|
Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
Register / Login
|
Being peppered with all of your questions about the Kimber Carbon 8 speaker cable can be bewildering, confusing, and overwhelming. That brings us to something called Buridan's Ass. If a hungry donkey is presented with two identical and equidistant bales of hay, he might get confused, choose neither, and starve.
And who introduced me to Buridan's Ass? My old friend Jana (pronounced "Yah-nah") and her (older) brother. Their mom's last name was Buridian (two i's). So Jana would turn sideways, slap her own rear end, and call out, "Buridian's Ass." Her brother was athletic, calm, and good-looking. Jana told him to pat himself on his own rear end, and declare, "Buridian's Ass!"
Jana suggested that, when a guy was presented with Jana's or her brother's butt, the guy might hesitate, and not be able to decide which butt was better.
At the end of summer 1991, as those on the semester system had already started college, Jana and I were still home in San Francisco, with a bunch of friends. We debated about which was better: Red Vines or Twizzlers. 2/3 preferred Red Vines. However, when it came to these brands' black licorice twists, NO ONE liked them.
I think it was in October 1991, when I left my UCSC apartment, and Cathy Dennis' "Too Many Walls" played. I don't recall which bus lines I had to take, but I went to Water Street Stereo. You never forget. They had some Acoustat loudspeakers, right up against a wall! Not surprisingly, regardless of what played, or where you sat/stood, the music was fuzzy and ill-defined. You didn't need to be a donkey, to know that the setup was poor.
And they used Kimber's black-and-gray VS series speaker cables, which only faintly reminded you of the Los Angeles Kings and Raiders. Nevertheless, that was the first time I got to touch and hear the VS series.
Jana says that the Kimber Carbon 8 reminds her of black licorice twists. There's something to be said about a thin, lightweight, and flexible speaker cable. It's easy to use, and will not physically stress your amp or speaker. Each stereo channel consists of 8 strands: 4 for positive, 4 for negative.
Each strand consists of 7 "VariStrand" copper wires. The bundle of 7 is then wrapped in a carbon infused polymer, thus the Carbon model name. That's why you have to look very closely, to see that 4 strands are encased in black-colored Teflon, while the other 4 are encased in clear Teflon. This is why the Carbon 8 product resembles black licorice twists.
Each leg should be long and flexible enough, to route to any amp's or speaker's binding posts. Then it is just a matter of selecting the appropriate connectors. Oh yeah, we can't find any serial numbers on the Carbon 8.
Too much like the uniforms of the Kings and Raiders, the Carbon 8 uses black (negative) and gray (positive) heatshrink wrap at the tips. There are NO signal flow directions. So what's a donkey to do? Make sure you mark or indicate which end should be hooked up to the amp, which end to the speaker. 'Cuz once you properly burn-in the Carbon 8 [more on that in a future post], it will sound worse, in the "wrong" direction.
"Okay fine," says Jana, "If you don't like black licorice, what about faded black clothes?" She says that, if you set aside your biases or sexual preference, an honest man will state that her brother's rear end looks better than hers :-)
If you do not like the Carbon 8's "black licorice" color, Kimber can encase the cable in a mesh of a different color. We've been told that this service is $10 per foot, but we're not sure if that is for the pair, or for each channel.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Topic - Kimber Carbon 8, Part 2 - Luminator 21:16:10 08/16/21 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
