Konnichiwa folks, I recently came across the FFRC thread in "Kindergarden". As the FFRC is originally from my end and I had lots of communication about it I think I have a bit of a handle what makes it work and what not. There are a few things that make a marked impact on the sound. 1) The cable itself - not all CAT5 cable is made equal, I have on more than one occasion found that copperplated aluminum and/or steel cable had been used, not copper. 2) Mechanics - the preferred (and approved) methode is to TWIST (3 - 4 turns/m), not to braid the three wires and then to cover the whole assembly with this so-called expandable braided sleeving (eg RS Order # 389-892), making sure the sleeving is pulled VERY TIGHT. Braiding ALLWAYS sounds inferior and you MUST braid VERY tightly. I came across several FFRC that had been braided VERY loosely and hence sounded rather bad. Further I would note that unlike most stranded speaker cable the FFRC does not lead to the notable hazing and treble rolloff. If a system sounds balanced when using standed speaker cable IT MUST sound spitty and bright when using the FFRC. One example is Naim - their older gear definitly need starnded speaker cable to stop them from sounding screetchy. Please note that here the "fault" of the FFRC is simply to pass on what has been messed up upstream from it. So in effect the FFRC is inaproppriate in such systems, as are many other of my cables, which is however in no way the cables fault. I try to make all cables from my corner to have as little "sound" as possible. This is how cables should (IMNSHO) behave, though few do. Sayonara