Binding Straps vs Jumpers

If you want some SERIOUSLY fast, transparent jumpers at a near giveaway price, the answer is the Mapleshade copper ribbons at $25 or $35 a pair. I had been biwiring my Mirage OMD-15s for two years when I decided to get a single run of Zu Libtecs last May. That then set me on a quest for jumpers. I tried basic Monster, AudioQuest Type 4, Kimber 4TC, and AQ Type 4 + Kimber 4TC combined. Tried 'em with the main cables going to the woofers, then going to the tweeters, and then one to each. Still wasn't quite satisfied.

So for $35 I got the Plus version of the Mapleshade Ribbon Jumpers. Holy cow! Who would ever think that 2-1/2" of any kind of conductor could make that much difference? Everything snapped into focus. The soundstage expanded. My system reached a new level of clarity and revealed that the amp section of my switching integrated amp was a little too dry. Fortunately I had a nice big class A/AB transconductance amp handy and inserted it and that fixed things the rest of the way. This LP-sourced 2-channel system now delivers a level of resolution I never heard in my home before. Even digital sounds more organic.

Johnnyb53 ... your comment ( SERIOUSLY fast ) brings up a question , I always believed , electricity traveled at the same speed regardless of size or type of conducter , correct me if i'm wrong .

12-16-10: Tmsorosk
Johnnyb53 ... your comment ( SERIOUSLY fast ) brings up a question , I always believed , electricity traveled at the same speed regardless of size or type of conducter , correct me if i'm wrong .

We're not talking about electricity per se. We're talking about electronic signal. It's the difference between electrical and electronic technologies. As far as different speeds for conductors, why would you believe that they're absolutely uniform regardless of size or type of conductor? It's well known, for example, that no metal conductor is as fast as the speed of light, and that silver is about 8% faster than copper. Nordost publishes the speeds of all their cables as a percentage of the speed of light. Furthermore, different frequencies travel at different speeds, and there is a relationship between wavelength and conductor depth at which point signal transmission is affected by skin effect. This is where the Mapleshade jumpers shine, as they are so thin that it takes skin effect out of the equation (or so I've heard).

When I say "fast," I'm referring to signal rise time. It has a lockstep relationship to high frequency bandwidth, but it also has an audible influence on the leading edges of transients and how much of notes' beginnings are audible. If a conductor's upper frequency response limit is 20KHz, its rise time is 1/40,000 of a second at best. This is nowhere near fast enough to transmit SP/DIF signals or video, which need rise times measured in microseconds, let alone HDMI 1.4 content.

And as far as all that goes, I'm reporting what I heard and its influence on the rest of my system. It does sort of fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but those little Mapleshade ribbon jumpers were game-changers.