Hi all,
sorry for the tardiness in replying!
My reasoning behind the Oyaides:
a) the amount of Furutech and Gold Wattgates I have lying about that are from recurrent customers reterminations with various Oyaide, mainly from people who have tried rather a lot of power cords and in most instances, settled on their favourites.
b) feedback from the aforementioned people - never had anyone who regretted this step and for a guide, the speil Oyaide give for the different types of plating on each model is a fair guide to the sound they will give
c) The quality of construction of the real ones - the plating is very good quality, they are a seriously tight fit in whatever form and much wider openings in the front section allow the use of much larger gauge conductors.
General points to watch
I've bought some of the ones on eBay that are obviously fakes. Some bought a while ago looked like very good copies and some bought recently are just plain crap. The bodies look fine bough the cheap looking copper (coloured?) blades in the front of the IEC connectors are a dead giveaway.
All the real ones now have serial nos and a hologram type badge along the lines of the markings on a credit card.
The 037s are good enough for my tastes, the 046s sound a tad more detailed but lean to sounding a shade warmer. The 079s and the M1s do sound better but the law of diminishing returns kicks in to my mind(& wallet)
Given the design of the connection - the clamp has the screw running throught the middle with a double width opening for the conductor if that makes sense, I've found that splitting the conductor/braid where possible and running half either side of the clamping screw works best. If a really thick cable/conductor is fed into one half of the clamp, then tightening, can result in stripping the thread. I like to horse these tight and leave over night then at least with braided cables, you can usually get another quarter turn on the screws.
The larger conductor aperatures have allowed me to use these on Micheal Wolf cords (sliver ribbon with a carbon sleeve?) and also various Electraglides with ribbon conductors. Harmonix DC Studio Masters and various Cardas power cords have very heavy conductors which I've seen trimmed/slimmed? down to fit Wattgates. Oyaides allow the whole section of the conductors to be clamped, surely good practice?
re the construction of the conductors, I don't proffess to know..
I've had good results with ribbon conductors in copex basically I think because the die electric is mostly air? ala Electraglide
Sheilding the conductors from each other seems to add some clarity (Lessloss and the like).
Many cords I've tried with solid conductors ran in pairs with the 3 conductors woven seem to work well and be good value and work better than their narrow gauge would suggest? The same construction using sheilds on each conductor works well and grounding the shields at the wall end seems good practice but I've seen instances where bad construction/insulation has made this a bit dubious not to mention dangerous!
Whilst 20 years in Telcomms gave me the confidence to tackle most things power cord related in the past, recent & current electrical regs. makes me steer clear of this stuff these days.
As to suppliers - my mate in Singapore used to buy their connectors and bulk cable for me at great prices but the shop/unit was a fair bus ride from the centre so I didn't like to trouble him unless it was a bulk buy :-)
I've also bought them from Chris Venhaus in the States. Not as good value with the current exchange rates and be wary that the shipping price is a bit ott !
All only imo of course, hope this helps a bit.
Cheers Simon