Do better ingredients make a better Ground Wire?
The first DIY spades I made use Audioquest CF- spades. These are direct silver plated no nickel between the silver and copper. They accept up to 9 awg wire. I was only able to use one silver or one Palladium cables with these spades. So I had both end of 14 awg cable in a spade. It sounded good, a little thin when used on my speakers and amp. But just on the speakers it was a noticeable step up from the Audio Prism spades, nothing earth shattering, but a nice step up. But when I doubled up on the wire and put all 4 ends in the pure copper 8 awg spades it just wasn't even close. As soon as I put them in the difference in flow, and realism was dramatic. I don't know if it was the doubling of the cable or the pure copper spades, or a combination of both. I would like to try the Xhadow spades. They look promising. |
How could it possibly make a difference?Hi Magfan, Along the lines of my earlier comment, it seems clear to me that it is designed to act as a form of loop antenna, tuned by means of its length to either wifi or certain cellphone frequencies or both. However, in contrast to a normal loop antenna the fact that the antenna's two "output terminals" are shorted together, and/or the fact that the two halves of the loop are placed together (causing the electromagnetic fields associated with the rf flowing through the two halves to interact with each other), and/or the fact that there are two paralleled loops, will presumably cause rf energy that is picked up to be dissipated. It would surprise me if any of that were significant to an audible degree, but who knows? In any event, having read the 6Moons review and the laughable non-explanations that are quoted in its sidebar, that kind of antenna effect is the only explanation that seems remotely plausible to me, and that seems consistent with the claimed length criticality. Best regards, -- Al |
