Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

What is C37 lacquer, as opposed to other lacquer? AudioNote Kondo also uses a similar lacquering process on their similarly thin conductor, bare wire term'd speaker cables -a procedure they call "tinning", applied in seven coats - and many of the observations here of the Sakura wire are very similar to my own reactions to the AudioNote stuff. My understanding from AudioNote is that this lacquering process is critical to the sound of the wire relative to issues of wire composition or configuration. Connection?

Justin

I recently received the Super Cables Cookbook from Vacuum State Electronics, in which Allen mentions that he now instinctively reaches for C37 lacquer when finishing his cables. In fact, a colleague of mine in the UK-based Audiocircle has mentioned that, in preference to foil designs, he was to try ultra-thin cable with this type of lacquer.

As I write this, things are starting to click into place ... 'Chemical X' (thankyou Dexter) is appearing slowly out of the fog of my ignorance. If sound can be considered (in electronics) a type of electrical shockwave why not tune it in the way master luthiers did in days gone by?

Justin

I will try to comment on the recent posts in one, just to save the bandwith, if you don't mind.

»… if Stratos is just OFC, that any other decent OFC from a reputable supplier, cannot be used in its place?«

Justin, nobody said other cable can't be used instead of Stratos. It is a matter of preference and majority seems just to like it better than other variants of the same type of cable.

»Is it cold-treated, annelaed in some way, a mono-crystal filament, or an alloy of some kind?«

Of course it is cold treated and of course it is mono-crystal, I could not imagine a good cable done other way. It is also natural that it has been annleaded through a process that makes it OFC (there are different levels of purity as you know). It is also very important to stress out that it is not just lead that makes impurities in copper. Quite often, one of the impurities in copper are gold and ferrite. Could be some more but these greatly affect the color of copper as well as they increase the elasticity of copper. Have you noticed how brittle OFC copper is?

No alloy. It would negate the whole purpose of getting copper as impurity free as possible. A tiny portion of brass maybe wouldn't be a bad thing, just as a spice, hehehe. No, I don't think there is anything but copper in there. I have not done any spectrometric observation that could scientifically backup my claim but I have no intention whatsoever of looking into the subject from the scientific point of view (I am not a scientist and besides that I only care how it sounds, not breaking my head too much over too many why – I have realised long time ago that we are just tapping the surface of the great sea…)

»Has it secretly been treated with C37 lacquer or some such potion?«

No, I can assure you that we don't treat our shelf and/or demo products chemically or in any other way.

That doesn't mean we don't have our little secrets but none of them, again, are not applied as a treatment to freshly made products.

47Labs, however, has a product that is marketed in Japan only due to it's high price for an accessory (originally it was intended for dealers) and that thing does demagnetizing of different »things« on a permanent basis (records, CD's, cables, turntable parts etc). Anything that fits in there goes and makes quite some difference as I have been told – I have not tried it yet but I hope to when the finances allow.

Also, it is a matter of a culture and prestige among artisans in Japan and each of them has some secret potion. 47Labs is no excuse to it but, again, it is something strictly for a personal use, none of the dealers have even heard or seen this thing. Well, even I have only found out about it when I got a small bottle as a personal gift, not before.

»Thanks for your reply Sead. I hope everyone's differences can be resolved soon (or better still, put to bed), so more useful discussion can take place.«

Differences are ok. If we all would agree on everything, this world would be a boring place to live in.

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»What is C37 lacquer, as opposed to other lacquer?«

Asa, there are many, many kinds of lacquer receipes known (or better yet, kept as very important secrets) throughout the history. Even now, experts can only guess the exact proportions used by the old violin makers or by the famous piano makers, also the ways of application etc. Too much unknown.

C37 is some kind of modern receipe only today Enemmoser got the marketing idea that was unknown in the 18th and 19th century – not to use it for a product but to make it the product as such. Coming from Vienna where the tradition of lacquer receipe making is a »national sport«, it must be that he had great fun exploring on how to make it. I have my guesses on basic elements used for C37 but I would rather avoid speculating. In any case, the additions to lacquer affect the mechanical characteristics after and during the drying process and all the way through aging of it.

So, lacquer per se is just a lacquer. Okie, there are several kinds of it but nevertheless. What you add to it, how you apply it, how many layers you apply (and their interaction indicates the need for different thickness and application method as well) makes hell of a difference. It is a painfull process but since I have tried to mimic instrument making proces opposed to just a design of a speaker in my Essence speaker I simply had to do some experimenting and to try to dig deeper into different kinds of lacquers. By no means I imply that I have achieved anything important, yet the approach has a certain positive offset from the traditional way of thinking about speakers.

»AudioNote Kondo also uses a similar lacquering process on their similarly thin conductor, bare wire term'd speaker cables -a procedure they call "tinning", applied in seven coats - and many of the observations here of the Sakura wire are very similar to my own reactions to the AudioNote stuff. My understanding from AudioNote is that this lacquering process is critical to the sound of the wire relative to issues of wire composition or configuration. Connection?«

There is a connection. Not in the lacquer but the in the understanding of the fact that dielectric (and it's mechanical interaction with conductor) is as important as the conducting material in a cable. Material used as dielectric in Stratos has as we call it »self-lubricating« characteristics, thus there is no need to treat it in some special way – dielectric itself does the thing.

Btw, the cable in question is 47Laboratory cable. Sakura Systems is 47Labs distributor in US of A. I know, 47Labs sounds so… western… and Sakura sounds so… eastern.

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»I recently received the Super Cables Cookbook from Vacuum State Electronics, in which Allen mentions that he now instinctively reaches for C37 lacquer when finishing his cables. In fact, a colleague of mine in the UK-based Audiocircle has mentioned that, in preference to foil designs, he was to try ultra-thin cable with this type of lacquer.«

Say hello to Allen from me. He is quite a nice guy.

Speaking of ultra-thin cables, I still have not found the wire for my tonearm that I would say »yeah, that's it«. Any suggestions for a tryout?

»As I write this, things are starting to click into place ... 'Chemical X' (thankyou Dexter) is appearing slowly out of the fog of my ignorance. If sound can be considered (in electronics) a type of electrical shockwave why not tune it in the way master luthiers did in days gone by?«

This electrical has also a mechanical aspect to it. So, yes, I say, let's tune it into some music. :-)

Cheers,
Sead

p.s. Justin how have you been? Haven't hear from you in ages. How is London?

Just re-read my earlier post so as not to be redundant.

Anyway, Mr. Kimura, designer of the 47 Labs products, said that the OTA cable is based on telephone wire. He said that his goal as a designer was to reproduce acoustic music not rock or synthesized music. He reasoned that since telephone wires go on for miles yet preserved the tonal quality of one's voice he felt it would help him attain his goal. The wire is made in Japan by a company that makes telephone wire.

As to the exact process I do not know exactly how it is done. However, Mr. Kimura always looks for the simplest ways to do things; the components he uses are common off the shelf items not custom made, but he is very specific as to how to implement them. And I would suspect that no voodoo/black magic is involved in the making of the cable. I suppose the reason for the high cost, about a dollar a foot, is because it is made in smaller runs with his logo on the jacket. You should see the power cord wire that he gave my friend.

One final note, there are many websites in Japan that are dedicated to copying Mr. Kimura's designs and even on how to improve them. If you have access to a computer with Japanese windows/browser and can read Japanese you should check them out. They probably have many lower cost alternatives that are better than the Sakura cable (Japanese audiophiles are absolutely fanatical, and have clubs that meet weekly. The difference between us and them is that they like modifying things internally; they'll take a portable cd player that runs on AA batteries and turn it into a world beater!).