Signal Cable Analog 2 - Review/Demo

dorokusai

Please refer to this thread before posting:

http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14424

DEMO #1 :

Signal Cable Analog 2 - 1M

The Cable-

Coaxial construction using a unique combination of bare copper center conductor, Teflon insulation, bare copper braided shield wrapped in a Teflon jacket. Low capacitance of 17.3 pf/ft. In many areas compared favorably against industry standard name brands that retails for up to $1,000. This is a reference quality interconnect!

Conductor: 22 AWG stranded bare copper
Nom. Capacitance: 17.3 PF/FT
Cable: Belden 89259
Dual shield: 95% bare copper braid
Jacket: Black tint Teflon
Insulation: Foam FEP (Teflon)
Nom. DC Resistance: 15.0 ohm/M'
Velocity of propagation: 78.0 %

Professionally Hand Terminated.

www.signalcable.com

phoneisbusy

Signal Cable review:

Hi everyone,

This is the inaugural and very belated review of the cable swap project. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Years. The holiday season was a whirlwind for me. We ended up visiting relatives in Victoria for a few days and entertaining friends and relatives took up much of the rest of the time.

I'll start this review off by stating it was not the strictest controlled testing performed. I did manage to do some double blind testing and such but didn't have the time to apply the scientific method as strictly as I would like.

First of, the rig:

Rotel 956AX 6ch amp. 4 channels bridged into 2 outputs.
Pioneer FD407 25 disc player
Yamaha C40 preamp
Celestion Mk 5 bookshelf speakers ( 1" titanium dome tweeter, an 6" felted bass).

The rig is a 2 ch system that I've assembled via the flea market. I posted a short review perviously and concluded it was an improvement on the HT (mid-fi) systems upstairs. I'm using 12 gauge premium speaker wire and no name OF shielded cables with gold plated rca connectors.

Cables tested:
Cheap freebie included with cd player
no name oxygen free, shielded cable, gold plated connectors
Signal cable

The freebie cables had tin plated connectors and thin/scrawny cable. Nothing to write home about.

The no name cables had better gold plated connectors and much thicker cable. The specifications on the packaging stated that they were also shielded.

Signal cable. The signal cable costs more and it showed. The build quality was very good to excellent. The connectors were beefier and the gold plate polished till it glowed. The cables were a touch thicker then the no name cables but the jacket appears to be a braided fabric. I was definitely impressed with the construction.


CD's
Opera favourites
Enya Watermark
Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Boy Named Charlie Brown
Ella Fitzgerald Christmas
Gorecki Symphony No. 3

I have a bit of an eclectic collection and these were just some of the cd's that jumped out at me when I was looking for demo cds.

The Testing.

We started off very unscientifically by using the freebie cables between the CD player and the preamp. Very tinny sound with no depth to the mid or bass frequencies. I noticed this with the Vince Guaraldi CD. The piano and bass sections were lifeless and flat. I picked two songs from each CD to listen to and listened a couple times to form a mental image.

Next up the no name brand. Definite improvement! Piano and bass more pronounced. A bit more depth to the notes are the only way I could describe it. The notes from the piano and bass seem more distinct whereas they seem to blend together with the cheap interconnects. I reconnected the cheap freebies again to make sure I was not imagining things. Nope. Definite difference.

So, now I connect the Signals up. Hmmm... I think there's an improvement. The highs are clearer on the Vince Guaraldi songs. The highs were more evident on the opera cd's in the saprano arias. I would say that the mid and the bass were a touch more pronounced too.

Gorecki's symphony no.3 starts off slowly with one bass playing softly. Switching between the cables, I found I could pick out the bass sooner with the signal cables over the no names.

Okay, at this point, I decide I need to do some double blind testing just to be sure I'm not being influenced by the wow factor. I ask my wife to help me out with some double blind cable testing. She tells me I'm a pervert (she was still suspicious about the plain brown box the cable came in)... After I explained what I was doing, she decided I was a pervert and weird but she obliged.

