This might be fun: thoughts about Mapleshade's products (specifically, wires)?

mhardy6647

So, a week or so ago, I received a little care package of things from a long-time hifi friend (a fellow that I used to work with a long time ago). I was organizing a box of tubes & ephemera on a rainy Saturday morning -- and stumbled upon the "instructions" for a Mapleshade loudspeaker cable.



Now, my colleague is a big fan of the Mapleshade wires, and (it turns out) also owns a pair of Pierre Sprey's "modified" HH Scott components (a tuner & an integrated amp); i.e., he's a big fan.

I have zero experience with any of Mapleshade's products (even their CDs, which I understand are highly thought of in some circles). Sprey is a character, no doubt* -- his products certainly represent (by and large) some, shall we say, "out of the box" thinking (although perhaps not at the level of "quantum purifier" abstruseness!). He's also (literally and figuratively) been around for a while, too. The Mapleshade brand dates back to 1990.


http://www.mapleshaderecords.com



They look -- delicate (maybe even a tad unsafe, in terms of their power cords)... but that doesn't really say much about their audio prowess.

All of which is my long-winded way of saying: Any of youse guyses have "ears-on" experience with any of Mapleshades products (particularly, with any of their wires)?
"Ears-on" opinions of their (his) CDs or any of their (his) other products would be
interesting, too.

Really curious about this, if anyone has anything to share.

Thanks!

_____________
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Sprey

heiney9

I know they get very positive consumer reactions. Never tried any myself, but all of his products seem to cure a tweakers wet dream.

H9

BlueFox

I started with their wire, Clearview Double Helix Plus, and it was a big improvement over Home Depot twisted pair 12 gauge. Later I went to the Planar 5 with the biased open air mesh shielding, and found it to be a fantastic speaker cable. At least until a cat ripped it in two. I tried their analog ICs, and while they worked okay, at some point I grew tired of how fragile their wires are. Every time I moved the rack a speaker wire would break. If the analog ICs weren't just right then hum was there. Now all that is in the garage someplace.

I love their Samson racks and have one for the stereo and two for the HT. I still use their Micropoint brass footers on electronics. Their CDs are very well recorded, but other than a Reggae CD there isn't much I like.

[Deleted User]

There's a Mapleshade store in downtown Baltimore in an area that used to be called "antique row". I don't know if there's still enough antique shops to still call it that or not. I've collected a number of his CDs, mostly jazz and one or two blues, and they are among the most realistic I've heard. Especially the live recordings at the no longer around Ethel's Place. Pierre has a true love of music and treats his artists with respect and it shows in his recordings.
He uses a simple approach, 2 track Sony open reel (TC-880) pressure zone microphones attached to angled sections of plexiglass, elevated platform for drum kit and his own record/playback EQ. From talking with him he takes his deck to the CD mastering studio so the digital transfer can be done simply. The results just plain sounds like real instruments being played.
I've not heard any of his audio products, but I respect his CDs a great deal.

heiney9

Good one Ken, I totally forgot about the cd's he makes/records. Might have to start looking for some of them.

H9

[Deleted User]

His ideas on connecting cables remind me of what my friend and I tried many years ago. We took strands of Kimber Kable speaker wire apart and using packing tape placed a signal and ground return wire along the two edges of the tape, then put another piece of packing tape on top to hold everything together. Think long flat ribbon, sort of like enlarged 300 ohm twin lead, then put RCA plugs on both ends. They actually sounded really good, but would be hard to route lots of them, but no problem with the sound.
Maybe I should make some more again.

[Deleted User]

His recording venue is this old mansion in Maryland and the artists come there and stay for the few days the recordings take, he makes the experience very personal and works to get a feel of what art they want to create.
In looking at what he does with the elevated drums I've always felt that most subwoofers would sound more realistic if they were lifted off of the floor a foot or two.

mhardy6647

KennethSwauger wrote: »

There's a Mapleshade store in downtown Baltimore in an area that used to be called "antique row". I don't know if there's still enough antique shops to still call it that or not. I've collected a number of his CDs, mostly jazz and one or two blues, and they are among the most realistic I've heard. Especially the live recordings at the no longer around Ethel's Place. Pierre has a true love of music and treats his artists with respect and it shows in his recordings.
He uses a simple approach, 2 track Sony open reel (TC-880) pressure zone microphones attached to angled sections of plexiglass, elevated platform for drum kit and his own record/playback EQ. From talking with him he takes his deck to the CD mastering studio so the digital transfer can be done simply. The results just plain sounds like real instruments being played.
I've not heard any of his audio products, but I respect his CDs a great deal.

