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

[Marco]

Yes, daftee. Be patient, as I'm just collating my thoughts. I've been asleep most of the day, recovering from a 400-mile round trip to Martin's and back!

Marco.

[MikeMusic]

Vinyl Listened To:

plus
Jan Hammer - Oh Yeah!
Kokomo - Kokomo
King Crimson - Lizard
possibly one or 2 more we both forgot - I had these written down to take

I was there mostly for my good looks - and to learn about some of these exotic things.
Some of my albums did not sound too good, having their production exposed and looking pretty poor naked
Some adjustments to my system look to be in order

[Marco]

What did you think of the Greek tonearm cables, Mike, in comparison with the the Furutech and Martin's Dynavector?

I'll summarise, after you've posted your thoughts

Marco.

[MartinT]

plus
Jan Hammer - Oh Yeah!
Kokomo - Kokomo
King Crimson - Lizard

Thanks, Mike. I've added them to my post to make it complete.

[Marco]

Ok, some thoughts on the tonearm cable situation, prior to heading off to listen to a few choons, before sleepy-byes...

As the 423.5 Phono Litz cables only arrived on Friday this week, I only had time to give the best one a quick listen, with a couple of albums, before dismantling the T/T from my system, in readiness for going down to Martin's place, first thing the following morning. However, as I indicated in an earlier post, even at that stage I could tell that the cable fitted with the Furutech DIN plug and silver Eichmanns, was rather tasty, and even that when not anywhere near burned-in, the sound it was producing was rather special...

Therefore, even though I suspected it was good, I really didn't know what to expect when the cable was subjected to the full scrutiny of Martin's uber-revealing and very carefully assembled high-end system. The questions going through my mind were: would it sound pants when compared with the silver tonearm cable of his (superb) Dynavector tonearm? Would the Furutech AG-12 still whip BOTH of their arses? Heck, maybe I've just wasted time and money on trying out these cables from Greece??

Thankfully, none of the above applied, and what transpired was very interesting indeed, and more than a little satisfying, as I'd rather put my neck on the line by pitching these Greek cables to all and sundry as potential 'giant killers', with so many people waiting on the outcome! However, when Martin removed the stock cable on his Dynavector arm, replaced it with the Furutech and Eichmann-equipped 423.5 Phono Litz cable in question, and popped the needle in the groove, I was utterly gob-smacked at what I was hearing - and I could tell by looking at Martin's face, that he felt the same... I guess we were both thinking the same thing: 'how could a simple tonearm cable change effect *THIS* much of a sonic improvement??'

Like Martin said, we were listening at the time to the Norah Jones album 'Not Too Late', and when the 423.5 Phono went in, it was as if she had been previously singing, sat on a stool, and then had stood up, such was the effect of the greater image height and depth to the sound, and the way that the apparent decrease in the noise-floor had increased the clarity and intelligibility of her voice. As if that wasn't enough, such fundamental improvements were only part of the story, as along with the increased clarity and vocal intelligibility, also came a breathtaking increase in high-frequency filigree detailing, allowing cymbal work and vocal inflections, which had previously been hidden in the mix (and thus diluted), to be more faithfully projected, and as a result, tangible. Now both those effects had combined to create a sense of realism and 'being there', which was little short of spine-tingling.

What I heard was rather like what happens when going from using a decent, although unspectacular MM pick-up cartridge, to a top-notch MC cartridge, fitted with a fine-line stylus; in effect, an opaqueness and 'fog' had been lifted from the sound and replaced with a crystalline clarity and 'sparkle', which shone an intense spotlight onto the recording, thus allowing one a most detailed insight into the musical programme. I said to Martin that, quite frankly, I'd have been more than happy if that level of improvement had come from a major component change, rather than simply swapping a tonearm cable, and he agreed. Indeed, I had to convince him not to order an identical cable, on the spot (thinking here that the forthcoming SPD-4 may be even better), such was the intensity of his desire to immediately have one of his own. It was that veritable 'must have' feeling one always experiences, whenever successfully introducing into one's system, such a no-brainer and all-round fundamental sonic improvement!

We also compared the 423.5 Phono, fitted with 'posh plugs', to my current reference, the Furutech AG-12, which at that point was still leading the way, ahead of the entry-level 428 Phono, and which had performed extremely well for a relatively budget design. To my ears, the AG-12 was better than Martin's stock Dynavector cable, but quite simply not in the same league as the 423.5 Phono, fitted with the Furutech and Eichmanns, the latter which sounded much more detailed and 'wide-open', making the Furutech sound rather opaque and congested, in comparison. The Greek cable may cost approximately the same as the £450 Furutech, when fitted with my chosen 'audiophile-grade' connectors, but its sonic performance is far in excess of that, and I suspect would rival pretty much anything else available. Yes, it is *that* good!

The fact that Andy also considers the SPD-4 to outperform his £1229 Nordost Tyr, speaks volumes for the high-end cable designs that Yannis produces, and I can say the very same with the Furutech/Eichmann-equipped 423.5 Phono Litz.

Now for the really interesting bit....!

Yannis also sent me another 423.5 Phono cable, which was identical in every way to the other we'd just listened to, apart from being fitted with the connectors normally supplied as standard (LOK RCAs and a right-angled DIN connector of unknown origin, both rather heavy, due to their all-metal construction), and with a £219 asking price, instead of the Furutech DIN plug and Eichmann Silver Bullets, which I had asked to be fitted to the other 423.5 Phono cable. These less expensive 'stock' connectors were the same as were supplied with the entry-level 428 Phono, which I've been using recently and have commented on already.

