, and I think I've done it. But as they say, your mileage may vary :) -Gary

I found a similar result fiddling with DIY Pre-Out Amp-In jumpers. Using a single strand of solid copper from AudioQuest Type-4 was OK, but the same RCA's with a single strand of solid copper CAT-5 wire of same length was the best; clearer and faster sounding. Could it be 'too much skin for the skin effect'? (insulation left on for both types)

One would think that wires less than 3 inches would have little if no effect, but it was quite apparent on my MAC 1900 receiver.