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To splice or not to splice?

I have a mid-fi system (Dynaudio MkII, NAD c320BEE, Canare wires) and recently acquired a 6-foot Audioquest King Cobra cable for next-to-nothing. My first inclination was to cut it up to make a pair of extremely short IC's to replace my pre-to-power amp jumpers and then to make one or two pairs of short IC's for component-to-pre connection.

I have since become aware that the King Cobra has connectors which are welded, not soldered. I'm not concerned about losing value as I have little in the cable and do not plan to sell it. I am concerned with losing a high percentage of sound after splicing and adding standard audio RCA connectors using solder.

I expect a small loss from the process. Am I likely to be disappointed?

Is there anyone here with some experience in this realm?

many thanks,

T.U.
tostadosunidos

Showing 3 responses by tostadosunidos

tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos OP
1,198 posts
 
Thanks for the swift--and good responses.

Kijanki, I actually was looking at the AQ jumpers for some time before this cable came into view. That's still an option.

Zd, I have compared the KingCobra to the NAD metal jumpers and the difference is obvious, it's a slam dunk. I could hear it, my son could hear it and my wife could hear it. The NAD and Dynaudio speakers (these are not the lower-line Audience series) are that good, at least. As for keeping the cable as-is, I'm not sure what to do with one cable in a two-channel system--or am I missing something here (besides the second cable)?

Elizabeth, I have been thinking about that very thing. But I can make the ultra-short "jumpers" and still have enough left over for a pair of 2.5 foot cables at least. Some of my present cables are 18" and in ten years I haven't had a problem with that. Presently I can get by with one or two pairs much shorter than that with no change in the foreseeable future. And I'm no spring chicken.

again, thanks to all!
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos OP
1,198 posts
 
Zd542, wouldn't it be the opposite? One of the original RCA's has the arrows pointing in, the other out. So I think one should be in the preamp, the other in the source component or in the power amp (if used as jumper). Right?
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos OP
1,198 posts
 
This is a followup to the original thread:

I (finally!) had the single King Cobra cable turned into a pair. Right now they are being used to connect the preamp of the NAD integrated amp to the power amp section. It sounds great--much better than any other stereo pair I tried and they blow the doors off the sound of the original little metal jumpers.

So, I now plan to trim a little off to make a short pair for the NAD so that I can have a longer pair for CD-to-preamp.

I post this in case anyone else ever does things "on the cheap"--if you can get a long enough piece of good cable for a good price it may be worth your while to buy a few RCA's and splice away. It certainly has been worth it for me. My overall sound is greatly improved (warmer, no loss of detail if not an actual gain in that respect, better soundstage, just more natural overall) and it didn't break the bank. I just know I would not have had a couple of pairs of cable of this quality otherwise. Can't wait to get the second pair up and running.

Thanks again to all who responded. Can't say enough good about the folks here.
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