Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Bruce, it's good to have your endorsement of the product. I wired up a friends system (speaker wire only) with the extra cable that I had and he asked last week if he could run it for another month (which means that I won't be getting it back:-). When I get back to work, I will pick up another OTA kit to do the spare and bedroom systems and would have needed more RCA's and cable anyway (the runs are a bit long and I did not calculate them properly in the first place). I did a quick test on the spare room system and even on cheap (speakers) the OTA made a big improvement in the sound (much more enjoyable), so I will want to use it in both of the bedrooms. Neither of these systems are really Hi-fi but if I can make them sound better for $300 each then it's worth it to me.

I was getting to the point where I was going to suggest trading speaker cables for a few weeks, double helix for OTA but now it sounds like you wouldn't want to part with it. There goes another $600. Anybody else want to split a set?

47 Labs OTA POWER CABLES next? Shunyata owner's desperately trying to sell of their King Cobra's for a power cable a little thicker than the "fishing line" mentioned above? Redkiwi, Dekay, Brulee, Kitch29 describing in minute detail the very noticeable frequency aberrations introduced into their system when they pick up, twist, and drop their 47 Labs POWER CABLE? aberrations that would be disturbing to any listener but quickly forgotten after the cables returned to their normal "vivid" operation? What I am saying is not a dream. At the High End 2001 Trade Fair in Frankfurt last week, three wise, attentive and artistic engineers from 47 Labs proudly displayed their System, trying to leap gracefully over the very tall linguistic barrier between them and the German audiophiles asking about "those cables." When, all of a sudden, Slawney noticed in cold sweat what was connected to the 4 Power Dumpties (the high capacity transformers feeding all of their components)! Well, they were all connected in parallel to a single plastic AC plug (German wall outlet) with very thin fishing-line wire that looked very similar to the STRATOS wire 47 Labs were using on all of their components (maybe the Power Cord wire was a little thicker than 0.4mm OFC interconnect and speaker wire, but not by much). I know that the KIT says about the Stratos wire: "do not use them as power cords!" but it certainly seemed like these 47 Labs engineers were using something very similar to the OTA cable system for their power cables. And talk about vitality, lucidity, liveliness, instantaneous energy, speed! This system was the most jaw-dropping demonstration of the effects of bare-essentials component parts, short signal paths, and minimalist cabling I have ever experienced! It compelled me to adopt a new mode of understanding and experience. (So here comes the poetry.) Every event in the music communicated itself to me with supreme intelligibility--a system internally and externally illuminated and inflamed by the music itself! I even felt I could dispense with all of those means I require in order to give my system warmth and luminosity at home (those tubes)! The entire meaning of the 47 Labs demonstration could not be simpler: there is no reason for intentional complexity and a confusing multiplicity of circuits styles. The simplest, most direct means are the means by which the electronic poet attains a sense of wonder and rapt interest for the musical work, so as to intensify it into a feeling of amazement! The impression of idealized immediacy and purity I was experiencing could only be achieved by not resorting to artificial, overly-complex devices. Music returned to the power of feeling, and despite the fact that the small speakers they were using responded much less than typical speakers to low frequencies, now internal details, which until then had been banished from the stage by complex signal paths, compelled the listener to passionate participation, stretching out the emotion. And what WERE these speakers I was listening to? Three-way speakers with gigantic active sub-woofers! Just kidding. It was just a plain, single tiny 6" Jordan driver in a wood tombstone with no binding posts, the STRATOS going directly into the cabinet to the speaker itself. OTA Kit owner: Get the screwdrivers ready and take out those binding posts! Needless obstacle robbing you of the sound of pure music! ... The difficult last step to the MINIMALIST ZEN SYSTEM (anti-system) is being made right now at audiogon by a few wise disciples of the eminent masters from 47 Labs.

I am ready to take the plunge! By reading all of the above is the price for the IC's $300? What is the length of cable that you receive? Can it be ordered with balanced or unbalanded connectors? Do I order direct from 47 labs US
distributor?

Thanks, Bob

Slawney,
Did you notice the dark grey isolation shelves that 47Lab used at Frankfurt? Guess who?*wink*

The loudspeaker was designed and built by Sead Lejlic of Konus Audio, the european 47Lab distributor and they use a transmission line enclosure.

Best,
Ken