|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
75.57.191.85
I've heard but never experience pure silver being on the bright side however I was curious about them and I am looking for a pair on pure silver interconnects to try out. Currently I have DH Labs Q10 and custome made BL1 interconnects.Any thoughts or suggestions on pure silver interconnects? How they sound, pro and cons, good idea etc thanks!
Follow Ups:
chgolatin2,
I have DIY'd several pairs of silver ICs and was initially "taken in" by silver. Silver IC's sound incredibly smooth with bell shaped highs and articulate bass. I also find that the soundstage with silver ICs is somewhat (15%) bigger than with copper.That said, while being neither bright nor harsh, I find the tonality of silver to be slightly on the clinical/sterile side of neutral when compared to copper. A compromise might be silver plated copper, but the coating has to be very precise otherwise it can sound pretty hashy. (A decent sounding implementation of a silver plated copper budget IC, IME, is the Acoustic Research Master Series MS230.)
Lately I am somewhat leaning against the extra "sparkle" that silver offers to more musicality. I find PCOCC copper to be very nice sounding in IC's. My DIY PCOCC ICs with a Jon Risch inspired design to sound very transparent indeed.
Since YMMV, my advice to you is give silver a try and see if it appeals to you in your system. Why not try a DIY design from VHAudio or the DHLabs Bl-Ag IC from partsconnexion.com.
Another suggestion: the Connex solderless RCA plugs from partsconnexion are easy to work with and re-usable - great for trying out different recipes.
On a side note, I too use DHLabs speaker cables. I have an external bi-wire configuration with a set of T14 going to HF and a set of Q10 going to LF. As with the ICs, I'm experimenting and may go back to copper (B2C) with the speaker cables as well.
Cheers,
___________
I'd have no problem recommending these (Luscombe LBR-35) . Those are my comments on the page based on an audition. I didn't purchase because as good as they were I did prefer the bass heft from the Cardas cables I was using at the time (e.g. Cardas Cross) and subsequently went in another direction but I could certainly easily live with those LBR-35, in fact if I could have it all I'd have a few pairs in my playpen for sure!
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
I've heard that if you really pony up the $$ you can reach nirvana with silver. Like, $2,500 for audioquest interconnects.
Hi Hukk - We can see what equipment you're using to understand synergistic factors, but you're not telling us much about the silver interconnect implementations you've tried. Which silver interconnects sounded "hi-fi"? What was the purity of the silver, guage of the wire, solid core or stranded, which connectors, dielectric, shielding (if any)etc? How long did you let them play in your system? It helps to be more specific to avoid generalizations.
Ken
I tried some Nordost silver speaker cables and interconnects a while back. I tried some Audioquest/Audiotruth Argent+ speaker cables. I tried some DIY silver speaker wires and interconnects from a local high-end stereo store.All gave the same sound. I've tried others but so long ago that I cannot remember all the names. But the result just never changes.
As I said, I hear that the current $2,500 audioquest silver interconnects and speaker wire are awesome, I've just not been able to confirm.
Hey Huk - You have an interesting system, and I was curious what designs could cause a system with your CJ preamp and Exemplar tubed Denon 3910 to be bright - but your posts come off as if any silver you throw at it less than mega buck designs will be bright.I can't say I've listened to or know the Nordost or Audioquest lines, popular as they seem to be. Like I said in my post, I was hoping to read about some of the design characteristics of the silver cables you have tried - purity, gauge, dielectric, solid/stranded, shielded/unshielded, etc. These are important considerations with silver. For example, shielded silver interconnects tend to be harsh or bright. Same with stranded silver wire as opposed to solid core. Just looking to learn something from your experience.
Ken
All the silver stuff sounds distant, tizzy and hi-fi on my system.That's about all I have to offer, sorry!
My Kimber KCTG was bright in my system when I had it. I now have the new Speltz silver w/silver Eichmanns. Much much much smoother. I have also done other tweaks like power cords and isolation since that have affected the overall sound. I would like to try the Kimber again. I used to think all silver was brightnow I don't.
