Have you ever wondered what is inside the boxes that are attached to Transparent and MIT cables........................Zobel networks of course.
I was on Audio Asylum and someone posted this link to a German site where someone had taken a Transparent cable apart. You might be surprised at what he found inside. Now you know what makes that cable so expensive....something to experiment with.
http://www.faktiskt.se/modules.php?...topic&t=2953&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
I have been recently been experimenting with Zobels with good results..........but outcome depends on the particular application.
The definitive text on the subject is by Mr.Nelson Pass and is available here...
http://passlabs.com/pdf/spkrcabl.pdf
.....and if only we had listened to him years ago, when he wrote it.😉
I was on Audio Asylum and someone posted this link to a German site where someone had taken a Transparent cable apart. You might be surprised at what he found inside. Now you know what makes that cable so expensive....something to experiment with.
http://www.faktiskt.se/modules.php?...topic&t=2953&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
I have been recently been experimenting with Zobels with good results..........but outcome depends on the particular application.
The definitive text on the subject is by Mr.Nelson Pass and is available here...
http://passlabs.com/pdf/spkrcabl.pdf
.....and if only we had listened to him years ago, when he wrote it.😉
im not overly surprised. i remember seeing some of those cables at a shop once, and i picked up that box. in the pictures i had seen, it always looked like it would be heavy. when i picked it up, it was apparent it was hollow and felt as if the cable was just going right through. sure enough.
the box is this plastic crap too, its not even a metal box. oh well.
the box is this plastic crap too, its not even a metal box. oh well.
Magura,
Sorry..........goes to show that I don't know my Swedish from my
German..............where is Fred when you need him? 😉
Any volunteers to take a MIT cable apart?
Sorry..........goes to show that I don't know my Swedish from my
German..............where is Fred when you need him? 😉
Any volunteers to take a MIT cable apart?
Or, well. It shoulds you how much truth there is in those "cables".
Didn't we do our own test somewhere here? two forum posters who swear they can hear cable directionality were sent two directional cables, and nothing came out of that.
Weird.
Didn't we do our own test somewhere here? two forum posters who swear they can hear cable directionality were sent two directional cables, and nothing came out of that.
Weird.
Alph core recommends the same thing for the goertz line of cables, but they don't disguise it, they add them if you think your amp will have problems driving a capacitive load, a much more respectable approach.
agreed.
throwing a HUGE box on there to make it look like its worth a ton of money is a bit deceiving. and they charge and arm and a leg for cables too.
throwing a HUGE box on there to make it look like its worth a ton of money is a bit deceiving. and they charge and arm and a leg for cables too.
Rod Elliot recently put up an article on his site regarding some tests he made regarding cables and zobels. I'm over simplifiying but it sort of worked out that if you just take some lamp cord and stick a zobel on the far end you can be right there with the high priced boys.
jam said:
Yes, me.😎
Send the cable to me, I'll open it.😀
I remember some Oracle cables with big boxes too...
i would be curious about the MIT cables... their lower level cables seem to just have that box in there with the zobel, but the oracle and some of the others have a bigger box, and i know that the oracle's weigh in at like 40 pounds each. something else is in that box. it could just be sand, but its a BIG box, and heavy. it would be VERY tricky to just use the same zobel and fill it with sand to make it seem like there is more stuff going on.
This is really old news and no reason to get too excited. Transparent and MIT are closely related so MIT are very possibly similar.
I am not so sure if zobel is the correct name for this type of filter but in any case it is a low pass with a very high (hundreds of kilohertz) corner frequency. The exact values of the cap and resistor seem to depend upon the length. Some cables achieve RFI filtering through geometric design while Transparent have simple geometry and silly 'network' boxes to achieve the same. Most Transparent cables are built with high mechanical damping in mind and the network boxes continue this trend.
I have a few pairs of their cables, currently collecting dust in various cupboards. Dunno if it's the filtering or damping but they tend to sound rather enclosed altough with good soundstage and layering. Great match for screechy solid state amps fed with digital 🙂
I am not so sure if zobel is the correct name for this type of filter but in any case it is a low pass with a very high (hundreds of kilohertz) corner frequency. The exact values of the cap and resistor seem to depend upon the length. Some cables achieve RFI filtering through geometric design while Transparent have simple geometry and silly 'network' boxes to achieve the same. Most Transparent cables are built with high mechanical damping in mind and the network boxes continue this trend.
