If you're going to leave them separated, which I recommend (pairing the same kind of wires is likely better than electrically different ones), you should probably try to give them 6-8 inches of spacing between them for the most open sound. I too use (the balanced version) of the Mapleshade ribbons from DAC to Goldpoint attennuators that I installed in a pair of Monarchy monoblocks. I also use a DIP Combo between an Onkyo CD changer and the DAC so 2 digital IC's are needed. I tried Mapleshade Double Helix and they were fast, clean and transparent (but not at all lean) and they have ended up being the only digital IC's I've yet tried that didn't prove to have some sort of 'insertion loss' in this configuration - that is, 2 IC's were audibly just as transparent as one(!). I've always thought that, with Mr. Sprey anyway, the 3 physical wire design elements (conductor, connectors and insulation) are addressed equally well and nothing seems to be getting overlooked - can't often say that about everybody else, I guess. But, as he says: "A digital cable can make or break a DAC". I don't doubt it. Plus, he hates redundancy and, being a minimalist, straightwire kind of guy, I tend to agree with him on all that. I've heard of DIY'ers using, for example, copper wire on the inside of speakers for the ngative run on the tweeter and silver on the hot with great results. I don't really know of any reason why what you did with differing speaker wires shouldn't work very well, actually.
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
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
11 responses Add your response
