In the quest for optimising my sound, having addressed just about every area over the last few years and having just run-in a pair of Sonus Faber Serafinos, I wondered what could be achieved by replacing the OE jumper plates - I don't bi-wire.
In my antique office Linn system I have some budget Tellurium Q Black jumper cables; so I dropped them in just to see if I heard any difference. No question about it, the sound became thinner and harsher. (Not the case in the much less resolving Linn system). Ok, so this little element makes an obvious difference to what I hear. Reading-up, sound advice was to use one's speaker cable as jumper or a material as closely related to it as possible. Well, no way was I going to make jumpers from Gryphon VIP, so I had a look around at affordable but reputable silver cables. AQ Dragons are about £650; TQ Statements are £1k. Thinking on about these, I then wondered about the potentially compromising affects of their terminations/connectors. (As well as the price of getting it wrong). Which brought me around to considering bare wire. I did some more research and found a company who could supply 1m of 99.99% pure silver 12 AWG wire for £100. That had to be worth an experiment, so I ordered.
A couple days later, the cable arrived, I chopped it into approx 10cm lengths and set about winding each end around my binding posts. The wire is 2mm thick and required careful bending with pliers. (I could probably make a better job of this with more time and effort). I fired everything up, retired to the listening position and pressed play on the iPad. From cold, the difference was immediate and clear. But, I've given it several hours of listening before writing.
There was an obvious increase in clarity and detail; more presence in the room; more smoothness. On what for me is a downside, I felt there was slightly less weight, body - in my set-up. Also, the highest highs can sometimes be a tiny bit hot; not bright - something I can't tolerate - but noticeable. This may simply reflect the true nature of the recording, now audible with the higher resolution. It altogether reminded me very much of the difference I heard when I tried a pair of TQ Statement interconnects between pre amp and amp. But it cost £100, not £3.5k.
I'm surprised at the degree to which these jumpers influence the sound. It's hard to give up the detail and presence once you've heard it, but for £40 I can get 1m of 99.99% purity copper wire and I'm compelled to do so to hear what that does in relation to the top of the top end. I'll append this when I've done so. But what is clear is that you don't, necessarily, need to spend hundreds of $/£ on fancy jumper cables to get a significant 'jump' in SQ from replacing OE jumper plates.
In my antique office Linn system I have some budget Tellurium Q Black jumper cables; so I dropped them in just to see if I heard any difference. No question about it, the sound became thinner and harsher. (Not the case in the much less resolving Linn system). Ok, so this little element makes an obvious difference to what I hear. Reading-up, sound advice was to use one's speaker cable as jumper or a material as closely related to it as possible. Well, no way was I going to make jumpers from Gryphon VIP, so I had a look around at affordable but reputable silver cables. AQ Dragons are about £650; TQ Statements are £1k. Thinking on about these, I then wondered about the potentially compromising affects of their terminations/connectors. (As well as the price of getting it wrong). Which brought me around to considering bare wire. I did some more research and found a company who could supply 1m of 99.99% pure silver 12 AWG wire for £100. That had to be worth an experiment, so I ordered.
A couple days later, the cable arrived, I chopped it into approx 10cm lengths and set about winding each end around my binding posts. The wire is 2mm thick and required careful bending with pliers. (I could probably make a better job of this with more time and effort). I fired everything up, retired to the listening position and pressed play on the iPad. From cold, the difference was immediate and clear. But, I've given it several hours of listening before writing.
There was an obvious increase in clarity and detail; more presence in the room; more smoothness. On what for me is a downside, I felt there was slightly less weight, body - in my set-up. Also, the highest highs can sometimes be a tiny bit hot; not bright - something I can't tolerate - but noticeable. This may simply reflect the true nature of the recording, now audible with the higher resolution. It altogether reminded me very much of the difference I heard when I tried a pair of TQ Statement interconnects between pre amp and amp. But it cost £100, not £3.5k.
I'm surprised at the degree to which these jumpers influence the sound. It's hard to give up the detail and presence once you've heard it, but for £40 I can get 1m of 99.99% purity copper wire and I'm compelled to do so to hear what that does in relation to the top of the top end. I'll append this when I've done so. But what is clear is that you don't, necessarily, need to spend hundreds of $/£ on fancy jumper cables to get a significant 'jump' in SQ from replacing OE jumper plates.