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Model: | UniCrystal AirLok Hookup Wire |
Category: | Cable |
Suggested Retail Price: | $3.99 |
Description: | 18 AWG UniCrystal OCC Copper hookup wire with AirLok dielectric |
Manufacturer URL: | VH Audio |
Review by jonbee on August 28, 2011 at 12:29:22 IP Address: 76.104.158.194 | Add Your Review for the UniCrystal AirLok Hookup Wire |
I have re-wired many good speakers over the years, using many types of wire, from 5-9s silver, silver clad ofc copper, high purity copper, and dissected speaker cables from various mfrs. Results range from no change to excellent, but given the work involved I decided I would only do it in rare cases.
This year I bought a pair of Selah Audio Tempesta 3 way standmounts, which use very high resolution drivers, including RAAL ribbons, Accuton mids, and Scanspeak Illuminator woofers.
As I wrote in my earlier review of them, I'm very taken with the Selahs- they are extraordinary standmounts by any comparison, and by my standards one of the best speakers I've ever heard.
That said, I made a couple of minor crossover changes in consultation with Rick Craig at Selah, and noted that the internal wiring was pretty mediocre looking stranded copper wires. I started thinking about a re-wire and surveyed the options, and was impressed by the VH Audio (well known AA inmate Chris VenHaus) UniCrystal OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) Copper wire with AirLok insulation. Here's Chris' description:
"Our OCC wire is meticulously drawn through special dies, dead soft annealed in an inert nitrogen atmosphere, and follows special handling protocols to minimize any surface marring, before the insulation process begins. Our unique AirLok insulation is a proprietary form of foamed/cellular Teflon that achieves a dielectric constant of less than 1.45! By comparison, the dielectric constant of solid Teflon is 2.1-2.2, and a perfect vacuum is 1.0. May be stripped by simply using your fingernails- so no nicking of the conductor with a wire stripper!"
The price was acceptable for such quality, so I bought 21 guage for the tweeters, 18 ga. for the mids, and paralleled 21 and 18 ga. for the woofers and main crossover feed.
As Chris states, it is very easy to strip; I did indeed do all the stripping using my fingernails. Nice.
So- how does it sound? In a word- marvelous, even stunning. I don't hear any difference in the bass, but the detail and focus in the mids and highs improved dramatically. Any trace of hash is gone, and I can hear into the soundstage further than ever before with ANY speaker I've ever heard. Smooth, refined, balanced. A beautiful result, more than I had expected or achieved from any other re-wire job I've done.
I paid around $150 for the wire, and I must say that in the context of the speakers' cost and overall quality, it is a dead bargain. The re-wire took about 6 hours, and I'm thrill by the result. I'm not sure that I've ever hear better, more musical overall reproduction than what I'm getting now. For hi-rez copper hookup wire I can't image better results.
BTW, they sounded a tad dynamically constricted for the first 20-25 hours, but then opened up. All good now!
Product Weakness: | A bit pricey, but by my measures a great bargain! |
Product Strengths: | Easy to work with, cleans up the sonic window much more than expected. This is super stuff! |
Amplifier: | cullen modded PS audio GCC-500 (Icepower) |
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | none |
Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Sony 9100/modwright sig. truth CDP |
Speakers: | Selah audio Tempesta/ James EMB1000 sub |
Cables/Interconnects: | Zu- Libtec, Mission,and Mother |
Music Used (Genre/Selections): | lots |
Room Size (LxWxH): | 17 x 20 x 8 |
Room Comments/Treatments: | lots of glass, eats bass |
Time Period/Length of Audition: | 1 week |
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): | PS audio Quintet |
Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
John, I also have a speaker that uses the RAAL ribbon. I'm interested in using this hook-up wire. Did you twist the positive and negative runs, or keep them spaced and seperate?
Im interested in hearing your thoughts, as I recently did an internal wiring upgrade for the RAAL with Jena Labs 2 x 18 gauge for each run, and it was a disaster. The top end is completely gone. Not to say the JL wire is no good, but I think this gauge is too high for this application.
and the highs are certainly clearer and more distinct now. I think smaller gauge is the way to go for tweeters.
The OCC silver wire might also be a good candidate for this, for more $.
I twisted the wires leading to the tweeters, as I thought it might reject rf pickup better that way, but I have no evidence that it is better than separated. Chris at VH might have an opinion on this.I'd certainly ask him.
Good luck, and report what you find out.
I am even more interested to try, or hear from others who have tried, his upgraded speaker wire consisting of multiple strands of the same wire in 24awg for an aggregate of 11awg;
"The CHeLA OCC speaker cable is made of 48 individually insulated 24 AWG SOLID OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper conductors that are insulated with VH Audio's AirLok TM dielectric."
Thanks for the review, jonbee.
VH Audio's OCC single crystal silver wire is magnificent, too. The new Pulsar Ag single crystal pure silver with Airlock dielectric coaxial cable is perhaps the most transparent wire I've ever heard. I've enjoyed the cable that Chris built for my main audio system so much that I've ordered a length of the bulk cable for a lesser-cost DIY build to place in my computer audio system. I plan to post a report about the DIY project in Cable Asylum when completed.
Cheers, Duster
I decided on the copper because it was a "safer" choice. Some of my silver experiences were good, but matchups with silver have been more complicated and harder to predict.
I agree and would also select OCC copper for loudspeaker internal wiring. In fact, my only favoritism of OCC silver rather than OCC copper is for digital and video cables.
Not only did I rewire my speakers/crossover with it, I am using a simple twisted pair of the 18 gauge (in cotton sleeve) as my speaker cables.
Very Nice!
+2. Phenomenal wire, and very affordable if you only need small gauge.
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