Eichman RCA's - what makes them so good?

Zd542 - from what I have read on several sites/forums there is no need to clean tarnished silver, since the black oxidized layer (i.e. silver sulphide) that forms, has better conductivity than gold - although slightly less than untarnished silver.

Have you noticed any perceivable improvements by cleaning the tarnish?

Would the same improvements be attained by simply re-seating the rca's? (Which probably removes the oxidation anyway).

Thanks for any feedback

Well, after a lot of investigation into the Eichman RCA and their design priniciples I opted to proceed in a similar, but different direction.

My amp is a Naim 5i mkII - on the first two inputs Naim has opted to use a european DIN connector as well as the standard RCA connector

My sources use the standard RCA connectors.

I wondered why a company like Naim had opted for the DIN connector, but the DIN uses the same sized pins for signal and neutral much like the XLR connectors preferred by more upscale brands - it's just smaller.

I opted to re-terminate my interconnects with DIN on one end and Eichmann RCA's on the other.

What happened when I connected the interconnects pretty much knocked my socks off and I can now see why Naim uses DIN.

The DIN plugs I ordered had a nice metal body with silver plated brass pins and cost around $7 each - for that price it was worth trying

The Eichman Silver bullet RCA's by comparison were $140 for a set of 4

Both use small mass pins to make their electrical connection.

The improvement in sound was clearly apparent in two areas
1. Spatial imaging was larger, more focussed with much more air around instruments that resulted in more clarity of image

2. The overall presentation is much more dynamic and engaging

Clearly, Naim uses the DIN because of its superior performance and cost effectiveness - so why don't other manufacturers use DIN when it is so clearly superior to RCA?

If you have any Naim gear - get DIN connectors on your interconnects - you won't believe the difference they make

Syntax - i'm not sure I completely agree with your view of the effectiveness of RCA vs DIN or XLR, after all, the pins in the DIN plug I used are silver plated brass ( and who knows what materials are used in the socket in the amp) yet the DIN plug performed so much better than the Eichman Silver Bullet RCA's

Does the silver plating on the pins overcome the reduced conductivity of the brass? - don't know

I do agree that ensuring connectors with the very best materials should be used for optimum performance.

Since replacing the RCA jacks in the amp, as Sonic_genius recommends, is not something I choose to pursue at this time - for me, this will remain an enigma.

A very nice sounding enigma :-)

Sonic genius - at $140 for 4 - there is nothing cheap about this plastic :-)

Seriously though - have you tried the eichmans?
If yes - how did they compare to wbt and others you may have tried

Any feedback is appreciated - thanks

I do think Eichmann should find a material that is more robust than the "plastic" they have selected - I felt more confident soldering the smaller pins of the DIN socket - never felt there was a possibility of the pins falling out.

But they worked and were cheaper than many of the competition

Well since starting this thread a lot has changed...

Keith Louis Eichmann(KLE), inventor of the Eichmann Bullet RCA has introduced an entirely new line of products.

The Harmony Plug range of products are a completely new design - and with that comes significant performance improvements over his previous RCA products.

In addition to the new RCA's, KLE has introduced a range of interconnect and speaker cable products which perform to an extremely high level.

They are so good that I have now replaced all of the RCA's on my interconnects and replaced one of those interconnects with the Essense gZero6 interconnect.

His Essense gZero3 speaker cables also provide and incredible improvement across the board. But if money is no object, try the gZero6 - a superb performer

Should I be selecting all my audio-eggs from one manufacturers basket?

Well, when they trounce the competition, why not!

Just Google "KLE Innovations" and take a look at their product lineup, there's something to suit most budgets and they all perform extremely well

Give them a try - you won't go back to your old products:-)

Zd542 - I was using Stager Silver Solids - each IC is a twisted pair (signal + neutral) - it has no screen. The wires are very thin so it was easy to put two cables (for L and R channels) into the DIN and have the RCA at the other

Using a conventional screened cable would have been very difficult - unless you use a cable with two identical internal conductors and then strip the sleeve and shield back about 2-3 inches and just connect the internal conductors.

Another approach would be to use the high quality conductors from cat5/6 network cable. They are small enough for the DIN plug. Simply braid them in order to reject any RFI.

Hope that clarifies things

ZD542 - if you are going DIN to DIN you only need 3 conductors i.e. L signal, R signal and a neutral

If you are going DIN to RCA like I did then you need 4 i.e. signal + neutral for both L and R channels

The NAIM pin diagram can be found in the manual...
- ch1 is left
- ch2 is right

Hope that helps

Rja - I have tried all of the Harmony Plug range of products and they all perform better than the Eichmann Silver Bullet. See previous post.

The Pure Harmony will provide the highest level of resolution. They all require around 150 hours burn-in, but will sound exceptional after around 50-60 hours.

I have just installed the Pure Harmony on my turntable silver litz loom and the improvements are staggering - so much more resolution.

I think KLE Innovations really delivers top performing cables and RCA's - they may not be much to look at (not flashy), but what they deliver is absolutely superb sound.

I've changed my phono Interconnet and speaker cables to the gZero6 and have the Pure Harmony and Silver Harmony on my remaining silver interconnects.

The gZero3 line of products is also very very good and more affordable

Give them a try - I was an immediate convert :-)

Runnin - won't you always bee wondering just how much better the Pure harmony would sound ?

Sorry - couldn't resist :-)

Runnin - with silver - make sure you allow lots of time to burn-in - sometimes they sound very bright and harsh to begin with

The one's I've tried vary from 150 - 250 hours for them to really settle down

Enjoy :-)