How About "Active" Cables for Home Theatre???

451 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Alan Maher, Oct 24, 2001

J.V. Gomez

Discussion Starter · Oct 18, 2001

...Just wondering whether anybody out there has tried or auditioned so-called "active" cables in his/her system in the context of home theatre application.

At this stage, I am not absolutely clear on what "Active" cables are. As far as I know, this "Active" fashion is only offered for interconnects (no speaker cables) and is aimed to further reduce EMI/RFI interference via active shielding. Am I right?

It seems that, so far, only TARA Labs and Synergistic Research are offering this type of cable.

Any insight you might provide on this issue, will be highly appreciated, fellows.

Thanks for sharing!

J.V.

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Alan Maher

· #2 · Oct 19, 2001

Active shielding...it's a combination of a couple things. The original shield still acts as the return...then a second floating shield is added. The active portion is sending a small amount of electricity through the shield to enhance common mode. When I originally played with this design years ago we were looking at grounding the main shield in the rca to the chassis ground. This worked great in analog coaxial cables and Nordost style interconnects, but sounded like **** when we tried it with twisted and braided designs. Adding the second shield fixed the problem. It was Synergistic who came up with the idea to flood the floating shield with ac instead of my grounding idea. They felt that not everyone actually used or knew how to use an isolated earth ground to properly filter the audio system.

This topic brought back memories...

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woowoo

· #3 · Oct 19, 2001

Sounds sorta like triax to me

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Alan Maher

· #4 · Oct 19, 2001

I have to tell you woowoo...when I originally came up with the idea it was based on providing unbalanced rca with a noise free enviroment. Tara took it a step further to isolate the ground and use a magnetic device to magnetize the shields to provide a lower noise foor. Then Synergistic charged the ground for stronger effect.

Maybe someone should try the original idea as a project. I stumbled on one day by accident. I was replacing a pair of rca jacks in a cd player and forgot to use the isolation washers, thus grounding the return to the house ground...and it was all history from then on... As I said before coaxial cables work great and Nordost cables are in another league...the closest I have seen to having no cable in the loop at all.

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J.V. Gomez

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 19, 2001

Alan Maher:

Thanks a lot for the insight provided on the active cables.

...Now, how would you rate active cables from Tara/Synergistic against Nordost cables (which I take you consider to be the absolute best out there)? Would you say active cables outperform Nordost's top liners?

Finally, since you brought Nordost into the thread, how would you rate Nordost top-of-the-line cables (both speaker and interconnect ones)against "conventional" stranded wires from reputable manufacturers suchs as Harmonic Tech., Granite Audio, Audioquest, Acoustic Zen, etc.?

Thanks for your time and thoughts, Alan.

J.V.

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Alan Maher

· #6 · Oct 21, 2001

J.V. let me first say I don't rate anybody cable product above mine. I still feel I offer the most bang for the buck when comparing cables at 5 times the cost. With that said the new Nordost cable is very tough to beat at the moment. If this type of cable is in your price range I strongly suggest you give it a try. I can't zonk any of Joe's designs I have always thought he made a good product.

Comparing cables...well that's tough to do as you know. Cables are very system depended. The new Tara is interesting. Looks like Tara has decided to build it's own version of the Shakti On-Line to go onto the new top of the line. I suggest you would be better off picking up a pair of On Lines instead. Synergistic cables are very good...but very cable family depended. Listen to several models together before making any purchases.

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migliore

· #7 · Oct 22, 2001

I've been hesitant to get the AS box from SR due to the $1k+ price tag to shield 6 cables.

Now they have $50 wall warts that claim to do something similar to 2 cables.

Anyone tried these? Are they "good enough"?

If I didn't have to send my interconnects in to have the AS tap added, I'd simply pick up one of these devices to try out.

Rob

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J.V. Gomez

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 23, 2001

Alan Maher:

Thanks again for your reply.

Question 1: Do you have a Web site where I can get information on your cables?

Question 2: are your cables a commercial brand or do you only craft cables under special requests?

I am planning to upgrade the interconnects in my A/V system (currently MIT MI-330 Plus Series II) early next year. Among the brands I am considering at this stage are Granite Audio (a number of satisfied customers had place their testimonies at AVS) and now, because of your comments, I'll also include Nordost and your "Alan Maher" cables in the list.

Keeping the talk on Active cables, below I'm attaching a couple of sites where I found reviews/information about a cable brand previously unknown to me: Omega Mikro. Man, these are WEIRD cables!!! What do you think of these, fellows??? Any experience/testimony you'd like to share???

http://www.soundstage.com/earmarked/earmarked200109.htm

http://www.walkeraudio.com/omega_mikro_cables.htm

http://www.mapleshaderecords.com/tweaks/index.html

Thanks for sharing!

J.V.

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Alan Maher

· #9 · Oct 24, 2001

Right now we only have a few power cords listed. I do have several interconnect and speaker cable designs to offer upon request.

http://community-2.webtv.net/audionutak

We have a lot of customer reviews on the site in the customer comments section about a whole host of cable designs.

Enjoy!

Alan Maher

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