2. cables
  3. 990492297

Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Has anyone tried this "minimalist" cable kit? After receiving a recommendation from someone with similar musical values to myself, and whose ears I trust, I could not resist ordering one. I will report on how they sound in a few weeks, but am interested in others' opinions too.

For those that have not heard about them look at www.sakurasystems.com for an interesting read. The cable sounds as if it is very close to the specification of the conductors in Belden Cat5. So I may have spent around 100 times what the kit is worth. We shall see.

If you have not heard this cable, please don't bother posting your opinions of how it MUST sound here. Nor am I that interested in hearing how stupid I must be to order this kit - it's my money and you are free to make different decisions with yours. Sorry for this condition, but I am bored with those that have nothing positive to offer on this site, and post their opinions based on deductive logic rather than actual experience.
redkiwi

Showing 5 responses by hdm

hdm
1,069 posts
 
I just finished using some smaller pieces of OTA as jumpers from some female rca's (to PCB) that I replaced on an amp that Dekay very kindly sent me. If anyone out there has any leftover wire that they would consider selling, please e-mail me. I'm thinking of enough to do a half-metre interconnect, and if I'm not mistaken, I would need about 2 metres (or 6 feet) to do that. I'm also thinking of a little experiment with an ungrounded power cord which would require about another 8 or 10 feet, but that is not critical. So if anyone has either 6 feet or 14-16 feet that they'd sell me, please let me know. Just bare wire, no connectors required.
hdm
1,069 posts
 
I have had very good results using the standard OTA as a power cable for my CD/DVD player. As the player is internally grounded (and obviously is not very current hungry) it was simply a matter of terminating the wire, live and neutral, with a male plug (used a Hubbell 5266C if I remember the part # correctly) and an iec (used a Schurter). I also ran the OTA wire through 1/8" heat shrink (without shrinking it down) just to give me some added peace of mind, not that I deserve it. Just made me feel a bit better, but I'm sure many out there will tell me I'm crazy for doing this. I'd never have the nerve to attach it to anything that needed to be grounded or was very current hungry, but in this application it has been fabulous, improving upon a $350 retail power cord, and allowing me to shift that cord onto another piece of equipment with a decent, but inferior cord.
hdm
1,069 posts
 
I use the Eichmann Bullet Plugs terminating 47 Labs for IC's. I have never used the standard 47 labs connectors, but can say the Eichmann's are far superior to another set of RCA's which I used first to figure out whether I wanted to stay with the 47 Labs. For what it's worth, I sold a set of Silver Audio Silver Bullet 6.0's to keep the 47 Labs/Eichmann combo as I felt it was superior in pretty much every way. This is a very good combo.
hdm
1,069 posts
 
Abex: If you have enough of the 47 Labs cable, terminate them with Eichmann Bullet Plugs-you'll be out about $30 for the Eichmann RCA's, and the combination has been quite good for me.
hdm
1,069 posts
 
Abex: I can't honestly say whether there's a difference because I've never used the 47 Labs RCA's. But if you've been using any normal RCA terminated IC and they've been working, it may simply be, as Ken Lyon stated above, a compatability issue between the 47 Lab RCA's and the female RCA's on your CD player. For what it's worth, I sold a set of fairly expensive ic's to use the Bullet Plug terminated 47 Labs. I also used a cheaper RCA on the 47 Labs, and the Bullet Plugs are audibly superior.
More to discover