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Our IC-SL (silver Litz interconnect) has received a rave review from Ryan Clarin at 6moons.Com. He states: "The midrange qualities and sense of sound-scape palpability of the BPT cable were the two aspects that really caught my attention as being a step above anything I'd heard before....it got out of the way, to approach the ideal of "the best interconnect is no interconnect" while remaining a pleasure and joy to have in my system. Background:I am finally introducing my first high-end audio interconnect. The IC-SL (Inter-Connect-Silver Litz) is a design I have had in my head for about 10 years and decided to just-do-it. Like all my designs, it takes form from my own personal sonic taste/desire for clean extended high frequencies ( most good cables will give you the sheen or splash of a cymbal but it quickly disappears--with the IC-SL you can hear that splash extend all the way through the recording hall reflecting off of ceilings and walls), clarity in the midrange ( most cables loose the individual character of instruments when multiple instruments are played simultaneously in the same frequency range--with the IC-SL you will be able to hear these instruments maintain their uniqueness ! no matter how dense the layering) and articulate bass (most cables blur definition in the midbass destroying the careful tuning of tympani and drum kits). I could not find a wire suitable for my design available from any commercial wire manufacturer or high end audio wire manufacturer so I had to have wire custom made to my specs to reach this goal. Choosing RCA plugs of course took a lot of comparative listening tests with the final choice the pure silver/platinum WBT Nextgen Signature. For balanced XLR connection we use the highly acclaimed Neutrik XLR plugs with silver contacts. The IC-SL maintains a high purity silver path from tip to tip. Why Litz wire?The term Litz wire is derived from the German word litzendraht meaning woven wire. Generally defined, it is a wire constructed of individual film insulated wires bunched together in a uniform pattern of twists and length of lay. The multi-strand configuration minimizes the power losses otherwise encountered in a solid conductor due to the "skin effect", or the tendency of radio frequency current to be concentrated at the surface of the conductor. In order to counteract this effect, it is necessary to increase the amount of surface area without appreciably increasing the size of the conductor. It is also essential to position each individual strand in the Litz construction in a uniform pattern moving from the center to the outside and back in a given length. Wires intended for higher frequency ranges require more strands of a finer gauge size than Litz wires of equal cross sectional area but composed of fewer and larger strands. Each strand is designed to occupy all possible positions in the bundle to approximately the same extent. Our IC-SL design maintains uniform resistance from DC to 1MHZ. Another big advantage of Litz wire is that it does not suffer from oxidation like regular wire because each individual strand has a thin film coating (5000V rated). It will sound just as good 10 years from now as it does today. Why silver?High purity silver has a lower resistance than copper of the same purity. Silver is sonically superior to copper in that it has a more uniform tonality over the audio frequency range and a grain free sonic texture. Anyone that believes silver wire sounds bright or hard needs to listen to the IC-SL for a wake up call. Why Nextgen Signature RCAs?Nextgen™RCA are secure locking plugs made with a conductor material of fine silver, platinum plated with a transmission bandwidth of 1 GHz. and eddy current free. They have a characteristic impedance of 75 ohms making them great for digital interconnects as well as analog. These plugs retail at $50 each (not a pair--but each). Why Neutrik XLR?The industry standard for balanced XLR connections featuring robust design and high performance. They maintain a 110 ohm characteristic impedance and include silver contacts--so even our balanced interconnect maintains a pure silver pathway from tip to tip. Design The wire, which we have have custom made to our specifications since there was nothing available that met our criteria for resolution and speed, is a high purity silver Litz wire design using multiple uniform patterned 40 gauge (3.1 mils or .0031 inch diameter) strandings for the conductor and wrapped in pure unbleached cotton for minimal dielectric interference. It is wound in a spaced helical geometry around a cotton core--yielding outstanding transient response. Shielded version also available. Our shielded version use a braided shield for greater RF rejection. Unique to our shielded version is how we connect the shield. Most all RCA type interconnects that are shielded, connect the shield to the signal ground. This sends all the RF noise that the shield has collected directly into the signal path--not good. Since our shield is completely isolated from the signal connections, we add a separate shield drain wire with a small connector that should be attached to a ground point on your preamp or source component. If a dedicated ground connection is not provided on your electronics simply unscrew a chassis screw, attach our drain wire and reattach screw. This keeps all RF noise that the shield has accumulated out of the signal path for a much cleaner sound. Since this noise is at high frequencies ordinary drain wire simply won't due, so we use our proprietary Litz wire to effectively drain off all the high frequency noise. DigitalBecause of it's extreme bandwidth capability and the 75 ohm characteristic impedance of the WBT RCAs, this IC is also exceptional as a digital interconnect. Price:With your choice of WBT Nextgen Signature RCA or Neutrik silver XLR.
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