I have a few pairs of their cables, currently collecting dust in various cupboards. Dunno if it's the filtering or damping but they tend to sound rather enclosed altough with good soundstage and layering. Great match for screechy solid state amps fed with digital 🙂
Yet another way to make expensive cables (ADVERTISEMENT)
It's the same old story.
You've sacrificed, pinched your pennies and saved up for months. But it's been worth it and the time has finally come. You rush down to your local Radio Shack and moments later emerge the proud owner their best Gold Series interconnects.
You break a dozen traffic laws racing home. You hook 'em up, turn on the power, cue up your favorite recording, and with your hands still dripping with the sweat of anticipation, your heart sinks.
It's like listening to music through a pillow. Big, warm, fuzzy sound. ZERO clarity!
You give Radio Shack a call to see if they can offer some assistance but the guy just started working there and his last job was selling orthopedic shoes.
So you hop on the Internet and start poking around. Eventually you come across a lively discussion group bristling with experienced audiophiles. So you post a message detailing your plight, desparately pleading for help.
Soon you get a reply. It reads:
Until you break the $300 per pair barrier, you probably will still have haze etc... The performance improves dramatically above this price point.
Your heart sinks still lower.
We know.
You'd love nothing more than to own a much higher priced pair of interconnects but let's face it, not all of us have the deep pockets to spend even dozens let alone hundreds of dollars on cables.
And with the war in the Middle East and major corporate scandals breaking every week turning the stock market inside out on top of a jobless economic recovery, it's not likely that a pay raise is in your future.
We hear ya, bro.
That's why the dedicated folks at Kludge Research, Inc. have spared no expense and invested countless hours in research and development to bring you what promises to be the most revolutionary audio product of the past century. And bring it to you at a price that even you can afford!
Introducing, the Audiophile Pricetag®!
The Audiophile Pricetag® will literally transform your cheap or giveaway interconnects into sonic marvels costing thousands of times more!
The Audiophile Pricetag® is no ordinary pricetag. It's hand-crafted from the finest materials available.
The heavy-gauge, 99.9999% pure cotton string utilizes a proprietary twisting method which provides a superior connection to your existing cable.
The manila card stock is made custom to our specifications from virgin stands of Abaca (Musa textilis) from the Philippine Islands and is hand cut in our factory using techniques hundreds of years old with the price hand-written by one of our many craftspersons, signed and dated on the back of the tag.
Our patented hole reinforcement technology assures that your Audiophile Pricetag® will last a lifetime, even under continuous use.
Best of all, the Audiophile Pricetag® is being offered at the special introductory price of just $29.95!
Imagine getting the performance of a $5,000 cable for less than pennies on the dollar!
A bit tight on cash? No problem! Kludge Research, Inc. offers zero interest, six month financing. And if you act now, we'll defer your payments until January 2010!
And for the Do-It-Yourselfer, the Audiophile Pricetag® is also available in kit form at the substantially reduced price of just $19.95!
Each kit comes with a pre-cut tag, hole reinforcer, string and a tube of glue. The 23 page instruction manual is clearly written and includes more than a dozen illustrations walking you step-by-step from preparation to installation.
Let's hear what just one of our many satisfied customers has to say about this revolutionary new technology:
I was skeptical at first. But that ended just a few measures into the first song when I realized that I'd soiled my pants! You should offer a diaper with this thing! It's THAT good! And if you don't believe me, just moments later my wife who has no interest at all in this audiophile stuff telephoned me from the neighbor's house three doors down and asked me if I'd changed something in my system!
You guys are great!
Baskin Ennison
Runamok, South Dakota
It really is THAT good. In our own tests, we've even used the Audiophile Pricetag® with interconnects made from coat hangers and bailing wire with the same result!
Of course all great innovations have had their detractors and the Audiophile Pricetag® is no exception. There have been a number of critics who have claimed that any two reasonably well designed pricetags will sound the same.
We disagree. But who are we to say? Try it for yourself risk-free for 30 days. If you don't agree that it transforms even the cheapest interconnect into an interconnect costing $5,000, return it for a full refund.
The Auidiophile Pricetag®: You owe it to yourself.
The Audiophile Pricetag® is a registered trademark of Kludge Research, Inc. Copyright 2004 Kludge Research, Inc., all rights reserved.
It's the same old story.
You've sacrificed, pinched your pennies and saved up for months. But it's been worth it and the time has finally come. You rush down to your local Radio Shack and moments later emerge the proud owner their best Gold Series interconnects.
