Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Hi Red,

I first started out with the speaker cables alone and didn't introduce the IC's till well after the speaker cables had broken in.
I likewise tried twisting them into a loose weave but eventually decide that doing so made for a somewhat "tight" and more analytical presentation and so went back to running them as separate strands(bi-wired Neat Elites on Mana Soundbases).
I am somewhat hesitant to describe the sonics as my own system is quite different from your own(Roksan ROK s1.5) but will say that you should not fart around too much for a while.
It seems that burn in goes thru plateaus and stages that seen to completely alter the presentation by frequency bands.
At first I found the quickness and transparency that are so alluring(and upper octave harshness as well) but later it became very dark,even brooding and warm. Finally it regained the openness,fine detail and sweetness along with the speed.The tonal qualities did not fully balance out for almost 3 weeks tho all the basics of its signature had become evident by that time.
btw, I had tried the old DNM solid core years ago and had come to the erroneous coclusion that solid cores worked wonders in the mid band but always rolled the top and truncated the bottom.The 47Labs Stratos OTA has completely altered my perceptions, particularly in the superb power, articulation and extension of deep bass.Cardas and Harm Techs never made my room shudder,shake and growl like these little 2 ways are doing to my room now.
Ken

Yes Ken, when I tried the solid core stuff years ago, each thickness seemed to have its sweet-spot, with 0.6mm having it smack in the mid-range, rolled-off top and bottom, very smooth but lacking fine detail resolution. So far these cables don't sound like that at all. Tight and analytical is certainly the direction that twisting tended to take the sound. I judged that beneficial at the time because it was sounding vague and dark. But I will take your advice and separate them again. I just listened to an album where for the first few tracks the voices sounded high and not fleshed out, but by the end of the album they were sounding wonderfully rich and full. I am just going to have to be patient, but so far experience tells me there is a good cable trying to come out.

I have emailed Yoshi on the twisting question and will report back if I get a reply.

Redwiki, looking forward to your results with the Sakura Systems cables when you have them.

The cables have gone through some interesting changes. But at all times there has been excellent PRAT, a grainless smoothness and minimal smearing - each parameter being significantly better than with any stranded cable I have heard. The lack of smearing means transients are not accompanied by any noticeable distortion, the soundstage is fab (and very deep), and fine detail resolution is excellent. All this is not exceptional because many solid core cables I have heard have had these qualities to some degree, but fell down in really only getting a narrow band of frequencies right. The problems I have encountered have been with tonal anomolies and an occasional swimmy vagueness. But these problems only last an hour or so and then are replaced by another.

My assumption is that all the good points will remain intact and the problems are just burn-in issues. I just have to be patient enough to wait for that to happen. Most of the time the mid-band is pretty good (except when the lower-mids occasionally disappear. The biggest changes are in the bass and treble where they are occasionally good to very good, and then do a disappearing act.

Something about the sound of these cables make me very optimistic.

I would like to make a few notes on IC assembly for those that may be ordering the kit (or that have already received it). When assembling the Black portion of the RCA, the cable insulation needs to be beveled at the edges in order for it to fit into the channel (along with the bare copper wire). When you have the kit in hand you will see what I mean by this. I shaved the end of the insulation from approx. 1/16" out to the end, at an angle with a razor knife. Before figuring this out I botched two sets of IC's twice and then made up one pair successfully (which means that I now have 20 connections involving the Black RCA portion under my belt, though have wasted quite a bit of the cable in the process:-(. The White portion of the IC does not require this treatment to the insulation and is a snap. When initially stripping the wire for both the Black and White section of the RCA's 1 3/4" to 2" is adequate to work with, so take this length into consideration as a portion of the bare wire will double back instead of extending the length of the cable (again this will be clear with the kit in hand).

Sound wise (so far) I find RedKiwi's comments about lack of "smearing" interesting as I suspect that he is describing something that I did not previously have the proper "words" to describe. I have referred to this in the past as a sound that somehow accompanies but that is not really a part of the music as it kind of rests behind (though is attached) to each note (I like "smearing" a lot better:-). What I do notice with the speaker cable at this point is that the background is very silent and that the notes seem to manifest in the air and not from the speakers (with well recorded CD's). The "smearing effect" if that is what I am describing, always hinders this illusion to some extent and the speakers are more evident in the mix. I have rejected a number of CD sources and IC's in the past because they did this to the sound and am now discovering that my previous Kimber Kable was also adding (though slightly) to this affect. Otherwise, I do not have a clue as to how the cable will sound as it has been all over the map in my setup as well and will post again in a couple of weeks.