Problems with Mapleshade cables

Yes, exact same problems -a total PITA .

Yes, they are fragile and I noticed that they're not made the same way as the ones I have stored away somewhere. The connectors I have are what appears to be locking brass connectors and what they sell now look rather humble and homemade.

I hate to say this but even though the Excalibers are a step up from the ones I have, my Darwin Silver ICs are a much better choice in my system than the version I used to use.

All the best,
Nonoise

I've used their balanced IC's and digital IC's for about 3 years now. Sold off the digital IC's so I could try something more expensive that was unique in that those IC's provided passive noise reduction - otherwise I don't think I would've been tempted to sell them. The only issue I ever had with balanced IC's was an occasion where I broke one end of one lead (right where it attaches to the connector) while routing it in a cramped space. Got a little too careless and there you go. My own stupid fault for getting too impatient, really. But, it turned out to be a simple enough fix for me. I cut the tape off that covered the connector, slid back the plastic insulation sleeve out of the way and re-soldered the connector pin to the ribbon - even used the existing solder - just heated the old joint up till it was molten and then dropped the ribbon into place and re-taped. That was more than a year ago. It has since performed as new and without a hiccup.

"Sorry I have little sympathy for anyone foolish enough to actually BUY that hokey trash"

I get your point Elizabeth. I too had my reservations when a friend brought a collection of ics, powercords and strips. If you REALLY want a laugh check out their power cords. Unfortunately the problem is that the stuff actually is quite good. I haven't personally had any problems but can clearly see why some might as delicate as the stuff is. If you want to see REALLY fragile and even thinner conductors the Omega Micros are just that. More unfortunate is that their ics and speaker cables are the best thing I've ever NOT heard. They make every other cable I've listened to sound like tone controls. The coherence and tonality improves the higher up the line you go and the thinner the conductor becomes. I sure would like to know of another cable that does what these do that is less fragile, that's for sure! I suppose this is one reason they haven't really caught on.

There wire is a BIG joke!!

Okay everyone, time to disembark the bash the Mapleshade train. Pierre's SC are quite good, if not outright great in my system. I upgraded from his basic Clearview SC to the Double Helix SC and never had the urge to look any further.
They've bettered, by more than a margin, Clear Day SC, Zu Mission SC, Music Metre SC, and Supra 2.5 SC.

Yes, some of his stuff seems like marketing excess but his SCs are not one of them. Do yourselves a simple time line study and see when he came out with his line of SCs and compare it to others who simply copied his design, and or took it one step further, and get nothing but praise here and on other sites.

Like Tubegroover says, these SCs are incredibly coherent.

This guy led the design team for the A-10 Warthog and F-16 fighter jet and bumped heads with Casper Weinberger over logistics in Europe (and he was right) but the SOD won out.

So fragile yes, but he's onto something.

All the best,
Nonoise

Not for the beer party crowd.

I can't speak to the IC's, but I love the Mapleshade speaker wire. Its more dynamic than anything else out there, or at least the 10-20 that I have tried in my system.

I don't what or how you drink has to do with it.
In MY system ZE Gede and MIT CVT 2 IC's were way better than Mapleshade IC and DNM Reson SC ,among others, better than his wire.

Nonoise, have you listened to any of the Omega Mikro ics (Mk VI and Mk VII in my case) or the planer speaker cables in your rig? I find them a quantum improvement over the Mapleshade Excaliber ics or double helix speaker cables. As good as the Analog VI ic is the Analog VII just gives you more, spacial resolution, timbre accuracy and coherence. Goodness knows what you get as you get into the directional cables with the bias boxes, haven't heard them, yet! I've never remotely experienced this level of improvement from any other cable including Stereovox, Vahalla, Harmonic Technology, Audience, Cardas, MIT. I would venture a guess that too much of this may not be the best solution in an otherwise transparent revealing system, use judiciously.

I really like the $5 power strip sitting on the top of a block of wood...

Tubegroove, No, I haven't had the pleasure of trying the Omegas. They looked tempting. As for speaker ribbon cables I believe Ed Shilling over at Hornshoppe Horns still uses them and back when I had his Horn single drivers, he offered to make me a pair, saying they were easy to make and very good compared to what's out there. As I recall, they weren't that expensive either. Maybe I should look him up.......

All the best,
Nonoise

Say what you want about Mapleshade, but at least the company has the courage, conviction and belief in the performance of its products to offer a 30 day money back. Name me other cable manufacturers willing to do that? Personally, I've owned most of the other high end cable stuff, and to my ears, Mapleshade IC's and speaker cables outperform all others; it's sad to read the sometimes naive and premature judgement placed on this brand by others who have absolutely no listening experience with it.

Getting back to the OP's question:

" ... My question is, has anyone else had this type of problem with these I/C?"

I own the Excalibur ICs and the Double Helix SCs. And no, I have not had the problem the poster refers to. Though I can see how this could happen; the "RCA" looks like a 2-year old made it.

That said, the OP was not asking for sympathy or whether the IC was a joke.

I thought the purpose of posting was to constructively share experiences responsive to the OP.

Maxima95 + 1!

I disagree that the RCA looks like a two year old made , c'mon.

Yes, that was an exaggeration. I have an older set of the ICs and have only seen a picture of the newer iteration. But honestly, the one I saw in the picture looks somewhat homemade to me. Presumably it sounds better than the previous version and that's what counts.

The bottom line is that these cables are fragile yes but they offer excellent value price/performance relative to ANYTHING I've have listened to through the years. The principles involved are outlined on their website. These cables are only a joke to those that have looked at them without listening, particularly the Omega Mikro line. It is the coherence of the arrival of the frequencies to the ear that is clearly audible as was explained to me by Ron Bauman. What I found also remarkable is how the tone/timbre of instruments sounded more natural without added artifacts and the placement in the soundfield stood out in a not so subtle manner. I would suggest that anyone that thinks cables don't make a difference that these cables are a good place to start in altering that perception. To those that realize that cables can make a profound difference, listening to music in your system with these cables will bring you to the realization of what is possible. Just start with a pair of the Omega Mikro Analog VI or VII ics and see what happens. These cables are not exactly inexpensive but they delivered in a manner I couldn't have imagined prior to listening.

Not to get too far off track with the question but as I understand it through my conversation with Ron Bauman there is real science that can't be fully explained in any manner by measurements and further proves that our ears are the best tools in what we hear let alone the prejudices of what we can visually see. I'm sure these guys would make these cables more robust if they could retain the signal in the manner that these do.