I have home made silver interconnects and digital cable "taped" over. These are just very thin wires. These cables were so much better than the stuff from Harmonic Tech in my system. There is another thread going about the size of the Sakura OTA. Clearly bigger is not better, should make some of us happy. |
Wirehead: What gage are you using (30 gage)? |
I'm not sure Dekay. It was wire that was purchased from a jeweler in bulk. It is very thin and the interconnect has only two strands. Drop me a line and I'll get the info from the person that put them together for me. |
The person wouldn't be Gary would it? If so, I know the design as he is a friend of mine. |
No, but if I recall it was a DIY project from audioasylum. I remember when we compared these with HT's products it was very close and when we honed in on the bass the resolution was better with the silver and the HT was bloated. The true test came when we used an old CD which really sounded bad and was better detailed with the silver. |
Very interesting as I have been experimenting with 26 and 30 gage silver & copper wire (though different designs) and have listened to the "tape" IC's as well. It's also a lot of fun on the cheap. |
Brian: Although all of my speaker cables and IC's are of micro wire design, if I were to peel back some mammoth insulation and also find these tiny wires, YES, I would be surprised. |
DEKAY & WIREHEAD. YOU MIGHT ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THIS BUT IF NOT LOOK AT WWW.VACUUMSTATE.COM. THEY SELL A BOOK THAT EXTENSIVELY SHOWS HOME MADE INTERCONNECTS; SPEAKER CABLE; POWER CORDS AND THE THEORIES BEHIND THEM. AS INFO. (MY SILVER 30 GAGE .9999 ARE A LITTLE BRIGHT. TRY 40 GAGE MAGNET WIRE....I LIKE THAT SOUND BETTER) |
For that matter, Nordost also uses tiny conductors in its flatline series -- which includes the bang for the buck (;)) Valhalla.
I wonder: is it *more* expensive to manufacture micro vs. larger gauge wire? |
Heavier guage cable does not cost more to make. Since copper and silver are not really expensive materials.
IMHO, tiny guage cables tend to preserve the music signal better than larger guage cables. I use Audio Note Silver Speaker cables and they are about 18 ga or thinner. I was sceptical at first about the bass but guess what???? Bass was the deepest, quick, without BOOM and clarity without harsh and shrill. Beats cables 10 times the thickness.
One other thing about thinner cables....there is more finesse in the music too compared to the thicker cables. |
Heavier guage cable does not cost more to make. Since copper and silver are not really expensive materials.
IMHO, tiny guage cables tend to preserve the music signal better than larger guage cables. I use Audio Note Silver Speaker cables and they are about 16 ga or thinner. I was sceptical at first about the bass but guess what???? Bass was the deepest, quick, without BOOM and clarity without harsh and shrill. Beats cables 10 times the thickness.
One other thing about thinner cables....there is more finesse in the music too compared to the thicker cables. |
Sorry....my boo, boo on the 2 above posts |
Hi Genesis. With the edit feature, you could have deleted your last post. I did the same thing recently. |
If the same rules apply to copper and silver as it does to steel thinner wire is more expensive to make than that of a heavier gauge. Steel wire starts with a common size stock and is rolled down into smaller and smaller diameters. The smaller the wire the more it has been processed and the more involved the processes become (less margin for error with smaller diameters). Given that the better copper cables are made of cast material shouldn't change the ratios much. BTW, does anyone know whether the cast wire used in audio cables is from a mold cast or continuous cast process? |
Aren't thin things more easily broken than thicker things? Sorry if this post is sorta ignorant of the way things work. I know my dealer had some speaker cable he was gonna let go cheap but some of the strands had broken at the strain point when it connected to the speaker.
Don't you risk the same thing with ultra thin IC's? I mean, you gotta manipulate these suckers around all sorts of crap; some of the wires are gonna tear, right? |
Not ultra thin, but Kimber PBJ is definitely on the skinny side and it used to be almost be a "standard" of sorts for low cost but decent ICs. Kimber's Silver Streak looks much like PBJ, but is silver and pretty thin. Craig |
Mapleleaf: Yes they do require careful handling. One of our cats ("Eddie the Thug") has sheared the 47 Labs OTA cables (26 Gage) off of the left speaker two times so far. But most of these things are usually just installed and then only removed for periodic cleaning (of the contacts) and perhaps for the occasional audition of other cable (people used to bring wine by, now it's cables:-). I don't find it to be much of a hassle as I have always treated my heavier cables with care/caution as well. These smaller and more flexible cables (not all of them though, as it depends on the design) can also be easier to manipulate and because of this a great deal of force is not required to guide them through the maze. |
Dekay and anyone else interested, the recipe for the silver cables can be found at www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize021998.htm
Regards, |
Hi Wirehead: I have auditioned the copper version of the "tape" IC's but not the silver one. The copper (30 gage) version lacked bass and was also a bit rolled off on top compared to what I am used to. I figure that if anything in a book (or on the web) was really super then it would already be patented and produced, so I am kind of just doing my own thing with a friend. He is working with standard RCA's and insulation (including tape) and I am using the 47 Labs plastic RCA's in combination with pseudo air dialectics (instead of standard insulation). This is just a cheap and fun project and nothing serious. Right now though, I am listening to the stock 47 Labs OTA IC's which completely kill anything that I have ever listened to before. |
