No, but I will now! Still enjoying my WE speaker and IC cables. Best I have heard! |
I should add that I built a set of speaker cables using WE10 gauge stranded and tinned. Same exact wire just thicker gauge. I like them even more and they are my main speaker cables now.
I would not use the 16ga cable for power however and suggest the 12 or 10ga.
I have compared the Belden ICs to my WE 16 and find the WE16 to be much better, not a little better, but much better. Mine are shielded and Jeff Day is really missing out on something special. They should be shielded for best sound based on my testing. |
Thank you Rob. I read the blog and it looks like someone tried two runs of WE16ga for the hot and neutral runs and then wrapped that with some 14ga ground wire. A single run might sound great, but since the wire has to carry a lot of current Grannyring's 10ga or two runs of 16ga might sound even better. Will be interesting to see how Jeff eventually feels about the single run. I'm going to obstain for now since I have so much on my plate with these C3m driver tubes. Jet |
Thanks guys,
Your posts are always lluminatining, sheds an interesting light and perspective for sure. I think I'll give the WE10ga some listening time. I have purchased a number of feet of various Gage. Best, Rob |
Rob, Bill and Jet. I noticed last night that my downstairs Dynamo/Triumph Extreme system was sounding really good, even using my stock Oppo 93 as the source. I have a feeling that the WE14g speaker cables and Belden IC are burned in-- perhaps fully ripened is a better description. One of these days, when it is raining and I can't hike, I'll bring my modwright HAPZ1 downstairs, stick a VU-71 rectifier in the dynamo, and do some serious listening. Last night, the tonality was luscious, excellent detail without a hint of stridency, and no grain. Spatially, the system is about as one dimensional as anything I have heard in the last 25 years. No center fill and no depth of stage, which I think is attributable to the Oppo. Other than that, I was really astonished that the Oppo could deliver what it did.
This system is used primarily for background music during dinner and as a 2 channel A/V system, so it is rare that I actually sit down and listen critically. But I was very impressed last night with how far the burn in process has taken the system. |
Brownsfan,
That is good news. It must be the Oppo is my guess too. In my office system with Sony DVP S9000ES SACD/DVD/ as Transport, Eastern Electric Mini Max DAC the soundstage is extremely 3-D, wide and deep. For example, on Neil Young, Greatest Hits, "Down by te River" finds the Rhythm guitar projected literally five (5) feet in front of the left speaker along the wall to my Left. Neil is slightly behind the the speakers in the center of speakers, the drummer is at least 5-6 feet back, the bass to the
Right between Young and the drummer a couple feet back. The spread is
Fourteen (14) wide, the width of the listening room. On other cuts you would think the piano is in the room, big like on a Maggie, but to me even better. I used the Sheffield test cd with Doug Sax to test the system. It was A plus in all parameters. Best, Rob. |
Grannyring, Jetrexpro, Brownsfan, all
I purchased more Western Electric WE10ga, WE14ga, going to build WE10ga power cords first, for wall to power strip using Furutech connection as in Jeff Day Blog. Then, likely WE14ga for transport and DAC. Should be finished by end of week. Best, Rob |
Great. Let me know! I am building a tube preamp using a design inspired by several great preamps I respect. I will need two power cords for it as it is a true dual mono. I want to make these same power cords for it! |
Geez Grannyring,
Wish I had your skill. Let us know how that project turns out. I finished making the WE10ga power cord; goes from wall to power strip. So far it is sounding very good. Needs more burn in. It is replacing a Silnote pc which is excellent, if it beats the Silnote. Silnote is really terrific stuff. Best in my system, except for the WE. My wife still likes the Silnote expensive interconnect ever so slightly better than the Belden 8402. Not me. I am now going to build the two WE14ga for the DAC and transport. Then, another WE10ga for the Coincident Dynamo power amp. Right now the Dynamo has a Custom Power Cable Company (CPCC), that I think is really good. Too bad that company went out of business, but the cable is super stiff and I think it created problems for many folks. Best, Rob |
Grannyring keep us posted on your preamp build and perhaps send a schematic our way. Enquiring minds want to know.
