Who out there wants to, or has, validated an amazing cable find?

@atmasphere

I don’t know if the Ayre preamp supports AES48 or not but the RCA outputs along with the XLR output suggests it does not. You’d have to ask them to know.

The Ayre VX-5 Twenty with the switches I referenced is my amp. I have an Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp. You have me curious and I’ll ask them about that. Good guys over there.

I’ve read you mentioning that AES48 standard and if it wasn’t clear, I appreciate you taking the time to share all of that info / perspective about balanced cables / "properly balanced" equipment. I suspect you’ve also helped others... and you’ll never know about it. Many with knowledge don’t bother taking the time to share it and help others.

Thank you.

I bought a used 7’ pair of Anticables 4.2 speaker cables for $212 to my door and they are shockingly good. I also have 16awg solid core wire (of another brand) insulated w/ polyethylene. I’m going to try all solid core wire and am in the process of ordering bulk wire from Paul at Anticables to make my own XLR cables. In the past, I’ve taken @atmasphere Ralph Karsten’s (much appreciated) advice to try Mogami for XLR... and that any quality wire in an XLR implementation is going to get the job done. I’ve been using Mogami 2549 (22awg) for XLR into my Ayre VX-5 Twenty. When I tried 25 year old Vampire OCC Unbalanced / RCA cables into the amp, I found them soft compared to the Mogami 2549 via XLR. Could have been the wire... could have been the input... could have been both.

So...been using and like...
1) Quality, Solid Core wire in Polyethylene insulation... not Teflon or PVC.
2) Mogami 2549. The Mogami has polyethylene insulation with a PVC outer jacket.

As mentioned, I am going to make XLR cables out of 17awg Anticable bulk wire. The same wire that is used to make the 4.2 Anticable speaker cables. They will be combined with Anticable 4.2 speaker cables for "all solid core wire" for XLR interconnects and speaker cables in the system.

By the way... the wire linked to earlier in this thread... the green jacketed cable... that looks much like my Vampire Wire AI-II OCC interconnects... even size of the text on them.  This is what they look like at 25yrs old... I bought these directly from Stuart at Vampire Wire in Lutz, FL. 

@dave_b

I call horse crap here…there are some respectable bargains around but the great stuff is gonna cost you!

That’s the mental gymnastics they’re counting on... and following thru with it may be expensive, but it will help some sleep at night, and resolve various skin conditions. 

@atmasphere

 

@jim2 Just for the record that wasn’t exactly my advice. My advice was that if you gear supports AES48 then you likely will hear little or no difference at all between cables as long as the cable is built correctly.

The Mogami is a good quality studio cable and compared to cables around today is really inexpensive. It also uses polyethylene dielectrics (not PVC- that is only used for the jacket).

I don’t know if the Ayre preamp supports AES48 or not but the RCA outputs along with the XLR output suggests it does not. You’d have to ask them to know.

Ralph, there is a switch on the back of the VX-5 Twenty amp for switching between Balanced and RCA. "Zero Feedback" and "Fully Balanced Differential Circuitry" are fundamental to Ayre equipment. I did mention the insulation on the Mogami is PE and the jacket is PVC.

Perhaps you remember this interaction you had with the late Charlie Hansen of Ayre regarding "Balanced"? You referred to him as one of the great Solid State designers. The "Ralph" he mentioned here to is you...

I presume you're both doing it right. 

@dave_b

Ok Jimmy 1 or 2…no one is forcing you or me to buy any particular product. Be happy with whatever you choose and realize that you are not the harbinger of enlightenment you think you are.

It clearly says "Jim2"... "Jim1" is the truly enlightened One. "Jim1" is when I drink a lot of water.  "Jim2" is when I drink coffee in the morning.  I can assure you I seek to be happy... I also try to avoid deluding myself.

What I have learned is this... when "it’s right", you know "it’s right"... because it is a VISCERAL reaction to what is being experienced. If something "feel’s off", it’s because it "is off" / "isn’t right".

Recalling how much was spent on a particular thing never really seems to resolve that internal, visceral conflict. Although... I have observed MANY attempt to convince themselves otherwise.

@dave_b meet my (now) good buddy @dave_b

@dave_b

"I call horse crap here…there are some respectable bargains around but the great stuff is gonna cost you!"

@dave_b "...nor did I imply a level of monetary outlay that might be required to achieve an objectively superior result in this most subjective of hobbies."

Since we are avoiding any particulars (always handy to remain vague when suggesting it’s "gonna cost you!")... Can we get a clue? What do you think? Can we get this done for about Tree Fiddy? What’s an example of the "it’s gonna cost you!" stuff, since very clearly you're saying "great" means "it's gonna cost you!"?

To that point, Mogami is very economical. (Sounds good too). So far I like the Anticables stuff too. See, we’re buds.