Black Mamba advice?

[Tim]

Just hoping for some more views about the Sterling Black Mamba cables, which were new to me before coming here. I have read all the threads which praise them and they do seem good, as I need to change my cabling. What I haven't read are negative reports, but would be interested if anyone has anything to say about them, regarding dislikes - PM me if you don't want to post it publicly?

I have access to a pair for 62.00 and I thought that was a very good buy - anyone disagree?

Thanks

[Ali Tait]

They are good, if rather large and unweildy. I found these just as good if not better at a fraction of the price-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Microphonic-Audio-Loudspeaker-Speaker-Cable-2-x-3m-/110653481631?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item19c376229f

[HighFidelityGuy]

I use Black Mamba cable. As you're mainly interested in negative points I'll just list my dislikes:

They're very stiff and thick which makes them tricky to work with in tight spaces.
I don't like the screw on ends. They frequently come loose and need re-tightening.
They're quite heavy and this combined with the stiffness and thickness can cause them to put strain on connectors, especially if you have to coil up the cable.
I found the spade connectors provided a loose fit and were much more difficult to work with.

In conclusion, if you have plenty of space to run them in fairly straight lines between your amp/s and speakers then you won't have too many problems. However if you will need to coil up the cable and squeeze it into tight spaces then you will find the cable tricky to use.

I don't have any negatives when it comes to sound quality although I did find they took quite a while to run in. When new I found the bass a little muddled. This tightened up over time. The cable also seemed to tone down the top end of my system. So they should work well in system that's slightly too bright.

I hope that helps. :)

[Tim]

I use Black Mamba cable. As you're mainly interested in negative points I'll just list my dislikes:

They're very stiff and thick which makes them tricky to work with in tight spaces.
I don't like the screw on ends. They frequently come loose and need re-tightening.
They're quite heavy and this combined with the stiffness and thickness can cause them to put strain on connectors, especially if you have to coil up the cable.
I found the spade connectors provided a loose fit and were much more difficult to work with.

In conclusion, if you have plenty of space to run them in fairly straight lines between your amp/s and speakers then you won't have too many problems. However if you will need to coil up the cable and squeeze it into tight spaces then you will find the cable tricky to use.

I don't have any negatives when it comes to sound quality although I did find they took quite a while to run in. When new I found the bass a little muddled. This tightened up over time. The cable also seemed to tone down the top end of my system. So they should work well in system that's slightly too bright.

I hope that helps. :)

Excellent and many thanks, that's just the kind of advice I was looking for :) Sounds as if I would struggle, as they do need to be used in a tight space and the right hand cable would have to be coiled somehow into a very narrow area, which would put pressure on the amp connections.

[HighFidelityGuy]

No probs. :)

The 2.5M standard length is about 1M too long for my current needs. I originally had the cable running down the back of my rack but I found it picked up some interference from mains cables. So I came up with this rather odd arrangement: :lol:

http://www.theartofsound.net/forum/[IMG]http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/DTM2000/Hi-Fi/BlackMamba01.jpghttp://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/DTM2000/Hi-Fi/BlackMamba01.jpg

Lot's of time and cable ties and a little patients.
The cable looks and sound great but it can be troublesome to live with. :doh:

[Tim]

Thanks again, that I think may seal it for me........... but I may have a rethink. Seeing your pics there, how do you find the MF Superchargers? I used to think about those a lot, but never had the funds....

[HighFidelityGuy]

The Superchargers are good fun. :eyebrows: Oodles of power and control which suites my speakers well. I listen to a lot of very dynamic music so I was looking for something that could handle that with ease. I bought my speakers off forum member John and he was aware that I was on the lookout for a good power amp or monoblock pair and told me about a special offer he'd seen at Unilet for a pair of 550K Superchargers for £700. Based on the reviews I'd read and the fact that they were originally £3000 for a pair I jumped at the chance.

I had to do a 380 mile round trip and camp outside the shop over night to secure my place in the queue. So I had to put in some effort to get the deal but it was well worth it.

I haven't compared them against many other amps yet but they seem to work well for me. I have a little 12W valve amp on the way that I'm going to experiment with so it will be interesting to see what I can do with that. I could run the super chargers off the valve amp or I could use the valve amp to run my mid-range and tweeters and the Superchargers to run the bass drivers in a bi-amp setup. It'll be an interesting experiment. :eyebrows:

[oceanobsession]

Hi i had a pair and can honestly say they improved the bass and overall the
sound £60 you cant go wrong .

[Effem]

I have a pair and they certainly do bass very well indeed. The top end is ever so slightly rolled off which in some systems can of course be a positive benefit.

They are rather large and a tad unwieldy, but they are not inflexible, so I can live with that personally.

Another good point in the screw in connectors can become loose over time, but I bought a packet of small shake-proof washers which soon cured that trait.

In the "bang per bucks" stakes they do very well indeed and you would need to spend considerably more money to better them

[pwood]

No doubt you will have read my post on how good they are and can't see me changing them anytime soon.

I wish I could get a 1m length for my center speaker but only available in one size.

I wonder if anyone could point me in the direction of a suitable alternative to the Linn K400 I am currently using for the centre.:scratch:

[HighFidelityGuy]

No doubt you will have read my post on how good they are and can't see me changing them anytime soon.

I wish I could get a 1m length for my center speaker but only available in one size.

I wonder if anyone could point me in the direction of a suitable alternative to the Linn K400 I am currently using for the centre.:scratch:

There's the Microphonic stuff that Ali linked to earlier in this thread. I'm going to get some to try so I could make you a 1M length from that if you like? It would probably only work out to about £5 including termination and postage. Let me know if you're interested. :)

EDIT: Actually it would probably be more like £6-7 depending on postage costs. That's using THESE (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290502446721)connectors, but obviously not all 20, that would just be silly. :lol: