Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Has anyone tried to use the OTA wire with Eichmann Bullet plugs??

Eichmann website

Caterham, I think you're right - Redkiwi was discussing multiple configurations.

So.. 400 hour burn in means about 16 days of constant playing before the cables settle in.

Do you agree with Slawney's assessment of the OTA's?

I am nearly ready to try this stuff...Can anyone draw a comparison between the Sakura OTA and say...Valhalla? NBS Statement? Omega Mikro? AudioNote Kondo?

If so, please share.

You tell him Asa!!! Come on Slawney!! Sell me that baby!
Please??? :)

Slawney, fantastic reply! I look forward to the day when you offer your Statements up for sale - but agree with you on the virtues of having both. While I am waiting, I will be using OTA myself. The allure of the OTA (and the poetic effects it has on people) is too much to resist. :)

Bry

...does it matter if the positive and negative sections of one channel of an OTA interconnect are an inch or so longer/shorter than their respective positive or negative counterpart?

*I* don't think it matters and I don't think it's possible to get them the exact same length. As long as you keep it close, everything should be okay.

Dekay... now that that's over - sorry everyone. The OTA is working very well in my home theater system. I have 20' runs going to my rear speakers and it seems to be fine. I was initially concerned with the length but it appears to work in my application with little or no RFI. Given that the OTA was so long and the rear had very little information being sent there during movies, I expected to hear constant hiss - buzz or whatever with the OTA. There has been none of that - just quiet - and I'm happy!!

Got my OTA cable kit today - swapped out my Audio Note AN-Vz and NBS Statement for this stuff (for the time being). Right off the bat, the OTA sounds okay but something is missing - I cannot quite figure out what it is. But then again the OTA only has 15 minuts on it. Will update as things progress.

Hi Davej - I purchased two kits & used it to wire up my home theater and my two channel system. I couldn't manage to use it all - I would be willing to sell a partial kit to you if you're interested that way you don't have to take on the entire 600 expense. I have 8 connectors and about 20 meters of wire left if you're interested let me know.

After listening for an evening - I think the OTA has outstanding potential to be a real giant killer. It doesn't have the "flavor" of most other cables I've tried and perhaps that is a good thing - the OTA is quite neutral.

The neutrlity comes as an immediate shock since I have grown so accustomed to colorations and used various colorations to build my system into one that I imagined to be the "perfect color" - something that I had thought was neutral but clearly not. Right now, I'm not quite sure what to do with the more neutral coloration that OTA is showing me since it makes my system sound so much different.

Over the course of the evening the OTA changed its tone frequently & I expect alot out of this cable.

Hi Dekay,

The longest run I am using is about 25 feet to ambient (rear surround) speakers. The longest interconnect is about 1.5 meters. I wasted the first 1 meter pair of interconnects as they were way too short after stripping and breaking TWICE while trying to assemble and ended up with a 1.5 foot pair which I use from my DVD player to the home theater processor.

I cannot tell a difference between the long ICs and the short as far as sonics goes.

In addition to the two kits, I purchased extra sets of the RCA plugs. I'm covered for a while plus I have a significant quantity of left over wire. The offer to sell the extra stuff was made to allow someone else to reap the benefits of this kit for much less than 600 bucks.

Hi Outlier - After 500 hours with OTA, I ended up going back to some very high end interconnects. While the OTA is good and even spectacular for its price (based on the cost of $600 to wire an entire system - not the material cost) I ultimately felt that the emotion of the music vanished when the OTA entered my system. I guess that OTA working a miracle for me was wishfull thinking. When I built my system, I purchased and tested countless interconnects - after about 6 months of testing/trial/error, I managed to find the right match and thus obtained a sonic flavor that I really enjoy and suits my system. The resulting sound is simply the best I can do with my existing components - unless of course there is a cable I do not know about.

When I removed the OTA and re-inserted my old interconnects, I felt so much better about my system.

Ivo from your post, I gather you are very enthusiastic about OTA and have had good results. I am happy for you.

Maybe my system just isn't good enough for OTA. :)

Hi Slawney - Thanks for cheering me up! For a minute there I thought I needed to sell the LAMMs and look for something else which might be good enough for the OTA. What do you think? Are Tenors good enough? :)

Let us know what you think about going back to NBS...

Sead - I am actually quite offended by YOUR comment and less offended by Ivo's.

Whoa! While I would have enjoyed giving Sead a piece of my mind after reading his post, I felt that my unabridged response to him wasn't appropriate for this forum. I restrained and thus settled on simply letting him know that I was offended by his remark.

Sead has been an informative contributor to this forum over the past 9 months, however he has been rather defensive in situations regarding those who post comparisons - or in the case of Asa - who simply suggested that other manufacturers have been very successful with small gague wire. Sead's flippant attitude toward Asa ever since he drew that parallel between thin gague OTA and thin gague Kondo has been totally unfair and completely without merit.

The fact that Sead is a dealer for OTA should also be mentioned and may help to clarify his interest in this product.

