Raven Audio Soniquil Cables: Misrepresented Build & Tarnishing Connectors?


I bought a pair of Raven Audio Soniquil speaker cables a few years back. The connectors broke fairly quickly, and I finally got around to repairing them last week. I was disappointed to discover that Raven Audio is misrepresenting how the cables are manufactured. 

The website states that the connectors are soldered to the wire.

 

However, the connectors on my cables are not soldered. They're just set-screw banana plugs. 

 

 

I tried reaching out to Raven Audio for an explanation, but they haven't responded. Now I can't say with confidence that I personally could tell a difference in quality due to this issue, but I didn't like that the product is misrepresented.

 

Additionally, even though these connectors are supposed to be rhodium-plated, they appear to be tarnishing. Here's an image that shows the difference between the part that was exposed to air, and the part that was covered by heat shrink tubing. Does anyone know if this type of discoloration is to be expected with rhodium plated plugs, or is Raven Audio misrepresenting the metals used as well?

 

I'm guessing this might just be a case of "you get what you pay for" but I'd love to hear if anyone has had a different experience with these cables. Has anyone received a pair that actually was soldered? 

noryx

@devinplombier agree that the OP needs to hear back from Raven. If not, then things change for sure. 

Thanks @jsalerno277  for the detailed info. I'll definitely keep that info in mind when I get in touch with the manufacturer.

 @macg19  & @grannyring  I agree with your sentiment - I'm not assuming that it's intentional. At the same time, I also agree with @devinplombier that it's ultimately Raven's responsibility to ensure that what they send me is what was advertised. My feelings about the company as a whole are not set in stone yet, so it'll just come down to the response I get from them.

 

@macg19 So far I just emailed them. I wanted to give them a few days to reply, but I appreciate the note about a phone call being more efficient. I will give them a call tomorrow.

 

@grannyring......a lesson in class.  Thank you, something that we can all do better with.

As this thread progresses I'm reminded of Hanlon's razor:  Don't assume malice (or evil) when the facts can be explained by incompetence (or stupidity).  

Incompetence might be a strong word as grannyring has pointed out several ways the misrepresentation could have been unintentional.

Jerry