Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Bullet Plugs -vs- OTA RCA.
DISADVANTAGES OF BULLETS: they will require soldering, whereas OTA RCAs do not. Thus the Bullets will introduce solder- and conductor-related impurities in the signal.
The Bullets can be kind of tight on certain RCAs.
The Bullet plug shells will need to be filled with some material to insure that the OTA will not wobble too much in the shell. (I used cotton)
ADVANTAGES OF BULLETS: they are cheaper than the OTA RCAs. The can be attached and removed from RCA plugs without risk of a break in the tip of the OTA wire. Sometimes the OTA wire breaks when put on and taken off a tight RCA connection.

Hi All,

Just an update on the results of cryogenically treating the OTA wire.

First of all, treating them means they need to be broken in again. Once I got the inteconnects and speaker wires installed, I thought "where the heck is the bass". I left the system playing at a low level for a couple of days and the bass came back. The may have also had something to do with the Gaincard and Phonocube being unpowered for a couple of weeks - I do think they need some time to come back to their former glory.

The best news is that it didn't do anything bad - which was a concern at first. It defintely makes a difference with interconects and speaker cables - a bit clearer and a little more 3 dimensional. With power cables, I can tell no difference.

That's it. I'd recommend it. Maybe someone will try doing an entire gaincard.

Austin

I got real lucky and got the Kit for less than 1/2 price.With the kinda recommendations I have read and people have written to me I am jazzed!
I have a pair of solid core Tara Labs,so I will have a slight comparative basis to go by.

Would like to know what other's experience has been using this stuff as a Digital IC or if you can use it in that capacity?I will look through the post to see if anyone has mentioned it.

Abex:

I ended up with a very nice OTA digital cable (it slightly bested my Mapleshade Double Helix anyway - even less HF smearing which is what Mapleshade is all about).

The center (+) lead was 30" long and the outer (-) lead was 60" long. The longer lead was looped around the shorter lead by the means of 5-7 half knots (approx. 1.5"- 2" in diameter).

More and smaller loops close in the sound (though they further define imaging) while fewer and larger loops open up the sound while making imaging less precise. The trick is to balance this out to your liking (the cord is adjustable in the way).

Per the originator of this concept (Richard @ Vantage Audio in the UK), this will work best with total lengths no shorter than 90" (the one that I used) and no longer than 120" (I did not have enough cable left to try this length).

The concept is loosely based on a design that Vantage either uses, or has used, in the past, though their formula (as it was described to me) is far more complex/precise than the cable that I made.

If you do not feel like going to all this trouble, just make the (+) lead 42 " and the (-) lead 48" and separate the cables along the run by approx. 2". This is not as good as the looped design, but it betters equal length runs as the sound is more articulate and open.

Short versions (under 42") did not sound good with my DAC's (Bel Canto 1.0 & 1.1), but some people seem to like them and this may vary with the equipment used. I do use 8" OTA IC's from preamp to phono preamp with super results, but these are analog cables running to dual/mono phono sections with but 34 dB of gain.

I also do not hold to the concept that 75 ohm coaxial designs are the best digital cables as these cables have been my least favorite so far.

It is an intresting read though.I will try somethimg else.I tend to agree with the 75ohm theory becuase I am at present using CANARE 75ohm cable and it's just ok ,but not as revealing as I know it could be.

I have been on a cable quest of late and have a variety of cables coming and on hand so I will be able to give a fair eval of how my system will jive with the OTA's,but if It only works well in my system as speaker cable I will be happy.If it works well as a replacement of all cables excluding the Digital cable I will be overjoyed!

Synergy is a big issue with me after getting out of the reciever stage in my life many moons ago and becoming a more critical listener.

Thanks for the reply!