Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Hi Dekay

I have been playing with some Daruma Bearings recently and found that they did a wonderful job between CD player and the Neuance shelf (whereas no other hard device did previously, except perhaps the Super DH Cones). Using the Darumas the best sound occurred with the OTA untwisted.

Ken once suggested to me that the vibration control needs of CD transports differ depending on the construction of the transport and that this varied from one to another.

So I am now listening to what seems to me like the best of both worlds - the openness of the OTA untwisted, but improved solidity and clarity of images due to the Darumas (the waftiness has gone).

One of the imaging issues with the OTA cable is that the soundstage expands so much that some listeners may feel a need to sit further away from the speakers. With the OTA cables you are drawn far more into the soundstage itself, a bit more like listening to giant headphones. I happen to think it is just more natural that way. While images seem more precisely defined laterally with my other cables, it also seems like the images are flattened cardboard cut-outs compared with the presentation from the OTA cable.

Red and other ultrathin cable users, these designs have to be the mechanically the best possible design for bearing
isolation devices(Aurios MIB, Rollerblocks, Daruma II) as
they offer almost no resistence to the free floating effect
of bearings on CDP. Now you must address the AC cord.

Daruma II are best value of bearing isoaltion group by far, MIB and Rollerblock take the sound improvements even further, for a price. I have been obsessed with bearing isolation for CDP and own one set of all three to experiment
with. I feel any of these is superior to any cone set I have heard under CDP

I am glad to see so many are trying this rather radical step of ultrathin minimalist cables, I will sit back till the dust settles and like Capt Kirk will watch you brave
audiophiles "boldly go where no audiophile has gone before"

Megasam, I tried the home-made variety (three different designs) and concluded that the bearings worked well under CDP but not my tube power amps. Then I got the Darumas and was blown away - different league from the home-made ones and so am happy to re-visit the tube amps. So now I am thinking of getting one set of Aurios for CDP and another set of Darumas - the two sets of Darumas either going under tube monoblocks or under speakers (either way the weight is not extreme). Any ideas?

Sorry for temporarily hi-jacking this thread.

I wonder what the wide variance in soundstaging charcteristics of most cables says about how they effect the increase/decrease in various parts of the frequency spectra. Given that we all continue to use the same electronics and speakers, what else could be going on but that?
In my own case, switching from silver-coated copper (DHLabs) to pure copper (Coincident) yielded a warmer sound with a slightly wider soundstage: clearly, more low freq's. Also a marked forward movement of the image: more mid-range or perhaps recessed treble? Double Helix raises, broadens and deepens the image while describing an arc which is somewhat forward between the speakers and curves back behind them towards the wall: I have no idea what is going on with the frequencies here! If the OTA is so forward as to mimic headphones, or "fill the room with sound" as Dekay has written, there must be some drastic frequency related effect on reflected sound.
I wonder why I've never read about using one of those zillion dollar spectrum analyzers to record these differences? Is anyone aware of it? Do cable manufacturers play with tonal shifts to achieve certain imaging/tonality? Or is it all serendipitous, "that sounds good, let's produce it?"

I am not familiar with the Daruma II's. Is there a website with info on them? Unlimited roll is somewhat of a problem for me in CA, but now that I am using a traditional rack I can put up guard rails of a sort.