36v, 72v active filter on AudioQuest IC

IMO be careful, as 72V can give you one nasty shock.

Thanks Dlcokrum, great infos.
Since Joelawn brought the "nasty shock" up. WOndering how can it get meassured up to 36v or 72v while the battery is only 1 (or 2)AA or AAA battery type?

Here is my experience with those DBS and AQ cables. To me, I liked the older versions, from Jaguar to Panther, Cheetah and then Sky. Sky to date, is still the reference cable from AQ until Signature WEL came out recently. If you fortunate enough to find the one was Made in USA, (I do not know exactly when AQ moved their productions to China), those are more refined than most. Those DBS really work wonders, smoother and more open sound. Take Cheetah for example, replace those 36DBS with 72DBS and you do not want to go back, believe me, I tried. Take Sky and double it up with 2 packs of 72DB, will take Sky up to the next level. Be warned, those upgrades must be equal voltage or the lesser ones WILL GET DESTROYED. Say 2 packs of 72DBS or 2 packs of 48DBS. You can not go 1 pack of 48DBS and one pack of 72DBS, got the idea? you can forget the idea of upgrade them to AA or AAA, those will harm your cable rather then help them. Look up AQ SKY reviews people seem to like them a lot. If you have money to play around with, then get Signature WEL with 144DBS, then it's the end of the conversation. I wonder why the new WEL came with 144DBS? any thoughts?

In talking to an AQ rep once, I was told the maxium useful voltage is somewhere around 60v. Anything above 72v doesn't improve the sound.

The dbs packs do work to keep the IC run-in all the time so if you don't listen to you audio system often, the ICs are always ready and the dielectric doesn't have to re-form again. However if you listen to your system often, I'm not really sure if dbs makes a big difference or not. I used to own high end AQ but prefer the sound of unshield cables that reject RFI/EMI by there geometric design....at least in my system.

The 72v batteries are 12v each and there are 6 of them in each battery pack. They are not of the AA or AAA type of battery. They are about $4-$5 each but don't need replacing for quite a while since they don't carry a load.

Hope this helps.

As for the Sky, it is a great cable at a great (high) price. Niagara will save you 40% to 50% on the used market, and the sound quality is not much less. See this review:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-61655.html

Again, when dealing with the lower line AQ cables, put the money for the dbs upgrade toward the next higher AQ cable.