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Spectron Remote Sense any good?

Has anyone had any experience, good or bad, with the Remote Sense speaker cables from Spectron? I'd like to upgrade my old cables and want a good match. My system: Sony SCD777ES (Mods by Kern) -> FSPDmkII -> Spectron MII -> VonSchweikert VR-5. I'm basically pretty happy with the sound but my obsessive audionervosa syndrome is, as usual, running unchecked.

If you have other recommendations for any other speaker cable, interconnects, power cords or conditioners, that may have synergy with my system, please feel free to offer your suggestions.

Thanks in advance for any input.
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fetguy
90 posts
 
I found the amp to sound much better with heavy-gauge Goertz or Analysis Plus than it does with the sense cable. To be fair though, you have to give the sense cable time to "burn in".
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
The "remote sense" cable is not a new idea. All it does is include the cables inside the feedback loop of the amp. The result of this (at least in theory) is to remove whatever effect the cables have on the signal. In other words, make it sound as if the cables were 1/4 inch long.

If you enjoy the "sound of wire" this is not for you. Also, one would not expect any "breakin" effect. How can you change nothing?
zenieth
381 posts
 
I run Maggie 3.6's. I started out using MIT cables and then tried the factory remote sense cables. I think the theory provided by Eldartford is right on. I talked with a couple of other members who went to the remote sense cables made from the Q-10 wire. They too were not impressed with the silver shielded cable used by Spectron. I can honestly say that my Maggies sound amazingly better running through the remote sense connection on the amp compared to the traditional post mount for regular input!
fetguy
90 posts
 
The feed-back loop can't account for every variable on the wire. The sense-cable starts out a bit "hashy" and then over the course of a week or more starts to smooth out. Strand noise etc, seem to be random in nature and are not really addressable by feedback. You just drive the amp nuts trying.

The amp just does better on speaker cable that has a nice low impedance across the audio band (and, perhaps, out to the switching frequency of the amp which can end up being reflected back to the amp in certain circumstances.

To my ears, the highs on the sense cables are not natural; the decay is rather truncated, and the sub-harmonics that describe the instrument are also damaged (very noticable against a good cable). Bass is usually good (best place for a servo to operate), but even there Goertz is smoother and less dry. So darn many variables.

The cable is a tinned copper stranded cable that retails in Europe for about $1.50 a foot. Read the jacket then look it up on the web.
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