You break a dozen traffic laws racing home. You hook 'em up, turn on the power, cue up your favorite recording, and with your hands still dripping with the sweat of anticipation, your heart sinks.
It's like listening to music through a pillow. Big, warm, fuzzy sound. ZERO clarity!
You give Radio Shack a call to see if they can offer some assistance but the guy just started working there and his last job was selling orthopedic shoes.
So you hop on the Internet and start poking around. Eventually you come across a lively discussion group bristling with experienced audiophiles. So you post a message detailing your plight, desparately pleading for help.
Soon you get a reply. It reads:
Until you break the $300 per pair barrier, you probably will still have haze etc... The performance improves dramatically above this price point.
Your heart sinks still lower.
We know.
You'd love nothing more than to own a much higher priced pair of interconnects but let's face it, not all of us have the deep pockets to spend even dozens let alone hundreds of dollars on cables.
And with the war in the Middle East and major corporate scandals breaking every week turning the stock market inside out on top of a jobless economic recovery, it's not likely that a pay raise is in your future.
We hear ya, bro.
That's why the dedicated folks at Kludge Research, Inc. have spared no expense and invested countless hours in research and development to bring you what promises to be the most revolutionary audio product of the past century. And bring it to you at a price that even you can afford!
Introducing, the Audiophile Pricetag®!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
The Audiophile Pricetag® will literally transform your cheap or giveaway interconnects into sonic marvels costing thousands of times more!
The Audiophile Pricetag® is no ordinary pricetag. It's hand-crafted from the finest materials available.
The heavy-gauge, 99.9999% pure cotton string utilizes a proprietary twisting method which provides a superior connection to your existing cable.
The manila card stock is made custom to our specifications from virgin stands of Abaca (Musa textilis) from the Philippine Islands and is hand cut in our factory using techniques hundreds of years old with the price hand-written by one of our many craftspersons, signed and dated on the back of the tag.
Our patented hole reinforcement technology assures that your Audiophile Pricetag® will last a lifetime, even under continuous use.
Best of all, the Audiophile Pricetag® is being offered at the special introductory price of just $29.95!
Imagine getting the performance of a $5,000 cable for less than pennies on the dollar!
A bit tight on cash? No problem! Kludge Research, Inc. offers zero interest, six month financing. And if you act now, we'll defer your payments until January 2010!
And for the Do-It-Yourselfer, the Audiophile Pricetag® is also available in kit form at the substantially reduced price of just $19.95!
Each kit comes with a pre-cut tag, hole reinforcer, string and a tube of glue. The 23 page instruction manual is clearly written and includes more than a dozen illustrations walking you step-by-step from preparation to installation.
Let's hear what just one of our many satisfied customers has to say about this revolutionary new technology:
I was skeptical at first. But that ended just a few measures into the first song when I realized that I'd soiled my pants! You should offer a diaper with this thing! It's THAT good! And if you don't believe me, just moments later my wife who has no interest at all in this audiophile stuff telephoned me from the neighbor's house three doors down and asked me if I'd changed something in my system!
You guys are great!
Baskin Ennison
Runamok, South Dakota
It really is THAT good. In our own tests, we've even used the Audiophile Pricetag® with interconnects made from coat hangers and bailing wire with the same result!
Of course all great innovations have had their detractors and the Audiophile Pricetag® is no exception. There have been a number of critics who have claimed that any two reasonably well designed pricetags will sound the same.
We disagree. But who are we to say? Try it for yourself risk-free for 30 days. If you don't agree that it transforms even the cheapest interconnect into an interconnect costing $5,000, return it for a full refund.
The Auidiophile Pricetag®: You owe it to yourself.
The Audiophile Pricetag® is a registered trademark of Kludge Research, Inc. Copyright 2004 Kludge Research, Inc., all rights reserved.
carlosfm said:Impressive.
Brilliant.
This post from Steve should be made permanent on this forum.
I 2nd that.
I was wondering where are our "cable-directionality" guys? 🙂
In that vein, in this month's Stereophile, Art Dudley reviewed a couple of the Audioquest cables with the batteries - you know, the ones that create a DC field to bias the dialectric so that it will be correctly charged for the audio signal.
He called a spade a spade.
Remarkably, the manufacturer's comments at the end of the issue ran to a page and a half.
-Drew
He called a spade a spade.
Remarkably, the manufacturer's comments at the end of the issue ran to a page and a half.
-Drew
- Status
- Not open for further replies.