Tip 'O The Hat to Douglas Cables -Furutech speaker cable reterminations

dromunds · February 2017

I contacted Douglas Connections to re-terminate my PNF Audio Symphony speaker cables that I had purchased some time ago used from DSkip. One of the problems with PNF cables, and many others, is the cheap bananas they use, can't blame them, it makes the cable affordable, but I have binding posts that are at an upward angle and it puts a great deal of stress on the bananas as the cables are hanging down from that upward angle at all times. The other thing about compression type bananas is they sometimes don't make that good of a connection with the binding post, and you have to try to bend out the connector ends to make that tight connection. I decided to bite the bullet and go with Furutech FP-202(R) and FT-212(R) Rhodium plated locking banana connectors for these PNF's. As you can see from the photo, the speaker ends are angled for minimum stress on the cables. My amps are straight out and near floor level so I went with straight locking bananas for those.

This is a quick preliminary review, as the terminations will need break-in time, although less I'm told as the cables themselves were fully broken in. First of all, Doug's work quality is impecable. Attention to detail in every regard, including a little thing that I appreciated: Doug made the top two bi-wires on the speaker end a bit longer so the bottom two bi-wires would be less stressed and hang easier.

As for the terminations themselves, they are somewhat pricey, but the rhodiums are not prohibitively more than the gold plated and I decided to bite the bullet as I consider the PNF cables the best bang for the buck cables I found, I can't (or won't) afford very expensive cables and I wanted to see how far I could take the PNF's with a reasonable investment.

First, I will say the Furutech design is fantastic, top quality all the way. As far as the sound, I noticed an immediate benefit right out of the box. More dynamic range, like more signal extending on the outer ends, more linear detail. Maybe its less noise masking the detail, I don't know. But I'm liking it. And there is no more worry whatsoever about my bananas bending or not providing a solid connection.

I may provide addendums to this review as the Furutechs break-in but I'm quite pleased with the decision to re-terminate these PNF's with the Furutech's. Kudos and a special tip o' the hat to Douglas Connections for quick and utterly professional service. And a really nice guy who spent quite a bit of unbilled time talking through my sometimes inane questions at times. I can't think of a more overall pleasant transaction that I've had.

Associated equipment for this test: Gary Dodd rebuilt 1950's Heathkit W5-M tube monoblocks, Dodd selectable gain battery preamp, Sony XA5400ES, Dahlquist DQ-30i speakers, (separate one-off channel on Dodd preamp with internal active crossover set at 60hz to Carver M500t Dennis Miller Mk. II mods driving two 15" JBL 2235h LF's for bottom end. PNF Audio speaker cables w/ Furutech terminations, PNF Audio and M.I.T. Shotgun S3 I.C.'s My reference SACD for this one: Mark Knofler Shangri-La.