Cable Asylum: REVIEW: DIY by Chris VenHaus DIY Silver Interconnects Cable by SOJS

Model:	DIY Silver Interconnects
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	materials cost about $80
Description:	32 ga. .9999 Silver Teflon insulated wire spiraled around Teflon core
Manufacturer URL:	DIY by Chris VenHaus
Model Picture:	View

Review by SOJS ( A ) on November 21, 2004 at 09:41:22
IP Address: 4.26.116.54

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I have previously made his Flavor 2 Power Cords for my Acoustat Servo Charged OTL Monos, and very impressed with the result. They simply blew away stock cords or DIY Audioquest cords. After proper amount of power cord burn-in, existing frequency anomaly (upper midrange glare/brightness) is half way fixed. Maybe I will post a separate review on his Flavor 2 power cords.
Being impressed by his power cord, I have just made 1 meter RCA interconnect with his 28 ga .9999 Silver wire, Tefron tubing, Eichmann Copper Bullet Plugs, etc based on his DIY recipe. My system is built around a phono setup and my Counterpoint SA-9 phono stage is modified by Michael Elliott to have very high output impedence, and Michael Elliott suggested to stay away from unshielded interconnects since they may pickup some noise or generate hum. But I had to try this Silver Cables.
So, The 1 meter DIY Silver Cables replaced Coincident CST 1 meter RCA cables between my SA-9 and Acoustat Monos (I have used them about 8 hours so far, and maybe I will post again after they are fully broken-in). What a transformation! They sounds excellent without any break-in period (well, after about an hour). Now the frequency response is extremely flat. No upper midrange glare! Very three dimensional. Extremely detailed with any brightness. Tight and firm bass. Liquid midrange (I think my tube system make to sound a little sweeter than what's on the record). Great upper bass/lower midrange definition. I know it begins to sound like a sale brochur....
I have negative feelings about silver cables. All silver cables I used so far have some upper range brightness in my system. I admit that I haven't tried ALL silver cables, and there should be some silver cables with excellent sonics. Anyways, this silver cable completely fixed my preconception towerd silver cables. This cable sounds extremely smooth at all frequencies, and high frequency has a welcome sparkle which existing interconnect (CST) could not reproduce.
Here is my guess about silver brightness. Silver cables have higher conductivity than copper. May this fact is responsible for a little brightness fo silver cables? I think the silver interconnects by Chris has managed to bring silver brightness to high enough frequency range that it does not sound bright anymore. Just the right amount of high frequency detail is reproduced. If this interconnect sounds bright in some systems, it may well be the fault of the rest of the system.
I will just take one example with "Norah Jones" LP track "Don't know why". This song sounds a little dull in the highs with upper mid glare and a little bloated bass. After inserting this Silver interconnect cables this track sounded just right - delicate, no emphasis on any part of frequency, firm and tight bass.
One miner quibble is that I do get a very slight hum (again, very slight and not noticible when playing music, but I do notice it in quite environment) from the right speaker since it's unshielded in design. I guess the room placement of my right amp is more susceptible to external noise.

Product Weakness: Unshielded and may generate noise in some systems
Product Strengths: Extremely coherent, fine detail without brightness, dynamic, 3-D.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Acoustat Servo Charged OTL Tube Monos (heavily modifid)
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Counterpoint SA-9 Phonostage (heavily modified)
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	VPI TNT MK 5/JMW 12.5/Shelter 501
Speakers:	Acoustat Model 8s (Electrostatic)
Cables/Interconnects:	Cardas/Harmonic Tech, etc
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Classical, Jazz, Pop
Room Size (LxWxH):	16 x 25 x 8' to 16'
Room Comments/Treatments:	Some Acoustic Foams used
Time Period/Length of Audition:	8 hours
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Audiowedge
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Unshielded and may generate noise in some systems
Product Strengths:	Extremely coherent, fine detail without brightness, dynamic, 3-D.