Yannis Tome 420.5 Litz - Tonearm cable

[Wakefield Turntables]

166881668916690

Expect a review soon!

[Marco]

Looks good, Andy. Which DIN connector is that on it? It doesn't look like a Furutech one, as I can't see the carbon fibre...

Also, in what way does this cable differ from the 423.5? :)

Marco.

[Audio Al]

Looks good, Andy. Which DIN connector is that on it? It doesn't look like a Furutech one, as I can't see the carbon fibre...

Also, in what way does this cable differ from the 423.5? :)

Marco.

:doh: Its 3 different daftee :)

[Marco]

Yesh, that'll be it! :D

Marco.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Looks good, Andy. Which DIN connector is that on it? It doesn't look like a Furutech one, as I can't see the carbon fibre...

Also, in what way does this cable differ from the 423.5? :)

Marco.

Its simply the Furutech straight DIN, I've never been a believer in carbon fibre. The 420.5 has better screening and is specially designed for short runs, this cable is 0.75M and it's been specially made to match the internal cabling of my pre-amp, and IC's. The 420.5 is something which Yannis dosen't advertise and is a higher spec than the 423.5 (which I also own). I'll have to ask Yannis and see if he'll spill any of the Specs.

[Marco]

Cheers for that, Andy. Mine is also the straight Furutech DIN, but it has a carbon-fibre 'band' around it, so must be a different one from yours. Interesting on the 420.5, which I'm sure offers some extra benefits, although it would be good to know the technical differences between it and the 423.5, so see if you can get Yannis to spill! ;)

However, as much as I'm sure it suits you to have a short tonearm cable, in the context of your system, it's not something I favour myself, simply from a practical point of view, as (at some point) there will be instances where 0.75m is simply too short, especially if (like me) you're in the habit of taking your T/T to shows/bake-offs, where the spacing between equipment is rather different to how it is at home. Therefore, my 423.5 is 1.5m long, and I wouldn't really want it any shorter.

Anyway, be curious to know what you think of the 420.5, when you try it :cool:

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

Cheers for that, Andy. Mine is also the straight Furutech DIN, but it has a carbon-fibre 'band' around it, so must be a different one from yours. Interesting on the 420.5, which I'm sure offers some extra benefits, although it would be good to know the technical differences between it and the 423.5, so see if you can get Yannis to spill! ;)

However, as much as I'm sure it suits you to have a short tonearm cable, in the context of your system, it's not something I favour myself, simply from a practical point of view, as (at some point) there will be instances where 0.75m is simply too short, especially if (like me) you're in the habit of taking your T/T to shows/bake-offs, where the spacing between equipment is rather different to how it is at home.

Anyway, be curious to know what you think of the cable when you try it :cool:

Marco.

Dito I need 1.5, for hook up.

[RobbieGong]

The 423.5 is outstanding in my experience and excellent vfm. How much better can it get, how much better does it have to be ? :)

[Wakefield Turntables]

The 423.5 is outstanding in my experience and excellent vfm. How much better can it get, how much better does it have to be ? :)

Well Yannis seems to think that he can ring more out his designs, so who am I to argue? The 420.5 isn't that much more than the 423.5

[Wakefield Turntables]

Cheers for that, Andy. Mine is also the straight Furutech DIN, but it has a carbon-fibre 'band' around it, so must be a different one from yours. Interesting on the 420.5, which I'm sure offers some extra benefits, although it would be good to know the technical differences between it and the 423.5, so see if you can get Yannis to spill! ;)

However, as much as I'm sure it suits you to have a short tonearm cable, in the context of your system, it's not something I favour myself, simply from a practical point of view, as (at some point) there will be instances where 0.75m is simply too short, especially if (like me) you're in the habit of taking your T/T to shows/bake-offs, where the spacing between equipment is rather different to how it is at home. Therefore, my 423.5 is 1.5m long, and I wouldn't really want it any shorter.

