47 Labs OTA, a cheap alternative?

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I hear the OTA cables designed by 47 labs are somehow the better choice for interconnects and even speaker cables, especially for gainclones (hence why this thread is in this forum)

From the official site, and some digging on the web and this forum, ive only found the following specs about the cable:

- 0.4 mm thick (26 AWG)
- solid conductor
- OFC copper
- jacket material???

oh and its ridiculous price tag of course :bigeyes:

I would like to know if anyone has found a reasonably priced alternative cable that is basically the same thing as the OTA.

Is construction really just a double length of the wire side by side? is there any way to join them for neatness, since i hear you shouldnt twist them.

Anyone have pictures of interconnects (i have no idea how to terminate with rca)?
 
Stabist said:
Not quite sure what makes you problems - but for IC - if you take 2 wires - one is signal and one is gnd - so 1 wire is for signal and other for gnd - simple as that ...

Ok maybe i made my self sound a lil more dumb than i am. I know where the connections go, just was wondering how people are constructing them. The RCA's i have are designed to accept thicker wire, the hot being soldered to the middle prong, and the cold is the shield which is crimped down on by a screw. SO with such thin wire, do i need a dif type of RCA?

Also shouldnt IC's be shielded?
 
homer09 said:


Ok maybe i made my self sound a lil more dumb than i am. I know where the connections go, just was wondering how people are constructing them. The RCA's i have are designed to accept thicker wire, the hot being soldered to the middle prong, and the cold is the shield which is crimped down on by a screw. SO with such thin wire, do i need a dif type of RCA?

Also shouldnt IC's be shielded?

It's not neccesary to have shield - just look at Kimber cables, etc ...
All my cables are diy - and except in one case I never used a shield - I just soldered gnd cable somewhere on the connector ... And I use standard RCAs ... But you're right - most of the RCAs are "stupid" - Eichman RCAs are a good example of what a call smart engineering!!
Another interesting aproach is the way Naim does ...
 
Asen said:
I had bad results with CAT5. It's a waste of time but try it for yourself. Anyway it's cheap enough and it won't hurt.
I use it, so do others, with very good results.
I'd say people reading your statement waste their time since you generalize on this when it's not the case. Say you wasted your time, don't say it's a waste of time. Unless you try it, you never know, not all systems are the same
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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I use CAT 5 strands with good results. Use the solid core stuff. Plenum grade (teflon insulation) is best but not nearly as obtainable as the cheaper stuff with PVC insulation.

It is best -- but a lot of work -- to untwist the strands and run them some distance from each other. I'm usually lazy and just run a single twisted pair. At some point i'll get industrious enuff to build a multiple pararlell strand cable where the wires are layed flat inside a sandwich of packing tape.

dave
 
if i like the results, im think i will probably run two conductors around a hose or some other flexbile separator and heat shrink the whole thing.

If i have very unequal distances to my speakers (i need a min of ~12' to reach one and ~3' to reach the other from the amp) should i use unequal cable lengths or make them both long and coil one up?
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
homer09 said:
if i like the results, im think i will probably run two conductors around a hose or some other flexbile separator and heat shrink the whole thing.

My buddy used aquarium hose for some recent interconnects

If i have very unequal distances to my speakers (i need a min of ~12' to reach one and ~3' to reach the other from the amp) should i use unequal cable lengths or make them both long and coil one up?

same length ideally (i know it's a pain, but....)

dave
 
etexte,

I know what I am saying because I have made a lot of experiments with different CAT5 cables, trying them both as interconects and loudspeaker cables, and in different systems. I have tried CAT5 with horns and loudspeakers with Seas Excel drivers, which are very sensitive to what's in front of them. I tried to achieve good results but it never worked.
Lets don't forget that the 47 Labs cable costs 8$ per meter and the CAT5 half a dollar for 4 pairs. So speaking about good results, there is one advantage - it is cheap.
If you have bad cables and try CAT5 maybe you may like the result. But I still prefer my vdHul cables. Good luck, anyway.

Si, etexte, nu te supara. Am voie sa spun care e parerea mea. Pa.
 
CAT6 really sounds much better then CAT5e. Of all the brands I tried the sound of the Avaya was best.

IMO CAT6 is still waste of time. If you want to fool around with networking cable try to find some of the old 22 gauge 4 conductor IBM spec cable. Each conductor has a foam like insulating jacket and its own foil shielding. It beats the heck out of CAT anything. :smash:
 
I have used some CAT5 cables (not teflon insulation!) as interconnects. I braided them as 3 separate wires first and then another made one with 4 separate wires.

What is this cable capable for? It surelly opens "closed" sistems. If you have some cheap IC's you might be surprised with the amount of details which will be brought to your ear just by using CAT5 cable. But after a while you will surely notice an amount of sharpness in mids and certainely in highs.

I still have a pair between my VCR and amp. For this purpose I am pretty satisfied with CAT5. As main IC's I am using Audioquests Diamondback and G-snake.

Haven't used them for speaker cable yet, but surelly will try some day. Actually in Croatia where I lives I haven't found CAT5 with teflon insulation and I think that the most good what comes from CAT5 comes from teflon and certainely from solid OFC copper.

Tomislav.
 
Gaucho said:
CIf you want to fool around with networking cable try to find some of the old 22 gauge 4 conductor IBM spec cable. Each conductor has a foam like insulating jacket and its own foil shielding. It beats the heck out of CAT anything. :smash:

OR just any cat5/6 STP (shielded twiseted pair) has shielding, its still pretty cheap and available almost anywhere.

(Napoleon Dynamite, on Gaucho's avatar, is just too coool :D)

I always wonder, do you ground IC shielding? to signal GND or just the case?
 
OR just any cat5/6 STP (shielded twiseted pair) has shielding, its still pretty cheap and available almost anywhere.

I don' t think the shieling is critical when used as speaker cable, I don't recall being able to hear the difference when tieing it to ground at the amp. In my previous post I was just describing the construction of the IBM cable so people know it when they see it. I did not mean to imply that the better performance of the IBM calbe was due to its shielding.

BTW the IBM cable makes for a poor IC. Didn't like it as a power cord either. :smash:
 
Gaucho said:


I don' t think the shieling is critical when used as speaker cable, I don't recall being able to hear the difference when tieing it to ground at the amp. In my previous post I was just describing the construction of the IBM cable so people know it when they see it. I did not mean to imply that the better performance of the IBM calbe was due to its shielding.


i dont think shielding is critical on speaker wire because current and voltage is high. there would have to be lots of nearby interference for a difference to be noticeable. as long as you dont run your speaker cable along AC wire or near a computer, there shouldnt be a difference. for ICs i believe in shielding since the signal is quite weak and a small interference will be amplified.
 
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