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I've been on a quest to upgrade my system from Monster's M-Series M1500 to the might Sigma M2000. Unfortunately, my system requires four 0.5 meter pairs which were available from Monster, but appear to be nearly unobtanium. I have some longer cables I want to reterminate and even have a set of the strange powerdrive connectors that allow a ground connection at the end component (anyone have ideas for the purpose of this???).
I've got two problems. One, the massive Sigma turbine connectors were not sold, so are almost impossible to find. Therefore, I need some connector suggestions for the massive Sigma (10.5 or 11mm). The second problem, is the current connectors I have on the cable have the gold turbine connector somehow thread locked with the pewter casing. I've tried a few things with no luck, so I am desperate for ideas!?!?! I am hoping that one image with this post does upload. It would allow one to zoom in on the threads where it looks like some white/opaque residue remains (I have one cable that had repairs done in the past which had the pewter casing loose on the RCAs.)
Right now my two contenders for RCA connectors are the Wireworld Silver 11mm connector (almost $100 for a set) and the Valab Carbon Rhodium Plated Tellurium Copper RCA Plugs at $31 delivered (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Carbon-Rhodium-Plated-Tellurium-Copper-RCA-Plugs-2-Pair-/301502683343?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4632f5d8cf).
Any other contenders?
Most will not be familiar with the sound of Sigma M2000 as it is quite rare. If you've heard M1000 or M1500 it is simply a nice upgrade. I've discovered at least two versions of the cable. The high capacitance version (405pf per meter) is not much of an upgrade to M1500 (278pf). The lower capacitance Sigma M2000 (360pf) really ups the sonics with a very nice increase in bass and definition along with excellent treble definition and noise rejection. It is rather amazing at the frequency extremes with much improved soundstaging (Sigma Retro pales in comparison). The typical monster sound is a bit soft, not so with the good M2000. All the Monster have a nice coherency to their sound which one might attribute to their claims of ultra coherent time and phase alignment, balanced impedance design. The few interconnects I've brought in always seem to lose something in this area.
Given the above sound description my biggest fear is a loss in bass performance when using other connectors. The Sigma M2000 (and the M1500) connectors have massive turbine connectors (typical monster turbines look quite flimsy in comparision, including Retro which looks like a joke next to M2000). I suspect the Sigma turbines may be copper of some sort as they are a bit flexible despite their thickness. Excellent bass performance would be a must for substitute connectors.
Well I am hoping the inmates can come through with some suggestions as I am ready for the rubber room with this termination project (the suggestion of the week may be MIT AVT 1.)
Follow Ups:
The stock Monster rca connector is an ordinary gold plated brass with 2-piece ground design. You might consider the Cardas SRCA GG RCA with Cardas XRCA 11 Cable Adapter in order to re-terminate the 11mm cable. While I can't predict the results, I expect the bottom end of the gold plated brass with 1-piece ground Cardas connector would complement your goal of a strong bottom end while generally improving performance without profoundly altering the tonality of the cable:
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/cardas-srca-gg-rca-p-1475
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/cardas-xrca-11-cable-adapter-p-2111
Duster,
Thanks for replying. I was hoping you would as I've seen you are quite knowledgeable about RCA ends based on your posts. I'd seen the Cardas, but at nearly $70 with the adapters I wonder what the Wireworld Silver might offer, "tubular silver-clad OFC contacts and a silicone rubber tension band, which produce the lowest contact resistance available". The Valab is much cheaper. I've noticed that the cables earlier in the signal path make the most difference. Here is my cable layout:
0.5M turn table to phono stage (could go for it here and demote cable to amplifier if not good.)
1.0M from Phono stage to line -- Stock Sigma, done
1.5M from line sources -- 1.0M is all I need, but I have stock 1.5M done
I have a passive volume control line stage where connect length is critical to limit total capacitance:
0.5M tweeter amp
0.5M midrange amp
0.25M to bass crossover
(FYI, the tweeter amp and midrange amp do not go through crossover as i was able to simply reduce their coupling capacitor size to accomplish the simple first order crossover.)
2.0M bass crossover to bass amp.
I've got five cables I need to mess with and I have some Sigma class ends for these, but unfortunately I do hear differences in some of my Sigma cables. The Sigma ends I have free I associate with a slightly tizzier high end that may be from the ends or may be from cable differences between the two 1 meter pairs I compared. It is quite maddening and I may acquire another 9M single run of Sigma for scrap just because it has the newer style ends and is most likely to match my 1M pair that sounds the best. Given the time involved to mess with this stuff its a hard call what to do.
So, do you think I notice less of a difference in connectors from my bass crossover. With triamplification, might one end work better to the crossover and another for a tweeter amp? Does the level of signal matter? I have a low output cartridge and might that make a difference.
Would you buy several of the above RCA terminators and just try them?
Sigma is the worst cable to cut and reterminate with all the little insulation layers. With the stock Sigma ends, the ground and hot are a similar length. It would be great to be able to just be able to desolder ends and try the various RCAs, but I am not sure that will work at all well with the Cardas which has a very narrow body beyond the adapter. The Wireworld looks more compatible based on a diagram I've seen, but not sure (what do you think?). The Valab looks like it would be too tight.
Well as I write this it looks like the Wireworld is the only one interchangable with the stand Sigma ends and so maybe I should try that first.
I have a photo on the first post which shows the outer jacket of the monster crimped by the ground connector. This is absolutely necessary for the Sigma ends as the giant turbine ends are quite difficult to take on and off of rca jacks. The outer jacket mesh is glued and taped underneath this. Any suggestions on how to attach the mesh to the cable so it stays in place?
I agree it would likely be easier to terminate the particular cable with the 11mm version Wireworld Silver Tube rca connector vs. the Cardas SRCA GG RCA with Cardas XRCA 11 Cable Adapter. Since you are interested in acquiring several pairs, you may be able to negotiate a fine discount from Galen Carol Audio.
See link:
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