[Aether Audio]

Friends,

Finally…we have all of the prices worked out.  In the following, we shall start from the drivers and work back to the amplifier.  All prices are listed as what is needed per speaker channel.  If you have a normal stereo pair, then just multiply everything by 2.

I should mention that the wires are of my own proprietary design.  In the future they will be marketed under the name of a new company I am forming. “R.A.Smith Limited” will be offering these at several times the price I am offering them here. 

Every meter pair of cable (1+ & 1-) uses 5 meters of Mundorf Silver-Gold foil wire.  Since this wire (ribbon foil) is not supplied with insulation, we must construct them by hand and each polarity has 6 Teflon insulated layers of conductor. Two of these composite conductors are then laminated together with Teflon insulation as a separating layer to form one cable.  This type of construction yields the lowest possible inductance and combined with our unique geometry, results in what we are calling our “Zero Resonance” cable. They are being offered as un-terminated, such that making a “U” shaped cut in the foil at each conductor end provides a “spade-type” connection.  From my research I have come to believe that “no connector” is the best connector.


To kick-start this project I am offering these cables for the price of the wire and insulation alone.  A cable of such complex construction made from these materials would normally be priced at no less than $1,000.00 per meter pair by any of the better-known companies.  But R.A.Smith Limited isn’t well known – yet.  We’ll worry about making money later once the rave reviews start coming in.  In the meantime, you first time adopters will be getting a fabulous deal for taking the chance.  Actually, there’s not much risk involved, as these cable's main construction is still that of Mundorf’s silver-gold wire.  The worst my design could do... is NOT making them sound any better than they already do.  I’m pretty sure that won’t be the case though.  Most of my ideas seem to work rather well.  I am sufficiently convinced in this case that I will be applying for a patent.  That should tell you something.

EDIT:

I sincerely apologize for the ongoing confusion regarding these cables.  The entire cable issue evolved from one customer's request to use it as part of the total upgrade.  Hence, the issue has been evolving over the last several days faster than I've been able to keep up with it.  Had sufficient time been given to address this, we would have offered a complete set of options from the beginning.

The most recent "development" has regarded the use of copper cable for the woofer/low-pass section.  I see this as a viable compromise and doing so should strike a reasonable balance between cost and performance.  Therefore, we are now offering yet another "option."  Sorry for the hap-hazard nature of all this, but as most of you know, I've always wanted to help in any way possible to constrain costs.  To that end, you may want to consider the following.

There is no reason the "Zero Resonance" cable concept won't work with copper as well.  Using copper will tend to shift any resonances to lower frequencies, but the Zero Resonance concept should go a long way in mitigating them as well.  Since the woofer in our systems only operates up to 700Hz (600Hz Timepiece), the downshift in frequency would place them in the upper midrange - rather than the lower end of the high frequencies (as in the case of silver).  In any case, since the crossover is so low to the woofer, I suspect using the copper cables for that part of the system should only cause a marginal compromise in performace - if any.

So...we are offering the Zero Resonance cables in copper as well.  They will be constructed in the exact same fashion as the silver-gold, the only difference being the material (OFC copper) and it's associated reduction in cost.  The prices are below.


Anyway, here are the prices:

Zero Resonance Cables From Drivers To Terminal Plate

--Silver-Gold--

Woofers to Terminal Plate Binding Posts – (2) X 1.25 meters = $275.00 X 2 = $550.00
Tweeter to Terminal Plate Binding Posts – (1) X 1 meter - $220.00

--Copper--

Woofers to Terminal Plate Binding Posts – (2) X 1.25 meters = $112.50 X 2 = $225.00
Tweeter to Terminal Plate Binding Posts – (1) X 1 meter - $90.00


OFC Copper Mundorf Binding Posts on Terminal Plate

6mm Posts - $115.00
8mm Posts - $147.50 – Requires new terminal plate for existing owners –Add $25.00


Zero Resonance Cables From Loudspeaker to External Crossover

--Silver-Gold--

$220 per Meter (in 1/4 meter increments)

--Copper--

$90 per Meter (in 1/4 meter increments)

Multiply by the length needed – then again by 2.  Each crossover section (1 high-pass & 1 low-pass) needs one cable, such that 2 cables are needed per speaker.


The Crossovers

The Standard External Crossover uses all Mundorf parts and comes with a 2nd tier woofer inductor; round wire air-core inductors elsewhere and 4th tier Mcaps bypassed with 3rd tier Supreme caps.  Mundorf silver-gold solder is used on all solder joints as well.  The enclosure it is mounted in measures 6.75” X 9.75” and will not accommodate either of the two following upgrades.  It can be returned for credit though at a later date if one of the other two higher crossover levels is desired.

Standard External with Cardas Binding Posts - $200.00
Mundorf  6mm OFC Binding Posts – Add $95.00
Mundorf 8mm OFC Binding Posts – Add $160.00


The Intermediate External Crossover uses the best inductors of the Ultimate upgrade listed below and all capacitors of the Standard crossover above.  It will be wired as the Ultimate below.  Enclosure size and construction will be the same as the Ultimate as well.

