47 Labs OTA, a cheap alternative?

[PauSim]

So, this is the wire...

[PauSim]

... that now looks much better, don´t you think?

[PauSim]

For measuring capacitance I always suspend the cables above the floor. Otherwise capacitance increases. This may be the cable elevators raison-d´etre...

[PauSim]

So here it is: 222 pF for 2 meters of PVC twisted 10 awg loudspeaker cable.

[PauSim]

I have to state that when this cable was measured on the floor the capacitance rised only a dozen picofarads.
It seems inconsequent to performance, at "loudspeaker level", if the values remain constant. However, it´s while the music is playing that the capacitance needs to be measured. I don´t know how to do it this way, but one thing is for sure: if a rythmic pressure is done to the cable, capacitance arises and decreases accordingly as the PVC jacket is very soft and the wires are pressed against each other. Given that the ever-changing values in capacitance interfere with high frequencies, if we could isolate the cable from the pressure of sound waves we would achieve a much steadier image, I think.
Even if the variations occur at higher than 20 KHz I know from my experiences with analogue synthesizers that certain sine-waves ( single harmonics) interactions at any range produce results a few octaves down.
So, all this to conclude that the cable could be bettered if it went through another jacket before the fancy Techflex. A split wire loom, which is robust and flexible at the same time springed to mind. I tried a Legrand polypropilene here that would be perfect if it hadn´t a bigger internal diameter.

Hoping I´m not hijacking this thread as this is still a cheap alternative to the OTA cable...

[PauSim]

Here´s the on-line version of the cable survey where you´ll find the HD-14.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/news...e_survey2.html


Home Depot HD-14G
est. $30 per 50-foot pair with terminations
Okay, the model designation is my own invention, standing for H (Home) D (Depot) 14G(auge) outdoor extension cord. Otherwise, this entry is no joke. Like several other cables, it comes in a decorative jacket, here of striking orange and black, evocative of Halloween; unlike the others, you must snip off its AC connectors and attach terminations of choice (I used Pomona bananas). The HD-14G rendered Murray Perahia’s piano in a big bold manner, lacking just a little in finesse and ultimate transparency. It threw an image on Jacintha’s “Something’s Gotta Give” with the best—one note reads, “some of the best depth of any cable”—with tuneful bass, notably good height, and a quite lifelike projection. On the Rachmaninoff, it didn’t sound as “fast,” transparent, controlled, or defined in the bass as the better cables, but it wasn’t far behind them either, and it was always highly listenable and involving, with a big-boned, robust presentation that flattered the Appalachian Spring sonics. As for detail, well, it allowed me to hear every piano chord that bleeds through Jacintha’s headphones at the beginning of “Danny Boy” (Autumn Leaves); more detail than that you don’t need.
I’ll leave the last observation to the most technically knowledgeable, musically literate, and experienced of my listening group: “You know what’s really good about this cable? It sounds totally unscrewed around with.” If its half-inch thickness isn’t macho enough, Home Depot also sells a 12-gauge for half again that sum, and a 10-gauge for about twice the price, both in less attractive yellow-and-black jackets. If you still think I’m kidding, know that Tony Faulkner—engineer of about a third of the best-sounding orchestral recordings of the last twenty years—used the Black-and-Decker equivalent to hook up his Quad 989s at the recent Heathrow Show in England—“They are made from good, thick copper wire, look nice and sound good to me”—and that the designer of what is by provable standards one of the half dozen or so most accurate loudspeakers ever made uses and recommends it all the time.

(Taken from link above)