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  3. 178282-164950

Price Isn't Always Indicitive of Quality or Performance

I had spent over $1000 on a Synergistic Research Cable.  The Atmosphere Level 1 level, to be exact. I was using this as my main source cable to my powered speakers. It was absolutely DE-MOL-ISHED by Lavricables' Grand line for a mere $500. It isn't that the SR cable wasn't good.  I was impressed with it and it was a major upgrade over their Foundation line and a phenomenal upgrade over Audioquest's Yosemite cable. 

SR and Lavricables use similar tech, but only Lavricables uses pure silver practically throughout.

Here is the over all make up of the $1000 SR Atmosphere cable:

4 conductors.
Conductor: Silver/Copper matrix.  Or....silver and copper wire twirled together. Purity unknown. Actual wire gauge unknown.
Dielectric: Teflon
Source Connector: gold plated copper, cryo treated and has graphene applied.
Speaker Connector: Silver plated silver, cryo treated and has graphene applied.
Has a silver-plated copper mesh as a floating shield.
Uses a Tesla Coil to burn the cable in (quantum tunneling) prior to shipping out.

Now...Lavricables' $500 cable:

4 conductors.
Conductor: 20 awg 6N pure silver. Each group is laminated separately in Teflon before being encased in Teflon dielectric insulation. Graphene is applied at key points through out the cable.  The cable was cryo treated.
Dielectric: Teflon
Source Connector: Trillium Copper plated with gold. Cryo treated and has graphene applied.
Speaker Connector: AECO ARP-4055 Pure Silver RCA Connectors. Cryo treated and has graphene applied.

The unbelievable sound quality from pure silver was so immense and powerful.  It was no longer like listening to music as it was more like experiencing the music.  The music was pushing into you.  Similar to going to a concert and having the music beat and play in your chest. There were songs that had distortion at either loud, high pitched, or at peak cacophony that I attributed to being part of the recording. The Lavricables proved that it was simply that the SR cable was incapable of reproducing those notes.  WHAT!?! I mean, how do you engineer a cable to fail at $1000? I guess so it doesn't out perform or come too close to your $10,000+ cables. In Lavricables, the Grand line is tops; there is nothing higher.  They pour *ALL* their knowledge, best materials and techniques in the Grand line.

I thought long about this and I think I figured it out. It isn't that Synergistic Research is necessarily trying to rip anyone off.  It's the cost of doing business in the United States.  Lavricables are located in Latvia. Synergistic Research and Audioquest are based out of California.  The average MSRP markup on goods in CA is 3000%. To compare, Texas's MSRP markup is 300%. So the cost of materials will be higher to make the same product in CA than it would in TX. Synergistic Research and respectively Audioquest, has to charge what they do to maintain living and operating out of CA. But in Latvia?  It is clear to me that the materials, tech and know how isn't that expensive there.  So it can be surmised that the cost of living and operating out of Latvia is less expensive, which means they can offer the highest grade product at a much lower cost than if the same cable were made here in the United States.

I am thinking of replacing *ALL* my cables. O_O

128x128guakus
sns
3,377 posts
 

@charles1dad Never occurred to me silver PC would be a voicing I'd seek, YMMV per usual. For me, keeping silver and copper in good balance has been key, spot on for the last few years.

 

One adjustment made with pc's in just the past couple months. We both run BPT PC, @williewonka  made me aware balanced PC should have balanced power cables as well, balanced in the sense of having exact same conductor on neutral and hot. Recently changed my Helix Image (williewonka design) from asymmetrical hot and neutral to symmetrical, in my case going to VH Audio Airlock on both hot and neutral. This change on both pc to dac and Statement, extremely nice improvement, higher level of transparency vs prior.

 

Point is, for those of us using balanced isolation transformer based pc, make sure power cables have exact same hot and neutral conductors.

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

@sns

No doubt that trying to achieve/maintain an optimal balance is a worthy objective. I will say that I am very happy with the current sound quality of my system. Which again consist of silver wire speaker cable/IC and copper wire power cables. So, I believe I have a very good reference point to make comparisons with.

I certainly understand the idea/notion of too much of a good thing. However I am very impressed by what high quality silver wire brings to the table. I am very eager and curious to see how this material plays out in a power cable application.If it doesn’t work out or a step taken backwards, I will simply go back to my terrific Coincident copper power cables. With eyes wide open I am very willing to try the silver and see (Hear) what happens.


Thanks for your information with regard to the use of a balanced isolation AC transformer such as the BPT. Fortunately the Lavricables utilize pure silver for their hot and neutral conductors (With identical quality and quantity). Silver plated copper is used for the ground wire.

Charles

sns
3,377 posts
 

@charles1dad I too am interested in what a silver wire PC would bring to table, report back on your findings.

guakus's avatar
guakus OP
351 posts
 

@sns

I don’t have a pure Silver PC, but the Shunyata Research Alpha cable I am using has a silver core conductor. The geometry is interesting. There is a shielded, insulated 8awg silver conductor in the center. Then it is surrounded by an intricate weave of 8awg copper for the other conductor as an outer shell. Then there is a braided shield for ground. So this system gets the fast current needed for delicate dynamics as well as a strong copper conductor for more robust mid tones, mid bass, and bass.

Unfortunately, Lavricables is unable to make a power cable that uses IEC C7 as a connector. They are unable to acquire a decent IEC C7 plug :(. So sadly, I will never be able to use their awesome PC on this system.

Apparently, the best C7 connector out there is Wattgate’s. As a result I will have to stick with the Kimber Palladian for my powered speakers. Which is all copper. At least it is insulated in Teflon and has a massive noise filter. I cannot complain, it’s a detailed and ultra-quiet PC for the price. :)

sns
3,377 posts
 

@guakus That is indeed rather interesting geometry, generally you find silver clad copper in most cabling combining silver and copper. I've long been interested in cable with novel ways of using various metals, Siltech is another company that mixes and matches metallurgy in various ways, enjoyed an audition with one of their digital cables some years ago.

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