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Article Surfing ArchiveWhere is the Arrival Point of Cable Asylum? - Articles SurfingMajority of the audiophiles are agreed that one of the most critical factors in a hi-end system is the connection cables. There is no doubt about it. Different cables provide different testing and enjoyment. A good sounding cable in a system may not sound good in other system or a good sounding cable may not sound good if one of the units is replaced. Good is also relative to each person, that's why I believe that it is not possible to pretend one cable betters then the other if both are good cables. As a person who changed so many cables, I would like to share my own judgements with others. My aim is not to offend anybody or to break somebody's heart but humbly contribute to the craziness of cable industry, contribute to consciousness and prevent buyers to be abused. Some cable producers use the thinnest wires to eliminate skin effect. Some uses thicker ones to eliminate DC resistance. Some prefers silver due to open and rich sound, some finds silver sounding thin, un-natural and they use pure copper to achieve body. Some uses platinum, carbon and other stuff, some combines them or alloys them. Some producers attach importance to shielding, some are against to shielding but use braided designs. Some uses ribbons, some uses litz (various independent insulated wires). Almost all pretend their design as the best in the world. Above list can be enlarged. This situation at least for me is the clear evidence that THERE IS NO COMPROMISE ON CABLES FROM THE ENGINEERING AND THEORY POINT OF VIEW. Following me, the cables, particularly the interconnect cables are the most degenerated and misleading part of the audio industry. The biggest income ratio in audiophile word is generated by the cable industry. An amplifier that consist of various elements, labour, engineering, design, (consists of good silver cables too) can be purchased to 5.000 ' but a poor interconnect cable costs 2.000 ' or more. Most of the brands are imitation of the other. They provide various colours, thickness and nice appearance and pretend to be the best one in the world at list in their price categories. I found 137 different interconnect producers (listed below). Unfortunately the human nature of "how expensive or how big, the better is" belief, guides one to misleading. Such belief motivates the first sales, and followers continue by thought that "if the other purchasers are idiots!" One thing should be considered that I never mean such cables are not bad sound; actually they are mostly the good ones. Problem is a % 1 better sounding cable is sold to % 1000 price of the other. After the promotion and acceptance of a very reputable cable, another one comes to market even by the same company to claim to be better and price is 3 times more. Price increase in cable industry is going geometrically by the crazy multiples. Last year, Stereophile made feature with Caren Sumner, the president of Transparent Cable. I picked up below sentence; At least such sentence gives clear leak that the product is not thicker or bigger due to technical aspects but due to marketing technique. I was curious one day to break the box of my M..T interconnects to look inside. There was a very simple coil occupied only 1/10 of the box. I also broke the same brand power cord's box and realised only two ferrite rings that sold to 50 Cents each at the electronics shop. Another story is that ; a cable producer makes actively shielded cables. If you break the solid protected shielding unit, you see one resistor and one capacitor that can be purchased to 1 $. The price you have to pay for that unit is 420 USD. You may think it is proprietary or invention but it is not. The concept was built on the design of Pierre Lourne's DC Polarised Shielding Technology and used in professional audio industry for years. According to me, a cable should be listened enough and alone prior to purchasing. If the critical listening is done with other people, physiology factor will act and people would tend to choose the most reputable one. If the difference is subtle, it should be thought again. Before coming to conclusion, other audiophiles should be called for critical blind testing. Cables should be tested without knowing which one is in connection. If blind test is done, every party should make careful and realistic observations. If they don't have clear tendency, it will not be logical to buy that cable. One friend brought me a well known digital reference cable that sold around 1500 $. My cable was also a reference cable but reasonably priced (Illuminations D-60). We were three people and listened both of the cables properly. The other two immediately observed that the other cable was much better. It did not make the same effect on me. Mid sounds, vocals became softer and more natural but the bass became so slow and muddy. The energy and the slam at treble were gone. So it was and exchange but not additional. I had a feeling that physiology factor was in mission. I wanted to make blind test. My aim was not to degrade the other but just to find the answer why I did not hear the same thing with them. We made a blind test. Eventually both of them were decided and agreed on D-60. The discussion was over. ' Why they had the tendency to choose the most expensive or reputable one ! ' Forget about it was worse, assume that they are the same, why the other cable cost 10 times did not clearly bit the other. ' May be my system was not enough revealing to stimulate that cable but if this is the case, I would pay 1500 $ unnecessarily as agreed by my friends. Such cable producers generally target the people that don't have any problem with money. Such people are basically located in New York, Far East, Hong Kong, Japan and such places. Producers also follow up, sales volumes of most expensive electronics and penetrate their cables accordingly. They assume that "a person who spends 350.000 $ for an amplifier will never use a cable of 500 $" My thoughts are not to offend cable producers, if there is a demand, somebody has to supply with no doubt. I wanted to design an interconnect cable for my own curiosity. I am not an electronic an. I used my all theoretical knowledge as a hobbyist and made a DIY interconnect cable. I pretend my cable is at the same class with the reference cables sold up to 1500 $. It will cost you around 50$ plus the Plugs that's all. Difficult to make but it is worthy. Hearing is believing. I shared the entire steps with you. Give it a try DiyE.htm. You must use the best available connectors and silver solder but not the budget ones. That cable cost me 200 $ together with Home Grown Audio's LOK RCA Plugs or WBT Top Of the lines. How come that cable worked extremely well, for me better than the others ! I had no experience, no production plant, no engineering, research and development but it works. May be the answer is hidden in somewhere else, may be the other cable producers use the same method, design, listen, if works, claim and sell February 2004 Ozhan Atalay LIST OF CABLE PRODUCERS 1. Accoustic Zen
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