Anybody here terminate DH Labs BL-1 cable?

todd.... glad to hear the cables are working out for you

Your other power upgrades provide a very solid foundation for your system, great choices.

The power cables do sound good from the start, but they do get better with time :-)

The IC's also sound good, but after about 20 hours they start to sound a little harsh. By about 60 hours they start to smooth out and just get better from there.

As for your so called "meagre gear" - your setup is more than capable of highlighting the improvement these cables are capable of conveying, as you will discover :-)

Your system would love the Helix Mark V IC's, but rather than opting for the design on my site, you can scale back to the Silver Harmony RCA's and use  a quality copper signal conductor in place of the silver and still get great performance. You can then "upgrade" as time and budget (and desire) allows.

what speaker cables are you using?

You are pretty much following the same route I took, in that first I selected some good components, then sorted the cables and finally sorted the room treatments,

keep me posted on your progress

Todd - something that came to mind -  with components that have higher quality power supplies -  improvements tend to be more "subtle" 

For example - for a component with a small power supply - you might hear an improvement in dynamic performance, bass depth and control etc..

Whereas for a component such as your pre-amp - you will probably find more subtle improvements in things like dynamic speed, clarity, resolution and a mode complete image with more subtle venue acoustics

Noticing the subtleties was something a I had to really listen for, but once you notice them they become something you easily find missing in other less adept systems.

Regards....

@williewonka , I just wrote you a novel, but it wasn't posted for some reason. 

I definitely noticed more of a difference when I put a power cable on the amp than when I put one on the pre.. But the amp has a switching power supply, so I think they are more susceptible to current restriction..

I'm waiting on a small inline component before I build any new ICs.. Then I'll start messing with building them, as the component well require different terminations.

My speaker cables are DIY, braided cat5 plenum cable. 7 lengths braided to form a 9awg cable, terminated with audioquest silver plated BFA bananas. I love their sound..

Thanks for all your posts, by the way. They've been a great source of info.

I think I will try the KLE connectors though. I'm curious how much better than the standard cardas silver plated copper they are.

Todd - regarding the Harmony connectors...

I have tried all of the connectors on both analogue and digital versions of my Helix cables and here are my observations/opinions...

For digital SPDIF interconnects...
--- I found the Silver Harmony were more than adequate and provided better SQ than the Copper Harmony
--- using either the Pure Harmony or Absolute harmony did not improve SQ in my system
--- having said that - my highest digital resolution is 24/192

For analogue interconnects...
--- I would not bother buying the Copper Harmony because the Silver Harmony are so much better and well worth the additional expense
--- I would also not bother with the Pure Harmony because for the additional expense of the Absolute Harmony they provide much better SQ

I have also tried them all on my TT’s once piece loom and stand by my findings for Analogue IC’s above

Having said that - we all have a budget that constrains us, so pick the very best RCA you can afford for the application it is to address.

When soldering the Harmony RCA’s - plug them into an unused component (if you have one) or get an RCA socket - it helps dissipate the heat so as not to melt the plastic housing and also makes for a much better joint

FYI - the Harmony RCA's take time to settle and burn in also - so give them lots time.
- 1-2 days to settle after connecting OR re-connecting them
- upwards of 100 hours to burn-in - 200 hours yields their best performance

Regarding Speaker cables...

My only stab at DIY was using CS-122 and D-352 bulk cable from Van den Hul, which performed very well and were in my system for a very long time

I did try a couple of models of Kimber Kable, but found the Van den Hul performed better in my system

But just as an FYI...

I later had the opportunity to try KLE Innovations gZero 2, gZero 6 and an older version of one of their newer ZPURITY cable.
- the gZero2 bested my DIY cables significantly
- the gZero6 provided faster dynamics, deeper bass and better image than the gZero2
- The zPurity provided marginal improvements over the gZero 6 in my system - but not enough to warrant my buying them
- I had all of the above cables in my system for 2-3 weeks, which allowed a certain amount of settling and burn-in time

At first glance, I found the KLE Innovations cables skinny, compared to my 10 gauge D352's, which left me wondering how they would compare - it only took one track to hear the vast improvement.

I currently use the gZero 2 on my AV system and gZero 6 on my Audio system and have stopped looking.

I have also tried some other pretty expensive big name brands, but have not found anything that outperform the KLE Innovations products - yet :-)

I have not tried a DIY solution along the lines of the Helix geometry for speaker cables - mainly because making long cables in the Helix style becomes very difficult.

But I’m still pondering a solution :-)

Regards...