Positive Feedback Online writer Jeff Day started something when he reported on his blog (jeffsplace.me) about the gift he received of some NOS Western Electric WE16GA speaker cable and Belden 8402 mic cable to be used for interconnects.
Since it seemed likely the WE wouldn't be available for long (at least at only $1.20/ft.), I bought some thinking I'd hold onto it until my living situation changed and I could rebuild a fuller system than the PSB desktop gear I'm using now. That intent lasted almost a whole week and I thought those who read the Omega Circle posts might be interested in what I posted as a comment on Day's blog.
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It turns out it takes a stronger man than I to buy speaker cable with nothing to connect it to. So while the future listening room is still occupied (this is actually a very good thing, all things considered) I looked around my temporary listening space and concluded that there was a viable, if not quite optimal, way to fit in a pair of Omega Alnico monitors.
When I spoke with Louis, I mentioned the WE16GA and your experience with it. He immediately recognized the cable. I sent him the URLs for this and the Decware thread, as well as the eBay link, and he intends to buy some for himself. He uses a Swedish cable for the internal wiring and I decided to go with his stock wire. Then we discussed cabinets. I noticed that he occasionally offers non-standard driver combinations and cabinet sizes as one-offs, and he explained that while the market generally prefers a narrow baffle, he personally prefers the sound of a wider baffle. So following his expertise, mine will be 24″ H x 14″ W x 9.5″ D, rather than the standard 20″ H x 11″ W x 14″ D.
There’s no room for an MC-225 and an ARC SP6c, much less an LP12, so I’ve also ordered a 2-wpc Decware SET using a NOS Russian milspec SV83 output tube. (EL84s also work) Designer Steve Deckert recently re-designed the transformers so they’re flat to 80kHz. “There’s just more detail,” he explained to me. I’ve heard one of Don Garber’s X SETs several months after I heard the Decware, so I’m hard-pressed to describe the difference, but I liked both. The Decware is usually equipped with two inputs, but I’ve asked for one input converted to a second output, in case I choose to use my PSB subwoofer for a little extra low end.
The Decware can function without a preamp. unlike Garber’s X, and with more than a TB of music on the HD and less than 20 linear ft. of LPs, I can wait to bring the record player online.
Neither Omega nor Decware sell through dealers in the U.S., but Louis and Steve (I understand they talk on a regular basis) were very generous with their time so I was able to spend a few hours with each of them to listen to their equipment and hear them talk a bit about audio. Louis doesn’t have a real listening room, but a Chicago-area Omega owner was kind enough to invite me to listen to his Alnicos, using my MacBook Pro-Audirvana Plus-Meridian Explorer.
Among the great pleasures of returning to fine audio has been becoming acquainted with these dedicated audio engineers. (The characters assembled for the Garrard Project felt familiar) In addition to Louis and Steve, I’ve also corresponded with Paris-based Damien Plisson, the creator of Audirvana, for which I’ve lately served as a beta tester. I’ve read that Audio Research restores older models like my SP6c, and will even update them to some extent. Since the closest Linn dealer is outside Milwaukee, some Chicago-based audiophiles have identified a local LP12 expert who will revive my record player. And, of course, I’m looking forward to acquiring one of M. Beauvais’s restored MC-225s once everything else is in place.
Getting the cable first seems a bit strange, like my dad used to say about his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma: the school tried to be worthy of the football team. I think the Omega & Decware combo will match what you said of the WE16GA: “rich, musical, detailed, dynamic, and with a very good sense of timing, tempo, melody, that makes music sound very artistic, engaging, and dramatic.” It won’t be a Porsche, much less a Ferrari, but like a Mazda MX-5 in the Appalachians, it will be great fun.
Thanks to the proprietor (Art Dudley too) for helping me to focus on finding gear that can present recorded music like I imagine it can. Or at least assure me that I’m not crazy to think so.
