Anti Cables.

[D Louth 77]

Now Gone

 

[lbr]

Following a recent post discussing these, I've rigged up some DIY anti-cables using enamelled wire of the same guage as the anti-cables. I'm as certain as I can be that my runs are identical to anti-cables, but they are DIY. I'm talking about speaker cables only - I haven't tried with interconnects. My system is all horns and valves.

First impressions were that they were superb for the money (even assuming you bought them factory made), but against my normal Chord Signature were lacking bass control, a little transparency and most notably resolution. My own suspicion (and not one that I want to debate ) is that the total lack of shielding may be in issue particularly on the latter point.

I've only listened for a very short while so these are very much preliminary thoughts. I will get round to a more considered assessment at some point and will do a more comprehensive post then.

 

[D Louth 77]

Thanks lbr ,lack of shielding may well be an issue as i will be running quite long runs 6/7m pairs . Where was this posting ? I will certainly value any further comments or info about these when you find out
more.

Regards D Louth

 

[Graffoeman]

Thanks lbr ,lack of shielding may well be an issue as i will be running quite long runs 6/7m pairs . Where was this posting ? I will certainly value any further comments or info about these when you find out
more.

Regards D Louth

Something very similar to the AC's can be knocked up quite easily and cheaply. Give it a go, if you like 'em you're quids in, if not, you're £30 out of pocket and a great deal wiser

http://wires.co.uk/acatalog/sx_ec_wire.html - scroll to the bottom of the page and select 2.0mm wire size and 1kg weight. 1kg will do you two 7m runs with a bit left over. Add your favourite banana's and have a nice day!

I'd go for el cheapo screw connection banana plugs, for the first run, as this wire requires serious solder heat to get a good joint. If you like the results you can always go for better plugs for the finished product.

If you want to get just a little geek-ish go here : http://www.webervst.com/gauge.htm - chuck in the relevant numbers and see which wire gauge is recommended. For my system, (2w SET, 8ohm speakers, 2m cable run), the recommended gauge would be 18awg, which is 1mm rather than AC's 2mm. Might be better, might not, but again wouldn't cost that much to find out.

The other way to go would be to select the lowest gauge that will cope with the voltage your chucking down the wires. Say for instance, 0.5mm. Because this wire will be much more resistive, your amp will need to work harder, which some folks say is a good thing - within reason, of course!

Thing is, it's relatively cheap and painless to have a mess about and see where it takes you. And don't forget, if you go with a lower wire gauge, you'll need to buy much less weight so it will be cheaper!

If you find shielding is an issue for you, then you can take what you've learned about wire gauges, as in which one, if any, you like, and search for a shielded equivalent. If you don't like the sound at all, then you know you need to be looking at a different wire/cable construction. All good stuff to while away a few winter nights

 

[D Louth 77]

Hi Graffoeman

Thanks for the info i will look into your suggestions,costs very low so as you say worth ago.

Regards D Louth

 

[Neil]

Hello - I tried anti-cables. Worth it for the money but not spectacular imo. Sound was "similar" (indistinguishable to me) to that from DNM reson. Description of sound is not my forte but "alive" and dynamic spring to mind. A little lacking in lower bass but worth a try.
Neil

 

[zanash]

Some good suggestions .......and match my own findings

The lack of lower bass is a copper issue especially single core ....I've built some good multi strand solid cores using 10 x 0.5mm enamelled wires ....but the more strands seems to blur the top end and reinforce the one note bass. Swapping to silver its obvious that this bass "hump" [noted above] is absent on first listening I though the silver lacked bass as a whole, this is not exactly true ...more the bass is spread more evenly across the frequency range. The down side especially at the moment is the cost of materials and to test this your going to be parting with £100 plus just to make a 2m set of 1.5mm parallel pairs.

As a good compromise I've used multiples of 1mm 0.7mm and 0.2mm to make up my current copper cable ....that gets very close to the sound of the silver but at about 1/5th of the cost.
But you still get a hump in the upper bass but its a little wider than single strand solid core cables.

Shielding don't go there ...I spent 5years building cables that sounded crap because the concept of shielding cables seemed right ......so take some advice and don't try to reinvent the wheel !

I conducted a final experiment that for me was conclusive ...I built two identical cables [parallel solid core pairs] one shielded and grounded to source and one not .....over six months I messed with these in various system configurations ...always the none shielded sounded to me.... better. This has been repeated with IC's to with the same conclusion.

