[PLMONROE]

In Marty de Wulfs rave review of the RM-40 he expressed how well the speakers went with DIY cables made with this wire. He continued that you had to be sure to check for directability and run one leg in reverse. I hate to show my ignorance but would someone clarify this? How does one check a length of wire for directability? Thanks.
Paul

[Juan R]

the company or cable info printed in the cable give you an idea of the direction.

[JohnR]

No no no.

I'll be upstanding and tell the real story of how to tell the direction of the wire. First you very very carefully extend the wire out straight and fasten both ends to the floor with duct tape. Don't twist it! The crystals are very delicate. Then you must very carefully relax the core and purify the dielectric by massaging the whole cable, an inch at a time. Any good quality body oil will work, although I personally like lavender. Work deep enough to get to the core, but don't overdo it, or you'll have to throw it away and start again. Don't leave excess oil, remove with a dry towel after every inch or two. Let the cable relax for 24 hours, then repeat. Do this a total of five times.

Now, very carefully untape one end of the cable from the floor. Remove the tape completely and release the cable. It will try to curl up slightly. Without assisting it observe the direction of the curl! If it's clockwise, the end you have released is the sensitive end of the cable, and must be connected to the amplifier. Otherwise, it's the speaker end.

That is the direction for the Southern hemisphere. It goes without saying that if you're in the Northern Hemisphere the directions are opposite.

There are some who say that you should make the cable with one sensitive end of wire at each end of the completed cable, if you know what I mean. These people are heretics, and deserve every sonic misfortune that befalls them.

Hope this helps

JohnR

[PLMONROE]

WELL, I guess I did display my ignorance. BTW, JohnR, my wife asks if you had ever tried essence of snake oil????. So , I presume it works  just as well if one just hacks off two hunks of wire and twists them together whatever way.

[John Casler]

Hi Paul,

Their was a very large thread on Harmonic Discord some time back (search for Stan Warren and Lowes) that discussed this.

I picked up a roll and although I didn't go through the ritual John suggests, I didn't hear too much difference.

It might be too, because I didn't pay attention to reversing or whatever.

I am not really finding too much difference in any of the speaker cables.

I have another thread running about a new "battery powered" cable and have no idea if it works or not.

I currently have the cable, (which works fine) but not the battery.

[shokunin]

I bought some of that 6 gauge wire (although not from Lowe's) for my RM40's when marty's review came out.  I haven't put them into my system yet, but I need to order some large cardas spades for it.  If anyone did the lowe's wire and then switched it out, I'd love if it's even worthwhile to attempt it.

[Juan R]

I did about 6 months ago, I do not hear a difference between them and my bolder cables, at this moment I am biwiring. And about the direction, R and L sound the same.

[shokunin]

Juan,

Are you using Bolder Nitro speaker cables?

[John Casler]

Paul,

Here is the link to the HD discussion of the Lowes wire.  Be aware that it is L-o-n-g....

http://www.harmonicdiscord.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8660

It goes into cryo treating and everything.

As I  said I tried these once and initially thought I heard a better bass, but lots of ABing made me think better.

I hear more of a difference between the "dirty day power" (when industry is running all their machines and such) and "night power" when the system sounds so much better.

But as you will be able to see there was a lot of hype for this stuff since Stan Warren got behind it.  And then Marty.

[JohnR]

WELL, I guess I did display my ignorance. BTW, JohnR, my wife asks if you had ever tried essence of snake oil????. So , I presume it works  just as well if one just hacks off two hunks of wire and twists them together whatever way.

Heh, sorry Paul, I wasn't having a go at you, just being silly   No, I haven't tried the snake oil, but I can't imagine it would make my cables smell as nice  

For all I know the direction really does make a difference. Seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened. But there's only one wya to find out, someone has to try it and report in!

BTW I don't have any of this wire myself. I know it must be good though, since it's so hard to find the exact right type. I looked under both ends of the rainbow and turned up nothing

[Juan R]

Shokunin.   No, I have  the old cables, before the Nitro and m-80. all copper.

[PLMONROE]

Thanks for the thread John (Casler). Although long its most  interesting in what you don't read. You see 8 pages of posts about  where to get the wire, whether the markings on the cable are true or meaningless, whether the color of the wire is significant, whether all strands should go in the same direction (ala Stan Warren) or should go in opposite directions (ala Marty de Wulf), whether or not its important to hook one partiicular end of the cable to the speaker or amp, etc,etc,etc.  All this and not one post with a picture of the completed project and only one or two posts as to how the stuff sounds. Well I made up a couple of strands,  however  I did  not "Cyro" them or use heat shrink to reduce the "motor effects" and yes they are not yet "broken in" and guess what? I cant see that they are any better than my old monster cable or any worse than my KimberKable 8TC. Maybe its that my equipment is not of sufficiently high quality to be  capable of demonstrating such subtle nuances -- after all its only Krell, VTL, Vmps, etc.   JohnR, I think you are RIGHT!
Paul