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To splice or not to splice?

I have a mid-fi system (Dynaudio MkII, NAD c320BEE, Canare wires) and recently acquired a 6-foot Audioquest King Cobra cable for next-to-nothing. My first inclination was to cut it up to make a pair of extremely short IC's to replace my pre-to-power amp jumpers and then to make one or two pairs of short IC's for component-to-pre connection.

I have since become aware that the King Cobra has connectors which are welded, not soldered. I'm not concerned about losing value as I have little in the cable and do not plan to sell it. I am concerned with losing a high percentage of sound after splicing and adding standard audio RCA connectors using solder.

I expect a small loss from the process. Am I likely to be disappointed?

Is there anyone here with some experience in this realm?

many thanks,

T.U.
128x128tostadosunidos
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos OP
1,197 posts
 
Zd542, wouldn't it be the opposite? One of the original RCA's has the arrows pointing in, the other out. So I think one should be in the preamp, the other in the source component or in the power amp (if used as jumper). Right?
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Zd542, wouldn't it be the opposite? One of the original RCA's has the arrows pointing in, the other out. So I think one should be in the preamp, the other in the source component or in the power amp (if used as jumper). Right?"

No. The arrows are for the cables themselves, not the connectors. They are used for break in. You can run them the other way, but it will just take a little longer for the cables to re-break in for the change in direction. If you are making a pair of IC's or jumpers, you want them exactly the same.
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
DC current flows from positive to negative. AC current runs back and forth. If you reverse arrows the current will run forth and back.
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos OP
1,197 posts
 
This is a followup to the original thread:

I (finally!) had the single King Cobra cable turned into a pair. Right now they are being used to connect the preamp of the NAD integrated amp to the power amp section. It sounds great--much better than any other stereo pair I tried and they blow the doors off the sound of the original little metal jumpers.

So, I now plan to trim a little off to make a short pair for the NAD so that I can have a longer pair for CD-to-preamp.

I post this in case anyone else ever does things "on the cheap"--if you can get a long enough piece of good cable for a good price it may be worth your while to buy a few RCA's and splice away. It certainly has been worth it for me. My overall sound is greatly improved (warmer, no loss of detail if not an actual gain in that respect, better soundstage, just more natural overall) and it didn't break the bank. I just know I would not have had a couple of pairs of cable of this quality otherwise. Can't wait to get the second pair up and running.

Thanks again to all who responded. Can't say enough good about the folks here.
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