 

[George Sallit]

If you are anywhere near Reading you can borrow my set of 2x5m Anti-cables, if that helps. I found them very good and not deficient in the bass. I now use Transparent Audio Music + cables.

 

[hifinutt]

I have read a lot of good things too about anti cables but zanash raises a good point about shielding. have you ever tried a comparison of chord epic [shielded oddy] and oddy?

 

[JANDL100]

I tried them - for a day - and then sold them on. Rather moderate in rez and a bit bland, I thought. See my siggie below for system details.

 

[zanash]

yes I've heard that ...chappy compared the antis to a diy set I loaned him [a litzed multi strand solid core type] he felt the antis were good but not a panecea for all ills as is sometimes made out.

 

[D Louth 77]

Hi George Sallit

Thanks for the offer George but i live a long way away from Reading but i appreciate the offer .

Regards D Louth

 

[Dik Dolan]

I haven't tried the anticables, but I have just made myself a pair of 5m silver speaker cables, based on the hificollective glasshouse speaker cable kit design. It's basically a litz type, 3 pairs of 0.5mm silver in individual ptfe tubing braided then split into + and -. Wire came from http://wires.co.uk/acatalog/si_bare.html
I bought 2 of "0.500MM SILVER WIRE 99.99% SOFT 100g (approx 48 mtrs)" and the ptfe tubing and some 10mm sleeving was from RS. It wasn't an easy construction, but it was worth it.... to my ears it sounds wonderful, individual tone of instruments is very clear, treble is the cleanest most grain free I have ever heard. Overall very very nice. Bass is tricker to judge yet for the reasons below, but there certainly isnt a lack of it.

I will be doing the insides of my speakers with it too. When I opened 'em up to have a look see the other day, someone has re-wired the + (I think) sides of the mids and tweeters with silver, but left the - connection as standard copper.....wierd=) Bass driver wiring is some blue stuff, vandamme I think.
They are Yammy NS1000m's so pretty old and god knows how many previous owners, but even with the weird mix of internal wiring they have at the moment, they are very very revealing. They also had no damping fibre in the bass section of the cabs, so I put some long haired wool in there, seemed to even out the bass somewhat.
I'll rewire them fully soon with the same stuff I made my speaker cable with...got plenty left. I'll be making some interconnects up too, should be fun=)

 

[defride]

I'd go for el cheapo screw connection banana plugs, for the first run, as this wire requires serious solder heat to get a good joint. If you like the results you can always go for better plugs for the finished product.


I wonder if one of the reasons AC speaker cable works is the termination? The cold welded copper spades should mean there is less of a hiccup for the signal at the start and end of the cable?

Given a 2m pair of ACs is going to cost +/- £45 and you can send them back if you don't like them it seems to me to bring them into the DIY price range.

I've not missed anything in the bass as compared to QED XT350 and the Silver Spiral ICs I was using. Wadia 301, Chapter 2 - balanced ICs with Sonus Faber Grand Pianos. ACs might not be a panacea but for the money I love them.

 

[Graffoeman]

I'd go for el cheapo screw connection banana plugs, for the first run, as this wire requires serious solder heat to get a good joint. If you like the results you can always go for better plugs for the finished product.


I wonder if one of the reasons AC speaker cable works is the termination? The cold welded copper spades should mean there is less of a hiccup for the signal at the start and end of the cable?

Given a 2m pair of ACs is going to cost +/- £45 and you can send them back if you don't like them it seems to me to bring them into the DIY price range.

I've not missed anything in the bass as compared to QED XT350 and the Silver Spiral ICs I was using. Wadia 301, Chapter 2 - balanced ICs with Sonus Faber Grand Pianos. ACs might not be a panacea but for the money I love them.

Can't really disagree with you there, on either the 'cold welding' or the cost!

In terms of knocking up a few 'for instances' at home, to play with, I think screw-on bananas offer a better option because they end being re-usable.

Either soldering, or heavy-duty crimping, solid 2mm copper is not really a diy job, methinks! I suppose we could argue about the semantics of those over a good screw connection, but I'd tend to agree that a commercially finished item is certainly not going to be worse.

If playing leads you to think that the AC's would be right for your system, then I would always go for the 'pro' option, price permitting.