How many would be surprised?


We generally cannot see the actual wire used in our IC’s because of some sort of covering. I recently acquired an XLO Ref 2 balanced IC and these have a clear outer cover exposing the wires inside. Maybe XLO is unique, but the wires used are tiny. With the overall size of the cable you develop a preconceived idea of how big the “cable” is inside the cover.

My JPS SC2 speaker wire can also be seen through its cover, it is quite beefy.

I wonder how many would be surprised to see the actual wire inside their cables?
brianmgrarcom

Showing 6 responses by dekay

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.
The person wouldn't be Gary would it? If so, I know the design as he is a friend of mine.
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.
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.