Based on that experience, and on that of using solid-silver conductor WBT plugs, with and without a significant use of metal in their overall construction (0102 Ag and 0110 Ag types, respectively), I had an inkling what was going to happen, but said nothing when Martin plugged the stock 423.5 Phono Litz cable into the base of his Dynavector tonearm, in place of the cable fitted with the Furutech/Eichmann connector combo. I wanted him to hear, unprompted, what I was expecting... Well, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating (or in this case listening), and when playing the same Norah Jones track again, whilst the sound was far from disastrous, the musical presentation had lost its previous 'magic', which had made the performance sound so special. Yes, everything important was present and correct, and the overall sound was very good, and if we hadn't been spoiled by what we'd just heard previously, we'd likely have acknowledged the stock cable as being really rather good.

The trouble was, though, that there was something missing (even though you could hear the cable's undoubted sonic potential, it was quite obviously being somewhat 'held in check') - and that 'something' was precisely what transforms a system from producing merely good music, to GREAT music: music which transcends the status of simply being a recording, into becoming a near-'living and breathing' live entity; music that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and gives you goose bumps, compared with hearing the same music, which only succeeds in involving you on a superficial, rather than on a soulful and deeply emotional one. In short, what was heard was the difference between being as 'real' as it can possibly get, when listening to vinyl records on a hi-fi system, and listening to an inferior facsimile of that experience.

However, there was no 'voodoo magic' happening here; but rather simply the result of achieving increased resolution, through improved signal transfer and a subjective, but entirely perceptible, subsequent reduction in noise and distortion - and thus one was genuinely hearing more of what was always present on the vinyl recording itself, and the musical information from that Martin's and my turntable were intrinsically capable of reproducing, which before, with the 'inferior' connectors in use, wasn't being allowed to be fully realised. It was really as simple as that.

Therefore, what was proven to our ears, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that with any good cable, not only is the material choice and construction very important, and how this is all executed (and Yannis has excelled here, with some lateral thinking and the clever use and combination of various materials), but that a significant proportion of the sonic benefits gained by those design principles, can be lost by the use of inappropriate/inferior connectors.

I suspect "inferior", due to the all-metal construction of the supplied samples failing to address the effect of eddy currents, as I detailed earlier in a link to the WBT website, where the different construction of the 0102 Ag and 0110 Ag plugs were described. I've heard this effect before, and I'm glad that I successfully demonstrated it to both Mike and Martin, who were present during the comparison. The scary thought now is that this amazing cable may even get better with further use!!

So where does all this take us, then?

Well, right back to the beginning of this thread, and to its title... Only now, in response to the question of: 'Could this be a giant-killing tonearm cable?', I can answer with an affirmative 'YES', whether it be the entry-level 428 Phono, from Yannis, or his quite exquisite sounding 423.5 Phono Litz (with Furutech DIN and Eichmann connectors). Both cables perform at a sonic level far in excess of their respective price tags, which was the whole purpose of this exercise.

Make no mistake, however, that the latter is something very special indeed, and will almost certainly unlock the true sonic potential of any high-quality turntable and cartridge, at no more than a mid-market price, in the world of specialist and 'big name' commercial tonearm cables. We love championing 'giant-killer' products here on AoS, especially with boutique items from specialist manufacturers, where the concept of achieving the highest sound-per-pound value, always reigns supreme

The question is now, can the SPD-4 raise the bar even further?? Stay tuned, folks, to find out!!

To order any of the above cables, or for more info, please contact Yannis at: info@back-promo.co.uk

Marco.

[MartinT]

Very nicely put, Marco. It's hard to describe that moment when we swapped the Dynavector arm cable out for the Furutech/Eichmann 423.5 Phono Litz cable, largely because when our systems reach a certain level of fidelity we expect only very small incremental changes even from a fairly expensive component upgrade.

What I was faced with here was an extraordinary level of further insight into the music - for a mere few hundred Pounds (in the context of my system). No wonder I felt a little speechless and was maybe even dribbling a little...

We went back and forth several times to check our findings, but it was always the same. That cable is without doubt one of the single best 'moments' in reproduction I've experienced for a good long time.

So hurry up and tell me what the SPD-4 is like, Marco, as my wallet is ready to drop money on a 'special' 423.5

[MikeMusic]

What did you think of the Greek tonearm cables, Mike, in comparison with the the Furutech and Martin's Dynavector?

I'll summarise, after you've posted your thoughts

Marco.

I was in 'receptive mode', getting used to types of kit I don't have being done in ways I can't with my current kit.
No doubt 'The Greek' with the top end connectors was the very top. Still amazes me that bits of wire can do so much. The difference earthing the SUT was stunning. The sound from the system was as naked as I have ever heard with one of my favourite albums, Kokomo being shown to have been made very badly. Live these guys were wonderful.
The only downside to this is that I need to go looking and listening and earning some money to pay for it all

[MikeMusic]

After reading Marco's full post I now realise it wasn't just me that was staggered what these cables were doing.
Courtesy of this forum I'm filling out my knowledge of hifi where there have been previously some large holes
Being relatively new I didn't realise this was a sea change of large proportions

[RobbieGong]

Absolutely amazing read and findings you guys, 10 out of 10 for doing this for us Just one question, is it easy to fit one of these things ? Are we talking re-wiring the tonearm ? I have the normal MK5g phono's so a bit naive to this type of cable upgrade - Thanks

[Wakefield Turntables]

The question is now, can the SPD-4 raise the bar even further?? Stay tuned, folks, to find out!!



Marco.

The answer is YES! I would also like to say that I mirror Marco's findings but the SPD-4 is something else.