new cable project

[Black Stuart]

Hi all,
as a matter of fact I was using the Low Loss Sat. cable from Maplin a long time before the CVH/TightWAD thread started.

I first used this cable back in the UK, when I fixed a new TV ariel from the roof of a 4 storey converted house, down to our ground floor flat, having asked the advice of a friend who was a qualified electrician and the man who first got me interested in valve gear. I also used it as feeder cable to every room in the flat (bar the bathroom) via a signal booster box.

I first used it in a music application when I purchased - a Denon TU-260L11. It pumps out such a strong signal that whatever I tried induced more or less hum. The light went on and I rigged up a pair of i/cs, literally as was. I have sinced stripped out the original 1mm copper for 1mm silver plated copper.

I also use it inside my power amps - again stripping out the centre solid core. If there was (or I can think of) a way to secure this cable I would use the CVH diameter silver wire before the signal is amplified but not after, here I use 1mm silver plated copper.

A little tip here - the 1.5mm has a different copper mylar foil to the smaller diameter type, slighty less flexible but tougher. By the way since I have received from Buddam the Teflon tubing it has about the same flexibility as the 1.5mm LLS.

It would be straying from the topic of this thread so will start another, maybe later today re. the Xindak type i/cs and cables - they use Gold as well. Greg has expressed an interest IF he could buy the materials and construct himself - will post later.

So the man to credit with the origen of this idea is one - Mick Elkington-Roth, not myself.

Black Stuart

[Richard]

TV and radio co-ax variations have been used for years. 30 years ago there was a fad for home made TT leads screened using earthed alu foil wrapped around them - Baco Leads - looked a real treat .

We've all had a go and I really cannot think how many I've tried. A local Linn/Naim dealer at that time was old school and would only use RG58 for interconnects.

Maplin XS61R would be worth a listen but watch some of the RF cables as they have steel cores using silver plate designed to conduct at RF http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...ldID=&doy=19m1

Rich

[soulminer]

I have been using silver for everything, as it is the best electrical conductor, and what that table doesnt show you is that the oxide that forms on bare silver is a better conductor than copper too. You can't lose out with silver. IMO all the claims that it makes your system sound bright and brittle, is all a load of rubbish too. My whole system is wired with the stuff, and it is very smooth, natural and balanced and has never sounded bright or brittle. I think the overall effect of cables in a system is a rather subtle and over-hyped one (especially mains cables), and I personally have never heard a cable , be it a mains cable, an interconnect or loudspeaker cable, make a remarkable difference in any system I have had, or friends systems. I am skeptical when it comes to cables though - can you tell ??

PS: What surprises me looking at that chart though, is how **** a conductor mercury is, and good old Keith Monks used that as an arm/base interface in his KM Laboratory unipivot. Fancy using one of the worst electrical conductors at a point in a system, where the signal is at its smallest and most delicate. I won't be buying one of those to try, coupled to the fact that mercury is poisonous too.

[Rob042]

Lee
I agree in general I use silver. just thought I would try something different.
Rob

[alnewall]

I recently made some gold / silver coax cables as described previously.
I decided they were the nicest sounding interconnects that i had made so far.
A direct comparison with IPL IC2 a few days later very firmly revealed the shortcomings of the homebrew jobbies.

[Black Stuart]

Lee,
I could'nt agree more. It was all the **** I read about silver being bright that stopped me using silver as a base for wiring for a few years.

I never got to hear it but a mate Ian, that was close to the Dane, Quordrop, was one of the first to hear an Audionote all silver 2A3 and he said without qualification it was the best amp (he only ever listened to valve amps) he'd ever heard. All the Txs were silver wound, PIOs, wiring everything.

Black Stuart

[Black Stuart]

Al,
were the IPLs' commercially produced?

Black Stuart

[alnewall]

No, Stuart. The IC2's were homemade in so much that i stuck a plug on either end.
By home brew i was refering to the tv coax creations that i've made in various guises using silver wire. These sounded a bit two dimensional when compared to the IC2. At least thats how i would describe it.

[Greg.]

Hi Al,

Your experience is interesting. I swear IPL IC2 is one of the best and economical cables to use for DIY I/C's and also as signal wire internally. I use it almost exclusively apart from the few applications where the Chris Venhaus fine silver wire design can be used. For me that remains the best I/C I've ever heard, provided you can get away with it being unsheilded. It's worth thinking back to the original Maidenhead WADfest where it blew away a pair of £500+ commercial cables.

Best wishes,

Greg

[alnewall]

I agree Greg, both these cables are in a different class to most of the sensibly priced commercial offerings.
I was round at Tony Moores when we did a quick comparison and the difference between my cheapies and the IPl's was quite obvious. Its just that i'm not great at describing things so i tend not to bother, in the interests of not digging a hole for myself.
Having said that even the cheap and simple to make coax varieties seem to perform better than a lot of the stuff on the market.
Maybe Tony will give his impressions.