[Occam]

I just completed a rebuild of my poweramp. I was lucky enough to get a 1' length of Nitro LS cable cutoff from someone who re-terminated their cable. I expected it to work well for internal LS hookup, amp to binding posts (regardless of admonishments against silver plate's ' hardness'), and its performing admirably.
What surprised me was how much of an improvement it made in the power supply dc wiring, which might have been a bigger improvement than in the LS wiring. It solders quite nicely using Kester 44 eutectic mixture with 2% silver content.

Kudos,
Paul

[CornellAlum]

What does the "LS" stand for at curiosity?  I have ALL nitro wire fwiw.

[Occam]

Cornell - Sorry, I should have just spelled out LoudSpeaker rather than save a few keystrokes with 'LS'.

[CornellAlum]

Not a problem.  I thought for a minute that Wayne had come up with a new edition of Nitro wire and I was going to have to reallocate my tax return to him...again   I am surprised that you noticed so much differnce in rewiring the power supply.  I shall have to give it a try and see what I can hear.

THX

[DSK]

I just completed a rebuild of my poweramp. I was lucky enough to get a 1' length of Nitro LS cable cutoff from someone who re-terminated their cable. I expected it to work well for internal LS hookup, amp to binding posts (regardless of admonishments against silver plate's ' hardness'), and its performing admirably.
What surprised me was how much of an improvement it made in the power supply dc wiring, which might have been a bigger improvement than in the LS wiring. It solders quite nicely using Kester 44 eutectic mixture with 2% silver content.

Kudos,
Paul

Hi Paul, this is interesting ... one can never have enough entries on their 'next tweaks' list 

One query though... if you replaced the wiring as part of a larger 'rebuild', how do you know how significant the wiring swap was? Also, what wire was replaced?

Cheers,
Darren.

[Occam]

One query though... if you replaced the wiring as part of a larger 'rebuild', how do you know how significant the wiring swap was? Also, what wire was replaced?

Half(assed) at a time. Although the rebuild also included modifying the feedback networks/ input filtering, I made those changes and tested the amp for a day with the original wiring to make sure I hadn't screwed up the amp boards. Then initially, I just replaced one channel of the LS internal wiring with the Nitro, where I'd previously been using deconstructed Tara Labs TFA/Return LS cable. The change was not overly large. The Tara is very good wire (supposedly 'virgin' Australian copper). I then listened to one of the only mono cds I own, a 1957 Jazz version of Fred Astaire's movie work, by Fred hisself. I was able to listen to both or either channels as my preamp has a balance control.
Satisfied that the Nitro wasn't a downgrade, I rewired the unaltered speaker connection to Nitro and one of the channel's dc wiring from Volex to the Nitro.  The late, great Bob Crump was a great belliever in silverplated dc wiring, and save for Bob's strange affinity for cilantro, I respect his views. Then again with the mono Fred, and felt the dc wiring change was a greater improvement that the LS cable swap. Soooo, I did the other channel's dc wiring with Nitro and verified my initial impressions (or continued to delude myself, depending on ones perspective).

I'd like to be able to say that I'd 2 identical amps to do the test with, or at least that I moved the 120lb ea Alons together for the listening tests, but alas, I'm lazy. It wasn't an overly troublesome comparison as all those connections save for the binding posts (Superior BP30) which were soldered, used quick connects and/or rings [but don't tell anyone!]

[DSK]

Thanks Paul. Sometimes strict A/B testing is not required to tell differences in a well known system/environment.

May I ask what areas you thought were improved by the silver wire? Any leanness in the bass from the silver?

[JoshK]

Nitro is damn good.  I've owned it, can't say i've bettered it. 

[Occam]

Darren,

I don't really think I can characterize the change as more/less extended or tighter/looser bass, but rather it makes the differences between upstream components more apparent. I've been mucking about with various opamps in my DAC and have found the Nitro, for both internal LS and dc wiring in the amp make it easier to differentiate the changes wrought by upstream changes.
I was also expecting a rather arduous break in process, but after leaving the system on repeat for 12hrs, I can't discern any ongoing changes in the Nitro.

FWIW,
Paul

[CornellAlum]

Paul,

Do you think the same switch to say an outboard power supply for a component would be worth the effort?  It is DC as well.

THX

Daryan

[Occam]

Daryan - I really wouldn't know and could only speculate. Hopefully Wayne will chime in. I think Wayne sells a dc power Nitro umbilical for the Squeezebox.

[Wayne1]

There is quite a difference in sonics between wire material and geometry in DC cable umbilicals.

A shielded, twisted pair of Nitro works wonders in that application.

Thank you for the kind comments, Paul and Josh.

The Nitro wire does "sound" very good in both AC and DC applications. I have used it in various amp rewires.

It made a very nice difference when I used it for the DC rails in a Parasound JC-1 rebuild.

Paul has described the "sound " of the Nitro wire very well.

It is very neutral and allows the rest of your system to be heard with very little editorializing.