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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
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,658 posts
 
Hi Slawney:

The OTA phono cables worked fine before, I just messed up a connection and/or an internal tonearm cable. The tonearm cable should really be replaced anyway (it is pushing 25+ years old). We are talking a $100 TT here (Thorens TD165) so no big whoop. A local phile can also bail me out if I get in over my head, but I just want to learn to do the basics myself (sort of a new hobby whithin a hobby:-). I no longer use digtial IC's though may play with some ferrites on the speaker cable (have to dig them up first).
slawney
242 posts
 
Dekay, sounds as if you accidentally "bridged" your tonearm with the minus signal from your cartridge. Thus nothing much to do except to repair the tone arm cable or isolate the tone arm from the ground signal.
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,658 posts
 
Slawney: Just had a thought. Think that I will try a tiny "screw" barrier strip to trouble shoot the TT wiring. Might just leave it in (if I figure out the problem) as it will make it easier to try out different DIY IC configurations.
artg
362 posts
 
OK, so who is currently offering to sell dome of their extra cable - Id be intrested in maybe 20 ft for speaker cables and four 1-2 meter cables w/ 8 rca for IC's..... Let me know - Art
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smilemakr
4 posts
 
I recently discovered this thread, and, drawn to the enthusiasm shown by the various parties and desiring to end my quest for the perfect cable, I've plunged in and ordered the $600 Ota kit. And I really do desire to end my quest here, so I don't want to botch things up now that the kit has arrived. Perforce, some questions:

1. Has anyone found that the length of the cables makes any real difference? Folks talk about resistance, capacitance, and so on, and I'm wondering if I need to strive to keep ICs and speaker cables as short as possible.

2. I don't have a Cable Cooker or similar, and I wonder if I can break in the entire 50 meter length of cable most quickly by hooking up the entire length of it to one of my speakers (or half of it to each of my two speakers), before cutting it into appropriate lengths for ICs and speaker cables.

3. Is there directionality to the wire, i.e., should the signal run in the direction of the printing on the wire, or does it matter?

4. I'm still not clear on whether or not the Ota wire is desirable to use as a speaker cable for all frequencies when bi-wired, or if it should be used on the mid/tweeter only, with more of a garden-hose wire handling the woofer. Any well-formed opinions?

I appreciate the knowledge of many in this thread, and I look forward to responses!

Mark
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