Grannyring,
The Arizona Caps are covered on the Jeff Day Wordpress Blog you
referenced above. Check out the Yazaki-san recommended changes to
Day's system via his capacitor change and update. I think you will find it
enlightening. Yazaki-san use these in his SPEC amp and many 300B
rebuilds. Like their name I believe the Arizona Caps (green/blue) are
located in Arizona, again, I believe Day provides a link.
Yazaki-san also recommends some resistor change to Day that will be
implemented soon. In addition, some tube variants.
I am so thrilled with the cable and interconnect suggested by Yazaki-san
that I too, am going to follow his other suggestions with regard to capacitor,
resistor, internal wiring and tube types/brand as applicable to my situation.
For example, Yazaki-san just sent Day a Haltron 5u4G to try and he and
several friends agreed it bettered the tube in his already superb amp. Now,
Haltron did not manufacturer tubes, but rebrand under their name; trick is to
find out what NOS was it? Brimar? GEC? Or other British Rectifier? This
tube discussion is also on the Day Blog you reference above.
Philjolet, I don't know anything about the Belden1585a as compared to the
Belden 8402. Perhaps I should buy and compare/contrast. Can you tell me
more about it? |
Another good source for copper (or silver) in cotton is Jupiter Condenser Company. Their wire has a very natural timbre and great dynamics. You can twist it, braid it, or run it single and it sounds great.
Bill, I am skeptical of how tinned copper might sound but, based on the on-line recommendations by you and others, and on my positive experience with the copper-in-cotton Jupiter wire, I just purchased a bunch of the WE 16awg wire. If the strand count is as stated, the individual wire gauge should be about 29/30 awg. I plan to run two separate star-quad runs to each speaker, thus bi-wiring an aggregate 13 awg to each LF and MF/HF. I will let you know how it works out. |
how about Belden 1585a?
Grannyring or Mikirob?
Have you compared it to the 8402?
not trying to hi jack the thread but this was recommended to me on AA and maybe should be considered... |
Mikirob, which model of the Arizona caps and where can one buy them? I have never seen then at the usual parts stores like Parts Connextion etc.. |
With speaker cable that short you're better off sound-wise removing the speaker binding posts and running the wire directly to the crossover. Not a big inconvenience to move/ship the speaker with only 12" of wire hanging off it, and you eliminate a set of binding posts and connectors, always a good thing.
That's what I did when I went to mono amps. I used Cardas 11.5ga copper litz in teflon wire in a tight twisted pair right to the crossover. Sounded much better than the 10' long Zu Ibis silver I was running wit the binding posts. |
Grannyring,
I could not agree more. I put the WE 16ga against my Goertz silver AG1, it lost. I also put it up against some other respected speaker cables that cost in the high hundreds. They also lost. Mr. Yazaki-san and his crew have some wonderful ears and totally know what they are doing. I'm following Yazaki-san suggested capacitor and resistor changes to Day's system, that Day is implementing. I am sure this is the sound I have been searching for. |
I have never found stranded copper to sound as good as solid core...never. That is until this stuff came along. Important to always be open minded in this hobby. This wire bests the finest silver cables I have owned also. I don't understand why, but it simply sounds beautiful. |
Grannyring,
I'm glad I turned the board on to Jeff Day Blog on the Western Electric 16ga
tinned copper wire as well as the Belden 8402 microphone cable as
interconnect. I am also glad you are spreading the word. A big shout-out to
Jeff Day and his Spiritual twin, amp builder extraordinaire, Shirokazu
Yazaki-san, without whom, non of us would know about this WE speaker
wire.
I just wish Rebbi and some of the other folks on Rebbi's thread concerning
good speakers for his Audio Note AN Kit-1 would give it a go...they might
feel as I, you, and some others now feel, it is that good. And it is still dirt
cheap while it lasts. It too, is NOS and disappearing fast.
Your comments above absolutely mirror my own thinking. I'm not a DIY like
you, but I am going to take the plunge with my DIY-happy brother and use
this wire to re-wire my speakers, Coincident Dynamo, as well as some
other items.
Additionally, some of you reading this thread might consider the Belden
8402, very similar in character to the WE 16ga. |
Had some AQ cables made at 3' length and was no biggie to order that way. |
Do yourself a big favor and purchase 8 feet of this Western Electric NOS
wire from the 70s. It will cost you some $15 and be as good or better than
cables costing you hundreds or thousands new or used. Just strip the ends
and connect the bare wire for the best sound. The copper strands are
tinned so no worries about oxidation.
No hype here, but just honest to goodness beautiful sounding cable. Many
are just now learning about it and know what a wonderful buy it is. I cannot
overstate the joy loaded in the big smile these will give you.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231598278893
Read this......
http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=7469
The very best speaker cables I have owned, and I have owned many, cost
$1800 new and were a value compared to others I tried costing even more.
I like this WE16ga as much in most sonic areas. I know it seems too good
to be true and we have all heard the same thing about Mogami and others.
Well I tried Mogami and others and they were not giant killers....but good.
This WE16ga is the real deal..... at last.
I like it so much that I have ordered enough to wire my outboard crossover
and speaker internals with it. I will also use it inside my electronics in critical
signal paths. |
Cable should be at least 2 FT for best sound. |
Whether or not shorter speaker cables sound better than longer ones, two facts about them are indisputable:
1- They're cheaper! Especially if you're bi-wiring (one long pair of inter-connects is cheaper than two long pairs of speaker cables).
2- The don't sound worse! Remember when at least one wire company claimed cables had to be of at least a certain length before they sounded good? That kind of baloney didn't help the cable industry's credibility. |
While I agree that shorter speaker cables may not always sound better, certainly from the standpoint of subjective preference, I would add that nearly all speaker cable EFFECTS are proportional to length, and therefore DIFFERENCES between speaker cables will become smaller as length decreases.
Putting aside whatever effects connectors may have, the only speaker cable effect I can think of that would not be proportional to length (although it would still vary as a function of length) is the possibility that by acting as an antenna the cable could conceivably cause RFI (radio frequency interference) to be picked up and injected into the feedback loop of the amplifier, if it has a feedback loop. Which might under some circumstances, with some amplifiers and in some RFI environments, have audible consequences. Although I suspect that kind of effect is unlikely to be significant in most circumstances, and apart from shielding that may be provided in some speaker cables it would have little or no predictability with respect to cable type or price even if it did occur.
Good luck. Regards,
-- Al
|
Shorter cables do not always sound better, depends on cable, equipment, preferences... |
"07-03-15: Mofimadness
You can special order almost any speaker cable in any
length from most cable manufacturers, even the big boys,
(Audioquest, Cardas, Kimber, Wireworld, etc)."
He's right. I've had AQ make me several custom cables.
Another option to consider, if you're willing to buy used, is to buy something like an 8 foot pair of cables. Then, send the cables to AQ and have them chop it into 4 different lengths and re terminate. |
The great thing about short speaker wire runs is you can get, if you so choose, a more-expensive-per-foot wire. For instance, when I was using a balanced-out pre and balanced-in mono power amps, I used long balanced inter-connects and one foot long pure silver speaker cables from Kimber. Silver is expensive, but with only one foot runs not so bad. |
You can special order almost any speaker cable in any
length from most cable manufacturers, even the big boys,
(Audioquest, Cardas, Kimber, Wireworld, etc).
Most will ask you to go through one of their dealers, but
the dealer will take care of you. |