Rob keep us posted on your power cord builds. Regards to both you guys. |
How are the Belden 8402?Seems like some on this site are not too thrilled? Other sites seem to love them. |
Will do Jet still waiting on parts....transformers. This is my first complete build and right now I am sorting out what to do for attenuation. I am leaning towards a Tortuga LDR board with remote and display over a stepped attenuator with motor. |
Grannyring, I see this passive remote volume controller:
"LDR3x.V2.1 Passive Preamp Controller" This is exciting.
MAybe start a thread or blog and let us know how it is going.
John421, Which interconnect folks choose seems to be ear and system dependent. Have you built them yet? They are pretty inexpensive. Regards Jet |
John421,
Simple answer is different systems, rooms, ears. They are great in my system, hands down among the best I have ever heard. I do believe they like SET, tubes in general. I cannot praise them enough. In my rigs they replaced extremely expensive silver. At any rate different ears that I respect with different rooms and systems love them better than almost anything else they ever heard or owned and we are talking high priced cables; and even then it is usually a split decision. Best, Rob
P.S. How can you go wrong comparing them against anything you own? Only about $50.00, 1 meter terminated RCA. |
Mikirob, I have ordered some 11ga WE stranded to make my two power cords. We will see!
Jet, I did order the Tortuga board! Needs a nice 12v linear power supply however. I purchased an outboard Teradak 12v supply for it. Very good and low priced supply from China. |
Bill, I just read your remarks on another thread about Western Electrics 16
Gauge wire. I would like to order some off the eBay site I am assuming the color of the cloth makes no difference. I only ask because Jeff Day's site shows a light red cover and I just want to make sure the other colored offerings are the same wire. Bill or anyone? |
Bob, I think the 16g wire is gone, all sold. |
Looks like the USA source is now dried up. No more offerings. Just the stuff from China. |
I ordered some 16g last night. At the least they charged my card so I am quite sure they will ship. |
Who,is they? China company? I see stuff from China only... |
Uh oh, Bob. The real WE 16g wire is sold only by a certain former WE employee (now retired), from NOS. |
Hey guys I wanted to wait for my order before I commented. Today I received from Teresa A Jacobs my WE 16g wire. Address shows Valley Center KS 67147. I believe this is the WE employee you guys were referring to. Right? |
That's the one.
Let us know how you like it. |
Thanks. How many hours of burn in? This should be fun! |
I use a cable cooker (2-3 days) so cannot say how long if just playing music. IME, 50-100 hrs should get you 80-90% there. |
As speaker cable the WE 16g wire took about 7 full days to burn in and as interconnects WE 16g wire took 250-300 hrs to fully burn in. Jet |
Enjoy the ride. Best, Rob |
I will update in a week or two. Already sounds very good.
Bob |
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Hi guys,
I wanted to give you a quick update on WE 16g wire in my system. I have at least 100 hours on them and they have continued to improve over the breakin period. I am using short double runs on my speakers and they are keepers. They have replaced a $2,000+ cable which I used for years and loved. The soundstage is huge and it presents the most incredible 3d sound I have gotten in my room. The music just flows and every album is like a new experience. No Hi Fi sound just natural flowing music. A special thanks for everyone bringing this magical wire to my attention. Happy Thankgiving to everyone. |
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Great to hear Bob. I am using WE16g both as speaker cable and interconnects for several months now and it doesn't occur to me to try anything else even though I have several very good alternatives in house. Jet |
One thing I should mention about my WE16g interconnects- I built several versions with different RCA plugs and I like the Canare f10 rca plugs the best and liked them better than the Switchcraft RCA plugs. In my system l hear a much richer and fully developed mid range with the Canare plugs. |
Thanks guys. I might try some we 16g as i/c's next. |
Great to hear Bob,
My WE16ga speaker cables are the best I have ever owned. I sold all my speaker cables that cost from high hundreds to multiple thousand without regrets. I also made a power cord out of WE10ga and it sounds outstanding. Happy Thanksgiving all...Best, Rob |
Rob, I made two power cords out of WE10ga and I love them also! |
Grannyring,
I was just following your lead and as usual it turned out to be a stellar move. Have you read some of Jeff Day's latest blog posts? Some good info on his USB wire experiment. Plus he bought Maestro Leopold Stowkowski's Altec Voice Of The Theatre (VOTT). Wow! Great reads if you haven't done so already. Jeff Day has them wired to Yazaki-san SPEC Real Sound amps. Jim Smith of "Get Better Sound Fame" is also writing high praise about the Western Electric 16 gauge speaker wire and Belden 8402 interconnect; he too has replaced multi-thousand speaker and interconnect with the WE and Belden. I am kicking myself still, for not purchasing your Yamamoto DAC. It does not appear to come up for sale on the "used" market. I suppose l'll break down soon and buy one new. Best, Rob |
Just found out about the WE 16ga and ordered some from Teresa for SC but would love to try the thicker ones out for PC. Which plugs/IEC worked best for you so far? I have good experience with Furutech F11 and F28. And what about the sleeve to keep it nicely together? |
Jazzonthehudson,
The Furutech F11and F28 work extremely well. I'd g with the WE 10 gauge for pc on power amp. WE 14 gauge for pre/cd/DAC, although I prefer the Beldem 8402 as interconnect. Best, Rob |
Thanks Rob! I assume you use a standard black 3/8" PET sleeve over the twisted WE 10ga / 14ga wires.
