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High Fidelity Cables CT-1designed by Rick Schultz

In December 2011,I wrote that High Fidelity cables led by cable designer Rick Schultz was putting together a new cable.The cable came to market as CT-1.The CT-1 has FINALLY made it into my system!I had obtained a version of the prototype that Rick had been working on.It blew my previous reference Genesis by Virtual Dynamics.I thought I had finally found my end with this cable.This prototype delivered to my ears "Nirvana".Could I be at the end of my quest for the ultimate sound?
No. I received two pairs of CT-1 to replace my prototypes.They went into the system this past Friday.Unable to dedicate time until Sunday listening,I stole a few moments,ducking away from company with anticipation.My guest could tell even with the music set for"ambiance"something was intriguing and I was in for a treat!
The experience:
First off,CT-1 was very user friendly.Installation was simple;the cable is very nice and light.The female RCA fit beautifully unlike any I had found in other cable.It was secure and reliable.It seemed much thought was dedicated to developing a designer fit to an aesthetically stunning RCA connector.Install entailed a few wiggles to ensure what seemed like a compression fit on my RCA.
It was 2-3 hrs. for the 1st step of break in to be complete.At that point I had something different!Today,although they only have 10-12 hrs. on them,I can`t put into words how much my system has transformed.Believe me,I loved my prototypes.However....there is simply no comparision.
The clarity and sound is so natural.
The soundstage is like nothing I ever heard.Resoulution is breathtaking and inner detail is simply hard to believe possible.
The sound has transended and now it simply does not seem as thought I have speakers.
My system is musicians playing music.
I am told with time they will improve and I trust that as it was revealed with the prototypes.I wanted to share my thoughts with you that now.
Unequivocally,a testament to High Fidelity,as the name declares.
High Fidelity Cables for me,the last word on it,after 12 hours!
Truly Amazing

Al
alpass
hifial's avatar
hifial
332 posts
 
Tbg, yes it is possible but you lose the benefits of balanced cable and you might get a ground hum. then you would need to lift the ground. As an example removing the ground pin from the power cable or using a "cheater plug" on the power cable.

But the way Fplanner2000 mentions is a balanced cable and you still get the benefits of a balanced cable.

Fplanner2000, I realize depending which level of HFC could make a difference in burn in and I should have mentioned which ones I had but a ball park figured would have been fine. I have long ago asked Rick, as I was one of the first to try the 2:1 adapter. I was hoping to get some direct feedback form a follow user. Just so you know I have the CT-1 for my interconnect with the RCA/XLR 2:1 adapter and I use the CT-1E with a CT-1 jumper as my speaker cable.
Also sorry I misunderstood you about the RCA and amp thing. I thought you were referring to some issue with using the cables in your system.
fplanner2000
616 posts
 
Hifial- No problem. I was running CT-1 Ultimates and it took a really long time for the double run to start sounding decent. I was then without amps for a few months. When they came back, I changed to single Ultimate RCAs from preamp tp amps and they sounded good almost immediately. After a few more weeks, they are really sounding good, much better than before. Rick and his lovely wife actually came over during the RMAF (I live in Denver) to hear the system after it hadn't been played in over 2 months. COLD, the system sounded much better than I remembered it and I think Rick was impressed as well. I would say the break-in process is now pretty far along.:-)

To me, the single ended RCAs sound MUCH better than the quasi-balanced connections we tried to put together. What I really enjoy about Rick's cables is that they get out of the way of the music, more so than any others I've ever heard, yet they do so in such a way that you hear the micro details and spatial clues you've never heard before. This is done against a background of organic musicality, totally lacking any "hi-fi-ness" (which unfortunately is all too common in the vast majority of other brands, regardless of price). There is no glare, nor harshness; just music the way I think it was meant to be enjoyed. I have Ultimates everywhere except the speaker runs, which are Ultimate Reference with Ultimate jumpers.

Now that the cables are finally breaking in, it is truly a jaw-dropping experience to hear some of what is coming out of my system. GREAT JOB RICK!!! AND THANK YOU!!!
tsushima1
1,165 posts
 
Good Morning Gentlemen, and my thanks to all respondents thus far.

My main intent was to seek advice whether the addition of an RCA > XLR adapter would/may denude , to any significant degree, the fundamental way in which Magnetic technology transfers the audio signal from Pre > Power utilizing a standard RCA topology CT1-U .

I appreciate that in effect one would be running in an less than optimal way with regard to voltage output, however I was further considering .

Were the main point regarding the CT1 to be the case and taken together with the step-down affect of running single ended as apposed to optimally balance , whether the overall negatives out-way the benefits of running one of Ricks cables at this point in the chain anyway.

My ARC 40 Aniv Pre/Out does support the option of RCA or True Balanced XLR however my Ref 150 is True Balanced XLR Input only.

Jasper.

tbg
5,263 posts
 
Tsushima1, I have the capability with my Exemplar XP-2 line stage and BMC M2 amps of both balanced and single-end ics. I had truly excellent Exemplar Silver Portal balanced and charged cables everywhere and once had the same Silver Portals single ended cables. The balanced were clearly better. I should say, however, in the past I had found little or no gain with balanced.

Since this I have gone through CT-1s, CT-iEs, and CT-1Us. All were, of course, single-ended. With the possible exception of the original CT-1s, the balanced were bested by the HF single-ended.

I really find the XLRs for the HF balanced cables seem hard to conceptualize. Let's hope for them to come along.
agisthos
507 posts
 
The stopgap method for running HFC balanced, is to use a pair of RCA cables, both pointing in the same signal direction, into a Cardas 2xRCA-XLR adaptor for each channel.

Its not a normal RCA-XLR adaptor, if that's what some are thinking.

It all comes down to the quality of the adaptor. But I can't imagine this method will be as good as a proper XLR cable coming next year. Remember the technology is in the connector, so this requires a ground up XLR design, not just buying a catalog XLR like other cable companies can do.

Its very cost prohibitive and I would not like to be in their shoes to be honest.

How they plan on doing the XLR cable, is two runs of wire similar to what is currently used in the RCA, one for positive and one for negative, but the shield from both runs are connected to the common ground in each XLR connector.

At least this is what I heard from Rick a while back - they may have different plans now.
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