Anybody here terminate DH Labs BL-1 cable?
Based on your experience, do you think that would be worthwhile with the BL-1?Re Let's put it this way - the Copper Harmony will allow the BL-1 to perform to it's fullest potential. They are also the easiest RCA's I've ever had to connect to a piece of wire. You can always transfer the Copper Harmony to a better cable at a later date. I've connected some of my Harmony RCA's to different cables several times. Regards... |
Just some additional comments. I have used the BL-Ag in the past, which is somewhat similar to BL-1, but uses 2 x 23awg solid-core silver. I have done the floating drain wire scenario, but I could never get the cable to sound open enough. I ended up just soldering both the 2 x 23awg solid-core conductors directly to the signal pin of the RCA and soldered the drain wire to ground on both sides of the cable. This really opened up the sound (a single 23awg conductor just sounded too closed in). Since the BL-1 uses 2 x 20awg stranded conductors, you may not have this problem, but I’ve always found that larger awg will allow more punch/power in the bass and overall better open sound (essentialy, less resistance in the entire cable, and it’s easier and faster for the preamp/source to charge the cable when pushing waveforms). You could experiment with soldering both 20awg conductors to signal pin and soldering drain wire to ground on both sides of interconnect. On my interconnects nowadays, I always use 2x20awg solid-core for signal conductors (making a 17awg interconnect). This has proved to be the best solution so far. |
When I used the BL-Ag I was doing a single-ended RCA cable. RCA only has one signal conductor, the other is just ground (not negative like an XLR). Using just one of the 23awg conductors in BL-Ag for the main signal wire (and doing the ground/floating drain solution) was not enough for good sound. It wasn't until I combined the two 23awg together for the signal wire that it really opened up the imaging/soundstage. The drain wire was just soldered to ground on each end of the RCA cable. The drain/ground wire does not necessarily need to be the same gauge as signal. The ground wire on the RCA doesn't actually carry a signal - it just connects to the ground plane on both source/target circuits. As far as my own cables are concerned, they are all balanced XLR anyways. I use two sets of braided 20awg solid-core, so each XLR conductor (positive/negative/ground) has two 20awg wires (6 wires total in the cable). This proved to be better than just using one braid of 20awg (3 wires total). |
Auxinput 10-27-2016Although of course for a current to flow a complete circuit must be present, and therefore the current corresponding to a signal sent from one component to another must also return to the component which provided the signal. In the case of an RCA cable the return path will usually be the shield if the cable does not provide a separate return conductor. Some fraction of the return current will also follow a different return path if one is present, as would be the case if a ground loop exists. And if the cable includes a shield and a separate return conductor, and if both of them are connected to the RCA ground sleeve at both ends, the return current will divide up between the two paths in inverse proportion to their resistance. I’m sure you realize all of this, but I thought I’d point it out since others reading the thread may not. Best regards, -- Al |
