Beldon 8402 ic's
I use these cheap cables in a very expensive system. Extremely full and rich sound with plenty of detail
Alan
I use these cheap cables in a very expensive system. Extremely full and rich sound with plenty of detail
Alan
Need recomendation for an IC to fill out and enrich the sound between amp and pre-amp.
Don't what level to start looking for a quality IC compatible IC with a Conrad Johnson PV-14L pre-amp and a BAT amp to fill out the sound. I opted for an all RCA pre-amp because I got a good deal on the CJ, and did not want to wait for a mixed BAT XLR and RCA pre-amp, or that of another brand. I did a lot of looking over 4 months
So the advantage of lower noise using the XLR to XLR interconnect is no longer in play, and I am still using a Signal Audio Cable XLR to RCA to connect the amp to the pre-amp. It cost about $59, not that price matters. It sounds good with the components, BUT, I think I can buy a much better RCA to RCA IC that will deliver a much fuller and richer sound. As good as Signal Cable IC is, it seems to lack a fullness in the lower to middle midrange, and also the soundstage could be wider and deeper.
I realize it could be the CJ pre-amp or the mix of CJ which is 10 years old but was upgraded to the SE version Despite what I said, it sounds very good.
Therefore, I would like recommendations for an interconnect that may accomplish what I described above before getting on "The Cable Company loaner library IC merry go round. A $200-$300 "USED" price range is my budget. Thank you, SJ
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- 23 posts total
I find IC's that reveal more extension, dynamics and detail are the better value in the long run. There is always a price to pay with budget IC's. They either warm up the sound or increase the soundstage, rarely both if ever. Have you rolled the tubes? They can have a couple orders of magnitude more effect on the character of the sound than IC's do. |
Jim, as you realize but others commenting here may not, your BAT VK-200 does not provide RCA inputs. So the RCA-to-RCA cable you are asking about would have to be used with an adapter (or an unbalanced to balanced converter such as a Jensen Transformer), and the cable would be providing the signal to a balanced input. For those reasons I would not necessarily expect the experiences others are basing their suggestions on to be applicable to your system. And personally I would consider using a Jensen Transformer in conjunction with RCA cables on its input side and short XLR cables on its output side to be the "right" way to implement this interconnection. Including cabling, that could be accomplished for close to your stated budget. Also, seconding the comment by Wlutke just above you might want to take a look at what kind of 6C4 tubes are installed in your preamp. Trying different tubes would seem likely to be a more efficacious way of accomplishing the sonic changes you are looking for, especially given that 6C4’s appear to be relatively inexpensive. I found this statement in a 2003 thread at another forum: 6C4 tubes are available from Watford Valves of England as the Mullard CV4058 (military number) which is also known as a KQDD/K or M8080. These tubes are the best 6C4 variant that money can buy, and Conrad-Johnson uses them in their new PV-14L audiophile preamp. They told me they have never found a better 6C4 tube. They were made for Britsh military mobile radios and can really take a thrashing, as well as a minimum 10,000 hour useful life.Finally, I see that the PV-14L is phase inverting, so if you already haven’t you may want to try interchanging the + and - connections to the speakers. That is likeliest to make a difference on recordings that were engineered with "purist" techniques, meaning a minimal number of microphones and minimal post-processing. Good luck. Regards, -- Al |
+1 for the Belden 8402 and 8412 IC's...made them myself and can't believe the improvement in sound quality. http://jeffsplace.me/wordpress/?p=7325 |
- 23 posts total