I am building the Piano Type 1 Interconnects. The link for the construction is here:

www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/piano6_1_e.html

I did as instructed there. The cable I used was from Marvac in the states. It's Belkin.

marvac.com/products/25-belden-9688-2-pair-22awg-solid-shielded-pair-ibm-type-1a-token-ring-cable?_pos=2&_sid=b53f78187&_ss=r

Ok, so finally Eichmann plugs have arrived. I bought the Silver Harmony.

kleinnovations.com/kle-innovations-klei-products/klei-harmony-connectors/klei-harmony-plug/klei-silver-harmony-phonorca-plug/

Made the first pair up, I like the way the internal layout is very clear. Also like the tip about plugging into a spare RCA port on something crappy. I still managed to wire it up wrong, caught when I tested with my Multi-meter, and then corrected.



The blue bit of tape is the end where the braid is connected. Apparently I should connect that end to the source... So I did that.

Right, plugged into my Sparky>Kali>Piano 2.1 DAC, replacing a very old Audioquest interconnect which I have had for 20 years.

The difference was shocking, extended frequency extremes, great bass, more space round the instruments, etc etc.

These cables are really good.

Next step is to swap them with my WBT Type 6 Piano interconnects and see how they fare.

More anon

22awg is pretty good & I like the way that each +ve conductor is twisted with a -ve (& similarly the other pair).
That sounds best to me, I found.

Technically, they normally recommend that the shield of a cable should be connected to source end - reason being that this is normally the lowest impedance side for Grounding noise (that's my understanding).

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

Interesting. I’ll make some up and try it!

AMR-iFi R&D

If practical, I'd try a version without shield, ICs always sound better without shields, foil, braids etc, around the conductors - if your situation works without IC shielding.

(Ref, Malcolm Hawksford, EM fields around AC signal conductors.)

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com

^ yes !

i'm a great fan of the original xlo unshielded interconnects.

No cable for unshielded interconnects, sadly. The Lappkabel/WBT cable has no foil but does have the braid.

So, I then connected the Harmony plugs to the turntable and found no difference between my existing Lappkabel/WBT and the Belkin/Eichmann plugs.

So whilst I had the lappkabel out I removed the WBTs from it, cut some more cable and built a Belkin/WBT cable.



I show this one as the WBT connects using screws and not solder. Anyway here it is made up



So now I am comparing directly the WBT with the Eichmanns.

More anon

OK, there has been further listening and I've come to some conclusions... just remember that this is in the context of my own system and so your mileage may vary.

I've always assumed that the WBT plugs were better than the Eichmann plugs. Thinking back "everyone says so" is not a good rationale to accept a statement. Some of the reviews I saw where quite old too, which does not help.

So Keith Eichmann's Silver Harmony plugs, when matched with excellent cable are every bit as good as my WBT plugs - however it is dependent on what you are connecting together.

When listening to the cables on my Sparky>Kali>Piano DAC and my Audio Note Pre-amp, the Silver Harmony where marginally better than the WBTs. I stress marginally as it really was very close.

On the other hand when listening to the cables on my rebuilt 1962 Denon phono stage with Tamura SUTs and the pre-amp, it was close, however there was a preference for the WBTs.

There is more work and evaluation to be done. I run an active system, so the following locations need looking at:

1) Pre-amp -> X-Over
2) X-Over to Power Amps (X3)

But the preliminary results are clear, the Silver Harmony are very good, and in some cases better than the WBTs. As well as that they are half the price of the WBTs and currently there is free shipping as well. They are a bargain and well worth the money (I bought 2 six packs, by the way).

Audio Note preamp...that has silver RCAs on it doesn’t it? Are you connecting silver to silver, gold plated to gold plated, instead of silver to gold plated?

AMR-iFi R&D

Ha, I had to go check...

They are gold on the preamp. Silver on the Silver Harmonys and gold on the WBTs.