T Cobe

As you know, time goes by, and information gets lost.
18-7 wire...what exactly is it, and what is so special about it.
The closest thing I can find says it's for trailer hookups.

Help in Kansas

T Cobe wrote:

By way of Wayne, Art, and Eiffel62 I finally picked up the RCA Victor Living Stereo version of Bolero. Of course, I'm listening in 2-channel this morning. I can see why everyone likes this one. Great recording and performance!

I've never been one for cable "break-in" periods or upgraded power cords but I have to say my mind has been changed on both. Now that my power cords have 100+ hours on them, I have put the 18-7 speaker wire back in place and the harshness is gone. The rock solid imaging, dynamics, and micro detail are back. By comparison, the stranded wire seems to smear the sounds together a bit.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hey, T Cobe

I've not heard Bolero in SACD before. Based on your, Wayne, Art and eiffel62's recommendations, I just ordered it. I'll have to wait until I get back to TX to enjoy it, can't play SACD stuff here in NH.

Another treat that will be waiting for me when I get back!

Rick

Wayne and Rick,

It appears I ordered a stereo version of Bolero and not the SACD version... I went back on-line and rectified the issue so I should be receiving the hybrid disc soon. I'll listen in multi-channel when it arrives and report back.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Anthem,

The wire I'm referring to is actually a generic sprinkler wire sold at my local home improvement store. The Nordost speaker cables use fewer, larger strands of wire so I went out to find a low cost, temporary solution. What I found was a wire with 7 strands of 18-gauge wire and I use one for the positive and another for the negative leads. It comes out to about 10-gauge wire from what I've calculated. I purchased 50 feet of the wire for about $25.

The sound is as I described earlier. It more detailed, dynamic, transparent, and more forward sounding with a larger soundstage. A good track to illustrate the effects is Spanish Harlem by Rebecca Pidgeon. When listening with the 10-gauge Belden wire, her vocals are a bit bloated and there seems to be some added resonance to her vocals above and beyond the natural acoustics of the recording. The 18-7 wire clean them up, bring them forward, and offer additional transparency. The bass may be slightly more tonally rich but that is marginal. One of the most noticeable differences is towards the second half of the song when the shakers and piano come into play. The shakers can get lost/drown out by the piano and violin. With the 18-7 wire, the shakers are continuously present and display more acoustic detail. The transients of the piano are also improved.

All of these are based on my listening impressions with my equipment, in my room. At $25 it is certainly worth experimenting with. The wire is very stiff due to the size of the wire.



On another note, The 32-bit UHD Sony version of KOB has shipped, so it should be here tomorrow or Tuesday. I'll let you know if it's an improvement over my existing copy. I've got my fingers crossed.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Sean Jones / Gemini (2005) -- Gemini

This track has some Smokin Hot bass that will leave you in a Trance like state.
Second play on this cd...Thumbs Up.

T Cobe: Thanks for the 18-7 description.
Also, anticipating your 32 bit UHD Sony review.

This is one amazing track! I'm actually listening to disk 2 of The Best of Blue Note. Both disks have a number of great songs and I would highly recommend this album to anyone interested in getting their feet wet with Jazz.

Cheers,

T Cobe