For a couple of evenings, she dutifully changed cables around and punched the play buttons. I'll try to keep this short by saying I was able to picked the signal cables as having clearer highs better defined mids and highs 3 out of four times. I correctly identified the cheap cables everytime. With this complete, my wife
made her exit, much relieved to be done with this trial. Her opinion is both sound nice and then she gave me a 'C' for my lab report (Didn't state a hypothesis, didn't underline the date, no name, it was actually a blind test, not double blind). Did I mentioned she's a high school chem teacher?

With the testing done and my belief that the signal cables were an improvement over standard cables, I proceeded to fiddle and enjoy some music. I tried using the cables between the pre and the amp. I really couldn't tell if it provided an improvement or not. No. My wife was not interested in another double blind test.

What I did notice after listening to Gorecki is the highs to be clearer and more defined but somewhat fatiguing. I chose Gorecki's Symphony no 3 because of his emphasis on the strings and arias performed by a saprano. I'm not sure if this is caused by the signal cable or my speakers. On the HT rig upstairs, the highs were not as fatiguing. This could be caused by the differences in the tweeters on the Celestion and the Polk
RT12's though. I really could not test the signal cables on the HT rig as I would have liked because presently, the living room has been infested by a rug rat. I will post a picture of this elusive creature but those of you who have suffered through the pestience know it to be unwise to leave exposed stereo components and wires around. The rugrat is particularly adept at manipulating the volume knob.

Verdict:

Freebie cables:
Pros: Free
Cons: Twist ties sounded better.

No name cables:
Pros: Cheap. About $9 Cdn each.
Definitely improvement on the sound.

Cons: Build quality average.
Not the final interconnection solution?

Signal cables:
Pros: Very good/excellent build quality.
Improvement over the no name cables.
Prices are reasonable.

Cons: I don't think they're availabe in Canada. i.e. You'll have to order them from the US.
May not be worth chanaging all the interconnects yet.
I have to give them back.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed the opportunity to evaluate a pair of high quality interconnects and would like to thank Dorokusai for arranging the evaluations. I found that in my case, the use of the signal cables improved the sound quality of my rig. However, if I were to continue to use the Celestions, I might be hesitant to use the signal cables because I found the highs a bit fatiguing over longer periods. I've read on the various Polk forums that different cables can affect the bass, mid and highs. Perhaps there might be a better interconnect for my Celestions? Finally, I think that I would consider upgrading my interconnects after I've upgraded my receiver and sources.

Thanks again, I'll try my best to answer any questions.

p.s. Shipping back to the U.S. air mail insured $5.80 cdn. (3-9 days).

dorokusai

Dave - Thanks for being a part of this program I like your stereo rig, and I am a fan of the Celestions. Small bookshelf speakers make my day.

Nice review, I expected that you would at least find a small improvement. Keep in mind that often a better piece, whether its cables or actual gear, will point you to the next "weak link" in the chainmail of audio.

If I had a full signal path of cables to offer everyone, perhaps that would be the best indicator of improvements, but we'll have to make due I presume.

Your wife sounded about as pleased as mine does when I mention ANYTHING about the stereo...she probably hears everything I say, like Charlie Brown listening to his teacher.

The rugrat has no known remedy for relief....unless you call time a remedy

Dr. Spec

Great review!

I'm not in the loop on the interconnect review, but I have the SCA2 and have compared it extensively to the Monster IDL digital coax.

I can switch between the two with the touch of a button, and the channel levels have been exactly matched with Avia. The only fly in the ointment is that I am also switching DACs (2900 vs. 3803) in the process, so it is not a valid comparison of just the interconnects. There are definitely subtle differences between the two "systems", though, and I prefer the 2900 and the SCA2 over the 3803 and the IDL100.

Just sharing some related thoughts.......

phoneisbusy

Thanks Dorokusai and Dr. Spec.

