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Dear Sirs,I would like to get opinions about the statement that the best midrange reproduction is a quality of solid core ICs.
To be more precise, I have presently two ICs: Cardas 300B (cd-pre) and Straightwire Chorus (pre-power amp).
The Cardas is not fully broken-in. A lenghty process I understand.
I like very much the midrange of the Cardas (voices are wonderful) but much prefer the bass of the Chorus (powerful and very controlled. Very very good actually).
I wonder if another 1m of Chorus between the cd-pre replacing the 300B could give me a better bass while keeping the very natural midrange of the Cardas.
Any other suggestion would be extremely welcome and appreciated.Thank you very much indeed.
Kind regards,
Follow Ups:
Hi Beppe,
you should seriously consider Goertz flat ribbon interconnects. The copper versions are quite cheap and I have generally found them to be superior so far to solid core wire. The thin ribbon has the good signal transmission of thin wire with the body of a thicker wire at lower frequencies. I have also got a pair of thin silver solid core cables that are very transparent but don't quite have the body of the Goertz flat silver cables I own and yet the Goertz give up nothing.
Check them out!
for your kind and valuable advice about the Goertz flat ribbon interconnects.
How is their midrange ?
Anyway I will look for them.
Thanks and regards,
I have lived with the Chorus cable for some 3 years, for a hyper detail cdp it can do wonders, for a more mellow sounding cdp things just get a bit sloppy, dont get me wrong i love this cable, it just did not go that great with my new cdp.
I gave it a chance just recently and after 3 weeks had to put back my Synergystic Research Alpha cable back in.Sorry if i went a bit OT on the topic, just had to chime in for a minute or two of your time.
v.i.
Thanks for your comments.
Actually I am finding the Chorus less sloppy than the Cardas 300B.
And I was thinking about using only Chorus as ICs.
I fell the Chorus' bass quite strong.
Maybe the biggest issue is the low level of my current digital source, a Rotel RCD 970BX.
In the past I tried a pair of Cardas Neutral Reference with great results.
I put back in the Chrous again! Just to give it a try again! Well, one thing is for sure, i did hear my speakers hit a really heavy bass note like i have not heard them for a while, i plugged them into the variable outlet of the cdp, i am gonna use both for a while...
The truth is, is that this cable is a real gem that has been unjustly forgot about.
Solid copper and teflon at a resonable price.Peace out.
v.i.
To my ears solid has beaten stranded, stranded braids and litz. Not just in the mids though. Up top too. Stll undecided on bass. Probably an edge to stranded but only a little. No matter though I am a convert to solid. Rewired some speaker boxes to solid too. Very nice!
Thank you for your kind and valuable advice.
Actually I am starting some DIY experiments with magnet wires.
I am very curious about this cheap solution.
I read that solid core ICs are quite harder to break in.
Not sure about this.
What is your opinion ?Thanks again and kind regards,
Either silver or copper. I am not sure of this sound mixing approach. Cables are a necessary evil. My opinion is that the best objective of cables is to not add anything (nose or colouration) to the signal that isn't there in the source material. So, for example: if the recording is warm, the ICS keep that warmth and if the bass is full of nasty reverberations in the recording then you hear awful those nasty reverberations perfectly. I have just switched to silver AN interconnects. I was using copper before. I am saving up for their silver speaker cables. I have copper Litz now (Lexus).
Thank you sincerely for your valuable advice.
Actually I feel that the 300Bs have a slightly bloated bass and suppressed highs.
Nevertheless the midrange is astonishingly neutral and natural.
I hope that the break-in will bring some improvements.
Thank you very much for your interesting suggestions about AN ICs.Kind regards,
You'll often lose a bit of openness on the high end with copper compared to silver. The bloated bass -- I don't think that is caused by the cables. If you have a tube preamp, you might try rolling the gain tube to get a tighter bass, assuming the circuit is sensitive to rolling the gain tube.Bepe, get out of Italy! Take a trip to America. See the Grand Canyon. AN cables are much cheaper over there!
While you're doing that, i'll be in the Abruzzo, in the shadow of the Gran Sasso!
Thank you very much again Sir.
You say: "The bloated bass -- I don't think that is caused by the cables".
That is what I wanted to know.
Anyway going on with the break-in things are getting better.
Maybe it is only a matter of time ... hopefully.
Kind regards,
whether it be silver or copper. Although, I once tried a DIY copper ribbon that was extraordinary in the vocal range. Currently I am using Audioconsulting silver wire in a simple twisted pair with silver Eichmanns and love the natural yet clear sound. This is the first silver wire that I have heard that I like top to bottom. I have the entry level Cardas Crosslink and while excellent in the midrange, the bass doesn't have the definition of the Audioconsulting wire, nor the extension (on either end).
Thanks a lot for your very kind and interesting reply.
I see that the Audioconsulting silver wires are enamelled and come in two different diameters.
Which exact wire have you used?
Few turns or a lot of for let's say 1m cable ?Thank you very much indeed.
Kind regards,
24AWG with cotton tubing for each wire and twists about every inch maybe. Since the wire is coated with polyesterimide the cotton is for resonance control and gives some spacing of the conductors. The bass this wire can deliver is astounding. I use this wire for speaker cabling as well. I have Kyle Takenaga of Reference Audio Mods to thank for turning me onto this stuff.
Kyle at RAM also converted me to Audio Consulting interconnects with Eichmann Silver Bullet RCA plugs and speaker cables made of the same AC 24 awg wire which I use unterminated. I completely agree with Tigweld about resolution and detail in the bass region. These are the qualities in silver that were especially engaging for me. These cables take very little time to break in (maybe 10 hours), and sound very neutral and resolved. The polysterimide coating and cotton combination effectively addresses problems with dielectric absorption and smearing of signal.
Ken
Thanks a lot for your kind advice.
Just a question: which is the best way to remove the wires' coating before soldering to a RCA ?
Kind regards,
bg
Hi Beppe - I use the flame of a lighter and thoroughly cook the tip of the cable. Then I use a very fine grit sandpaper to lightly scrape anything still on the cable. I follow this with a few iterations of spraying the tip with Caig Pro-gold and wiping clean with a soft towel. Works great.
Ken
Thank you very much indeed Sir.
Very interesting and helpful advice.
I will try then.
Thank you sincerely again for this very interesting advice.
Kind regards,
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