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
Kiwi, so you presently have OTA everywhere BUT the woofers. The set-up being, tube-to-tube to the Logans / analogue & digital sources?
Pls excuse *my* confusion -- nothing to do with your postings.
Thanks!
Greg
Just digital sources, but otherwise correct Gregm.

From what I can tell, some of the other guys trying this cable (but who are wisely keeping their powder dry) are liking it but not necessarily getting the same results. I find as an interconnect the OTA is vivid, fast punchy, even forward, with room-filling sound, but possibly slightly recessed on top. In particular the bass is stunning - incredibly fast, firm and extended - maybe a bit dry. On the panels of my MLs the sound is wonderfully resolved and vibrant. No other speaker cable I have gets even close to resolving cymbals and sibilance, and having it on the panels cures the sense of reticence on top. But with the OTA on the woofer of my MLs there is good and bad. The bass is fast - drums in particular are very life-like (I suspect because it handles transients so well), but other bass sounds can be a bit uneven. I don't think this is a burn-in issue but it might be. Therefore I am taking the OTA woofer cables off my system and putting it on my daughters' system, and I will just leave it there for a month before retrying it. Right now the results with garden hose on the woofers sounds better - interestingly, in the upper mids and lower treble as well.
Not so fast, Red.
So far after 8 months of using the 47 Labs/OTA cable, EVERY time I got to thinking that there might be a weakness or anomoly that was cable induced, it turned out to be pinpointed to problems, inappropriate tweeks or coloured/flawed components elsewhere in my system.
I'd advise going back over your speaker set up for starters.
In my case, I use Mana Soundbases beneath my Neat Elites and discovered that the spikes were out of "tune"(overtight nuts) and another instance where I had assumed my cartridge setup to be "nutz-on-perfect".Not!(antiskate was a smidge off and VTA was slightly too low).
Ken
OK Ken (as Mr Webb said), but I will have another go when the speaker cables have had more hours, because the bass performance was definitely still moving around.
RedKiwi and Dekay-As you know, I've been breaking in the Mapleshade Double Golden Helix as you have with the OTA. Now, at about 100 hours, I can report that the soundstage has settled in to where I have stopped moving the speakers around every 5 minutes. There's a nice arc in front of them which curves back to the sides and is very deep. High frequency transients like brushes on cymbals are still too close to the speakers and there is a little of the shift left or right as sounds go up or down the scale. This was more pronounced with the DH Labs T-14 as well as the Coincident. I'll look elsewhere in the system (Cambridge D500SE, passive volume control, Music Reference RM-10, Meadowlark Kestrels)to solve this.
My biggest fear about these tiny gauge cables is groundless, bass is just excellent. I have the new 50 greatest Philips Symphonie Fantastique on right now and the double bass, tympani and low brass rattles the teacups. Last night, I kept playing Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue over and over because of the incredible double bass under a couple of the cuts. I even listened to her singing Ode To Billy Joe, one I usually skip (I hate that song!) because her deep, husky contralto was just mesmerising.
The mid-range and treble that won me over when I acquired the RM-10, Silver Lace and passive volume is augmented, in spades. Although brushes on cymbals, as noted above are problematic from an imaging standpoint, the sound is very alive with sharp attacks and lingering decays. Snares on or off is easy to pick out, now. And voices, oh my.
There goes track 4: marche au supplice; the tympani is way back in the hall and the English Horn nice and woody. You've gotta hear those trombone pedal tones. Blaaaatttt.
......Sorry, Sir Colin was complaining about the fan noise from the Hewlett-Packard. Just finished hearing the tutti and I have chills. Get this recording.
So now I've tried a few tweaks. I had vibrapods under the CDP directly on the 1 1/2" maple shelf. Maybe it was better, it didn't hurt. But I've always noticed that the RM-10 had a buzzy vibration you could feel when playing. Took the pods away from the CDP and put them under the amp; a definite step up in tonal clarity, I think. But, the main thing is I clearly heard the difference. Same thing with power cables. I was happy to help adopt an orphan but didn't hear much, if any difference, with the Asylum cables. Well, when I put the stock cord back on the amp, the soundstage worsened and everything was too bright.
You have to know how delighted I am to be hearing these things especially as today is birthday number 54 and these ears heard Hendrix live, big city traffic and even 80 mm. mortars.
I guess Pierre Frey is on to something. These cables will be around for awhile.