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ELF Custom Cables

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I remember a few weeks ago that some members had posted here asking about ELF Custom Cables (just check audiogon) and whether they lived up to the self-imposed hype. The response at the time was that a few people were interested and possibly ordering.
Has anyone actually ordered from ELF yet and what were your impressions? I'm interested in trying some out but I don't want to buy without hearing at least ONE impression from somebody out there.

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Re: ELF Custom Cables - condorhero 06:14:11 02/06/04 (0)
I ordered the standard Elf Silver Surfer for my 2nd system. Naim NBL driven by Futterman H3a and CAL Delta-Alpha 24/96. ICs are the Analog Two.
They are transparent, and very smooth sounding. Bass is slightly light. Not fatiguing to listen to.
Re: ELF Custom Cables - GaryAR 10:41:28 02/05/04 (5)
I bought a set. They look exactly like the silver-colored zip cord on my lamp (and I do mean exactly), except for the fact that the writing on the jacket is different (SPT-1 instead of SPT-2). I can assure you that lamp cord is anything but silver. Ernest has assured me that the metal conductors are indeed pure silver, but I'm still skeptical.
I'm kicking around cutting the cable open so I can bring it to work and test it on one of our spectrometers to see what it's really made of. Of course, doing that destroys the cable and voids any chance I have of returning it (if it's not silver) or using it (if it is silver and I like the way it sounds).
-Gary
p.s. if there's anyone who can decode UL numbers, please send me an email as I'd like to find out what the ones on this cable refer to. I've searched the web, and can't find a way of doing it myself without paying for documentation from UL.
- Re: ELF Custom Cables - audiophile36@aol.com 11:10:51 02/08/04 (1)
  Hi All this is Ernest Lee Farley from ELF Custom Cables Inc.The Silver Surfer's are my entry level silver cable and to be able to offer a silver cable at an affordable price I decided to buy from my supplier, silver in a cost effective Thermoplastic jacket.That is the only way to achieve this level of performance at a given price point.Just to respond to Gary's post I would like to say that Monster XP,Original Monster,and Monster High Definition look's exactly the same as the cord on my lamp's.I also offered to refund his money if he wasn't satisfied with their sound,but I guess he decided to keep them for his second system.Basically standard two conductor cable is termed "lamp cord"(discriptive word,not literal) because it look's like the cable on some lamp's,that doesn't mean it's cable from a lamp.Lamp cord is two conductor,my Silver Surfer's use four conductor's for the left and four for the right.Also the lettering on the jacket is to let you know what the jacket is made of and it's tolerences,not what kind of alloy is inside.If you guy's want to check my 100% feedback on www.audiogon.com please do my screen name is audiophile36.The cord from a lamp could never obtain such rave feedback from customer's with hi-end system's.Thank's guy's Ernest Farley designer/owner of ELF Custom Cables Inc.
  - Re: ELF Custom Cables - GaryAR 08:20:22 02/09/04 (0)
    Here is my concern, the cables sell for $50 yet by weight the silver alone should cost nearly that much. Tell me if there is a problem with my calculations:
    Silver market value: $6.29/oz (http://www.kitco.com/market/)
    Density of Silver: $10490 kg/m^3 = 0.00001049 kg/mm^3
    Cable gage: 18
    Cable diam: 1.02mm
    Length: 8ft = 2438mm
    Total Length: 19507mm (8 runs of 8 ft.)
    Cross-sectional area: 0.817 mm^2 (Pi * r^2)
    Total Volume: 15940 mm^3 (Area * Length)
    Total Weight: 0.1672 kg = 0.368 lbs. = 5.886 oz.
    Total Cost of Silver: $37.02
    And keep in mind that's unprocessed, unrefined silver. Silver in wire form usually costs about $10/oz., and that puts the price of the silver in these cables up to about $59. Adding to that the cost of the jacket, spades, heatshrink, and labor, I don't see how it could be possible for them to be made out of real silver for this price.
    Having said that, the cables do sound really nice and I think they're about equal to my TMC gold label speaker cables (which are about $200 retail). They look good, they're terminated nicely, and they sound good. They're not bad cables by any stretch, but I just can't imagine how at this price the metal is actually silver. If it is, then these cables are the deal of the century.
    -Gary
- How do they sound? - TypeRecca 16:01:23 02/05/04 (2)
  So you like the sound? I'm thinking of getting a set too.
  - Re: How do they sound? - GaryAR 18:37:50 02/05/04 (1)
    they sounded alright when i plugged them into my main system. the normal cables are tmc gold labels, and the elf's didn't really sound any worse.
    for now i've got them in my smaller system up in my bedroom. i'll probably try them downstairs again in the next couple of days and then post my thoughts.
    -gary
    - Re: How do they sound? - TypeRecca 18:49:20 02/05/04 (0)
      I just bought a set. They really are cheap for speaker cables regardless of material. I don't have anything to compare them with right now, but I'll post what I think later too.

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