Thanks for the extra context, Ken. I knew he was in the "Balto-Wash" metro area (I think he is or was in Upper Marlboro), but I didn't know there was a "brick & mortar" store. Thanks also for ID'ing the deck he uses! I knew it was a Sony, but hadn't (yet) figured out which!

"Ethel's Place" -- that triggers many memories! ... Mostly, of course, of Ethel Ennis... and her husband (not that I can remember his name!), who was a regular on the great old (OLD!) MD public TV ("Channel 67") program "Critics' Place"!

EDIT:
PS (and FWIW), not that I know squat about recording, but I am a big fan of PZMs for my own playing around with recording. I have... a motley collection of them, including a couple of what I believe is early/original Crown PZMs (albeit an OEM version, as sold by good ol' Radio Shack)



source: www.radioshackcatalogs.com (1984)

[Deleted User]

The most amazing musical experience of my life was hearing Sonny Rollins at Ethel's Place! Just unbelievable!

tonyb

I've only experience with his CD's....well recorded stuff that would rival any SACD. If jazz or classical is up your alley, he has some good offerings.

mhardy6647

KennethSwauger wrote: »

The most amazing musical experience of my life was hearing Sonny Rollins at Ethel's Place! Just unbelievable!

That must have been cool! He is an amazing performer (still!).
http://www.npr.org/2017/06/12/531642637/after-7-decades-sonny-rollins-cant-get-music-off-his-mind

mhardy6647

tonyb

Ya know Ken, never really thought about elevating subs patterned after the way it was recorded. I always was in-tune to how Mapleshade does their recordings, just never made the correlation before with drums and subs.

Very good point....anyone want to try that out and report back ?

EndersShadow

tonyb wrote: »

Ya know Ken, never really thought about elevating subs patterned after the way it was recorded. I always was in-tune to how Mapleshade does their recordings, just never made the correlation before with drums and subs.

Very good point....anyone want to try that out and report back ?

Hey @tonyb.... didnt you read what @Jstas posted..... do a search already (said in jest)

@treitz3 posted a thread on it in recent past with comments from some past Polkies of merit and grand renound.....

Here are some others

Thread.

I know a guy running his Sunfire True Sub Juniors on speaker stand and he loves it...

For giggles I may grab a endtable I have in my garage, throw it in the loft and then take REW measurements with and without the sub on it for giggles.

The Anthem ARC software is being wonky so I wont have room correction engaged for the test.

[Deleted User]

The Sonny Rollins concert was amazing from start to finish, beginning with my wife winning the tickets on a radio contest. For some reason I can't remember I was the only person able to go. I was a huge fan of his, read everything I could about his career and have a nice collection of his work. The club was the perfect size for a jazz concert and everybody in there was excited and he was fantastic. After a while he played a solo number and he just kept playing and I started to really get into what he was doing. I was like an unwanted village rat and he was the Pied Piper, completely entranced. First of all his tone was incredible, it seemed unbelievably strong and muscular and still dexterous and articulate. If he would have walked out the front door and down to the inner harbor I would have gladly followed and jumped in. Secondly he is just so connected to his horn, you can hear the thought enter his mind and come out of the bell of the sax perfectly expressed.
This is a guy who, at the peak of his career, took three years off from performing to practice 15 hours a day all year long from the Williamsburg Bridge just to find "his sound". It all comes through when you listen to him play, just amazing.

steveinaz

I always get a kick out of Mapleshades' flowery descriptions of what their product will do. I did try some brass weights/cone feet with suprising results on my old CEC-3300 CD Player.

K_M

tonyb wrote: »

I've only experience with his CD's....well recorded stuff that would rival any SACD. If jazz or classical is up your alley, he has some good offerings.

are these available anywhere easy to find?

