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Some old cables rescued me from computer audio.

I first brought this up under DIGITAL and since the results worked so well, I thought I'd share it here and see if anyone else experienced this.

In a nutshell (a big one), I couldn't figure out why my CDP was not keeping up with my iMac set up, which is a very simple one. With a lot of time on my hands due to a 5 week layoff, I tried an old set of Mapleshade copper ribbon ICs and was gobsmacked at what I heard. My TEAC PD-H600 never sounded this good. The iMac setup was nowhere near as resolving and detailed and yet, fullbodied. I still kept the Zu Missions as speaker wire and thought I had really lucked out.

A week later, and still bored, I tried the matching Mapleshade speaker wire and the window just blew wide open. The clarity was beyond what I though possible but all was not well in casa de nonoise. The lower mids and bass were weakened some and several rows back from the rest of the presentation.

Rummaging around, I found a pair of Clear Day silver speaker wire (single strand, not shotgunned) with bananas and bi-wired them with the Mapleshades. Man o man, if I could make these, I'd retire my crappy job and be happy. I have all the lower mids and bass of the Zu Missions save the clarity which always eluded them. Texture, definition, and tautness now occupy my lower end to compliment what I've achieved from the mids on up.

It's great to hear a bottom half that keeps up with the top half. It's a whole new presentation for me. Again, just thought I'd share and know that a lot of you have done this already so any feedback as to whether I should twist the two together as best I can or leave them separated would be appreciated.

It pays to keep the older sets around, just in case.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise OP
4,382 posts
 
Thanks everyone!

I'm keeping them apart: don't want to mess with a good thing. I seem to have 'zero' smearing due to any kind of interaction between the highs, mids and lows.

I have this one CD (Acoustic France) where on one track, a woman walking across the stage, left to right. With every cable I had, there was a slight arc to her path, going higher as she reached the center, and going back down to the other speaker. When I first inserted the Mapleshades, she just went left to right on an even keel. When I added the Clear Day cable, nothing changed in that perception save the added body to the lower mids and bass.

There is something at work here and yes, this is the most fun I've had with my system in a very, very long time. Piano registers are very convincingly done and the instrument stays flat and parallel to the ground. Separation is the best I've experienced. This is so rewarding a gain for so little an investment.

All the best,
Nonoise
jejaudio
110 posts
 
Nonoise, I first tried Clear Day speaker cables(reg. shot-gun) as a replacement for a set of DH Labs Q-10 speaker cables.They worked better in my system. Gone was that Hi-Fi sound that some silver coated copper cables gives you. The other copper cables I was using were from Audioquest (Gibraltar) combined with the Clear Day shot-gun everything was better, but I keep wanting to try something else besides the Audio quest.

I had a reel of Direct burial CL 3 rated speaker cables 16 awg 4 conductor. I cut 4 8ft lengths for both speakers. Two for the left and two for the right speaker. All 4 16 awg in one cable fit on a 10 awg spade with no problem. I did twist the DIY cables together to make on cables per speaker. They are twisted with the Clear Day Silver cables, but run right along with them with no problems at all.

So spade all around for this DIY cable. It replaced the Audioquest cables. Now the DIY copper cables are hooked up with the Clear Day shot-gun cables. This was the ticket to a much better sounding system. Everything was much better. No need to A/B anything. My system was full sounding and dynamic. It had a flow that was missing.That was two years ago.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise OP
4,382 posts
 
Thanks Jejaudio,
I knew I wasn't imagining all of this. There seems to be a common element in all of this: the Clear Day cables and another brand of minimalist design.

All the best,
Nonoise
jejaudio
110 posts
 
Nonoise, one thing I forgot to mention. I removed the outer jacket of the 4 conductor 16 awg DIY cable.

I have over the years of making my own speaker cables and powercords found that removing the outer jacket and braiding or twisting the conductors together can produce a much better cable sound wise. The less jacketing the better.

The Clear Day speaker cable is an example of this approach. So there is not alot of jacketing on either DIY copper cable or Clear Day cables.

I also want to clear up something in my last post. The Clear Day cables are already braided together. The DIY copper cables are twisted together. But I do not have both sets of cables twisted together. Both copper and silver cable are running right next to each other, from amp to speaker. Each speaker cable is 8ft. long.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise OP
4,382 posts
 
Jejaudio,
That seems to be another common theme in the cables that seem to work for us (and others) which is a minimal dielectric or sheathing that minimizes the skin effect between the signal carrier and the protective cover.

Air seems to be the best. A loose fitting cover the next best.

Granted YMMV depending on the system those cables are in. It's always different.

All the best,
Nonoise
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