Ivo (whoever HE is) posted as an unregistered Audiogon user and we all know how much credibility those folks have. It seems that Sead is the only one here who knows Ivo. Interesting.

Theaudiotweak, What wire did you use?

Ivo - thanks for the introducing yourself. I appreciate it and it's a pleasure to meet you.. :) Perhaps my statement was too strong in suggesting that as an unregistered Audiogon user your posts were not credible. I do believe that registering, as a user is important because there are so many people who post non-sense as unregistered in hopes to hide behind their anonymity. Registration somehow limits the non-sense but occasionally a few get by the screeners.

When you made the statement, "OTA cables are so natural and neutral that they sometimes present how the rest of the system is bad. It's not the problem of OTA, it's the problem of poor source, amp or speakers." I simply laughed it off. No harm done. I have read others say worse about those who dislike lesser cables.

I have spent a great deal of time with OTA and have been extremely polite in my appraisal of the product. There are more reasons why I no longer use it but lets just focus on what I have stated. What you took as me saying "too fast" was actually stated as "a little too fast". That's a big difference. That judgment was not based on a comparison between OTA and other cables per se but more a familiarity of my CD Player (Mephisto II), which tends to be a bit slow & relaxed sounding. The player maintains that character with every interconnect I have tried - except the OTA. The mild increase in speed (previously referred to as being "a little too fast") was accompanied by the disappearance of a certain "magical" quality I hold dear in the Mephisto. The more I listened the more I realized the OTA was restricting something somehow. While it seemed to have reasonably good dynamics it was clearly restricted somewhere since my components no longer sounded like my components were supposed to sound. With the OTA, my system was simply un-involving. Sorry...

Hi Slawney - being a reviewer, Asa has fantastic experience with audio products. It just happens that he pointed me (not pushed) toward these cables. At the time of my meeting Asa, I was caught up in the pain of Siltech, Valhalla, and other more mainstream brands. After a few emails with him I felt that Asa's experience with various cables paralleled mine in many ways. His knowledge, suggestions, and vivid descriptions were most welcome. Quite frankly, Asa saved me a lot of time and money with his suggestions.

These forums are designed to help people and this is a case where it did. Asa, through the forum, guided me from being a chronic 4 interconnect a week user to finding something that worked very well. Of course if we had never met, I would have eventually found the right cables - I just might be a lot poorer.

Asa
Thanks for your help!!

Sead
Nothing for you - The personal insults and degrading comments you have so eloquently defecated upon this forum are inappropriate, as I am sure you well know. I will not entertain your banal existence with fuel for further insolence.

I have another question, but first... Slawney! Outstanding review/comparison! It was very much appreciated! You are a poet!

Now for the question:

How long does it take to break this stuff in?

From reading through the posts above, it seems that Redkiwi has been experiencing changes in the sound of this cable since June 2001 - we all know it's nearly November. So when does it end?

Hi Outlier, I have tried nearly everything within reason.. and when I say that, I mean most top end products. I currently use a Audio Note Kondo KSL between the CD player and preamp followed by NBS Statement between the pre and amplifier. I selected these cables above all others tested because of what they do in my system. Honestly, I haven't found a "giant killing" cable yet. The better cables always seem to be more expensive - go figure!!

From my experience most of the audio cables from various manufacturers which reside at the top of their line up are ALL quite good -they are just different. Which ones are best for a given system is simply a matter or personal preference, and system synergy. The only real way to find out which wones ork best for you would be to try 'em all... Unfortunately.

The OTA is a good cable but using it in a system comprised of 100% OTA didn't work for me. I did however have better success with the OTA as speaker cable than interconnect.

Hi Asa - The OTA vs. the KSL-SPc (copper) speaker cables is really no contest. While the OTA is decent, it lacks the feeling of the KSL. The OTA is pretty amazing though when you consider how much music comes through that little wire and the bass is very good. The reason I would suggest OTA as a good speaker cable is simply because of its neutral character - which would allow one to more easily fine tune the system with interconnects. In my case (tri-wire speakers) changing speaker cables is a MAJOR pain in the rear. The KSL has more body and weight than the OTA (which my speakers need) but remains quite neutral - clean - effortless.

Oh.. another thing I noticed with the OTA was the pace seemed odd to me. Perhaps others can comment. It seems a little too fast to be accurate.... any thoughts??

The KSL I am using between my CD and Preamp is the new KSL-LP1 which is actually a double run of Kondo's Silver AN-Vz repackaged.

Initially, I settled on NBS Statements for between the preamp and amps but - since I recently sold my source (Mephisto II) and switched to a Sony XA777ES which is a touch more detailed than the Mephisto and is a little more "electronic" in its tonality, I think I prefer a run of Stealth PGS between the amps and preamp. The Softer sounding and more organic Stealth PGS combined with the Sony is quite comperable to the softer sounding Mephiso with NBS Statements. Whereas the Sony and the NBS are not an optimal match in my system since they are just ever so slightly over the top in their combined presentation.

Using 100% OTA made it more difficult to get the right sound from my system.