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Reviews
Hi Fi Magazine, Croatia
Have you ever thought that improvement in sound quality your new cables brought to your
system wasn’t worth the $200+ you paid for them? Maybe you are tortured by a thought
that you could get better for the same money as you haven’t heard them all. If you
are still tortured by such questions or just don’t want or can’t spend the usual
great amount of money, maybe there is solution for your problems.
The book I’m writing about is written by a man with more than 20 years in the hi-fi
world. The book covers the history, theory and DIY building of cables. Each group of
cables (interconnects, speaker, professional, video, digital and power) is explained
separately. The theoretical part of the book contains the famous work about audio cables
by Prof. Malcolm Hawksford, which was originally published in the1985 Hi Fi News & RR,
and again in 1995 in a revised version in Stereophile. Because of the very complex nature
of the work, Allen then "translates" it to language understandable to most
readers.
Guidelines for making the cables are written as recipes in cookbook. The sound and ease of
build are graduated from 1 to 10, there is a list of needed materials and step by step
instructions. At the end of each recipe the author states advantages and disadvantages of
each design.
The needed materials are easy to find and those which aren’t (like the silver foil
for the best designs) can be bought from the author at a nice prices. There is also the
possibility of buying cables in kit form. The author says that these cables can be easily
compared against anything on the market.
To get picture of sound quality relations I suggest you to try one of the interconnect
designs from the book, graded 5 for the sound. Connect it in your system instead of
AudioQuest, XLO, Kimber or whatever and enjoy!
The book price is 60 DEM and I think this value would come back multiplied as soon as you
make first meter of cable.
Zvonimir Vukovojac, Hi Fi Magazine, Croatia |
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Review extract. The
Audiophile—Technophile Supplement Dec. 5, 96 (Malaysia)
"Detailing the how’s, when’s and what’s of cable design, the
SuperCables CookBook is a real godsend for those of us lusting after that nth degree of
refinement in our systems. And wonder of wonders, most of the materials he uses to make
the cables is available off the shelf, except for the very highest-end of the cables which
use rather rare and exotic materials as silver foil and violin varnish, which he makes
available as a matter of necessity....
So, for practically next to nothing, you can test out the concepts and see if the sound
agrees with you (it did with me). And yes, this book passed the hardest test of all -
getting me all excited over cables."
Kuldeep Singh, The Audiophile Technophile Suppliment |
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Review extract (in German*) from HiFi
Scene Magazine, Switzerland)
"Kabeljau?" von Christian Rintelen
Allen Wright hat wieder einmal zugeschlagen. Und ein Buch geschrieben. Es heisst «The
Super Cable Cook Book» und beschreibt, warum und wie man seine Kabel besser selber
kocht. Ich habe es von vorn bis hinten gelesen, keinesfalls aber alles verstanden. Was
weniger daran liegt, dass Allen Wright englischer Muttersprache ist und ergo seine Bücher
auch so verfasst, als vielmehr daran, dass mich die einleitende Theorie hoffnungslos
überfordert hat und ich drum auch nicht beurteilen kann, ob sie nun stimmt oder nicht.
Was aber nicht weiter schlimm ist. Doch darüber später mehr.…
Allen Wright schlägt zum Beispiel vor, herkömmliches zweiadriges Lautsprecherkabel in
der Mitte aufzutrennen, sodass die beiden Leiter nicht parallel laufen, sondern frei in
der Luft hängen. Was eigentlich logisch ist, denn bekanntlich ist Luft ein guter
Isolator. Konsequenterweise nennt Allen diesen Kabeltyp «airsuspended».
Dass ein gut klingendes Lautsprecherkabel nicht die Welt kosten muss und zudem innert
kürzester Zeit «gekocht» werden kann, beweist das Wire-Wrap-Draht-Rezept: Man nehme
zwei exakt gleich lange Stücke dünnen (30 AWG) Wrap-Draht, löte an jedes Ende einen
ebenso dünnen Bananenstecker und verbinde damit Endstufen und Lautsprecher. Der Autor
empfiehlt dieses Rezept nur für Röhrenendstufen und höchstens zwei Meter lange Strippen
und schreibt zudem vor, die Kabel völlig frei hängen zu lassen.
Der Effekt – ausprobiert an meinen blauen Wundern – ist sowohl optisch wie
akustisch frappant: Nicht nur widersprechen diese dünnen Drähtchen allen (durch
unüberlegtes Nachbeten der audiophilen Presse) gelernten Regeln, wonach nur dickes Kabel
Bass produzieren kann; es sieht zudem auch absolut lachhaft aus, wenn ein 150-Kilo-Monster
wie meine blauen Wunder mit zwei 0,3 Millimeter dicken Drähtchen an die Endstufe
angeschlossen werden. Doch es funktioniert – nicht nur bei mir, sondern auch bei
vielen anderen. Der beobachtete Effekt war stets ähnlich: der Bass wird schneller und
besser durchhörbar, die Musikwiedergabe kohärenter und das Bankkonto praktisch nicht
belastet.…
Highy recommended!
Christian Rintelen (Editor, HiFi Scene—Switzerland) |
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| Ken Kessler also wrote a very
favourable review in the prestigise English magazine HiFi News & Record Review, but
for copyright reasons this can not be placed on the Internet. "...a
valve polemic calculated to annoy transistor heads...above all it's fun, informative and
eminently digestible"
Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News and Record Review May '95.
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"Allen's intuitive grasp of the
subject allows him to explain in everyday language, rather than try to make arguments look
impressive with reams of unnecessary mathematics or obstruse gobbledegook. However, this
book could cause a few problems for both those "new to electronics", as well as
boys from the old school [as Maxwell Smart would say: "Sorry about
that!"]."
"This is the only book I know of which dares to take audio design into a more
metaphysical plane. Most like-minded thinkers either keep their knowledge secret or are
too afraid of criticism to voice their opinions. There are plenty of cranks about spewing
pseudo-science, but here the information presented here is derived from solid reasoning
and experimentation, albeit with a modest sprinkling of fairy dust [it's called
humour]."
"I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in either modifying or
building valve equipment. It's a worthwhile addition to any library on the black art of
valve audio."
Andy Grove, Hi-Fi World Supplement Aug. '95 (excerpts) [ ] added by JR |
Since September 02
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