New Speaker Cables Now Shipping!

[davef]

I am very pleased to make this announcement. Many people have been asking us for a high quality - affordable, pre-terminated speaker cable...

Here it is

Through an exclusive arrangement and continuing with our tradition of offering the highest sound quality at affordable prices, we are pleased to announce that we are now offering true audiophile-quality Ultralink speaker cable. Available in pre-terminated lengths or 14 gauge 4 conductor by the foot. This cable is made in Canada and after a thorough performance evaluation; we are using it exclusively throughout our engineering facilities and auditioning systems.

I personally find the cable to be of excellent quality!

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...atrixspkr.html

Enjoy!

[DavidD]

Sounds good. Just for consistency - your post says made in Canada and the link says made in the USA. I do like the ultra cool carrying case.

[curtis]

I was confused at first too.

The Ultralink is made in the USA, but if you click in the bulk cable....that is the 4-conductor wire and it is made in Canada.

The Ultralink is 12 gauge 2-conductor...I think.

[davef]

My Bad...

The pre-terminated cable is made in Canada and the bulk is made in the USA (close to our location)

I believe Ultralink will soon be manufacturing all the cable local to us..

I will fix the site and thanks for letting me know!

G'night!

[BradJudy]

The bulk looks like a good alternative to Canare star quad. I'll keep it in mind.

I'm not sure about the carrying case - I never have to carry cables anywhere and would rather save a buck or two. I've never heard a good justification for having 'signal flow direction' on speaker cables. At least they aren't adding $$$ onto the price for it.

[drewface]

i like the looks of the cable (the blue and black is sexy), but the way they are listed reminds me of all the stuff i've read saying cable is cable. i'd be interested to hear what dave or any of the more knowledgeable users on this board have to say about claims like "Advanced internal winding geometery [sic] for extended frequency response, increased dynamic range and greater clarity." (there's a typo there, too, you might want to clean up on the page)

i was sort of surprised to see that listed on ascend's page, seeing as how little marketing spin is applied to the speakers. i know the cable is made by a different company, but it's still surprising to see.

so, can someone (re?)educate me on how "winding geometry" or signal flow direction can actually make a difference in a cable?

[muzz]

I am very pleased to make this announcement. Many people have been asking us for a high quality - affordable, pre-terminated speaker cable...

Here it is

Through an exclusive arrangement and continuing with our tradition of offering the highest sound quality at affordable prices, we are pleased to announce that we are now offering true audiophile-quality Ultralink speaker cable. Available in pre-terminated lengths or 14 gauge 4 conductor by the foot. This cable is made in Canada and after a thorough performance evaluation; we are using it exclusively throughout our engineering facilities and auditioning systems.

I personally find the cable to be of excellent quality!

http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages...atrixspkr.html

Enjoy!

Dave, you said 14g in your post here, AND the announcement, but the PROMO/AD says 12g.
May wanna look into that.

BTW, Is it a typo, or are you meaning that you can order the pre-cut lengths of 12g, OR BUY 14g by the foot?

[CraigT]

Less filling...tastes great.
Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Purtyer than a new set of snow tires.
More fun than a barrel full of monkeys.

[davef]

Hey Brad,

Dave, did you happen to compare the specs of the bulk cable to the pre-made cables? I tend to buy bulk and cut and terminate myself.

No, I have not -- but I will definitely put it on my to do list. It is 4 conductor cable, would you want the 4 pairs wired in parallel yielding 2 pairs?

[QUOTE=BradJudy]Dave, did you happen to compare the specs of the bulk cable to the pre-made cables? I tend to buy bulk and cut and terminate myself.

Canare publishes some of these numbers for their speaker cable. Example of 4S11 - http://canare.com/index.cfm?objectid...06286428706042 They don't list L, but they have R and C in there, as well as frequency response graphs.

That is very nice to see. Perhaps more cable manufacturers will adopt this, but my guess is that they won't.

i just checked out ultralink's homepage and noticed they have bi-wire pre-terminated cable. have you had any experience with that product?

I physically examined the product and it is quite nice but I feel the cost is a bit restrictive (it is expensive).

Dielectric? Are they referring to the individual coatings on each of the twisted pair wires to be the Dielectric? I mean, it IS a sort, because of the reactance between the 2, but I deal with coaxial cable all the time(and used to work with air capacitors and such in RF amplifier building), and the term Dielectric is the spacing between the 2 conductors, be it FOAM, or Air."

In general, the term dielectric refers to any non-conductive material. Its less common usage refers to the insulating material between to reactive components. As you know, speaker cable has a positive conductor and a negative conductor. These would react with each other without the presence of the insulating material, so technically, the term is correct.

Are there TWO seperate coatings/jackets OVER the twisted pairs, or are they calling the individual jackets AND the outer coating?"

There is no coating or foil over the conductors, each conductor has a jacket, the pair is then twisted and then there is an outer jacket. I believe it is a requirement for a cable to be double insulated in order to meet in-wall wiring requirements (CL3)

Dave, you said 14g in your post here, AND the announcement, but the PROMO/AD says 12g. May wanna look into that.BTW, Is it a typo, or are you meaning that you can order the pre-cut lengths of 12g, OR BUY 14g by the foot?

Everything looks about right to me. The bulk cable is 14 gauge 4 conductor (order by the foot) and the pre-terminated cable is 12 gauge of specific lengths.

Nice sumbission Brad!!

[BradJudy]

No, I have not -- but I will definitely put it on my to do list. It is 4 conductor cable, would you want the 4 pairs wired in parallel yielding 2 pairs?!

Yes, that's what I do with the star quad and I think it makes the most sense for most installations. If you've got the time, it would be interesting to see how wiring the quad properly (linking opposite wires) compares to linking adjacent wires. I'm curious if the EM field differences will make a measurable difference the the properties of the cable.