Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Raguirre: You are doing better than I did in the beginning (I wasted over 35 feet of the OTA) and to date have broken 5 of the white center posts. As far as the center post goes, you can try adding another loop or two around the white post. This will give you more of a chance of making a good solid contact. When you install the center (white) post just press it all of the way into the female RCA and then pull out ever so slightly. This has always worked for me and I have used the IC's with at least six different pieces of equipment so far. The black (outside) part of the RCA should not have any trouble making contact, but if you feel that it is too loose then do a double loop (through the small hole on the side) before going back through the longer channel/hole. I have noticed that the female RCA's on different gear do vary a bit as far as the fit goes and these two slight deviations regarding the assembly of the IC's should do the trick. I do wish that 47 Labs would redesign the center post to make is stronger as it is structurally very weak where the cross hole goes through the shaft (or @ the least offer free replacements of the center post) but other than this I have no complaints about this product and am looking forward to your further comments once you remedy the contact problems you are experiencing.

Thanks DK, I'll give it another go with the extra loop on the center post, I hope this will solve my problem. I'm almost too embarassed to ask this, but just to make certain the cable should go from white to white and from black to black, right?
As far as the speaker cable is concerned, I really have enjoyed going back and listening to my favorite recordings with it installed. I don't speak fluent audiophile, but what I have observed is that trebly type instruments (*especially* horns) have more of the edge that they have in real life. More important, though, is that everything just seems to be 'faster'. It's hard not to tap my feet and even super droning ambient type music (Yo La Tengo's latest effort or anything by the American Anolog Set, for example) seems more vibrant and alive. Admitedly the cable I replaced was nothing special (Tributaries copper and silver coated copper braid) but this was as significant for me as replacing my PSB's with Triangles. Associated equip: Ah Tjoeb 4000 into Jolida 302A via Tributatries interconnect, into the Stratos, into Triangle Zephyrs. Actually, if you're familiar with the Triangle line of speakers I think that this cable does well what I like about those speakers.

Do not "wiggle" or turn the connector while it is in the jack. Simply pull it out and then turn it and then re-insert it. First, though, pull out the connector that is working and look at the orientation of the wire. Then turn the other connector to match this orientation.

The designer, told my friend that the material that is used to make the connector does not store any electrical charge like ordinary plastic. And it is designed to create a single point of contact. A harder material may not work as well.

If all else fails use the Eichmann bullet connectors.

Sorry for the lack of contribution to the discussion for some time but it was impossible for me due to an increased workload.

To understand why there might be problem with making contact, one must look into the design of female RCA connectors (the ones on the chasis), particularly the inner, signal "lip" that makes contact.

Some female RCA connectors have round lips that make full 360 degree contact. With these an OTA RCA will make an instant contact however you plug it in. 47Labs chasis RCA connectors are made this way.

Other types may have either single or double "strip" contact surface and with these, you need to align the spiral that you make with OTA cable bare ends over the plug that cable makes contact to it. Sometimes several tries may be needed but once you have the contact, problem solved. With ground cable plugs in place, it should be safe to make this adjustment with gear turned on (volume on lower value, however, is better). If no contact, unplug completely the signal only plug, rotate a bit and plug in again, repeating this until there is a solid contact.

These differences in construction does not mean that one female RCA connector is better than the other.

I am confused, however, how Dekay has managed to break even five of inner plugs (Dekay, if that means anything, I think I have one extra and could send to you, for more I would have to ask Japan)... Delrin is pretty elastic material.

Ultrakaz, your friend is right about Delrin static properties but that is only one part of the story about this material and why it is used in this design - on the other hand, your friend is wrong if he says OTA is a telephone cable. It's starting design premisse was based on a telephone cable design and that is where the similarity ends.

Best,
Sead

Hi Sead:

The ones that break the most are the ones connected to hot tube gear and/or a SS amp which runs predominantly in class "A" (also quite "hot" @ the RCA's). I assume that it is the heat that weakens them (as these female RCA's are not on the "tight" side) and/or thermal cycling as I do not leave the tube amps on all of the time. One of the center shafts, however, was broken due to my error when not maintaining a 90% angle when removing it from a Bel Canto DAC (which has very tight fitting female RCA's on it). Once again, all of the posts failed at the "cross hole" section which is without a doubt a structural weakness in the design. I realize that tooling expenses are quite high, but would suggest eliminating the "cross hole" entirely and instead using an "outer ring", which would slip over the shaft, for this locking purpose, if retooling ever comes up. This should not effect the sound (it may even improve it as it would eliminate the haphazard "loop" which most likely occurs when threading the wire through the "cross hole") and it would make this part a great deal stronger (both by eliminating the "cross hole" and by adding the "ring" surround to the section which is subjected to the greatest amount of stress when installing/uninstalling the RCA's.

As far as Matching RCA's with the OTA counterpart, I have never seen the "strip" example of these type of connectors but recently became aware that the OTA RCA's are not compatible with vintage type RCA's (the ones currently on a Pilot 240 amp that I am using). The easy solution to this is to replace the female RCA's on the vintage piece (as they are garbage anyway:-).

On another note, someone once mentioned to me that OTA "banana" plugs (for attaching the cable to speakers) would be an interesting addition to the kit. This may have been RedKiwi's suggestion, but I cannot remember for sure, and am unable to locate the old email.

I will add that I have probably installed/uninstalled the connectors a great deal more than what I would consider the "norm" due to experimenting with different cable configurations over the past 8 months. I also never asked for replacements outright, though did make it clear as to why additional ones were required (but @ that point I had only broken 1 or two of them as I recall).

I do not wish to detract from what I consider to be a truly high end but affordable (to many of us) product, just to detail my experiences with it in which the positive's far outweigh the negatives (that is if sound is one's main priority).

Good to see you back in the forums again.