Hands on demo of Mapleshade interconnects & speaker wire

hjames

We are all just walking each other home.
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I'm going to start with a caveat. I have been an unbeliever in mumbo jumbo wires and such - firmly used zip cord for all my speakers in the past. When I got a pair of Vandersteen 2CE speakers a few years ago, the seller gave me some Xo biwires with them and it seemed better. A few months later I bought some MIT Terminator 2 Biwires, tried them with an open-mind, and had to admit the sound "opened up" to some degree. So I kept using them.

Over the weekend 3 of us went to a local listening party where the owner had a pair of UREI 813C monitors on a pair of JBL 18" subs he built to cover the space from 70 Hz down. The UREIs are meant to be soffit mounted in a studio and can be bass shy if they are not.
Thus, the subs. An exceptional system, to be sure.

After demoing a number of CDs through his gear, and us being amazed at the lush open sounds, he mentioned he used Mapleshade speaker wires and some of their ribbon type interconnects.

And as a demo, he switched to Mogami (sp?) interconnects and good but not excessive speaker wires. When he turned the gear back on and played the same tracks we had just heard, we were gob smacked. The sound field collapsed and it was like all the life in the music had gone away.

He was not selling us anything - he was not affiliated with Mapleshade in anyway other than being a buyer and a fan, but the results were audible.

I ordered 1 pair of the lesser priced ribbon interconnects for my system - Mapleshade offers a 30 day return policy on their gear, and I'll post results later

The speaker image is my friend's UREI system -
The other image is the Mapleshade interconnects I just received - pretty weird looking, I'll agree, but its all about the SOUND ...

I also ordered some 18 gauge solid copper magnet wire this week as well - I'll be making a pair of stereo speaker wires with them and seeing how they sound. (I do have a slim budget, over exceeded this month!) The Copper magnet wire speaker lead is very similar to what the mapleshade Golden Helix leads are supposed to be - and what some other folks have recommended in the past. I'll cut the enameled leads to length, mark one wire as Neg/Black in each pair, and chuck the ends in a cordless drill to make them "twisted pair".
A $10 spool of such wire should be good to test - and well within my budget!


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I'm interested too! I have some Mapleshade products myself but no interconnects. Always wondered how they performed.
 
I bought a pair of the Mapleshade - Clearview Ultrathin Analog Ribbon Interconnects 1 meter pair 1 $135.00 (plus $12 shipping).
They arrived tuesday night and I put them in place between the DAC and the preamp in.

I had ordered a 100' spool of 18 gauge solid copper magnet wire from Amazon (< $10) - it arrived Weds.
It will probably be the weekend until I get time to make a stereo pair of twisted pair speaker wires from it.
Until I do that and can do a full wire test between using good quality zip cord and good RCA interconnects and
using twisted pair and a pair of mapleshade interconnect, all I can offer is informal and annecdotal results from last night.

My test system is the Jolida 502BRC amp (60w/ch integrated tube amp) and Von Schweikert VR4 speakers. Pretty efficient and good resolving power.
I have a Carver TX10 Tuner, a Denon DP45F TT, an Oppo DV981HD disc player, and an Audio Alchemy DDE3 DAC.
But my primary music source is streaming lossless files from my macPro via Wifi to an Airport Express tied via Toslink to the Audio Alchemy DAC.
Since that is my primary source, I'll use the mapleshade Interconnects between the DAC and the Jolida preamp in.



The Jolida 502 CRC Amp arrived Saturday. It replaces a Jolida 502BRC I had for 2 1/2 years.
I've played it a few hours a night since I put it in place Sunday. Now that its settled in,
I decided to check the bias and got my fluke meter (VOM) ...
Jolida recommends checking bias after installing new power tubes or shipping.
When I checked it, I found one of the quad 6550 Sovtec tubes bias was off so I set them all per spec to .550 volts ...
The Mapleshade interconnect is in place, so I settled back to listen some more.

