What happened to John?

[shep]

Did he find a work around his problem accessing AN? Not only is he a very pleasant person to deal with, but his cables are splendid. I can not hope to afford the super cables, or even listen to one, but those  he made for me are within touching distance I imagine. My audiophile neighbor made an interesting observation; that they (obviously in the context of my whole system) "breathed". Actually the term was pneumatic...sort of pulsing/energizing the air. They are warm and relaxed yet very detailed. I would like to know if anyone else has say the Silkworm+ and know their impressions. (The comparison was with Grover's SX, a StraightWire and two others. Grover's were as detailed but less organic and rich and engaging. The others didn't stand a chance.)

[KCI-JohnP]

Hi Shep,

Well it appears I can get back on here now! It was a firewall that was keeping me from this(and a few other) forums, sorry about the absence.

Thank you for the kind words, very much appreciated. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying your cables, was a little worried for a bit. I hope that you are doing great over there and had a nice Holiday season. Take care and I'll talk to you soon.

Best,
John

[shep]

Good that you made it back. Things are very quiet around here. Tell us stories of new and wonderous discoveries!

[musicfile]

I have the Original silkworms not the plus and too my ears they're great

John is not too shabby either  

[shep]

I have been keeping a low profile of late...partly because I had nothing to say (or as was pointed out, ranting about other forums is misplaced here), partly because I was waiting for my CDP to shake down after it's latest mods (those pesky Blackgates). While waiting for Grover to send me an un-terminated power cord to solder in and replace the stock zip wire on the cdp (about time after 15 years  ) and in respect of this thread...I thought it timely to report on the wires John made for me. It's very hard to judge the sound of a set of cables, despite the verbiage we are subjected to by reviewers (bless them for trying). To be fair, I don't know where in John's line-up mine stand, nor how they would fair against higher priced ones from other sources, so this is a very subjective, limited, evaluation. First off I would qualify my system as an entry-level high end one, that sounds way above it's collective price (around 3000$). I am lucky to have very good and unproblamatic room acoustics and my Dutch Transmission lines are both forgiving in this respect and sufficiently revealing to hear the changes cable-swapping incurs. One thing that gets me very riled up is the totally stupid and willfully innacurate statement, often repeated, that there is no such thing as "burn-in" for cables (or for that matter gear in general and componants such as caps in particular). I have heard this effect consistently and in a variety of situations over the years and unless I am psychotic and deluded, such audible changes DO occur and sometimes quite dramatically, although not necissarily in a linear fashion. The cables I have from John (and Grovers to a lesser extent) are a perfect example. To my dismay, for a very long time, say 200+ hours, they sounded...well frankly nice but nothing special. In fact they were rather closed-in and not especially appealing. Around the 300 hour mark (I don't have a timer!) something happened and they literally blossomed. I can't think of a better word for this. John may have something to say about this, but in his absence I can only repeat that he did mention that the Gold content seems to have a very moody, sulky way of settling into the mix. It may also be that mine were not subjected to the heating/freezing process that he offers, so that should be taken into account. The end result is a very organic, warm, flowing sound, with excellent sound-staging. I would say a mid-field presentation that seems not to favor any frequency extreem. I really can't fault or nit-pick any aspect of the presentation and were I to do so, it would probably be pointing the finger at other parts of the system. I'm well aware that my Marantz can be taken to a significantly higher level with further mods and that is going to happen this year. So there you have it: I doubt very much if you can buy a better interconnect than John's, at the price level, and I suspect his best offering can compete with uber-expensive rivals and come out looking like a great bargain. Given his personal involvement and gracious personality, I really can recomment without reservation.

[tmazz]

Shep,

Check out the following device from Music Direct:

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/73367

It is a moulded adapter that goes from an IEC to a Standard three prong electric socket. Its stated use is for burning in a new power cable. You put the adapter on the IEC en of your power cable and then plug a lamp into it and use it as an extension cord fro the lamp. I am not sure how this would be different that just say putting your CDP on repeat and playing it for several days with the amp turned off (except than maybe you avoid the wear and tear on your component), but I would not use it that way anyhow.
I have have several audio buddies who have used this adapter to add a high quality power cord to a component that has it's cord hard wired. Think of it as an "after cord" instead of a replacement cord. They all seem to be very happy with the results.
I guess this kind of makes sense when you give it some thought. When you replace a stock power cord you add 3 feet of high quality power cable at the end of 50 miles or so of crappy transmission lines and house wiring and it makes a big difference. Well when you go the after cord route you are adding the same power cord to the same 50 mile plus an extra few feet (the stock zip wire) of crappy cabling, so it doesn't surprise me that it would work. I am going to order one of these for myself and give it a try. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Now would it sound better if you hard wired the new cord to the unit? Quite possibly, but the same can be said of using that cord via an IEC connector. This adapter can also be used to evaluate various power cable options and then whenyou settle in on a winner you can cut the IEC end off and hard wire it to your component.
As I am writing this I realized that an adapter with a US electrical termination won't do you any good, but maybe if you search the web you will be able to find a similar unit with an EU friendly connection.

Hey here is a radical thought... perhaps one of Alan Maher's CBF's on the stock zip cord might have a similar effect to a power cord upgrade?????  I might have to try that one myself, what the heck, it's only $25. (the only downside to trying is that it will take 4 weeks to settle in so we could figure out if it worked and the wait would drive me nuts, not unlike being part of the FedEx "world tour."  )

Tom

[mdconnelly]

FWIW, I find Alan's CBFs noticable from the get-go but do improve over the course of 4 weeks.   The down side is that I have tried them in places where I could hear no difference.  Would there have been after 4 weeks?  Beats me.   My approach is to only try the CBF where I hear a difference after maybe 30 minutes.  No difference, I move it elsewhere.  Now, whether the difference is an improvement or not, may take a good bit longer and some critical listening time.  But hey, that's what we do 

I can say that when I put one at the mains input to my circuit panel, there was quite a difference. 

[tmazz]

I can say that when I put one at the mains input to my circuit panel, there was quite a difference. 

That's good to know. Did you put it on the main breaker or tie wrap it to the incoming cable bundle? I have one CBF left from my initial shipment. I was saving it for my son to use when he gets his mini-mancave set up, but now it looks like he's on his own as I will have to try it on the mains.

It's good to be the King! 

[mdconnelly]

I initially had it directly over the breaker but recently tie-wrapped it to the bundle where it enters the panel and so far, prefer it there. 

[tmazz]

Thanks Mike, I'll give it a try. Do you have them anywhere else in the system?

I have already place them over the breakers and the open outlets at either end of my 2 dedicated lines. But first Alan and now you are reporting good things about treating the mains, so I figure I should give it a try. The worst that can happen is I take it of and waste 2 tie wraps. I may not get to it for a few days as I don't want ti start the process unless I have some quiet time that I can dedicate to listening and evaluation, but this will go to the top of my to do list. I'll let you know what happens.

[KCI-JohnP]

Shep,
Glad those crazy cables are finally settling down and starting to sing for you!

Now you had asked me before about power cord/s, did you get your power cord from Grover? If not let me know, I can help.

Best,
John

[tmazz]

I initially had it directly over the breaker but recently tie-wrapped it to the bundle where it enters the panel and so far, prefer it there. 

Mike,

Tie wrapped the CBF to the service entrance cables tonight. I don't know if the Main is the most effective spot to place a CBF or if it was just the synergy catalyst that brought it all together, but Holy C%#p,  What a difference! Listening to a small jazz combo (Jacintha - Here's to Ben) each instrument seems to occupy a much more defined area with definite "black space" between them. And echoes seem to be emanating from a different acoustic plane instead of coming from the same place as the original sound. And this all became apparent within 10 minutes of strapping it on. From everything I have read this should get better as it settles in. I can't wait. If it stayed just the way it is now I would be thrilled. If it gets better, wow. 

Thanks for bringing this up. Although I had been talking about treating the Mains, had your post not pushed me over the edge I sure I would have procrastinated and not done this for quite a while. 

Tom

[mdconnelly]

Tom,

While I'm always reluctant to subscribe to "magic crystals", whatever Alan is putting in these CBFs works.  I have also found the biggest benefit in the circuit breaker box and, particular, on the mains lines just inside the box.

Are you following his posts out on Facebook?  Alan is now selling a large Signature CBF as well.  While I'm tempted, I'm gonna sit this one out for now.   

 

[shep]

John, yes Grover is sending me something unterminated to hard-wire in the CDP. Not that I would be adverse to trying something else, on my amp especially. The problem is the cost of getting good French plugs at your end. They are simply too expensive! With the CDY I'm just going to use regular diy plugs from the hardware store.