[KR...]

Put a 'Musical Bounce' in Your AV System
Grado Labs brings its signature sound to an audio cable with the aptly named Grado Signature Audio Cable. This special "Limited Edition" high-end audio interconnect boasts a pleasing musical "bounce" that you will notice and enjoy immediately. Its hallmarks are full-bodied dynamics and an open, natural soundstage which coaxes the best performance from your hi-fi or home theater components.

Dual Balanced Design
The Signature uses a dual balanced four-conductor design, which ensures that both wires carrying the music signal are symmetrical and of equal size. The specially chosen dielectric helps damp out airborne and mechanical noise to provide increased detail and definition.

Directional Design
Grado Signature cables are "directional," and special arrows on the outer jacket indicate signal flow direction from the source component to the inputting device or preamp. A proprietary method of soldering the copper braided shielding helps makes sure that outside noise never enters the music signal path going to the "inputting" device. Only the music is amplified and not the external RF and EMI noise.

Proprietary RCA Connectors
Grado has also designed its own RCA connectors, because the company found that connectors do indeed add sound to the music which can degrade the ultimate quality. Grado's superior RCA connectors create a connection that is seamless and symmetrical, matching the neutral audio fingerprint of the cable.

The ultra-wide bandwidth of Grado Signature allows extremely fast, low-noise signal transfer for a natural soundstage with instrument positioning that is open and well defined. The center channel placement is extremely focused with tremendous depth perception. Signature is not only very musical, but it also lacks the fatiguing "wire" sound found in many other cable designs.

Note: Grado Signature interconnects are terminated with single-ended RCA-to-RCA connectors only.

$149.95

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/pr...lid=04012002_H

http://www.audioadvisor.com

 

[acidtripwow]

Funny, I was just looking at these today since I received an email from Audio Advisor. I will probably order a set this week.

 

[KR...]

cool!

Make sure to post a review!

 

[Vka]

I remember Ross getting a pair of these by accident. Any chance for review, Ross?

 

[Ross]

I still haven't finished my evaluation, VKA. So far they sound okay, no major flaws, but I haven't pinned down their sound (mainly because I haven't used them much). I will try to listen to them some more over the next few weeks.

Ross

 

[Vka]

Is it me or do these babies look ultra cheap?

 

[Neruda]

Quote:

Originally posted by KR... Signature is not only very musical, but it also lacks the fatiguing "wire" sound found in many other cable designs.

Yes, God forbid our cables have that awful "wire" sound. The wire sound plagues half the cables on the market! I sure love outlaw interconnects, but damned if they don't sound like wire!

seriously, has anyone on the planet ever complained about their cables sounding like wire? What exactly does wire sound like, anyway? IMO, John Grado needs to take BS-ing lessons! Maybe he should contact Bose about it.

I agree with you, Vka. these don't look like they're worth $150 to me.

 

[Vertigo-1]

They look cheap, but well built. Same story behind Cardas, their cables look bleak as a desert plain but they're well built. For $150 they'd be worth a shot, especially since from joelongwood's story in the General Forum, it seems like they're making a new concentration in building analog interconnects.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by Vertigo-1 They look cheap, but well built. Same story behind Cardas, their cables look bleak as a desert plain but they're well built.

I've never used the Grado cables, so I can't comment on them. I would be surprised, however, if they were even remotely as complex in design as the Cardas cables (at least the Neutral Reference, Golden Reference and Golden Cross).

Earlier this week, I cut a small piece off of the Neutral Reference cross section. I then used my sharpest knife to gently cut a straight line down through the insulation and then peeled it off. I then proceeded to peel it away layer by layer. I kid you not -- it was stunning. And the Golden Cross and Golden Reference are even more complex.

I'm going to cut another small piece off and do this again, but this time try to take pictures layer by layer. Again, my digital camera is not very good, but I'm hoping it will capture the detail needed to at least see what's going on in each layer. If it works out, I'll do the same for the Golden Reference and Golden Cross (and maybe even the headphone cable).

The Grado cable could very well sound awesome. But, again, I'd be surprised if what's under the hood looks like what I'm going to try to show you as I peel back the layers of the Cardases and try to take pics.

 

[jude]

Off thread topic, but related to my last post....

I just did the Neutral Reference surgery, and here are the pics (again, my camera sorta sucks):

1. The Neutral Reference before any cutting.
2. The gray urethane outer jacket cut away to reveal a layer of Teflon binding immediately underneath.
3. Peeling that first Teflon tape layer away reveals this spiral shield, made up of many strands, laid flat and wound in one direction.
4. Removing the spiral shield reveals this foil-type shield (I believe it's a Teflon graphite composite shield).
5. Under the Teflon graphite composite shield is another layer of Teflon binding wound around the first layer of ultra-thin-wall Teflon air tubes.
6. Peeling away the above layer of Teflon binding reveals the first layer of ultra-thin-wall Teflon air tubes.
7. Underneath the first layer of Teflon air tubes is another layer of Teflon binding around the core.
8. Partially peeling away this last layer of Teflon binding reveals the main core, which contains the conductors and many other ultra-thin-wall Teflon air tubes, all wrapped around a single ultra-thin-wall Teflon air tube in the very center.
9. Totally removing the last layer of Teflon binding results in the core coming apart.

Notice how the layers are cross-wrapped. That is, if one layer is wrapped clockwise, the next is counter-clockwise, and so on.

Also, what isn't shown are the actual conductors, and I couldn't get a decent photograph of them (too tiny). Alone, they are quite fascinating, as they are made up of what look like four different sized sub-conductors, with the smallest size in the middle, the next larger size outside of that, etc., with the largest size on the outside. I believe the Neutral Reference has 77 discrete conductors (each coated with 0.0005" enamel litz coating).

It's also important to realize that there's more behind these cables than just the parts as I've photographed them. They were also designed (according to George Cardas) with other considerations like matched propagation between the direct path and delayed path (conductor and stored energy--dielectric--components), etc.

Sorry for the relatively crappy picture quality, by the way.

 

[Neruda]

impressive!

 

[bootman]

Jude, have you considered a small tripod for your digital camera?
(I'm thinking of one of those table top ones)
That way you can turn off the flash and setup external lighting for those closeup shots. (even better, if your camers supports it, is remotely firing your camera from your computer. You might be able to do this with Windows XP and its built in software. I'll check if I can from home)
It might improve things.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally posted by bootman Jude, have you considered a small tripod for your digital camera? (I'm thinking of one of those table top ones) That way you can turn off the flash and setup external lighting for those closeup shots. (even better, if your camers supports it, is remotely firing your camera from your computer. You might be able to do this with Windows XP and its built in software. I'll check if I can from home) It might improve things.

External lighting? Can you say Pelican flashlight? LOL! You think I want to do this for a living? I have myopia and I'm colorblind -- my crappy camera could hardly be a better reflection of my lovely eyesight.

But thanks anyway for the suggestions.

 

[bcwang]

So anyone get a chance to listen to these cables so they can give a review?

 

[tom hankins]

Theres already been a review on these cables.(cardas)