ZLTFUL

K_M wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

I've only experience with his CD's....well recorded stuff that would rival any SACD. If jazz or classical is up your alley, he has some good offerings.

are these available anywhere easy to find?

http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/MAPLESHADE-CDs/departments/3/

55LS70

I have Mapleshade modded (actually Foster Blair did the modifications) HH Scott 330D tuner and Type 335 multiplex adaptor. Both sound great. I also got from Mapleshade a dried maple platform for my turntable, brass footers for my speakers and oak album racks for my records. All of which seemed to be of high quality.

kharp1

KennethSwauger wrote: »

His ideas on connecting cables remind me of what my friend and I tried many years ago. We took strands of Kimber Kable speaker wire apart and using packing tape placed a signal and ground return wire along the two edges of the tape, then put another piece of packing tape on top to hold everything together. Think long flat ribbon, sort of like enlarged 300 ohm twin lead, then put RCA plugs on both ends. They actually sounded really good, but would be hard to route lots of them, but no problem with the sound.
Maybe I should make some more again.

Wait a minute, didn't I see some Nordost cable that looked just about like that, for $12,000?

kharp1

Will say I always enjoyed their catalog.

tonyb

He does have....lets just say, "colorful commentary" about his products that seem a tad over the top.

[Deleted User]

"Brass weights carry even more punch than lead"! "tried the other common materials too (sand, stone, iron, VPI bricks, Shaktis)"

"You can’t stop static from building up on plastic surfaces like your CDs. Our Static Draining Brush is the easiest way to neutralize static. The first of its kind, our brush uses highly conductive bristles connected to a grounding wire that conducts static away from the brushed object right into a plug you connect to the ground of any three-prong AC wall outlet."!

"This diminutive Reclocking Adapter incorporates astonishing circuit sophistication and several key elements essential for high quality, high resolution playback"!!
"Our Amish woodworkers assemble a beautifully crafted (and ultra-low dielectric absorption) maple enclosure directly to the circuit board, thereby greatly stiffening the board while creating an ample sink for draining internal board vibrations. "
"maple enclosure avoids the sound-muddying effects of high dielectric absorption of the usual plastic enclosures-or, alternatively, the energy-robbing eddy currents that plague any metal enclosures (eddy currents are inevitably induced in any conductive wire or plate near signal circuitry)"!!!

mhardy6647

rednedtugent wrote: »

"Brass weights carry even more punch than lead"!

Guess it depends on the propellant, eh?

Ken your description of Sonny Rollins' playing is spot on (in my limited experience). I remember a TV commercial of him walking the bridge, blowin' the sax, with the story of his "sabbatical"... but now that I am thinking about it, I can't for the life of me remember what the commercial itself was advertising!

I think I'll have to try one of the Mapleshade CDs... I see on the website that one may download MP3s to get a taste of their recordings; think I'll do that stat. I know everyone hates MP3s but it seems like a way to get an idea of their "sound" if not necessarily their "sonics".

Dennis Gardner

I have a cat that would never allow cabling insulation like that in our house. He obliterates cracker wrappers if I leave a sleave of crackers unfinished laying around. He won't touch the crackers, just perforates the wrapping with his "Felines" as he surely wouldn't be caught with canines. He loves to feel the pop of plastic.

I do have a couple jazz CDs from their mansion. Excellent recordings.

mhardy6647

Yeah. Cats.
Actually, my friend has a cat, come to think of it.

Emlyn

I used to enjoy their catalog too, although I never bought anything and got purged from their list a few years ago when I last moved house. The owner seemed to have some unusual ideas, like sitting on the floor to listen to music. A lot of what he says makes sense though even if it does look really awkward and unconventional. He sure seems to have fun doing his thing.

F1nut

Their recordings are amazing. The Mapleshade room at shows have consistently been the worst I've heard.

[Deleted User]

Well,

they outdo MIT and Transparent!
I have to check out their CD's now. Thanks everyone!

kharp1

Where was these resounding endorsements of their CD's when I was in to digital? Guy just pulled out of my driveway with 1500 discs and my CD player. I'm all about vinyl now.

mhardy6647

kharp1 wrote: »

Where was these resounding endorsements of their CD's when I was in to digital? Guy just pulled out of my driveway with 1500 discs and my CD player. I'm all about vinyl now.

[emphasis added]

Hope he was drivin' an F250 -- otherwise I am guessing he was ridin' low in the back & will have difficulty negotiating speed bumps