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Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Has anyone tried this "minimalist" cable kit? After receiving a recommendation from someone with similar musical values to myself, and whose ears I trust, I could not resist ordering one. I will report on how they sound in a few weeks, but am interested in others' opinions too.

For those that have not heard about them look at www.sakurasystems.com for an interesting read. The cable sounds as if it is very close to the specification of the conductors in Belden Cat5. So I may have spent around 100 times what the kit is worth. We shall see.

If you have not heard this cable, please don't bother posting your opinions of how it MUST sound here. Nor am I that interested in hearing how stupid I must be to order this kit - it's my money and you are free to make different decisions with yours. Sorry for this condition, but I am bored with those that have nothing positive to offer on this site, and post their opinions based on deductive logic rather than actual experience.
redkiwi
kitch29
316 posts
 
Just the speaker cables, Dekay. You'll have to pry my Silver Lace IC's from my cold, dead hands. They'll be up against the T-14 bi-wires I have that stood up pretty well to Coincident's. Which is not to say they're as good, they're not.
Reading thru back posts about Mapleshade, I was struck by the accolades for the jumpers as much as for the cables themselves. Once I have the jumpers, I intend to embark on testing several other non-bi-wire cables.
All donation's cheerfully accepted.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,845 posts
 
Kitch, good, you just saved me a bundle (even on a 30 day basis). Are they the new "improved" version of the Mapleshade speaker cables (plus $70) or the standard version? The OTA IC's have definately replaced my Homegrown Super Silver IC's in the living room system at this point (I did some A/B's this past weekend). I am also testing the OTA with both solid state and tube amplification (Musical Fidelity X-A1, run at moderate volumes while in Class A and an Audion Silver Night 300B based amp). This is all of course system and taste dependant as the Homegrown IC's do wonders as far as dynamics and pushing the sound stage forward and I will most likely still be using them in one of the bedroom systems as they sound great at lower volumes (better in this context than the OTA, I would say).
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
Apart from the upper bass just plain disappearing for a few hours on Saturday, the sound has been very stable since my last post 5 days ago. It is only in the bass where I have had reservations with this cable - during burn-in, the bass has gone just about everywhere except to the target.

I can relate to your comments Dekay - these cables seem to make the system more sensitive to being played at just the right volume. They are not at all bright or aggressive. At low volumes and with relatively bass-less material they do sound bass-light compared with the speaker cables that lurk in my cupboard.

But turn the sound up to reasonable levels and any bass that is in the recording is super-fast and very solid with no bloat or overhang, and there is NO sense of being bass-light at all. I suspect it is just very accurate but perhaps may not be to everyone's taste. With some of my Charlie Haden CDs his bass breathes wonderfully.
kitch29
316 posts
 
Might it be worth trying garden hose on the woofers and OTA on the tweeters?
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
Kitch29, I suspect it would destroy the coherence of the pacing. I am getting very boring on PRAT I know, but happen to believe that many audiophiles get lost in failing to distinguish between the sound and the music, and that this is the reason why so many keep getting dissatisfied with their systems soon after being blown away by the last change they made.

I am also getting boring on reporting changes in the sound, but yesterday and today there was a surprising (to me)change that stripped the unwanted warmth I have referred to before out of the picture altogether, and the bass came up into better balance at low volumes - I have no idea whether this will continue.

To be honest, almost regardless of how these cables end up sounding in a tonal sense, I am going to find it difficult to go back to anything else, because the PRAT is outstanding, and what is keeping me enthused through a sometimes ugly burn-in process.
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