As I said, it was fun and I did notice an improvement. I have a better CD source, receiver and a DVD recorder on the wish list. After that, it might be time to look at better interconnects.

regards

Dave

p.s. rugrat sighting in the off topic forum.

organ

Great review, Phone. I agree with Doro. The fatiquing highs you experienced could be a component in the audio chain. High quality cables will reveal weaknesses in the system. From the components you listed, IMO, it could be the titanium dome tweeters in the Celestion. You have excellent gear that's good for cable testing. I like the way you did your DBT. Getting it right 3 out of 4 times shows that you are indeed hearing a difference. Great job and props to Doro for the swap program!

I just picked up a 1m pair of Audioquest Diamondback after work today. Conductors are both silver and copper and the RCA jacks are silver. I haven't been listening for too long but I can tell the difference compared to the Monster Interlink 2 I used before. So far I'm very impressed with the highs and mids. Less bass than Monster but with more control and realism. The monster sounds boomy compared to this. I'll post a review and pic when I have more time.

Maurice

organ

Oh man, I'm really enjoying the wonderful world of cables. I've been listening to the Audioquest non stop and it sounds awesome on CD player and NAD C160. It's brighter, more forward and it brought out the last bit of sparkle but the most amazing thing is the amount of "air" in the sound which it didn't have with the Monster. The Monster was $200 and the Audioquest is $150. Build is superior to Monster. My friend is buying the Monster off me.

Only coplaint is the extreme highs and sibilance on poorly recorded CD's. They posses a "metallic" sound. But I can't blame the cables. It's the sound engineer's fault.

Here's a question...Have anybody tried the Audioquest "King Cobra"? This is after the "Diamondback". How does it sound? I'm currently using XLO from the pre to the amp. I'm thinking about buying the King Cobra for source to pre and use the Diamondback from the pre to the amp.

Thanks

Maurice

F1nut

Originally posted by organ
Only coplaint is the extreme highs and sibilance on poorly recorded CD's. They posses a "metallic" sound. But I can't blame the cables. It's the sound engineer's fault.

I use to have the same problem, drove me nuts!!! I think you're probably right, it's not the cables. They most likely have exposed a short coming with your source, at least that was my case. My solution was finding a SACD/CD player with tubes in the output stage. Now, even poorly recorded CD's no longer have that edge and sibilance. I never tried this myself, but have heard others solve the problem by using a tube based DAC. Some other folks have had their CD source modded with better clocks and output stages and have reported a much smoother result.

Just some things to think about...this hobby can drive you crazy at times, but when you get it right......Ah, heaven.

As for the Audioquest cable question, have you looked on Audioreview or Audiogon to see what folks there have to say?

organ

F1,
I still haven't had a chance to try the Audioquest with my ASL tube pre. I'm running pure SS at the moment. The ASL sounds great with SS amps but my Klipsch are too damn sensitive. A very low buzzing sound could be heard with the LSi9 and 800i when I place my ears close to he speakers. But it's much louder with the Klipsch (sensitive speakers and sensitive input on SS amps). The NAD combo is dead silent.

I will be purchasing a tube DAC in the future once I get my tube problems solved and the Dyna fixed.

The sibilance is not a big deal for me though. It's only present on a few CD's and I don't find them that annoying. Good recordins sound superb.

Thanks. I'll check out AA and Audiogon for reviews. I think I'll get the King Cobra anyways. I just have to add a little bit more to the money I'm getting from my selling my Monster cable.

I also picked up some 16ga Monster Cable for the HF to try bi-wiring on the Klipsch. Haven't done it yet because I wanted to listen to the Audioquest first.

Maurice

danger boy

I just wrapped up my demo of the Signal Cable myself. Cables are now on their way to the next person on the list.

I am posting this without having read any other comments about these cables, so that i would not be influenced by what someone else said.

First off the 1m SC is a very good looking cable. It's stiffer than I thought it would be. I guess stiffness or flexability has no effect on how a cable performs.

Here is my gear and where i decided to demo the cable.

I have a one year old Marantz CC4300 carousel CDP, running to a California Audio labs alpha tube DAC w/12AX7 Mullard tubes. From the CDP coax out to the DAC via a heavy duty Vampire .5 meter coax cable.