The Intermediate Crossover with…
6mm Mundorf OFC Binding Posts - $700.00
8mm Mundorf OFC Binding Posts - $765.00


The Ultimate External Crossover uses Mundorf’s best OFC ribbon foil “Zero-Ohm inductor for the woofer, OFC ribbon foil air-core coils elsewhere and RXF caps in the woofer circuit bypassed with a 0.1 Silver-Gold Supreme capacitor.  The high-pass section’s capacitors are all the best Silver-Gold Supreme caps.  The woofer circuit will be wired with solid, OFC copper buss bars and the tweeter circuit with Silver-Gold foil wire.  Solder will be Mundorf  Silver-Gold solder (lead free). 

Enclosure construction will be solid hardwood with a handrubbed oil finish or painted black per your request.  It will also have a Plexiglas cover with terminals out the back and our solid copper logo on the front.  Enclosure size is yet to be determined.

The Ultimate Crossover with…
6mm Mundorf OFC Binding Posts - $1,400.00
8mm Mundorf OFC Binding Posts - $1,465.00


Zero Resonance Cables from Crossover to Amplifier

--Silver-Gold--

$220.00 per Meter  - Normal “mono” wiring mode
$440.00 per Meter – Bi-wire or passive bi-amp mode

--Copper--

$90.00 per Meter  - Normal “mono” wiring mode
$180.00 per Meter – Bi-wire or passive bi-amp mode



OK…now get out your calculators and checkbooks... and have fun! aa

-Bob

[Aether Audio]

Friends,

It turns out there has been a bit of confusion regarding all of the possible upgrade options.  In order to simplify things I thought I would post what I perceive would be an "average" Ultimate upgrade setup for a stereo pair of speakers.

This "example" assumes a few things. They are as follows:

1) We assume the customer wants the Zero Resonance cables wired internally, from both the woofers and the tweeters to the terminal plate at the back of the speaker. 

Remember, this is not totally necessary - particularly in the case of the woofers.  A substantial sum could be saved by simply choosing to wire only the tweeter with the silver-gold.  If I had to find a way to save some $$$, this would be one place I would really consider not using the better cable, as the tweeter is far more sensitive to these standing wave issues than the woofer would be.  We all know that the differences in cables manifest themselves mostly from the midrange on up.  Since our tweeter covers a very large part of the midrange, going with copper wire on the woofers would be a reasonable compromise.

2) We assume the customer wants Mundorf 6mm binding posts on the above terminal plate.  I recommend these as since they are smaller, they use less metal.  It is my belief that less metal in any connection is better than more.  I am also suggesting that they be bare copper - not gold or rhodium plated.  I believe that such metals, due to their lower conductivity, act as "barriers" to current flow and are part of the standing wave resonance problem.  This is not unlike how a hard wall acts to reflect a sound wave striking it.  A "slap" echo results.  Technically, it is known as an impedance mis-match.  Ideally, we would be using the smallest, reasonably functional Mundorf binding post made from the same silver-gold alloy as the wire.  Unfortunately, they do not make such a part.  This is most likely because the metal would be too soft and break easily. 

As an added note, there are several copper treatment formulations available that will inhibit the copper's oxidation and prevent the contacts from corroding.  At least one of these that I am aware of uses silver in its formulation.  I can't remember the name now but we used it at 2005 CES and it worked wonders.

3) The external crossover will be placed on the floor to the side of the speaker that is closest to the amplifier.  This also assumes that the amplifier will be placed in the approximate center of the distance between the two speakers.  In this case, 2 meters X (2) of cable are required to reach the crossover from the back of the speaker's terminal plate.

Again remember, this requires two cables - one from the highpass output of the external crossover to the tweeter and one from the lowpass output to the woofer.  As in #1 above, substantial cost reduction can be had by only using the silver-gold cable from the highpass output to the tweeter input.  Copper wire could be substituted for the lowpass output to the woofer for the same reasons as in #1.

4)  Mundorf 6mm binding posts will be used on the crossover as well.  Reasoning is the same as #2 above.

5) A "normal" mono-wire from the crossover back to the amp will be used.  This is what most of us do already with our speakers so there's nothing to explain.  It is assumed that a single silver-gold cable will be used from the amplifier to the crossover.  It is assumed this wire will also be 2 meters long.  If you don't need this much wire then the cost would be reduced accordingly.  If you need more, the price would be more.  If you want to bi-wire with the silver-gold cable, the cost would be twice as much for this section of wire as a normal wire configuration.

The total cost of all parts and wires for a stereo pair of speakers as outlined above in BOLD font would be - $7,210.00 . 

That price assumes no changes or deviations from what I have chosen above.  Please remember...this is just an example, albeit one I suspect may be the most preferred configuration.  You are free to alter your requirements to whatever your needs and/or finances require and/or permit.

I hope this helps.
-Bob

[Aether Audio]

Bump.