The Belden 8402 part is also on its way. Would you recommend any additional shielding (one end soldered to avoid ground loops)? |
Jazz, I used these on deep,discount at Sonic Craft......
2 x Neotech NC-P311 Male - 12.8mm (000060) = $59.90
2 x Neotech NC-P302 IEC (000055) = $79.90
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/Grannyring: thanks for the info. I tried the NC P311 before, prefer the more solid construction of the Furutech F11 but with the current P302/P311 RH variants discounted ($35 at PartsConnexion) it is hard to pass up on them. BTW the original purple P302/P311 run at about the same price at SonicCraft. |
Jazzonthehudson,
I used the Furutech, very happy. Made same as Jeff Day Blog. Best, Rob |
Jeff Day does not experiment as much as some of us. He gave up on the WE16 as ICs before he shielded them. Big miss!
The WE16 is not the best choice for a power cord. He should have tried the 9-11 gauge WE options as they are wonderful.
I even found the WE10ga stranded to sound better in my system then the 16ga.
I understand this takes time and in return you learn much more.
I don't think there is any magic in the connectors he used on the power cords and the Neotech may sound better or worse with the WE wire. Mine sound wonderful with the Neotech parts.
Others have found the Canare RCA connectors to sound better than the Switchcraft. I will put those in next!
I love the fact that we experiment so much here! We have all learned a great deal for sure. |
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Grannyring, Jetrexpro,
You guys need to start a blog as well...your experience and experiments are invaluable to folks like me, funny, been at it for a long time, but never a DIY until recently. I'm warming to it with my brother's help and Yazaki-san mentoring; and of course, your stellar suggestions. Best, Rob |
Second that! I have learnt a ton from knowledgeable folks who don't mind to share their experience. The (high end) audio industry has been associated too long with snobs / old farts (which includes me) until the barrage of new headphones gave it some live back recently. Bringing down the entry level with this type of "game changer" cabling and great value for money devices such as the iFi microDSD could bring quality music back to the average Joe. |
As for ICs, I have using Mogami 2549 terminated with Canare F10 plugs for my Home Theater setup except the L / R channels, where the (too) expensive HFC CT1Us reside. Would be very grateful if anyone can share his/her experiments with magnets. Will report back if the Belden 8402 is a better fit than the Mogami 2549. |
I'm one of the folks who stumbled upon Jeff's blog posts about WE16ga wire...and, after trying out the 16ga for speaker cables and power cords along with the Belden RCA cables I was ecstatic. Last night I finally got around to substituting some WE14ga for the speaker runs and was surprised with the improvements. I only purchased the 14ga after reading this forum...thanks guys! Next will be some larger ga wire for the power cables. |
Forgot to mention that I ordered SonarQuest (sp?) rhodium plated connectors for the next batch of power cables. The guys from Mad Scientist Audio posted their experience with these connectors on their blog. I didn't spring for the top of the line connectors they refer to in the post...yet. |
