High Fidelity Cables CT-1designed by Rick Schultz


In December 2011,I wrote that High Fidelity cables led by cable designer Rick Schultz was putting together a new cable.The cable came to market as CT-1.The CT-1 has FINALLY made it into my system!I had obtained a version of the prototype that Rick had been working on.It blew my previous reference Genesis by Virtual Dynamics.I thought I had finally found my end with this cable.This prototype delivered to my ears "Nirvana".Could I be at the end of my quest for the ultimate sound?
No. I received two pairs of CT-1 to replace my prototypes.They went into the system this past Friday.Unable to dedicate time until Sunday listening,I stole a few moments,ducking away from company with anticipation.My guest could tell even with the music set for"ambiance"something was intriguing and I was in for a treat!
The experience:
First off,CT-1 was very user friendly.Installation was simple;the cable is very nice and light.The female RCA fit beautifully unlike any I had found in other cable.It was secure and reliable.It seemed much thought was dedicated to developing a designer fit to an aesthetically stunning RCA connector.Install entailed a few wiggles to ensure what seemed like a compression fit on my RCA.
It was 2-3 hrs. for the 1st step of break in to be complete.At that point I had something different!Today,although they only have 10-12 hrs. on them,I can`t put into words how much my system has transformed.Believe me,I loved my prototypes.However....there is simply no comparision.
The clarity and sound is so natural.
The soundstage is like nothing I ever heard.Resoulution is breathtaking and inner detail is simply hard to believe possible.
The sound has transended and now it simply does not seem as thought I have speakers.
My system is musicians playing music.
I am told with time they will improve and I trust that as it was revealed with the prototypes.I wanted to share my thoughts with you that now.
Unequivocally,a testament to High Fidelity,as the name declares.
High Fidelity Cables for me,the last word on it,after 12 hours!
Truly Amazing

Al
alpass
I was taking to Rick and he is very excited about the NEW magnetic amps he is developing.
He said today that the prototype sounded so awesome
he was hearing 3D imaging never before possible. He mentioned that it was as amazing as his cables. Wow! And this is not the $100,000 amp he developed but a much more affordable unit that has the same amazing imaging. (simple circuit design-zero feedback- no caps or resistors in the signal path- magnetic conduction)
I have volunteered to test the prototype (hehe) and I'm excited all over again about more HFC mag products.
No timetable yet but I can't wait to get my hands on one of these.
Ketcham, You asked about shielding. I use shielding to limit RF/IF interaction in my system. I find that even a few layers of heavy duty aluminum foil will net a cleaner, purer sound that allows hearing deeper into the music. It is applied using trial and error listening tests.
I find wrapping any cable in al foil DOES NOT WORK. Because it
crushes the space and air sound. However, laying a relatively flat, 6 inch wide, multi layer piece, horizontal over the wire leaves the air and space
and removes much noise. Care must be taken to not lose the high end in the process.
Cheers D
Nonsense.

Tara Labs cabling was being used in the Apex Audio room on the mezzanine level. I'm sure they were probably also being used at other rooms throughout the show. They are not "the best", IMO, actually far from it. You apparently were not there, or you wouldn't have made such an incorrect statement. As far as your opinion, its just that - an opinion. Reviewers often have sweetheart deals with various companies; as such, their opinions are frequently tainted by their relationships. Anyone who doesn't realize that just hasn't been paying attention.
TBG, I do not believe you!, that would be impossible, There is not a person on earth that would not be shocked of the performance if they heard a Tara labs Grandmaster Evolution cable, or Zero and Omega Evolution cable system, If Michael freamer of Stereophile recently claims he has never listen to a better cable system in his life than the Tara labs Zero Evolution interconnect and Omega Evolution speaker cables, and this is not the top cable from Tara labs,all I can tell you, you were not listening to new Tara labs cables!, I already said, Tara labs was NOT at R.m.A.F. show, there is no way a company as known as Tara labs not be listed on the R.M.A.f, audiofest internet site!, the site listed all vendors of cables and everything else, you made a mistake!, There were other cable companys that were started with the letter T, I have double checked this numerous times, you may believe that audiofest was dishonest if you like, I know who and what to believe.
Is it reasonable to expect a system to sound good just because they use a certain kind or wires? Even 6 digit ones?

Still, I would expect good quality sound out of any 5 digit system or higher even though each will have their preferences. Otherwise, why bother.
Audiolabyrinth, Tata Labs is listed as an exhibitor at the RMAF 2014 and I walked into their room. I was not shocked by the sound.
I'm still waiting to hear if any of the IC champions here actually shelled out the asking price for their toys?