I recommend something shielded. Belden 83803 is a cost-effective yet good quality wire. If you search for "power cord Belden 83803" on google, you'll find several assemblers online who manufacturer finished cords for ~$100 or even under that.
I meant to post this to the power cord thread, disregaurd my previous post
No harm, but FYI, there's a delete link you can use at the bottom of the screen if nobody has responded to your post yet.
Ken
Ahhhh I never saw that before! Noted, thanks!
In my system, silver interconnects and speaker wires out perform copper. Silver provides the most neutral presentation, highest resolution and inner detail top to botton, deep yet fast bass, and reveals details in the bass region that copper presents in a slow boomy way in comparison. I do not experience harshness of sibilance at all.4 Nines silver (99.99% pure) is the purity level you should look for. Anything truly more pure than 4N becomes cost prohibitive.
Cotton is viewed by many as the best dielectric (insulator) material since it is least prone to dielectric absorption (absorption of signal into dielectric and re-relase) and the smearing of signal that results. Others advocate Teflon - though the source of the teflon seems to be important. Teflon designs tend to take longer to break in (may sound bright or harsh during break-in period) - cotton dielectric designs require little or no break in.
Chris Venhaus offers materials and recipe for a good silver interconnect DIY design. He sells the silver wire with cotton dielectric already in place. Use Eichman silver bullet connectors.
You can also DIY from 2 lengths of Audio Consulting 4N silver wire with a light twist the length of the interconnect. You can purchase the wire from Reference Audio Mods (these are the ones I own). This wire actually has an extremely thin coat of polysterimide dielectric. This wire should also be covered by cotton dielectric. Use Eichman silver bullet connectors. You can buy inexpensive cotton tubing from
http://www.fabric.com/notions-and-patterns-sewing-notions-finishing-accessories-sewing-notions-cotton-piping-size-1.aspx Home Grown Audio also has good DIY kits which they also sell ready made. The Diva cables are very good, and the Silver Lace even better. They use multi braided and litz designs with their cables. They also use teflon dielectric. Use their house brand silver connectors.
Element Cables also sells 27AWG 4N silver cables that perform very well. Use the Eichman silver bullets.
The thin, flat designs offered by Vacuum State Electronics and Mapleshade are both fairly inexpensive and are very interesting designs. The flat designs take advantage of skin effect. I've never tried these, but they seem to get reviewed favorably and I'd like to try them someday.
These are some of the most cost effective choices you can make with silver interconnects, which perform at the level of much more expensive cables. I suspect significantly dimished returns beyond this price point.
Ken
VHAudio
check out Chris VenHaus's site for info and DIY recipe for silver IC. I have used his formulation with good results.
Watch which ones you buy. I tried out pure silver IC's fom E-bay, unbranded, that were so called the best of the best. I threw them out, they were awful. Then, I tried pure siver speaker wires from an E-bay shop. Ruined the sound of my whole system, & these were meant to be compared with a couple of top named cable brands. Don't be sucked in by advertizers, advertizing their own brand if you have never heard of them.
Listen to other inmates suggestions or stick to known brands, then still ask.
Myself, I use silver plated copper from Chord as I have not heard better yet. Considering trying a copper one from audioquest at the moment.
I've been using silver-only ICs for about 3 years, and I've never found them to be bright. I've used Audio Note's AN-V and currently use VH Audio's DIY recipe of silver spiraled around a central tube. As coincidence would have it, I just bought 1000 feet of teflon over silver on closeout from Homegrown Audio and will be experimenting with braids and twists and helix spirals over the coming weeks.
I use both Lexus (copper litz) and AN-V (silver litz). In my rig, I can hardly detect the difference. The Lexus has more body. The AN-V may have more detail. Neither are bright. If you have a really really good source, I am sure you will hear differences.
Silver conducts electrical current better than copper, correct?
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: