New Grover ICs??

[Phil]

Rich,

Well temptation is what this site is all about.  That said, I'm always cautious about suggesting gear when someone has reached a balance they find pleasing.  As we know, one change can start a chain reaction.

Hope you and all the folks here have a great holiday.  I've got the Handel's Messiah ready.  I'm gonna blast the thing at near real levels tomorrow.

Isn't that what all holidays are about?  Great music?

Phil

[richidoo]

We have Messiah blasting on the radio right now, good stuff!!

I am nowhere near balanced, and plan to avoid it forever, if at all possible... hehe

[Ray Bronk]

We have Messiah blasting on the radio right now, good stuff!!

I am nowhere near balanced, and plan to avoid it forever, if at all possible... hehe

I got an email from Grover, where he says his latest cables have better bass, and are a little more dynamic. I have a pair of SC, which I have had for a couple of months now. Looks like he is pretty busy right now, just keeping up with all of the orders.

Ray

[djbnh]

I got an email from Grover, where he says his latest cables have better bass, and are a little more dynamic. I have a pair of SC, which I have had for a couple of months now. Looks like he is pretty busy right now, just keeping up with all of the orders.

Ray

Ray,

Your writing is  unclear to me. Are you saying: 1) Grover's latest ICs are the SCs, which you have, or 2) you have the SCs, but Grover has a new iteration? In advance, thanks for your reply.

[dangerbird]

I just got off the phone with a friend who originally turned me on to the grovers,,this is my understanding;Grover has a new version of IC's (since the graphite group buy),that is somwhat more detailed and has a blacker background.He also has a power cable now. Roger(my friend,and also a member here) is sold on the newer IC's vs the white's,which I thought were pretty good.
Well, I just reread this,,so I hope that it makes sense to someone,,to recap,, NEWER IC's (black with different shielding than the graphites) New Power Cable.. 

[richidoo]

Yup, they are called the SC version, with carbon something shield. Glad to hear about the power cord too, cool!

[djbnh]

Ok, I was thrown for a moment. I previously upgraded the Group Buy graphites to the SCs, and was wondering if they were already obsolete, due to the wording of Ray Bronk's post. Alles Klar, Kommissar!

[rlmacklin]

Grover SCs (in black) are his latest ICs - with carbon-nickel shielding (first used in Grover's phono cables).
More transparent/blacker background than white Grover S which I have - Grover SC lets through even more detail but no trace of grain or edginess to my ears in my system - natural and relaxed sonics similar to white Grover S
(unlike others' descriptions of Grover charcoal/graphites as more detailed than white Grover S but with a touch of detectable "edge" or "grain").  I have not heard or had charcaol/graphite Grover S, but "leapfrogged" them.

Grover sent me his new power cord (also labeled "Grover SC") and he suggested to use on main preamp, but I do not know for sure whether the power cord incorporates the carbon-nickel shielding, but would guess that it does because of the similar version designation as the latest ICs (which have that shielding).

I have to run over to Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Miller ["3 Girls and their Buddy"] concert shortly, so will try to post more re the SC ICs and power cord later.

The "Grover SC" power cord has same terminations as standard Black Sand Cable Violet Z1 which I also have and can compare to (later this weekend perhaps?)...

rlmacklin

[mboldda1]

what's grover's asking price for his power cord?

[shep]

Miss me?  Welllll...about 300 hours of burn in should do it right? Ok then; sysytem dependant of course.
Nice cable. transparent, fast, doesn't call attention to any end of the spectrum. Harmonically well pitched
( I made that up!) Seriously though, a great buy. Not the last word in sound-staging capacity, not as "meaty" as some, not very exciting but something you can live with without asking the perpetual questions.
I would like to hear this on a more revealing top-notch system than mine to be sure. There's something missing, I don't know what or of it is...maybe between my ears? (a brain!!!) Maybe I'm hearing the audio "truth" and I don't know it? At the moment I'm obsessing about a tiny laptop from Asus that's just on the market (for 400$) I've ordered one from NY, to be hand delivered soon. Forgoing the FRench keyboard...well when a guy has to buy, he's not going to wait, right? Right. Cheers all. Hope everyone is well. >From wet yucky France.

[richidoo]

Glad to see you shep! Thanks for the Grover SC review. 300 hours should be long enough, but sounds like you're still deciding if you like it.

Hopefully with your new laptop we will see a lot more of you ....

Winter here too... 30s rainy. Sucks.

[djbnh]

Winter here too... 30s rainy. Sucks.

this made me laugh, was 3 degrees in Concord NH after I took my pre-work hour walk. Ha ha, 30s is spring weather here!

[rlmacklin]

I am trying to burn in the Grover SC ICs a bit faster by running
the IsoTek Full System Enhancer CD when I am not listening to my music.
 
I currently have the Grover SC power cord (appears to have same Marinco/Wattgate ends
as standard Black Sand Violet) on my Modwright tubed linestage and it is burning-in.

Grover confirmed to me that his "SC" power cord does have "heavy carbon-nickel shielding."
 
I now plan to hold off any comparisons of power cords until
the Grover SC ICs are sonically stabilized (completely burned-in), which also gives the Grover power cord time to burn in as well.
 
I definitely prefer Black Sand Violets with Oyaide P-004/C-004 terminations
which I had John Cook make me (over stock Violets using the same Marinco/Wattgate ends
as appear to be on the Grover SC power cord).
 
I ordered a set of cryoed Oyaide P-004/C-004 and had those shipped to Grover
and he will make me another Grover SC power cord with those Oyaide terminations.
That is the configuration I really want to hear (and compare with similarly terminated Violets).
So I hope to soon have two versions of Grover SC power cord, which I can compare to two versions of similarly terminated Violets. This should be better basis for comparison/contrast.

rlmacklin
 

[richidoo]

Winter here too... 30s rainy. Sucks.

this made me laugh, was 3 degrees in Concord NH after I took my pre-work hour walk. Ha ha, 30s is spring weather here!

I grew up in MA, so I paid my dues, don't worry. I guess I didn't move far enough south. haha
Thanks Dave

Wow rlmackin, you are really goin for it! Sounds fun!!
Rich

[HumanMedia]

I have a pair of S2 Grovers with XLRs (or is it SB? - anyway the second S release) and my experience was that they took about 700 hours to break in.  Sure the majority of change took place before 350 hours, but there were a few little spots in the frequency range which sounded distorted, yes like real breakthrough distortion.  These spots slowly evaporated through to 700 hours leaving a clean sounding cable which I like very much.  But for me, it did take this long to be fully broken-in.

All this talk of the SC has me interested in upgrading and Im very interested in more opinions of how the SC compare to the previous S2/B (but not the initial S). Especially those who have broken in the SC for 700 hours or more. Ive read the thread so far but would love to hear more impressions an comparisons with the S2/B.