Yes, I paid full price for my DNMs...three digits and brand spanking new I'll have you know. 2 for the Pangeas new on sale from teh nice folks over at Audio Advisor, who now send me a nice catalog to oogle over periodically as a bonus.
"you would have been shocked with the performance of their two new top models and spent the day at the exhibit re-discovering your music you may have brought with you to the show, cheers"

....not to mention when you heard the price. :^)

Cheap skate...out....
TBG, Hi, Tara labs was NOT at R.M.A.F. 2014, All of you can go to the R.M.A.F. 2014 web-site, hit exhibitors, input search with the word cables, their you have the complete list of room number and brands of cables with the models on what system, there was a couple of cable brand names listed that started with a T there, however, it was not Tara labs, if they were there with any new Tara labs cables, you would have been shocked with the performance of their two new top models and spent the day at the exhibit re-discovering your music you may have brought with you to the show, cheers
I you have read my posts elsewhere, you will know my system has evolved into all Allnic gear. I placed 1.5 meter ultra reference between the dac and pre then to amps. There are now musicians playing in my living room. The sound stage is so deep and ethereal even on occasion an illusion of sound sourcing from my side or behind me. ...often the hairs on my neck will raise up because the music is so visceral and emotional engaging.

I can see why this thread has the steady few who post passionately about rick's accomplishment. It took 100 hours, but wow! ...this is highly understated!

Now do I get one power cord when I need 6 or 8. Or get speaker cable? Audience AU24se is what I currently use. They are amazing cables themselves.
"I have the wave guides about 24 inches off the floor using 18 KVA broken isolators with Rightway Audio isolators mounted on them. "

Any possibility to have pictures of this posted or a web link...I am very curious how this is implemented.

Thanks,

j

PS - D-why do you use metal shielding on your cables, where and how?

Appreciate the insight!.
Mapman, I think the new Tara Labs cables were at the RMAF. I listened for a while and then left. I was unimpressed, especially given their price.
Mapman wrote,

"Its all relative I suppose. I'll be sticking with my modest DNM ICs and Pangea power cords for the foreseeable future though because, well, as much as I like good sound, I am still basically a cheap skate on the grand scale of things."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Lol just kidding, no harm, no foul.
These are a real bargain it seems for wire induced audio orgasms compared to the new TOTL Taralab wires.

Its all relative I suppose. I'll be sticking with my modest DNM ICs and Pangea power cords for the foreseeable future though because, well, as much as I like good sound, I am still basically a cheap skate on the grand scale of things.
I should follow up on Ddraudt's comments. Basically HFC wave guides do NOT like to be in contact with wooden floors or carpet. This is a major issue with the HFX UR speaker cables. I don't even like to have any part of the cable in contact with the floor, so I have the wave guides about 24 inches off the floor using 18 KVA broken isolators with Rightway Audio isolators mounted on them. My HFC UR ics are hanging in space, and my HFC URR pcs are on Rightway Audio isolators.

I find the HFC cables make every part of ones system critical, but wow the benefits one gains are, I thought to be unobtainable, but realism is possible.
Ketcham, welcome, glad to see you on the site. You asked about isolation of the magnetic waveguide stands and I do That. Tbg also has his ways of isolating waveguides and their stands. I first isolate the mag stands from the floor with 4" squares of pine plywood. Then I use small isolation platform under the stand. I have has success with some small weights in top of the stand… and small weights on the plugs or connectors (power cords or cables ). I also use metal shielding at a number of places over the cables themselves.
The combination of tweaks gives me cleaner, clearer, quieter sound with more dynamics and detail. more real.
All of the tweaks I use are specific to this system and take much time
to perfect and to tune the system with. Very tricky to remove the unwanted stuff and leave all of the good. I have a friend who makes Isolation tables for me in 6 different sizes and damping blocks in 8 different sizes. I use a lot of Stillpoints too.
And yes… the waveguides take up a lot of floor space in my little room. right now I have 7 sets of magnetic waveguides in my system.
Several are resting on other components at this time. I plan to build raised, iso stands for the speaker and interconnect waveguides and to leave the HF mag power filter and power cords closer to the floor but also on iso stands.
I hope you are having fun with your system!! ;-) D
Dallas HF Cables owners-
I will be coming to Dallas in a few weeks, would be honored to spend some time w/ you audiophiles and have the opportunity to demo these cables/cords. PLease feel free to PM me so we can connect. Thank You! -JA
Many Thanks! Tbg & CalvinJ.
There is some excellent info in this thread- keep the info flowing. Happy Listening! -JA
I added a CTI-1 Ultimate power cord to my Sound Application power conditioner. It took about 1- 2 hrs to hear a large difference. Sounds much more like music. I will not be upgrading due to cost, but perhaps may buy another Ultimate later just to see how much better it gets. It would be pretty cool if the effect magnifies as much as Calloway and others say.
Lak...they are not in the same league..i had the CT-1UR PC to demo recently and had a P-3 at the time. It is 'apples and oranges'...The CT-1UR PC is amazing..it does everything better than the P-3..but then again..it should be much better...
From the little I know (because I have never heard any of the HFC power cords) I'll bet the Ultimate Reference pc will sound MUCH better then the High Diamond P-3 (which is a pretty good sounding cord).
As I said above, I don't have a good feel of my system WITHOUT the HF power cable, so won't know its affect until I pull it out of my system in a week or so and hear what it sounds like then. That will be the best A-B comparison I can make. The Ultimate Reference pc replaced a High Diamond P-3. It seems like I am getting more detail and a lower noise floor, but I will have a much better idea in a week or so.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the RMAF show.
@fplanner2000, ok. What kind of difference did the ultimate reference make for you. What kind of equipment are you running?
Fplanner2000, you will have to let me know your thoughts regarding the Ultimate Reference demo Power Cable vs. the P4 (please).
Fplanner2000, I still remember when Rick and I had put one HFC URR pc from the wall into the HFC WGpc and listened briefly before going for lunch. One and a half hours later I remember hearing the first few notes and looking at Rick in disbelief. He just smiled. It is one of several "jaw dropping" experiences I've had in the last few years.

