pal:
Quote:P.S. I have always wanted to try those Eichmann plugs on some IC's. I've heard good things about them.
I made a Belden 8402 IC with switchcraft RCAs quite a while ago as per the Blog instructions. The thing I liked most about the Belden was the slightly warm and biggish body and bottom (I suspect due to the larger wire in part), its friendly midrange emphasis, friendly/open (though suppressed) highs... pretty accurate feeling timbre.
Nice cable, but it was just too limiting compared to what I was used to, my VHAudio recipe silver IC using KLE silver harmony ends. I used WBT silver solder on both.
The VH pure silver wire/design with the Silver Harmonies (pure silver and silver plated copper) are really amazing to me...very neutral, transparent and revealing without sacrifice to musicality. The more I compare it, the more I like it.
I had a similar thought as Maddog, wondering what a nice RCA would do with the Belden cable, though I have heard differences comparing good wires so don't think the connectors are more important than the wire necessarily.
Having some Eichman Gold plated copper Bullets around, I put them on the same piece of Belden cable, it being burned in. I used WBT silver solder again. It is hard to say exactly the differences without being able to A/B directly, but even with brand new solder and RCAs, I heard the Eichmann RCAs let the cable breath better, letting through more complex information faster. I played them about a week in the main system, liking the big, warm sound with nice midrange presence and good highs.
But once I put back the VH recipe silver I was glad to hear all the Beldens were holding back. Once again, the silvers let through more fine information improving everything...air, speed, texture, subtle bass timbre, spaciousness, ambient information, soundstage, more accurate sounding timbre of all voices and instruments regardless.......but I did miss the seductive slightly bigger sound of the Beldens at first.
Again, not a great comparison though, not being the same RCAs, but they are family anyway. Cable to cable, I think the Belden/Eichmann is a respectable and friendly sounding IC. But at least here, the VH recipe with KLE Silver Harmonies (KLE is the new and improved Eichmann) is world class, outperforming the Belden in most every way without a downside to me. But my system is tuned to be very revealing, micro detail critical to the magic, so I could clearly hear the better transmission of the VH silvers, the vast complexity making the music feel extra real.
The main things this experiment did for me is prove that very pure, soft silver in cotton, with really good RCAs, is sweetly revealing without being hard or cool...accurate without a sign of rigidity...fast and unrestricted, it is revealing of all subtle info top to bottom. It just seems to let it all through bringing out beautiful music, textured and rich with complexity. The other thing the experiment made me want to consider is trying a 24 gauge VHAudio silver recipe IC (mine are 28 AWG), liking the slightly bigger sound of the larger gauge Beldens. Might even consider going all the way using pure silver KLE RCAs!
But as I listen now, I am totally satisfied with the 28 gauge Chris VenHaus chose for the recipe, so may never get around to the experiment! And I am enjoying the Belden/Eichmanns in my second system where they started for burnin, but sound really good.