Anybody here terminate DH Labs BL-1 cable?
itsikhefez - re: the mains connectors - I've tried a few of those as well and the Silver plated copper connectors from Sonar Quest provided exceptional performance. The silver plating is quite thick and I am yet to see the copper after many connections to the mains supply and to my components. The IEC connector clamps like a vice - so much so that I've found plugging it into an old component first helps make seating in it the working component a little easier when in the rack Most connectors use brass pins/clamps, which is not the best material for conducting electricity. I have also tried the gold plated copper from Sonar Quest and it is an extremely good "second choice", but the silver plated copper delivered the fastest dynamic response. Here's a link SILVER PLATED COPPER... http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SONAR-QUEST-CRYO-Ag-Audio-Grade-Silver-plated-IEC-plug-US-main-plug-sonarquest-/181355696313?hash=item2a39a450b9:g:J~oAAOxyhXRTKcHi GOLD PLATED COPPER http://www.ebay.ca/itm/SONAR-QUEST-CRYO-Audio-Grade-Gold-plated-IEC-plug-US-main-plug-sonarquest-/18... If some readers consider the spiral helix architecture is a little too adventurous, braiding is another geometry I have tried, using the conductors from a piece of DH Labs Power Plus, Encore and even Furutech. Granted, you have to "butcher" the cable to remove the three internal conductors from the sleeve + shielding, but the results were significant. The acid test.... - I made up two power cables, one with Furutech and one with DH Labs bulk cable - I then removed the three conductors from a 12 gauge extension cables from Home depot and braided them. - all were terminated with the same mains/IEC connectors The braided home depot cables provided deeper bass, faster dynamic performance and larger image than both the stock DH labs and Furutech cables So I then butchered the Furutech and the DH Labs and braided the internal conductors - the results were extremely good and better than the Home Depot braided version But the best architecture of all is still the Power Helix! With braiding or the power helix architecture, you do not need to worry about a screen/shield, since the architecture actually rejects any RF that is present in a normal home audio environment. Recording studios may present more problems though. Sorry to go on, but this is all the stuff I've experienced over the past 4 years - so I'd like readers to get to benefit from it :-) Cheers |
Based on your experience, do you think that would be worthwhile with the BL-1?Re Let's put it this way - the Copper Harmony will allow the BL-1 to perform to it's fullest potential. They are also the easiest RCA's I've ever had to connect to a piece of wire. You can always transfer the Copper Harmony to a better cable at a later date. I've connected some of my Harmony RCA's to different cables several times. Regards... |
Just some additional comments. I have used the BL-Ag in the past, which is somewhat similar to BL-1, but uses 2 x 23awg solid-core silver. I have done the floating drain wire scenario, but I could never get the cable to sound open enough. I ended up just soldering both the 2 x 23awg solid-core conductors directly to the signal pin of the RCA and soldered the drain wire to ground on both sides of the cable. This really opened up the sound (a single 23awg conductor just sounded too closed in). Since the BL-1 uses 2 x 20awg stranded conductors, you may not have this problem, but I’ve always found that larger awg will allow more punch/power in the bass and overall better open sound (essentialy, less resistance in the entire cable, and it’s easier and faster for the preamp/source to charge the cable when pushing waveforms). You could experiment with soldering both 20awg conductors to signal pin and soldering drain wire to ground on both sides of interconnect. On my interconnects nowadays, I always use 2x20awg solid-core for signal conductors (making a 17awg interconnect). This has proved to be the best solution so far. |