I played "Diamonds on the soles of her Shoes" [Graceland Japanese CD] and a few other things (Kottke, etc). All sounded good to me.
My wife Emma came down and wanted to play some tunes. Her ears are better than mine [too many loud concerts and smokey bars for me].
After sampling 8 or 10 Steely Dan tracks she said it was better - she played bits & pieces of Bruce Hornsby
and some other stuff. Then she started playing Springsteen. We have most of his albums on the server.
I'm not a huge fan, but she's a big fan of good songwriters and storytellers and has listened to him for many years ...
I recognized E-street shuffle and Born to Run - they sounded magnificent ..
she played parts of 10 or 12 songs and had wet eyes when she was done ...

She said the notes hang better and ring in the air -
a more natural decay - you can close your eyes and its more live ...

She also said you can hear the difference between good vs bad recordings better ...

Anyway, like I said, I know this is anecdotal info ...
I'll do a more detailed test later - but she is won over with the system changes and new interconnects.
 
I used the Mapleshade speaker wire for many years. It sounded much better to me than my 25 year old monster wire when I switched over. Less "muddy and more clear and "airy". My system is a MC225 tube amp/C33 pre and Khorns. Eventually I switched to MIT Shotgun speaker wire ($700). What I noticed was there was a more natural sound to the MIT's. Sounded less "electronic / brittle".
The one nice thing about Mapleshade is you can audition anything and return it, plus Pierre Sprey is about the nicest guy you could ever talk to.

Gary
 
Thanks Hether
I think as you focus a little more attention to ALL the cables in your system it will sound cleaner and detailed. With all the crossing of IC, ACP and speaker cables behind nice separates comprising a systems, the whole cable function matters. High quality copper,silver, contacts and their termination along with absolute shielding.

But my primary music source is streaming lossless files from my macPro via Wifi to an Airport Express tied via Toslink to the Audio Alchemy DAC.

May I make a recommendation here, long ago a member here told me to get,
Audioengine D2, DAC... 24bit WiFi. Well I went out and bought a McIntosh D100 for DAC duty only and use a 27" iMac with a Audioquest 6' USB cable. The point of the USB is for hi res files since my DAC can handle them. That sounded grate but really having the cable crossing the floor and needing to keep the computer close was a pain.

I knew I would be needing the D2 to at least use the 24bit WiFi but kept pushing it off. About 8 months ago I finally got one, immediately hearing the difference between the USB cable and wifi. The wifi sounds a lot cleaner and bold, not bloated but like a full dynamic presentation. The DAC in it doesn't sound as good as my D100 and I didn't expect it to, but is a also a very nice DAC. My intent all along was to use it for 24bit wifi only and it does excel at getting hi res files to my D100 without a glitch. I also love being able just unplug the little transmitter and hooking it to my TV for concerts that are televised.

Your Airport Express will only send 16bit files so think about the Audioengine D2 before cables within your streaming system.

If you have any questions just ask...

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No offense meant and I appreciate the feedback. But everything is in stages, and there is a tight budget on all of this gear.
We have 2 main systems in the house, the Jolida 2ch system, a home theater system with UREI monitors downstairs, and a 3rd, rarely-used bedroom 2ch system.

For the Jolida 2ch system.
There's not much on the radio, so there's no need for an expensive interconnect on the tuner.
Its probably been a year since I played an LP. No rush or need to change anything there.
I do play CDs, SACDs or HDCDs from time to time, so after this initial testing, the NEXT cable to change out would be a Mapleshade digital Coaxial cable for the OPPO to the DAC.

But the primary source (>95% of the time) is streaming digital files, as I said.
We have roughly 54,000 music files in iTunes & most are lossless format.
Set up a different digital server is another discussion, brings other concerns, and is not for this thread.

I have the latest high end Apple Airport Extreme/Express system (802.11n and the rest),
and it serves at least triple duty in the house. I can send mvk, avi or whatever HD files
from my macpro up in the office to the TIVO in the Home theater system downstairs.
The Tivo Roamio and Oppo BDP-93 can use the wifi for streaming netflix or Amazon sources.
I can use iTunes to stream music to the bedroom, the Jolida system, or the Home Theater
downstairs which has an airport express feeding an emotiva DAC in place ...
plus I can use the wifi when I or my wife teleworks, or with her Kindle.
It took a while to get all of this stuff working as it is ...

