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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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In Reply to: Thanks for your post ... posted by bobbeanbags on March 14, 2001 at 14:46:59:
About 6 months ago I bought a new system to upgrade from my late '80's college "hard rock" all Carver 1.5T/Kipsch Forte gear that had seen better days. I replaced it with used Rotel 120W Rb-980bx amp, Rotel RC-972 pre-amp, Denon DCM-560 5 disc player, and B&W 601 s2 bookshelves. Great "mid-fi" system for very cheap. The only problem (and a big one) was that the whole setup was glaringly bright. Sibilance galore was my problem. At times it was ear wrenching and unlistenable. In fact, there was a whole stack of cd's that I could no longer stand to play. But, I knew part of the problem was my using cheap Radio Shack "GoldSeries" interconnects and fake "monster cable" until I could afford real cables. Also, the Denon cd player is not very good, although the Alpha prcessor in it is also used in Denon's "Reference" cd player. The only true downside is that it tends to be very analytical.First, I made TNT-audio "FFRC" speaker cables, which are simple, cheap, and quick. The FFRC's were far better than cheap "monster" cable - deeper, clearer, more controlled. Not bad for a quick fix.
Then I made the TNT X1.5's to replace my Radio Shack gold Audiophile IC's. These things not only removed a veil from the music, but also the bedsheet and comforter. Night and Day literally! But boy did they take some effort (nothing compared to what was to come). The only problem was that they exacerbated the sibilance problem on poorly recorded discs.
So next came the Jon Risch Belden 89259 IC's. Quick, easy to make, and ultra cheap - I got the cable for free from Belden. These things are smoooth! A terrificly balanced tone to them and they really reared in the B&W's tweeters. But, eventually I felt that I was giving up too much high freq's so I settled on a mix of X1.5's and Beldens.
Meanwhile, I was searching for Teflon CAT 5 cable. As it turned out a guy, AA inmate Gomer, had a boatload of the stuff for cheap and lived an hour away from me. Anyway, being the anal retentive fool that I am, it took me close to a month of 2 hours a night at least (sometimes 4) to make a perfectly tight-braided 10 foot bi-wire set of two 27 pair(?) LF and 9 pair HF.
About a week into it I had a pretty serious set of blisters on the inside of two fingers where the braiding inadvertently rubbed, making the going even slower. I almost gave up a couple of times, especially after I finished the big 27 pair (figured that was good enough).
*************************************
I now realize that most people make them in a weekend and that a far "looser" braid would have worked just as well, made longer cables, and saved me weeks of pain.
**************************************Well, thank God I never stopped (just slowed down)! While they never tamed the B&W tweeters, the cables took the sound to a whole different level. Low frequency resolution was exponentially better - tighter, deeper, more detailed. And the mid-range was "real", almost palpable when rendering vocalists and instruments. Almost scary. And the high freq's gained a new sense of "air" and space". Evry detail of a recording was delivered.
By this time it was clear to me that the B&W's had to go. A terrific speaker for the price, but they just were not for me. I bought a pair of incredibly smooth, balanced, and revealing Jean Marie Reynaud Twins from AA inmate Pete Whitley, and never looked back. These speakers were made for Chris V's cables. Unfortunately, the are only single wire, but the 27 pair work extremely well with them. I just have a spair set of 9 pair. I did a few days of comparing the Chris V's against the FFRC's and monster cable, there was competition. I can't picture ever needing more than the CV's, because the price to gain that small benefit will be extremely high. And the money would be better spent on upgrading equipment.
In fact, I just dumped the Rotel gear for an Audio Refinement Complete integrated amp that matches all my other equipment and speakers beautifully. It is smooth, detailed, and dynamic. I can now use both the JR 89259 IC's and the TNT's to my hearts delight. Although, I tend to favor the JR set, they are the better all around performers. I'm now saving my pennies for an all tube, mid-level, DIY setup featuring Electric Tonalities Foreplay pre-amp w/ full upgrades and an Edsion 60 amp hot-rodded that runs in both EL34 tubed 20W Single Ended Triode and 30W Push-pull, and can even use 300B tubes.
As they say, it's only money and you can't take it with you.
Vic
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Follow Ups
- My road to Chris Venhaus Cat 5's - darkmoebius 16:52:39 03/14/01 (0)
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