Later, I replaced pcs on the preamp and amp with exceeding great experiences but not of the level as on the ac filter.

You will get accustomed to this sound, so every once in a while go back to your prior ac pc.
I already have all Reference and Ultimate Reference cabling and have had it for many months. Just trying the power cord.
Fplanner2000@ketchum. Be patient with them. I learned that while I demo them. The longer they stay in the better they sound. They start to work together better that way. Be patient with the powercords as well. It takes time to break them all in. They sound better after they been in your system a little and get better and better. Welcome fellas and enjoy your systems I am looking forward to your thoughts and impressions.
Inserted an Ultimate Reference demo Power Cable into my system, placed on my transport, per Rick's suggestion this afternoon. Haven't had a chance to do much critical listening of my newly revamped system prior to this, so my best take on the cable will be when I remove it in a week or so.
Hi everyone, I have been following this thread with keen interest. Although I am some time away from affording even one of these well designed cables, I have to ask one simple question. How do you run multiple power cables, speaker cables where each has their own magnetic stand that takes up significant real estate on the floor? Do you isolate the stands themselves too? Has anyone tried it? Someone here could design a cable rack to place next to their component rack.

I did recently purchase two sets of the UR RCA cables for my system and I agree the sound does continue to improve. My next move will likely be speaker cable. Power cables would require many. Wall to audience aR12, aR12 to Plasmatron, Plasmatron to dac, etc. You see a WEB of cables in my future.
Ddraudt, now all you and I need is a ceramic tree on which to hang all the URR pc wave guides.
Second report on third HF-URR Power cord. These babies do things I've never imagined possible. They make every component sounds like it has been replaced with a greatly superior piece of gear, in every aspect audiophiles are searching for.
I added the 3rd URR to my CD player. Since most of its functions are
supplied power from a bank of batteries, I thought it might not make much of a difference… WRONG!!! Very Wrong!!. Again another URR here gives my system another remarkable upgrade. Even though it runs mostly the drive motor in the CD, every aspect of realism, purity and effortlessness HUGE improvements!!! Makes me wonder what one URR would do to a turntable motor power supply??????? When I took the 3rd out it was much less magical, enthralling, intimate, awe inspiring. And that is starting with a sound that impresses everyone
including the most ardent audio nuts. 3rd back in (sigh of relief as my whole body relaxes with effortless, shockingly real sound). An amazing journey into previously unimagined realms of superior audio reproduction. Unfortunately, no words will let any who has not heard
comprehend. Fortunately, we all CAN hear them!
@ddraudt. You are so correct. I'm can be scientifically challenged at times. I understand a lot if it. I just see a lot of banter about the stuff that to me doesn't matter as much as the sound and the music. Sometimes people ask questions that they really want answers on. Sometimes there is not an honest attempt to understand. I hear more music through the high fidelity. I'm going to go back to listen to the system that I heard the other day and I will substitute a high fidelity ultimate interconnect in. It gives the music more openness and transparency. I will see when I go back to that guys house to listen again.
Calvinj, I know what it is like to be without components for a while. My system was down for 6 months several years ago and it sucked!!
I'm Glad you have some speakers to listen to.
I'm happy to attempt to answer valid questions if I can. I think a valid, respectful question about HFCables is OK. I is a little frustration at times because HF magnetic conduction is a very different method that people are not familiar with. One big issue is that one must hear these to have any idea what they sound like.
I've read the patents, studied the principals, and have done two years of experiments on the High Fidelity Cables at all price points. The common thread thru all my listening is that every HFCable showed me something astonishing!! More purity and realism than I ever dreamt possible.
Geoffkait, I once had mu metal ics, which had a memory of how they were rolled. I don't remember why they were made, but I thought they were of no value. But they had no magnets associated with them.