I'm a bit nervous trying to stand up another Wifi network in the house for 24 bit streaming ...
so at the moment I don't plan to change out the Wifi gear - I want everything else in the system to be at its best, within its budget.

That means my budget won't allow $700 speaker wires, a $3000 Audio render, or similar things in that realm.
And there is probably no McIntosh gear in my future ... not modern anyway!
And not a $2000 McIntosh D100 preamp/DAc ...
Again, I just have a tight budget and other priorities. No flames meant or implied.
 
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Heather, Steve Schell mentioned that he used magnet wire for speaker cable on his system, but it seems like he used individual, parallel runs - I don't recall if he tried twisted pair. Good luck finding that post, but for $10/100ft a little experimenting won't break the bank.

ETA: I think he said he used 24ga, not that the size makes a huge difference but maybe something to add to a search query.

ETA Again:

Here's the post I was thinking of:

Steve Schell

Didn't specify parallel or twisted, and it was 26ga. But his comment on Romex might have been what made me think parallel.

Then, later, this:

Twisting

Not that any of this is the definitive word, just some harmless wanderings and perspective.
 
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I got home, and as I have an appointment tonight, and the weather is somewhat nice, I figured it was a good time to make up the cables.
The spool is 100' so I cut 4 lengths of 25' each. I took a black permanent marker and marked both ends of 2 of the wires.
my wife got home so I had her hold a pair, I chucked the other ends in the drill chuck, and slowly made a twisted pair, then made the other pair.

I coiled them up and checked with the fluke VOM each end/pair reads open.
That confirms there are no shorts in the work I did so far.
Then I toned end to end and confirmed the NEG/Black line in each pair.
Then put a little tab of tape on the neg line in each pair -
the Sharpie Black rubs off the enamelled wire too easily.

But I won't get a chance to test it tonight - headed to a coworker's house soon.
I promised to go take pix of her and her son with their Christmas tree tonight ...
and Friday night is a pot luck at a church support group (my wife is pastor there) ...
Maybe I can test it before hand, or I may have to wait for Saturday -
or even Sunday after church! Whenever!!

So, I'll scrape the ends clear, and do some auditioning as time allows!

Edit - Jeffrey, thanks for the research on Steve Schell's posts -
unfortunately, I read it this morning and did not check the thread later
so I found the updates after I finished making up the wires,
now I have used up my whole $9 reel of 18 gauge wire! And twisted it up ... (grin).

Maybe next time I'll drop $6 and try a lighter gauge, but 18 gauge ought to be fine to test with!

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I think those turned out nice! Very uniform twist.

re Steve Schell - I just remembered him using magnet wire. Figured a post or two from a heavy hitter might allay any negative misgivings from the peanut gallery about the concept , those seem to pop up in these threads ;)

Look forward to your listening impressions when time allows.
 
Silly me - 25' twisted pair are NOT 25' long after twisting!!
I can just barely stretch the it around the cabinets to the right-hand speaker!
The Jolida and the Von Schweikerts have 5 way binding posts -
so I did get a good clamp onto the scraped wire, but a casual listen reveals no new truths to me.

I let the amp warm up with the wires in place for 90 minutes ...
I played parts of Fagen's IGY, Joni's Amelia, Van's In The Garden -
I was expecting something audible - more airiness or space -
but no magic was imparted that I could discern.

I'll do more in depth later when I have more time - but between the fact I hear no improvement,
PLUS, the fragility of single conductor enamelled wires, I am afraid of shorting the amp output,
so I'll probably revert to my quality Zip cord later.

But we DID hear an improvement with the Mapleshade interconnect - so they are a keeper
 
I might have missed it. You are using 18 gauge wire, right? How many runs per each phase are you using? It sounds like 1 run per phase, so the net result is an 18 gauge speaker cable that is a little under 25 feet long or so. Does this approximate what your friend was using?
 
