Audio Interconnect

Foil Interconnect

It is easy to recognize, that I love metal foil conductor. Foil (aka ribbon) as conductor has superior signal transmission properties compared to any other conductor geometry.

dynamics, ease, punch, rythm, timbre, holographic soundstage, sovereignty

Derived from the design of my speaker cable emerged my interconnect that uses foils that are piggybacked. This cable has - compared to other ribbon cables - a rather low capacitance. That means that you can also use it with weak or passive sources.

Copper versus Silver

Copper is the second best conductor on earth. Silver is an even better conductor. However, silver is eavesdropped with prejudices by the audiophile audience. Some say it has harsh trebles and a thin sound. This has at least two reasons. First a non proper dielectric of the cable can lead to this effect. Secondly small errors in the audio system are transmitted better with silver. Copper is more likely to tolerate these errors. Is your chain ready for silver? Trial and error is the way to go. I will be happy to advise you! Feel free to order an identical trial set in copper and silver.

Supreme

What is better than a solder joint? ... no solder joint! With the wooden RCA plugs the conductor becomes the contact itself. Supreme signal transmission property!

Final

In the Final version you can choose between the superb RCA plugs from WBT nextgen or KLEI Harmony Plugs. With the copper version comes the WBT 0110 Cu nextgen PlasmaProtect or the KLEI Pure Harmony. With the silver version I use the WBT 0110 Ag nextgen or the KLEI Absolute Harmony.
For the Phono cable I use the Furutech FP-Din phono connector or any other termination you like.
The XLR cable comes standard with the very good Neutrik NC3-Fx/-Mx or, for an additional charge, with the CF-60x or FP-60x connectors from Furutech.

Shielding?

I strictly do not use shielding. Shielded interconnects are absolutely needless and counterproductive! It is necessary to understand that the electromagnetic wave is not only transported in the dielectric (between the conductors) but also in metal that is close to it (e.g. shielding). In metal though the wave has completely different (and frequency-dependend) propagation characteristics. In the audible range it travels almost at the speed of light in a dielectric. But only at walking speed in metal! Thus a part of the signal arrives delayed and smear it. The following applies: the lower the frequency, the slower the speed; the more conductive the material, the slower the speed. The proportion of the signal that is being transported in the conductor is also depending on the conductor geometry. That is the main reason why ribbon cables work that good.

Single-Ground- and Zero-Ground-Topology

Every standard RCA interconnect set has two ground wires. Thus, this cable forms a(nother) ground loop! If you think now that, if you don't hear any hum everything is fine, you are wrong! My RCA interconnect has only one ground conductor for both channels. Left and right channels are packed piggyback. A stereo set is consequently only "one" cable. An even blacker background and more resolution and soundstage are the results.
For those who have mono-block amplifiers of course will get two seperate cables.
Also the phono interconnect consists of two cables. Here we deal with a symmetric signal that comes from the pick-up generator.
My XLR interconnect has no ground conductor at all! The signal is symmetrically and has no reference to common ground. This has the nice side effect, that there is no ground loop at all.

Interconnect round

• 4N pure silver wire conductor
• No solder joint with the wooden RCA plug
• Resonance-enhanced with C37-varnish
• Protected against mechanical impacts by cotton

Review in Hoererlebnis Nr. 72 (german only)
Review by i-a-s