From the L&R RCA outs on the DAC to the receiver is where i decided to demo the SC interconnects.

My first impressions:

The thing I noticed first off is how revealing the cable is to listen to. I only have experience with Monster cable, Audio Quest Diamondbacks.. and the current cable I usually use in this place is a IXOS 1001 silver series 2m cable. I have to say here that the SC is every bit as good as the IXOS cable (price $100+), which right away impressed me.. since the SC although being only 1m is much less expensive, with very similar sound.

Bass is very good...
although on some music I demoed on it.. the bass seemed slightly muddy.. but this could also have been the CD itself. Bass is strong and punchy, that's for sure. It was strongs bass, by just a fraction over my IXOS interconnect. Not enough to make me switch it out though.

Mids were also very good.
Clear, clean, and what appeared to be forward, just enough to help bring out voices and other instruments in that range. I truely enjoyed hearing the SC's mids being more forward than what i'm used to. It was forward, just reserved enough to bring it to your attention.. but not overwhelm you.. very nice touch here.

BUT, here is where i noticed the difference and maybe it's (SC) lack of finess.

Tweeter/highs....
this is the only part of the SC which i was not happy with. While the highs are very revealing, like I mentioned before. They are to forward and just to much of a good thing. I heard subtle, yet very good increased highs in my music that with the IXOS are not so prominent. This is a good thing for sure.... but at the expense of the SC adding to much brightness that on some songs off ColdPlays " A Rush to the Head"... when Chris Martin is singing those high notes.. the SC give some of those notes make that "ssssss" sound.

For the most part.. not all the songs from Coldplay are like that. only a few of them. The highs are so pronounced that I could see any listener getting fatigued if a lot of your music was that bright.

Luckily I demoed more than just one disc. The brightness reminded me of another cable i purchased a while ago. It was a .5 meter silver interconnet from Catcables. catcables
While Silver wires have a place in someones system... for me it was to much of a good thing. Silver is nice and revealing as well, but it's price is to steep for me and i didn't care for the sound that much.

Final thoughts on the Signal Cable. Nicely made cable. It's well worth it's price. Certainly one of the better made and bargins that you'll find out there. I know several people in the forums here use SC...and the maker of the cable has treated folks in here very well.

Would I buy them? Yes, but only if i was somehow able to tame the slight brigtness I was getting. there again.. this wasn't on every CD i listened too. But when you do find a CD that is somewhat bright.. the SC just seems to exagerate it to much.. that it becomes to noticeable for you to continue to listen to.

Music i used for the demo are as follows.

Coldplay (SC made the acoustic guitar sound very nice here)
Best of David Bowie
Journey's Greatest hits
BareNaked Ladies
Elton Johns Greatest hits volume III 79-87 (not a very good recording, but i wanted to see how the SC would act on it)
Santana - Supernatural
KD Lang - Ingenue
and Rod Stewart - encore: the very best of: Vol 2

that's it guys. Hope my demo results are of some value to anyone looking to purchase these. Great price.. good strong bass, nice forward mids, slightly bright highs.

Peace, Al

dorokusai

Very nice review DB. I think some posts were lost, but the cables open up a bit more as they get "burned". It was a valid demo.

The Vampire brand cable is another fine brand.

I think the Audioquest DB's are too bright for me. They show sibilance on my media, moreso than the SCA2. The MIT is the only IC that did not alter the sound for me thus far, but that is subjective, and gear driven.

Thank you again for participating DB.

As a side note, completely unrelated:

The SCA2, High Current Power Cable and the Double Run Speaker Cable from Signal Cable, were the main cables during the Texas Polk Audio Gathering, and there were no complaints.

Dr. Spec

Danger:

Way back when I first switched from a Kenwood AVR to the Denon 3803, my highs went from ho-hum to extremely bright, revealing, and sibilant.

I was using Home Depot 14 gauge bi-wire back then.