I might have missed it. You are using 18 gauge wire, right?
How many runs per each phase are you using? It sounds like 1 run per phase, so the net result is an 18 gauge speaker cable that is a little under 25 feet long or so. Does this approximate what your friend was using?

I believe so - For my DIY cables, each stereo pair consists of 2 pairs (L & R) of 2 single conductor 18 gauge cables twisted together (Neg and Pos).
But I'm not running high wattage or high current power amps. I would not expect to need a hug buss for the output signal.

A previous poster mentioned Steve S. used 26 Gauge magnet wire - a decidely smaller diameter single conductor.
I believe my friend's speaker wires are actually Mapleshade brand - not sure which model or what gauge.
The Anticable folks do not list their wire gauge either.

On another site someone mentioned using standard Roamex solid conductor wire, as used for household in-wall electrical wiring!
Its also somewhat inexpensive, but its thick and hard to bend, and may be hard to get into a 5 way banana jack!
 
Okay - I still need to do a more detailed listen but I just put on some Melody Gardot -
First "If the Stars were Mine" from My One and Only Thrill from 2009 - I heard details I have not heard before ...
Then "Preacherman" from her latest album "Currency of Man [The Artist's Cut]" - wholly moly - I took a pounding on that one - woah!

And Eva Cassidy - Live at Blues Alley (the original album)

I will say I have not heard those tracks on this amp and with the old interconnects or
the old speaker wire- but I def need to, as its amazing now.
 
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Okay - I still need to do a more detailed listen but I just put on some Melody Gardot -
First "If the Stars were Mine" from My One and Only Thrill from 2009 - I heard details I have not heard before ...
Then "Preacherman" from her latest album "Currency of Man [The Artist's Cut]" - wholly moly - I took a pounding on that one - woah!

I will say I have not heard those tracks on this amp and with the old interconnects or
the old speaker wire- but I def need to, as its amazing now.


No! No! No! (sob!) The one "true fact" I thought I could hold on to was that wire was wire. Don't plant the seed of doubt and send me down that rabbit hole!

Seriously, though - thanks for the detailed posts. Am watching this with interest, 'cause I'm always looking for better sounds.
 
And my friend informs me I'm not really doing it right ...
He saw the picture of the back on the VR4s and asked what the heavy wire was.
I explained it was the fancy biwire interconnects the speakers came with and he said -
no, to do it properly I need to run a twisted pair from the amp to each cabinet, and not cross-wire them like that ...

So I order 3 more 100' spools (when I twisted the existing pairs, the right wire was a bit short - so it needs to be longer)

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Happy New Ear to you all!

In the spirit of discovery, and due to good feedback from my friend Wilfredo, I ordered a pair of Anticable 2.2 Interconnects - 1/2 meter in length.
I just pulled the Mapleshade pair of ICs and put these in the same path - Audio Alchemy DDE3 DAC to the CD input of the Jolida 502 CRC integrated amp.
They look and feel more robust than the plastic wrapped foil Mapleshade interconnects, and the RCA connectors are more professional looking.
They sound fine to me ...
Currently playing Miles - In a Silent Way Sessions -

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These 2 posts are out of sequence, sorry.
My wife has the better ears and she did not think the magnet speaker wire sound was an improvement -
to me it seemed a bit more in my face somehow - a bit more "thumpy" - almost like sonic thump feedback in a TT, but not quite ...
is that what "forward" is? Whatever it was, the added thumpiness wasn't particularly musical.
Knowing also that the wire was a bit short, I was also edgy about the enamelled wire from the amp to the speakers potential shorts, failure, etc.
My caution was perhaps unwarranted, but single conductor wire is like that - it can snap from repeated flexing ....
So, for my peace of mind, I went back to fat copper speaker wires a bit before Christmas ...

On that same thought, with my minirack on top of a cabinet, and the need to pull it forward to change connections,
he Mapleshade foils are a bit ethereal ... seems like they might be easy to damage or pull apart.
So I decided to order another brand of good ICs and see how they fared.
 
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