Cheers for the info, that's saved me some messing about :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jac Hawk
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Cheers for the info, that's saved me some messing about :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jac Hawk
I just got a pair of these cables as needed a longer cable run as I had to change my set up as should be getting my TT on Friday. These cables has replaced some nice silver cables and I am not missing my old cables, very impressed and a big thank you to everyone for the recommendation as the title says an amazing bargin
Haha bet you all thought this thread had finished. Nope, not yet!
My Belkin cables arrived a few days ago. They are the 'Pure AV' cables, 2.4m long, grey in colour with identity AV50300ea08.
The diagram on the packaging clearly shows them to have a two-core shielded construction. The shielding consists of an aluminium/Mylar foil shield having 100% coverage, over which is a "high-coverage" tinned copper braided shield. The twin conductors themselves are claimed to use hybrid conductor technology, whereby two of the six strands look to be of narrower gauge and may be insulated from the other four of slightly heavier gauge. All conductors are claimed to be of 99.9997% oxygen-free PCOCC copper.
Clearly having two conductors, these cables are of the so called 'semi-balanced type', whereby one of the inner conductors is used for the signal path, with the second forming the return. The shielding is connected to the return at one end of the interconnect only. The cable thus has an asymmetric construction and can be directional.
I have to say that I can't see the point of semi-balanced construction. In my opinion either use a true coaxial (and non-directional) construction or use a true balanced-line construction. The only possible advantage might be that the semi-balanced interconnect might have a lower capacitance per unit length, compared with a coaxial cable. The intention is that semi-balanced cables are installed such that the end where the screen connects with the signal return is at the point of lowest potential. Often this is at the source and the corresponding phono plug is marked with an arrow head pointing in the direction of the cable. However if the '0v' rail of the source is not directly connected to earth (i.e. if the unit is double insulated and uses a two-core mains lead), the '0 volt' rail will not be at the lowest potential. In that situation the interconnects have to be reversed. This is the reason I don't like semi-balanced interconnects.
Some other Belkin cables (the white coloured ones) have a 'quadruple screen', supposedly for better screening. However as long as the screening presents a 100% optical coverage and is reasonably thick, it doesn't matter how many layers there are, especially as they are all in electrical contact along the length of the cable. The only indication of the efficacy of the screening is the surface transfer impedance, and this is never quoted by cable manufacturers. It can be calculated if full details of the screening is known and it can be measured.
The Belkin cables come clad with an anti-abrasion mesh. Again I don't like this as it is not really necessary and makes the cables stiff and unwieldy.
So to the use of these cables in practice - do they live up to all the enthusiasm expressed by contributers to the thread? I used them between the preamp and power amp and have to say I could hear no difference between them and my own assembled cables. I could also not hear any difference when I reversed the direction of the Belkin cables.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm, I do have to acknowledge that thanks to them being Made in China, they are absurdly cheap; £4 for a 2.4m pair. Were I to make up cables using good quality phono plugs (but not as good as say the Neutrik 'ProFi' types), they would work out to ~£9 a stereo metre; over double the cost of the Belkin.
So yes, I can join other posters to this thread and recommend these cables to members.
Out of curiosity I made some electrical measurements on both the Belkin and my own cables.
Belkin
conductor resistance (centre pin to centre pin) 70 - 73mOhm/m
conductor resistance (phono outer to phono outer) 66 - 69mOhm/m
capacitance (measured at 400Hz with cable plugged into a phono socket) 222 - 233pF/m
My own cables (true coaxial, using 'low-noise' microphone cable)
conductor resistance (inner) < 64mOhm/m
conductor resistance (outer) < 60mOhm/m
capacitance (measured as above ) 97 - 100pF/m.
THE END.......?
...............not if I know Aos!
.. you should try some of the white ones Barry. :lol:
What Ali said, especially if you have valve kit which I think they may suit.
I’ve stuck with the RCA twin shielded with my kit as they seem to tune more to my taste.
The cheap RCA plugs I mentioned somewhere work well without the ally outer case. I used PTFE tape, heatshrink and a ferrule.
Ooooo errrrrr just had a thought, has anyone tied making a tone-arm cable from these babies? Reason for asking is I have been messing about with different cables these last few days as I have my SME309 connected with the South West Analogue Pure Silver Litz Tone-Arm Cable into my Graham Slee phono stage and then tried various cables from Slee into my amp, ideally I need the same cable for both duties and again ideally I would choose the Oyaide option for both but at the moment I am jimmy flint so if a tone-arm lead could be made using the belkins and sound 1/2 way decent we could be onto a winner?
I got mine this morning.Thought I had ordered a single co-ax lead but got a pair of leads.Paid £7.99 all in,must admit they sound great.Best value cable ive ever bought,Thanks effem for the recomendation.
Regards Tony.
Being a self confirmed cable believer, l want to try the white ones but l only need a 1m pair- where to buy?:)