Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

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!).

In the years following WWII, a lot of the mysteries of the world have lost some of their secret status. Coatings being one.

In a previous company, where I learned the craft, the sacredness of a formulation was an important thing. To the point where a many a recipe consisted of tens, if not hundreds, of ingredients.

Questions concerning these ingredients(along the lines of "eye of newt") would often be answered by something being a "masking agent". In other words, something that would throw off anyone who tried to copy it. These were often things like peppermint, rosemary, lavender oil, etc. It was also suggested that some things were added to make the smell of the product more agreeable.

All in all, a lot of my work was spent on revising the formulations. Stripping all of the unnecessary elements out, in order to leave only what was essential. In every case I can think of, the products were only improved. In the information age, it was not such a priority to hide a formulation, as a base recipe(which would work well) could be acquired with tremendous ease. Marketing and the company itself became more important than what went into the can.

In a general sense, lacquer is lacquer. One of two more "traditional" ingredients which would be included in a lacquer.

Lac, the resin from the plant native to Asia is the classic base of lacquer. Hence the name. And, the reason that lacquer was a product of cultures such as Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and India.

The other is the more modern nitrocellulose. The ingredient found in most of the "real" lacquers of today.

One of these polymers would be dissolved in a solvent(often a hydrocarbon from the less environmentally conscious days such as toluene, xylene, etc.) to make the coating we refer to as lacquer. These formulations are very, very simple. In addition to the polymer and solvent, a leveling agent(various) might be added to promote a smooth finish(as opposed to orange peel), and perhaps also a flatting(silica powder) agent to reduce gloss if a satin finish is desired.

Products would differ from company to company in the ratio of polymer to solvent, as well as things like leveling agents employed.

Also, there are brushable and sprayable lacquers. Brushable laquers have a higher polymer to solvent ratio. On the order of 24 - 27% solids(polymer). Whereas sprayable lacquers would contain a higher percentage of solvent, in order to ease sprayability, vis a vis lower viscosity.

More recently, the word lacquer has been bastardized to include polyurethane, acrylic, etc. formulations; just a name given to a clear topcoat used for these purposes to convey a sense of high quality of the product.

Presuming that two products consisted of the same polymer(be it lac or nitrocellulose), were both targeting the same application(brushable or sprayable) process, and were of high enough quality to ensure a smooth, pinhole free coating, not much difference should ever exist between them.

I just wish I'd kept up the Japanese my neighbour used to teach me! Anyone know of a Japanese-English translator on the web?

Telephone wire, huh? Hmmmmm.

Justin

Wow, Trelja, that's great stuff. For future reference, gentlemen, THAT'S substantitive. Thank you, I learned something I didn't know.

Trelja,

I feel the need to thank you for participating in the discussion on lacquers. I think it is a valuable contribution.

Listening to you speaking is almost like listening to my lacquer specialist and I mean it in a very positive way as this guy is an old and very experienced "wolf".

On the negative side, I feel the same professional “one applies to all” approach, disregard to audio being a rather peculiar and specific application. At least that was the problem that I had with my people until I managed to sat them down and offer them to actually hear (and not just see, what was their professional focus throughout their complete careers) the differences in variances of their own work.

Of course there is a lot of marketing rubbish (like in every other aspect of life) but the fact remains, at least in my personal experience, that lacquer has a strong importance on sonic behaviour of a product (in this particular case, loudspeaker). I am not an expert on lacquers and my findings are strictly limited to the empirical auditive conclusions that were drawn from different samples prepared by those knowledgeable on the subject on my request for specific samples.

It is interesting that (and I guess that corresponds to your statement) certain additives in recipes affect the visual appeal more than sonics yet the technique applied and number of layers (viscosity of each; thickness; application; drying method and some other) do have a strong impact on the mechanical (thus auditive as a logical consequence to the resonant) characteristics of the "coating".

Some additives can affect the dielectric characteristics of a lacquer but there I really don't have sufficient experience to discuss on the subject.

In any case, we are talking nuances here (rubbish speakers remain rubbish, regardless) but nuances make the accountable difference. Not to be mistaken - some nuances human ear and brain can perceive with more precision than the most sophisticated measuring equipment.

Best,
Sead