Introduction Great audio accessories are like classic items, they never quite go out of style. Firmly resisting fashion and flavour-of-the-month things, they are able to withstand the test of time. Finite Elemente has for many years been one of my favourite and go-to brands for footers. They were are Teutonic as you could get - precision engineered with a no-nonsense approach to improving the sound of your audio system. They were not cheap by any stretch of imagination, but good things seldom are. Besides, the sonic rewards were more than commensurate with your financial outlay. It was with a bit of sadness then when I heard that Finite Elemente went out of business recently. Fret not - they are now back ! Description The Ceraball sits at the bottom of the footer range, but some important changes have been made. I happened to have both the first and second generation Ceraball on hand, as well as the current third generation model, so here is a family photo. The Ceraball has steadily ga...
Introduction Sound Affairs has expanded it's Plixir line to linclude high-end interconnects and power cables. You may want to have a look at my earlier post on the Plixir Elementa power cord. I took a look recently at the Signature Interconnect, which sits above the entry-level model, Elementa. Description The Plixir Signature Interconnect is finished in a pale blue jacket and is available in both RCA and XLR versions. The cable utilises Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC) copper conductors arranged in a star quad geometry, and is shielded. The cable is marked for signal direction. While I did not try to use the cable the "wrong" way around, the braided shield is tied at the source end only and should sound different hooked up both ways. The RCA version I had on hand was terminated with DH Labs RCA plugs. The cables are quite flexible and unable to suspend light components in the air, unlike some of it's competitors. The plugs lack jaws of death required to rip out your RCA s...
Introduction Here are three speaker cables that DO NOT (i) come in elaborate wood boxes with certificates, (ii) have a diameter larger than garden hose, (iii) suspend your equipment in the air with their stiffness, and (iv) have price tags exceeding the average annual household income in most developing nations. Instead, you have three flexible and easy to strip speaker cables that are affordable enough to be purchased by almost anyone. Description Belden Studio 814 (JPY 1,000 / m) This is actually the thickest cable of the lot. Internally, there are two insulated conductors, one white and one red. The conductors are stranded copper. I couldn't find any specifications on this cable, except that the wire gauge is 14 AWG OFC. Nanotec Golden Strada #79 Special (JPY 822 / m) This is the most exotic cable in the mix, with the copper conductors coated in a nano particle mix of silver and gold, suspended in natural oil as a colloid. The copper conductors consist of 7 strands of 0.5 mm di...
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