Sakura Systems OTA Cable Kit

Redkiwi- they're about 24 gauge with a thin shield; very stiff and springy. You should visit the site http://mapleshaderecords.com/tweaks/index.html
Yes, cymbals just shimmer like mad. I played the Chieftains 'Tears of Stone', cut two Bonnie Raitt; thats not crossover chestiness, she had a cold that day, it's so obvious. Miles Davis use of the mute, amazing. The orchestral color I noted above. I could go on.
I'm just a little confused about what's the better tweak: the cables or the adjustable height chair!
One thing intrigues me about the OTA you haven't mentioned, the soft plastic RCA plugs.

Kitch: The soft plastic RCA's are much easier to take off with your teeth, if you are so inclined. But their main purpose is to guide the wire itself to make the signal contact instead of the RCA itself. Also, thank you for coming forward with the "WOW" factor, that I have read about from a few other users of the MS cables (of course no one but them believes you:-). It's kind of funny in that we have had 12 gage or even larger drilled into our heads for many years and yet these tiny wires have "major" full bass response as well as the rest of the frequencies in spades, yet don't get hot to the touch when pumping out the tunes. LOL. When I was a teenager I gave a couple stranded out in the boondocks (in Iowa) a car battery jump with the speaker wire that I had installed in a 67 Volkswagon (it was the only thing on hand). It was the cheapest speaker wire that I could find (when installing the stereo) and was probably 22 gage (maybe even 24 gage). It not only jumped the battery, but went back into the bug to serve again as speaker wire, after trimming the ends where the insulation had melted. Wall to wall and a room full of sound is the only way that I can describe the OTA (all of the IC's as well as the OTA speaker cable are of a micro wire design as the digital IC is the Mapleshade Double Helix).

I have been using the OTA cable kit in the system listed in Virtual Systems under "SET Hide Away System" for one month now (both as Analog IC's and as speaker cable), the playing time exceeds 500 hours. Two things that changed, off and on, in the system over this period of time are: #1. The Bel Canto DAC was upgraded to 1.1 status (and then broken in for 300 hours) and #2. I periodically switched from a Musical Fidelity X-A1 solid state amp to a 300B SET amp for comparison purposes. I started out with the MF (SS) amp, first with the IC's and later added the speaker cable. Switching from a pair of Homegrown Audio Super Silver IC's the sound of the OTA IC was not quite as dynamic (no big surprise) but was equally "upfront" in that the sound came from the plane of and the space in front of the speakers (instead of from behind the speakers and then a bit forward from there as it did with a pair of HT Truthlink IC's that I had used before in this system). I ran the OTA IC's for approx. 70 hours and at this point the bass and clarity was pretty much stable (they went all over the place, sonically, during this time period, so don't drive yourself nuts if you are running/breaking a pair in). Other than still missing the added dynamics of the previous solid core silver IC's (it had only been 3 days and I still had a strong "silver" memory) these were the best IC's that I have ever tried in my setup, by a long shot. Cymbals, bells, brass and drums sounded very real (like the metal they were made of), vocals strings and piano were also spot on and the separation/distinction between various sounds was eire. I don't mean imaging by this, just that the sound was very clear, but not on the bright or thin side. They did however still sound a bit hazy overall, for short periods of time, off and on, with frequencies (narrow bands) in the bass and mid bass either dropping out or peaking (hard for me say which as at the sides of a peak are two drop outs and I have trouble telling the difference with new equipment/cable). I was becoming impatient at this point (having broken in various PC's during the months of April and May) and decided to install the OTA speaker cable and let everything run in together. I ran the combo up to a total time of approx. 200 hours (still using the SS amp) and keep in mind that the IC's now had double the playing time, plus, of the speaker cable. The speaker cable during this 125 hour period went through the same ups and downs that the IC's did, in the beginning (I wish that I had a cable burner). The speaker cable replaced was Kimber 4VS (a good budget cable) and the OTA speaker cable stomped it on the SS amp. The difference/improvemet was unbelievable and is hard to put into words as it like the difference between a bull in a pen and a bull released from a pen. It was as if the music that was now flowing had been held back (in the pen) by the previous cable. It was smoother (much more liquid sounding) yet again with amazing detail (as when you are not paying attention to the music and an instrument startles you, like a percussive that you think is someone on the patio or a knock at the door, well this was happening quite often). I had previously said that the OTA cable is a bit forward sounding (either in this thread and/or in private emails) and do not feel now that this is a good description. What is does do, on good/decent source material is free the music from the speakers in that the sound/music comes from the air (when you close your eyes) and not from the speakers themselves. This has always been a priority in my setup (which is why I am very pleased with the last PC's that I upgraded to as they also add to this effect) and this is what I like most about the OTA cable. After a total of 300 hours on the SS amp, the only changes that I was noticing (with the kit) were most likely the changes in the quality of my power supply throughout the day as late night listening was always consistent. From here I switched to the 300B SET amp, first starting with the previous IC's and speaker cable for a day and then switching to the OTA. This time, though I switched both the IC's and speaker cable at the same time, there was not as pronounced a difference between the old and the new (OTA) though is was still night and day. Maybe this was due to me being used to the sound of the OTA, maybe it really did make more of an improvement on the SS amp (due to a mismatch with the old cable?), I really don't know and was too lazy to look into it and just wanted to get more hours on the OTA cable. With the OTA cable (the IC's not the speaker cable) there is a definite settling in that takes place everytime I remove and reinstall it (even though it is fully broken in). It can take one of two days (figure 15 hours of play) to sound its best again. I have had the cats shear a few of the speaker cables and did not notice any difference when I re-stripped the end (half an inch) and reconnected them. I have not experienced the dryness, or lack of bloom, in the bass as has RedKiwi (even with the SS amp), though we have entirely different setups and also I do not use full range speakers and therefore cannot hear the bottom register as he does. So in a nutshell the OTA Cable Kit is fast, open, smooth and detailed (detailed but not thin or bright sounding). As far as the "visuals" go the sound stage is wide, deep and tall, but in the imaging department (unless it's my imagination) it seems that things have a tendency to move around a bit. I have never really concerned myself with imaging before and only notice this when listening in the near field on some recordings. Maybe it's on the recording (the engineer switched or combined tracks), but I never noticed this before with the old cable which may have been too blurred to tell, who knows? Anyway, if someone else notices this hopefully they will be able to explain what I am hearing, as I can't, and it does not detract from the musical experience as far as I am concerned. Although it is only 26 gage wire, it is full range and not rolled off at either end. Though I was coming from a budget cable (so is the OTA, when you think about it) it was on the level of replacing/upgrading a major component in my setup(s). I will be using the cable in our second budget system as well (ordinarily powered by the X-A1 amp) and when I receive an extra pair of IC's back, that are on loan, they will be used on some analog to digital recordings (tape to CD) that I will be doing later this summer. Sorry for not going into more detail (although, boy, is this a long one), but I find the sound of these cables hard to describe as their is no glare, no lack of bass or detail, etc., and they sound so different than what I am used to (as if they are not even there). Hope Audiogon doesn't charge me for this one. That is all.

Interesting post, D-K. Thanks for info!

PS: I forgot to mention (in my rambling) that I will also be trying out half a set of the analog IC's as a digital cable (maybe in a month or two) as the Maplshade digital cable that I currently use is neither of a 75ohm or coaxial design and I figure that it's worth a shot. Maybe someone else with the "kit" will want to give this a try.