Where have I seen this before?

[Steve Eddy]

I was perusing some patents and came across this one for a cable which has the conductors braided on the outside of a hollow tube. The company which has patented this configuration isn't involved in high-end audio cables but I seem to recall seeing some ads from an audio cable manufacturer which featured the same configuration but after going through a pile of back issues of Stereophile and several other publications, I can't seem to find the ad.

If memory serves, the wire insulation in the cables for the ad had sort of pastel colors. I can't remember if the cables were for interconnects, speaker cables or power cords.

Anybody know the company that makes the cables I'm thinking about?

Thanks.

se

 

[johnferrier]

No clue here. However, did you search for patents that reference to this one? And how about a google search on the patent number (to see if it's licenced to an audio company)?

Don't know if either will turn up anything. I may have tried had you provided the patent number.


JF

 

[DAVOhorn]

I believe that many of the KIMBER cables use this method of construction both for speaker and interconnect. They also have more than one layer separated by an insulator.

Also WIREWORLD cables have a similar construction.

regards David

 

[Steve Eddy]

No clue here. However, did you search for patents that reference to this one? And how about a google search on the patent number (to see if it's licenced to an audio company)?

Been there, done that, struck out.

Don't know if either will turn up anything. I may have tried had you provided the patent number.

Thanks. It turns out it was Kimber as DAVOhorn suspected. I'd thought it was either Kimber or Cardas but I checked out both their websites and couldn't find anything.

So I just sat down and started going through ALL my back issues trying to find the ad I recalled seeing before. It finally turned up in an August/September 2001 issue of The Abso!ute Sound in an ad for Kimber's BiFocal loudspeaker cable.

So, mystery solved.

Thanks all!

se

 

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Pastel colours...Stereophile...Plaited geometetry??....XLO!

Cheers,

P.S. The patent is probably based on hollow conductor topology?

 

[Steve Eddy]

Pastel colours...Stereophile...Plaited geometetry??....XLO!

Hehehe. Naaah, I knew it wasn't XLO.

Just to brag a wee bit, I'd designed on a whim a DIY cable using the exact same geometry as XLO about two years before they introduced theirs. Seeing as the article was archived in the file area of The Audiophile Network (TAN) which was quite popular at the time, I've always wondered if that's where they got the idea.

I have to chuckle a bit when I read about their "Proprietary Field Balanced^tm geometry" in their marketing literature.

P.S. The patent is probably based on hollow conductor topology?

Ask your friends at Phelps-Dodge. It's their patent.

se