Double up on Kimber Kable 4TC??

2chnlben,

There seems to be no problem with the way you doubled up the 4tc, and from the reports of others it seems that you create something that is very close to 8tc. My guess would be that it might even be better than 8tc, because one of the problems with 8tc is a slighty excessive bass. By doubling up 4tc, you have a small gauge (10) than 8tc, and perhaps a lower capicitance. The only question is whether one can do even better by separating the 4tc. One person who tried it claims that by doing this one can preserve 4tc's superiority in transparency while adding some weight in the bass. perhaps in the next few weeks I will buy some extra 4tc to try this.

Unless I'm mistaken, doubling up 4TC will give you the same gauge as 8TC as it is exactly the same wire. It sure looks the same to me, regardless of what is on the Kimber website. The only thing that will not be exactly the same is the twist if it is done manually. Frankly, I don't feel that 4TC has any edge in transparency over 8TC (I'd rank them as equals in that area, but I guess some would disagree) and I don't find 8TC's bass to be excessive. I will say that, having owned both, 4TC offers much better value, but I do prefer the added bass and warmth that 8TC offers.

HDM,

Thanks for your impression of the difference between 4tc and 8tc. As to the gauge of two 4tc I am baffled. On one hand, if the wires are the same, two 4tc should equal one 8tc. On the other hand, two 13 gauge wires equal a 10 gauge wire and not a nine gauge.

behnegan, if you do some experimenting with double runs of 4tc please let me know what you find. I may want to "untwist" my pairs, but I don't want to have to disconnect and resolder the ends if the results are minimal.

Interesting points raised and good input. Thanks to all.

2chnlben,

I did get a chance to do some experiments. First, I doubled up my 4tc and kept the + and - cable five inches apart. It was a major improvement over a single run, better bass and no bad side effects. After several weeks, I felt that perhaps there was a bit of whiteness ( I cannot describe it better) in the upper frequencies so I put the + and - length together in a loose spiral. This further improved the base and the whiteness disappeared but perhaps there was tiny amount of less detail in upper frequencies. Now, this second arrangment is not the same as yours, but I suspect they are close. So based on my experience I would say that you should keep your arrangment. You should try to separate your runs only if you think that your base is too heavy. I should also say there was a big change going from 1 4tc to 2, but only a very minor change going from seperated runs to the spiral. One last note my system is bit light on bass so I cannot say which of the two arrangments are more neutral