is it the connector or the wire ?

I think connectors are as important as any other ingredient in a cable, some of the newer low mass alternatives such as Eichmann and the WBT Nextgens would seem to prove that. However I wouldn't go so far as to be dogmatic about copper with copper or anything else. As they say the proof is in the pudding. Not that I'm really in any mood to do conductor/connector trials. Anyone?

Having spent the last winter testing most every connector on the market, I would agree, and disagree. Yes the connecter plays a part, but the cable layout and material selection proved far more significant in my testing of over 200 designs and wire combinations. If you check out my “DIY Interconnect Review” you can get more detail. I was quite surprised to find the very affordable Eichmann plugs to better (to my ears) many of the very expensive old line connectors. The WBT NextGen are a bit more open than the Eichmann, but the Eichmann proved to my ear to be are neutral as any connector.

I also found the pure silver connectors to be very open and fast, but I am not a huge silver fan. I just recently tried the Furutech Rhodium RCA’s and found they nay be the best yet, very open, fast and transparent, yet seemingly quite neutral.

As for mixing materials, well… I’m not quite as sure about the importance of matching as you sound. I think it’s a taste thing, yes; but more so it’s finding the right combination sonically. It may be that one conductor is best with one material connector, but as I said, my experience is the cable design and conductor material far out weighed the connector.

Jd
Jade Audio

Thanks JD, I was pretty sure that someone out there had very tediously compared many different connector/conductor configurations. I should have remembered you DIY review and figured out that you had done such a comparison. Thanks for sharing!

While my experience is primarily with power cables, I'd have to go along with JD.
Also, JD, I have to say that Furutech really has something special with their Rhodium connectors. You described their traits exactly, whether it's the RCA connectors or the AC connectors. Furutech will be introducing a Rhodium AC duplex next year as well. If that's as good as their other Rhodium products, they may be having a very good year next year.

Jond, If you want to discuss anything about building your own cables, please feel free to write. I can respond either via email, or I will give you my phone number and we can talk. There is so much info I learned last winter, I love to share it.

Tplavas, Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to try the AC duplex, it's been quite a few years since I tried anything new on the outlet front.

Hey, have a great holiday guys,

jd