I switched to the Monster M1.4 bi-wire and the highs immediately backed down and became more neutral and transparent and the sibilance was gone.

All of the above is through the Monster IDL100 coax using the AVR 3803 for decoding.

Then I added the SCA2 to the mix for DVD-A and SACD and now I use it for redbook too.

Compared to the IDL100/3803, the SCA2/2900 is a bit more revealing and resolved in the mid range and highs, but certainly not any more sibilant. If anything, it is less sibilant than the IDL100/3803.

Just wanted to share my experiences with how sibilance drastically changed for me when changes were made to the "total package" - DACs, interconnects, and speaker wire.

I'll agree totally with one impression you had - in my experience the 2900/SCA2/M1.4/RT800i will mercilessly expose sibilance in the source material. I played Bruce Hornsby the other day and his voice was so sibilant I had to turn it off. I switched to Shawn Mullins (close mic studio recording) and I was back in audio nirvana.

Doc

dorokusai

Terrax - Hey man, get your lazy fingers typing We are wondering what your thoughts were on the demo.

Terrax

Dont make me come up there, Doro

My apologies to all those awaiting to hear my comments on the Signal Cables. I will have my thoughts on these fine cables posted no later than Sunday. I have hated to have to put this off, but my work life has been a nightmare for the last four weeks, no excuse, but still a fact. I know Derick has still to receive the cables as of yet, and this bothers me greatly, because I sent them out to him roughly 3 weeks ago. I was assured by the lady at the PO that there would be no problems, and that all the shipping info was correct. Hell, I had the her triple check it. Anyway, if something happens to them, and they do not make it to Derick, and do not wind up returning to me, I will gladly pay the cost to have new ones bought, so this can continue. Again, My apologies.

Regards,
Terry

Terrax

Ok here goes,

This is not in any way going to be a technical review because, for one, I dont have the technical insights or experience to do such and review any justice. What I will do is give my impressions based on what I heard compared to other cables.

My first impressions of these cables is that of quality. The construction that went into making them. First off, as I believe was mentioned in an earlier post, they are rigid. Very stiff compared to all that I have experience with. This, I believe is both a positive and negitive. Which also has already been stated, so I wont get into that, as I have to agree with those earlier statements. The one thing and only thing I really didnt much care for was that in tight situtions, the rigid constructions of these cables will make it hard to run them without crimping them.

Now, as to what they are intended for. Making sound travel.

The one and only noticeable thing that stood out for me was, "subtlety". I heard no major or obvious changes to what is actually heard. But, those "subtle" changes did make me notice more detail to some old music I have listened to for years. "Pink Floyds, The Division Bell", "George Michaels, Older", "Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See". I used these because of my constant listening to them over many years. The gear I used is: Marantz, SR7300OSE receiver; Klipsch CF1's speakers; mated to an Audigy2 ZS all with gold plated connectors. Other cables used were "Rat Shack, Fusion 1M interconnects", and P.O.S. cables packed with most electronics.

I really was quiet amazed at the amount of small little details that presented themselves with the signal cables. Things that one might miss all together and that was not even present with the packaging cables. This alone sold me on "Quality Cables" as oppossed to POS cables.

I know most of you what want to hear some big long drawn out techincal jargin , but I just dont have it in me at this point. I did like the cables very much, and will invest in them in the near future.

Thanks for reading,
Terry

dorokusai

Terrax - Any review, postive or negative, is a good review....it's an individuals thoughts on a product. Thank you for posting your view. They are a tad rigid, but it's the nature of the construction.

I will say that I am a little concerned with the George Michaels selection, but we will hash that out when you come to Polk-A-Looza

F1nut

So, how did they do vs the Rat Shack cables?

Ditto Doro on the GM selection...lol.

shack

Originally posted by F1nut
Ditto Doro on the GM selection...lol.

It could have been worse...



Very nice review BTW. It may be better than some of the techno jargon. I am anxiously awaiting the Nordost and Diamondbacks to demo....