Anyway, be curious to know what you think of the 420.5, when you try it :cool:

Marco.

Good points but from a purely selfish point of view my 301 will only be doing bake offs in my room ;) and .75m is optimal for my requirements and 50% cheaper than a 1.5m version.

[Wakefield Turntables]

HEY MARCO YOU ASKED FOR THIS, YANNIS HAS REPLIED!!!!!

The 423.5phono-litz is the basis for many of our more advanced designs. In my opinion it is a great all rounder which is very hard to beat at a price range near it. On the other hand, by design, the cable has some limitations as a result of being able to produce it within a certain budget; but also trade offs that allow us to create a more universal and user friendly cable with a relatively high degree of flexibility and small profile. More complex designs that meet more design aims are naturally larger in size, not as flexible and significantly more expensive.

So, the 420Phono-litz uses much larger conductors than the 423.5phono-litz. The combined gauge of the strands in a single conductor in the case of the 423.5 is approx 24AWG as opposed to approx 20AWG in the case of the 420Phono-Litz. These conductors are insulated with a combination of a thick film of solid Teflon that ensures fixed distance and airtight coverage of the metal surface with a very low dielectric impact. This is combined with a low density layer of Teflon halving the dielectric impact among the conductors, and fixed air gaps with the embodiment of hollow PTFE tubes. With the correct alignment the design drives the cable resistance, capacitance and inductance simultaneously at low levels. The 420phono-litz gives approx.
Capacitance 60pF/m, Inductance 0.4uH/m and DC resistance of less than 0.03Ohm/m. Whereas, cable designs can easily achieve lower values in regards to one of the above parameters, balancing successfully the impact on the other parameters is particularly challenging.

Further to the design, one of the main aims on all of our cables is to use not only a suitable overall conductor size, but also the most efficient strand sizes within the conductor for a given application. Since the Gaia conductors are technically Litz type, the size of the individual strand does matter (unlike bare stranded cables). The optimal strand size of a Litz conductor is determined by the voltage, operating frequencies and length. Unlike, high frequency Litz wires where very fine strands are employed (and mistakenly such wires have also been adopted by the audio industry), the strand sizes for the audible frequencies should ideally be much larger. The most efficient gauges that cover the specific applications are between 30AWG and 24AWG. These are quite large strand sizes to be accommodated in a cable design without causing practical problems in regards to the overall size and the effect on the electrical characteristics of the cable. In the case of the 423.5Phono-Litz we have concluded to use 28AWG strands that offer the optimal path for a very broad range between 60Hz and 1KHz. The 420Phono-litz expands this optimal pattern beyond the audible limits (at both lower and higher frequencies) to comfortably accommodate the plurality of frequency components in analogue audio signals, by incorporating in the same conductor individually insulated strands of 3 different gauges.

Furthermore, the 420phono-litz is a heavily shielded designs, using 3 overlapping layer, each having different characteristics. The main shield is a silver plated OFC copper braid, much heavier gauge than the one used on the 423.5phono-litz. Underneath this braid there is nickel and copper fiber mesh wrapped with a 50% overlap. Above the silver plated braid there is a thick ferrous steel braid which blocks a range of low frequencies that typically penetrate copper, aluminium and most of the materials typically used for shielding audio cables.

The above can be further expanded and explained since each of the materials, the insulating techniques, the proximity and alignment, all serve their own purpose and have been selected based on their individual and combined performance.

[Marco]

Good points but from a purely selfish point of view my 301 will only be doing bake offs in my room ;)


Lol... Dat's fine, but there's nothing worse than having a short length that doesn't satisfy :eyebrows:


and .75m is optimal for my requirements and 50% cheaper than a 1.5m version.

Really? Normally it doesn't work like that. There's usually no more than 20% difference in price between different sized cables, unless going from something like 0.5m to 6m!

Marco.

P.S Just seen Yannis' reply. I'll have a read now :)