New product sources (under review)

richidoo · « **Reply #20 on:** 1 May 2007, 10:24 pm »

I second the 1505/Canare IC cables. I got a pair from Blue Jeans. Construction is fantastic, unbelievable quality for the money. And they sound great. I have also used their thicker R6 for FM antenna wire with good result.
Rich

Wayner · « **Reply #21 on:** 1 May 2007, 10:29 pm »

The test is done.

I decided not to plug and unplug cables a bunch of times, so I recorded portions of a CD with each of the cables that we called "Cable A" and "Cable B". Whatever bad I did by recording them, I did to both. The song I chose was by Chris Isaac from a Heart Shaped World, the song is Blue Spanish Sky. I recorded 2:10 minuets worth of the song with each cable.

My wife and I listened to the 2 recordings, back to back, for about 10 times. We realized that this was not an easy task as short term memory of how something sounds is forgotten quickly. We did start to favor Cable A for it's resonance with cymbols and realism of Chris's vocals which we thought Cable B sounded a bit scratchy. Horns sounded fine. Bass seemed more pronounced on Cable A.

I have to give the edge to Cable A.

Cable A is the $2.38 Monoprice.com cable.
Cable B is the $50.00 Interlink 400 by Monster Cable.

I know I will get "hate" messages from those who think the test was rigged, or that I favored the cheap cables because I wanted them to win. This is not the case.

For a very small amount of money, I suggest a purchase of these cables and audition them for yourselves. You will be plesantly suprised at the quality/price ratio which is extremely high in my books.

WEEZ · « **Reply #22 on:** 1 May 2007, 11:15 pm »

Wayner,

I'm not too surprised that a RG59 cable sounded better in the bass; nor am I surprised that they were less 'scratchy'. What IS surprising, is the price. Even bluejeanscable charges more than that...and their prices are reasonable. Monoprice must have these terminated by elves....

WEEZ

Wayner · « **Reply #23 on:** 1 May 2007, 11:23 pm »

I think they actually manufacture them. They are a ISO-14001-2004 manufacturing facility and everything comes in a bag. No wasted money for fancy packageing. I placed my second order today. They have a 15 foot USB cable for connecting my Dell Laptop to my Outlaw receiver for about $2.50. I also ordered some dual banana plugs.

Thanks WEEZ.

W

WEEZ · « **Reply #24 on:** 2 May 2007, 01:17 am »

So, does the raceway/channel/whateveryoucallit work to your satisfaction?

WEEZ

(you have a PM)

JohnR · « **Reply #25 on:** 2 May 2007, 08:43 am »

Quote from: avahifi on 1 May 2007, 07:41 pm

Now JohnR, be nice. How do you know what subjective experience Wayner does or does not have?

Frank, my post was in response to CE2.

TjMV3 · « **Reply #26 on:** 2 May 2007, 01:53 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 1 May 2007, 11:23 pm

I think they actually manufacture them. They are a ISO-14001-2004 manufacturing facility and everything comes in a bag. No wasted money for fancy packageing. I placed my second order today. They have a 15 foot USB cable for connecting my Dell Laptop to my Outlaw receiver for about $2.50. I also ordered some dual banana plugs.

Thanks WEEZ.

W

What are the RCA connectors made of?

Another question.

When it comes to unbalanced RCA connectors, does it matter what the whole barrel is made of?

I would think that the important factor would be that the center pin be cooper. Is that correct?

It really shouldn't matter what the barrel is made of, because the center pin is where the signal travels through and the center pin is the point of contact, right?

Am I correct in this thinking, or is there something more to it?

CE2 · « **Reply #27 on:** 2 May 2007, 02:06 pm »

Now ya gotta be a metalurgist to listne to a stero. Do you really think you will hear what different metals sound like? Don't think so. Gold plating so they don't corrode up over time. corrsion makes for lousy contacts and will cause noise, etc. If you make sure your RCA male pin is of some magic metalurgy, aren't you concerned what teh female side is made of? Plug in teh RCA connector and listen to the stuff, don't make up imaginary things like what kind of metal the thing is made of. Amazing what ads about wires have done to people's thinking about a pice of wire with a connector on it. Looks like the advertising works, it makes people think this and that obtuse thing matters, when it don't. So if you can hear what differetn metals sound like......eeesssshhhhh

TjMV3 · « **Reply #28 on:** 2 May 2007, 02:15 pm »

You know, I'm just trying to learn something, here. No need to get all arrogant and condescending about it.

I don't know much about cables and connectors. So I thought I would ask. Cooper has always been a popular metal used in audio and many say it is one of the top two conductors. So I was asking for clarification, so as to try and make a distinction between the marketing hype and science.

Sorry to have tainted the thread with an attempt to learn something

Dan Kolton · « **Reply #29 on:** 2 May 2007, 02:24 pm »

TjMV3,

Whatever the material, the barrel is part of the circuit. If the material makes a difference (and I don't see or hear how it would as long as it's a good conductor and isn't corroded), the barrel matters just as much as the center pin.

TjMV3 · « **Reply #30 on:** 2 May 2007, 02:43 pm »

Thank you, Dan.

So basically copper, brass, ruthenium, rhodium, silver........are all equally suitable conductors, which really don't offer any significant conductive (or sonic) benefits over each other?

Dan Kolton · « **Reply #31 on:** 2 May 2007, 05:45 pm »

I didn't say that. I'm not going to look up the characteristics of each material you mention and try to remember enough physics to calculate the possibilities, nor have I heard ICs of each of these materials. What I said was that the center pin and the barrel of an IC are each part of the circuit along with the wire. Without reinventing the wheel, I don't believe you'll find that materials used in practice for these components make a hearable difference. Cable construction might make a difference; usually any difference you hear is caused by the interaction between the cable and the impedences of the electronic components involved. Paraphrasing what Frank has said, if an audiophlake wire causes oscillation because of wierd impedence, you'll surely hear a difference when your amp. blows.

TjMV3 · « **Reply #32 on:** 2 May 2007, 05:48 pm »

Okay, thank you Dan.

Wayner · « **Reply #33 on:** 2 May 2007, 10:01 pm »

TjMV3,

Thanks for asking. As far as conductors are concerned the rank is first silver, then copper, aluminum and then gold. Most machined ends of RCA jacks are made from brass bar stock, including the pin, then nickle plated and then gold plated. The reason for the two different platings is that gold doesn't stay stuck to brass very well and nickle likes them both. Gold will not oxide. If you made a connector out of silver, it would tarnish within days and be a poor conductor. Some interconnects use silver wire embedded within the cable where it won't corrode. It is very expensive wire and most cable manufactureres opt for a oxygen free copper for less cost. Many materials can be made into a conductor, even water. That's why most tools today have plastic bodies...to help prevent electrocution.

W