You guys are trying to make HFCables into normal cables where resistance, impedance and capacitance are the major concerns.
Mapman, No cause for concern friend. Magnetic conduction goes on in components and copper wire. It's just that copper wire is a poor magnetic conductor compared to mu metal with permanent magnets pushing and pulling the flow. Mag conduction excels at super noise reduction with much superior low level signal transfer. this allows
unequaled realism. FYI I have heard HF power cords greatly improve the sound on $700 to $100,000 components.
Geoffkait, wow quite a question but no there is no irony here and no mu metal is not used to avoid magnetism, it is used to reduce resistance to the amount of magnetic flow.
as far as you other question about copper wires conduction and mu metal, these magnetic cables and cords are magnetic conduction not electrical conduction. MU metal is a better magnetic conductor.
Listening session last night was exactly what I needed. I'm going to be listening to my sonus faber toy monitor speakers that used to be in my 5 channel set up for a while. I'm gonna be down without a floorstanding speaker right now and it's a bummer. I'm going to put the high fidelity ultimates ic on these toy monitor speakers and enjoy the sound of my music on a smaller scale for a while. @tbg@ddraudt remember this thread should stay on topic. Sometimes folks who haven't heard the cables chime in and in those cases it doesn't benefit the people who want to know about experiences with the cables. I think there are videos with Rick explaining his technology for those who want to go look. Personally I just want the cables to give me the music with speed, a low noise floor, detail and naturalness. After I demoed them. I am missing them big time. Once I get situated they are going to come back home. Lol. The ultimate reference power cord is really my favorite piece because it takes a component and maximizes the performance and raises it a level. When I first started looking into cables I never thought that I would hear one that made this much of a difference. However there us some secret sauce in this one because I don't continue to look for other cables I just got to stack my chips up to add high fidelity back in my system. 5 years of looking and these are the best so far. Happy listening fellas. @everyone else I'm not a scientist or math geek. I am a music lover and nothing has brought me closer to the "You are there feeling" than High fidelity ultimate reference. Enjoy your music first and do your math problems later everyone.
@tbg@ddraudt hey fellas. I got to hear the raidho d5 this week on soulutions gear. It was a very expensive system but had amazing sound. I was impressed. How have yall been. I'm in the middle of a system rebuil right now so I'm down for a little while. I went to listen to the kr audio 900 on the gato fm6 speakers and we wereusing my resonessence mirus dac tonight. We listened from 4:30 to 11:30 tonight. We listened to bb king and eric Clapton, tyoushi yammamto(jazz pianist), cecile salvant, lightenin Hopkins. It was an amazing session. 7 hours of audio joy. That's what the hobby is supposed to be about. Great enjoyable sound. Some people want to turn it into a science project. Most of us care about how it sounds we don't care how it happens. We just need great sound to happen. Happy listening everyone.

Another question for the manufacturer to answer. Why use mu metal or an similar alloy for the conductor when copper is an order of magnitude better as an electrical conductor? Order of magnitude - that's 10 times better for you English majors out there.
Mapman, I'm not sure if many here would understand what he might say. Lacking that understand also means that what he might say seems unlikely to influence sales.
Maybe the designer could come on this thread and help shed some light? I'd really like to understand how these work better and why this approach is not only unique but actually better than others.
Its a very unique design and really would like to hear this stuff. I have no idea what to expect....only that it is different, so that alone is worth something.

Few things are all rosy with no down sides though. It helps to understand the pros and cons involved in any decision making process, especially the more costly ones.

I was given a very generous opportunity to try these in my system and see. I had to pass for lack of time to due a worthwhile assessment at present. Maybe someday.

There are some very unique things going on with these products electromagnetically, so I suppose I would just take it slowly at first and see how things play out.
Doesn't that beg the question: If mu metal is used for the conductor, presumably to avoid the consequences (magnetism) of current flowing through wire why are magnets used for the conduction, magnets that ...drum roll...produce magnetism? See the irony?
Mapman, I'm sorry for being cavalier. I just have no idea how one would know it might hurt nor to know afterwards that it did. There are going to be magnetic waves anytime there is current flow, so nothing is really new.
@ fluffers@lak. I think all of the high fidelity cables are good. The speakers cables are good as well. I like it all I wish I could buy it all lol. The one thing that I like the most is the speed. When a drummer plays. You hear ever tap of the drum and tap of the cymbals in perfect decay. These are the fastest cables I have heard out of all of them. Also it is open and natural without being bright. Depending on what you want in your system I think you will be happy either way.
Mapman, cables that were not expecting magnetic conduction. I guess they will just have to get over it. Their parents didn't bring them up right.