Kubala Sosna cables

Hi folks,

Anyone have any experience with this wire manufacturer?

Thanks in advance for any input.

GG

I've heard them once with the Magico Q5s... Being the skeptic I am, I read their OptimiZ patent; after reading it, I can understand why on their web site they don't go into much detail, as there doesn't appear to be anything we don't already know.

Here's the gist of it:

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a novel cable architecture for construction of audio interconnection, video, digital, or power cables. Multiple, parallel runs of multiconductor, shielded, twisted pair cable are used to construct balanced and unbalanced low-level interconnect cables, speaker cables, and power cords. Conductors from each cable run are separated and connected to other conductors from other runs of the cable to form composite signal and ground conductors. Shields of each cable run are selectively connected to one another and to appropriate pins or terminals of a terminating connector. An overall mother shield may, optionally, be added. Individual runs of cable are braided together. Cables constructed in accordance with the novel geometries and techniques of the invention sound better than any know cable of the prior art. When measured, the inventive cables exhibit a ratio of capacitance to inductance that is lower that any known audio cable of the prior art. The characteristic impedance of the inventive cables is also lower than other cables of the prior art.

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Frankly, all of this falls within the overall cable theory outlined here by the current Genesis CEO. Therefore, their cables appear to be yet another twist on the geometry "wars", and the funniest of the claims in the patent is this:

The present invention, however, provides cables which move considerably closer to acoustic invisibility than any cable of the prior art.

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This is why I continue to be a skeptic about all things cable and am very carefully spending money on them.

Further, you will recognize the following objectives of the design as things that have already been done before:

1. It is another object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly wherein multiple, independent, parallel cable runs are used to conduct an electrical signal.
   
2. It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly wherein each independent parallel cable run is shielded.
   
3. It is an additional object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly wherein shields of individual cable runs are grounded at only one, or at both ends of the cable assembly. [Peter: We all recognize this as "directional" cables]
   
4. It is yet another object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly wherein shield of individual cables runs are selectively connected one to another at either one or both ends of the cable assembly.
   
5. It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly in both balanced and unbalanced configurations.
   
6. It is an additional object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly useful for use in audio systems for component interconnect cables, speaker cables, and power cables.
   
7. It is another object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly which exhibits a very low characteristic impedance. [Peter: no data to support it]
   
8. It is still further object of the invention to provide an improved cable assembly having a consistent transient response across varying source and load impedances. [Peter: no data to support it]

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Thanks Spectral. I share your skepticism.

Absent the technical claims, which I don't have the background to understand, I'm somewhat intrigued by the reviews and know a dealer that might be able to provide a sample for review.

GG

Based on the graph they provide on their web site and the claims in the patent, I would caution you that, since the capacitance drops as inductance increases, there has to be exactly a range of cable length where these characteristics are optimal for each set up.

How big or small that range is I have no idea, but don't be surprised if different lengths of their cable sound audibly different (because of the graph's rate of decline, much the same way I would expect other cables shown that exhibit steep increase in one electrical characteristic when the other goes up).

Personally, I would really love to know which ones are those cables shown in black and grey at the bottom of the graph that exhibit a very low rise in capacitance (Y axis) when inductance goes up, and buy those at the minimum length I can get away with, because their inductance is also shown to be small - this would also minimize phase issues due to the cable's inherent inductance that MIT is trying to correct with their networks (customized for the cable length purchased) as per this patent.

So in my mind, a few manufacturers out there have very optimal cable designs, Kubala Sosna know about them and I would love to know what they know.. In the end, it's all about what we already know - get as short a cable as possible with the most optimized electrical characteristics (including noise rejection of various kinds) and you have a very well constructed conduit.

spectral said:

In the end, it's all about what we already know - get as short a cable as possible with the most optimized electrical characteristics (including noise rejection of various kinds) and you have a very well constructed conduit.

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Of course there are some manufacturers who claim that you need a minimum cable length of so many feet/metres (at a price of course). I remember reading (here, I think)about one company who claimed you needed a ridiculous amount of cable at minimum.

Bernard - do you mean analog cable? Or digital? Digital interconnects need to be at least 1m long for other reasons; but not ridiculously long. By the way, if you look at the Kubala graph closely, notice where their line intersects those I consider the more optimal (the sort-of-black and grey); at those points, their performance should match the competition. But to get these low values as the competition, perhaps one does need a long run of Kubala - but then does the inherent higher inductance introduce considerable phase shifts??? Under such a hypothetical scenario and considering how expensive Kubala cables are, they may not offer such a high value... on the other hand, for normal lengths (8-12ft) the graph seems to indicate that Kubala are very high capacitance - are they worth the thousands of dollars they command? But the graph isn't making it clear what sorts of length we are really talking about here, so I am over-hypothesizing perhaps. Still, I would be careful about these cables...

spectral said:

Bernard - do you mean analog cable? Or digital? ...

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I meant analog interconnects and speaker cable.