Could this be a 'giant-killing' tonearm cable?

[MartinT]

That depends on their relative performance.

[Wakefield Turntables]

What is the price of that other cable? SPD4?

£440

You can get an Oyaide pure copper cable for £230. These greek cables are not as cheap as you think when you examine it.

They are a lot cheaper than my other tonearm cable at £1229

I'm still evaluating the impact its having on my system. All I'll say at the moment is that Yannis's cable is certainly an equal to the TYR. More updates later.

[Marco]

That depends on their relative performance.

Indeed, and remember that we're talking here about pure silver cables, which are much more expensive. Also, remember that the 428 Phono cable I've currently got costs only £124, for a 1m length, and based on what I've heard, it's 90% as good as the Furutech AG-12, costing £450!

I'm hopeful that the 432.5 phono at £219, for a 1m length, plus the extra for the 'fancy plugs' I've ordered, will give me the missing 10% and still come in at less than the AG-12. One observation I'd also make is that, based on this test, the Furutech is worth every penny of its cost, as so far, it's not easily bettered by its less expensive counterparts, which shows that one is not simply paying for a 'fancy badge'!

The SPD-4 is comparable, price-wise, with the Furutech (with standard connectors) but I suspect, of a higher level, sonically. However, we'll see what happens when it arrives. Therefore, if you're looking for a top-quality, high value for money silver tonearm cable, then both the 428 Phono and 432.5 Phono (with or without 'posh plugs') are the potential 'giant-killers'....

Yannis has sent me the following, in order to provide more clarity:

The 428Phono has solid conductors and Litz cable geometry

The 423.5Phono-Litz has Litz conductors and Star-Quad cable geometry

The SPD-4 uses Litz conductors with multi gauge strands and has a Star-Quad cable geometry.

None of the cables that you currently have or expecting to receive is a hybrid. They are pure OCC silver.

The SPD-4 in its original design is a hybrid because it combines solid OCC silver, Copper and Mundorf silver/gold strands. However, since both Andy and you have ordered the SPD-4 design but in a pure silver version it cannot be called a hybrid any longer.

Some details for the 428 can be found here: www.back-promo.co.uk/html/428phono.html

Details for the 423.5Phono-Litz here: www.back-promo.co.uk/html/423_5phono_litz.html

Some notes about Litz in general and about our Litz conductors are available here: www.back-promo.co.uk/html/litz.html

In general, the SPD-4 is not a cable that we have available for sale. Our SPD (Special Project Designs) are part of an ongoing development process. Although they have various advantages over our standard designs, these come at a much higher proportionally cost and therefore we do not consider them as the best value for money options and we are relatively reluctant to encourage first time buyers to purchase them over the internet.

When designing a cable the options are unlimited. Constantly working on new designs allows us to improve or achieve different balances in audio cables. However, materialising some ideas often involves extensive costs that cannot be justified by the minor improvements or differences in the performance of a cable (which often is down to the personal preferences). In such occasions we believe that we should not advertise these products.

We recently worked on a cable (without taking into account the design or the evaluation process) for over 300hrs. That was simply to produce 1 unit and each additional would take almost as much time. Despite the cost of the materials, such a cable could only sell at a very unreasonable price simply because of the work it requires in order to be produced. We do work on new designs and ideas all the time, and this is the beauty in what we do. This does not mean that all of our work has a commercial scope.

I hope that the above was of some help.

Regards
Yannis

Marco.

[MartinT]

it's 90% as good as the Furutech AG-12, costing £450!

I remember that we connected up the AG-12 for a while to your deck (I think my arm wouldn't take the 90° connector on your loan cable) on my system. It sounded mighty impressive, as does all silver when done properly. Is this still your reference, Marco, against which you are comparing other cables?

Do you now have a version with straight-in connector? This is what I would like to hear, compared with the Yannis, the Dynavector and, possibly, the experimental TQ* if I receive it on time.

I'd like to hear them all and come to a decision as the last piece of my signal/speaker cable renewal project.

------------------------

* I must stress that this cable is not coming from Tellurium Q themselves, it is an experiment with my dealer to see if the Phono version of their cable can be made to work.

[Marco]

Hi Martin,

I remember that we connected up the AG-12 for a while to your deck (I think my arm wouldn't take the 90° connector on your loan cable) on my system. It sounded mighty impressive, as does all silver when done properly. Is this still your reference, Marco, against which you are comparing other cables?

Yup!

Do you now have a version with straight-in connector? This is what I would like to hear, compared with the Yannis, the Dynavector and, possibly, the experimental TQ* if I receive it on time.

The AG-12 I have has a straight-type DIN plug, as indeed do all the other tonearm cables I'll be testing, from Jannis.

I should have the AG-12, and both the 428 and 432.5 Phono Litz cables for our bake-off, a week this weekend. The comparisons should indeed be fun between those, the TQ and the Dynavector!

Marco.

[Wakefield Turntables]

The SPD-4 allows you to see more deeply "into" the soundstage. Bass has better clarity and better definition and more "oomph". Vocals however appear a little thinner than what i'm used to with the TYR. Microdetail has increased and my systems ability to be clinical and dispel poor recordings seems to have increased. Soundstage is bigger and I'm hearing more seperation between instruments, complex prog rock sections can be followed with greater ease. I think I need more time for the cable and SR7 to bed down before I can really give a detailed analysis.

[clap]

Any update guys?

[Marco]

Hi Tristan,

Still waiting for the second cable to arrive - should be here by Friday. I'll let you know

Marco.

[Rare Bird]

I'm getting near desperate for a new upgrade arm cable i'm just wondering weither to make one up myself!

[MartinT]

Still waiting for the second cable to arrive - should be here by Friday.

Perfect timing