Terrax

Heh, well the reason I listen to that George Michael CD is because it does have "Class" and "Style", in presentation and sound. And theres some killer sub meaning to the whole overall theme. But I'm not gonna defend my listening to it, lol :P

As for how the Signal Cables compares to the Fusion Cables, I would purchase the Signals over the Fusions now, considering they both cost close to the same. I like the mid and low feq. better on the Signal Cables than the Fusions. However, one thing that seemed to bother me on the Signal Cables that stood out was highs at certain feq. seemed over accentuate themselves (for lack of a better way of putting it), a tad too harsh maybe. The Fusions really have a smoother high feq. but this only seemed to be at certain feq's. This may be due to the Fusions having Ferrorite (sp) magnets to isolate out interference. Overall detail though, the Signal Cables are the better of the two, IMHO.

dorokusai

I think you simply experienced some sibilance, and that would not suprise me. I also had some sharpness on the SCA2's that I own, but they have since mellowed out.

F1nut

Terry,

Thanks for additional comments. I remember reading in Stereophile (I think) that they recommended the Fusion cables as a good budget cable, so I picked up a pair for my shop rig yesterday before reading your review. I try to put as little money into the shop rig as possible, so for $27.00 I was willing to try them. They are still burning in, but so far they are a serious improvement over the patch cord. After they burn in I'll run them on the big rig vs the MIT's and we'll see how good they really are.

Forumla One starts on March 6th, I am pumped. It's been a long off season, eh? Williams and JPM are looking good so far, that new nose is interesting. I'm thinking it may be JPM's year.

Jesse

amulford

I was looking for this earlier.

Here is my review

I really enjoyed them.

danger boy

I don't know why i waited so long.. but i finally purchased a 2ft pair of SC2 w/bullets from Frank.

WOW!

Frank says to give em about 50 hours to burn in.. so i began the burning in tonight while listening to the Best of Fleetwood Mac double CD. I had work to do on the computer.. so I installed the new SC2's on my two ch computer rig.

I like the best of Fleetwood Mac double CD.. since it for one has all of their hits.. and secondly..it has a few acoustic live songs that sound amazing too.

I thought i'd just turn down the music and do my work on the puter and be done in about an hour or so.. here i am almost three hours later and I keep getting interupted by the fantasic sound coming from the monitor 7's. Wonderful, dynamics from the bottom up and everything in between. I really like the revealing top end. Good to very good imaging, and very light and airy sounding.

The CD's are playing out of my old Toshiba SD3109 DVDP with HDCD.

Man, i am so impressed with the sound from the cables and the whole set up.. and i can never imagine it ever sounding any better than this.. but i still got about 47 more hours of burn in still to do before they "open up"

dorokusai

Always nice to read a happy review, have fun Al!

Thank you for participating!

dorokusai

The demo cable doesn't have the bullet plug terminations.

danger boy

yeah sorry for the confusion.. this is a pair of cables i bought from Frank with the bullets.. the bullets are very tight fitting. i had some trouble getting two of them attached to the amp. pretty snug fit.

dorokusai

oh ok.

danger boy

Originally posted by ATCVenom
Danger,

I may have to go on a limb and order a pair from Frank and compare them to my DIY job. 30 day trial period, I figure I got little to loose, except postage.

Yeah it's a no lose situation.. you win whether you like it or send it back.. you're out only postage. What length are you thinking of? will you be getting the bullets? Where are you thinking of using the IC?

danger boy

what is your DIY cable project?

a month ago i also bought a cable from a guy off Ebay. it's a Canare LV-615 coaxial cable I also use in my two ch. system. it's been a good cable too. .5 meter ran about $29

I know what you mean about low funds.. this is why i'm only looking at IC's right now.. I don't have the dinero for anything else right now either.

dorokusai

DCarlson - Where is your review? DId you get a chance to throw something down formally? Just wondering.

dcarlson

Sorry, I do have some brief notes written down. I had a hard time bringing myself to post a somewhat negative review. I will post a short review later tonight.