“Your speakers and electronics will determine how your music system will look Your cables will determine how well it will reproduce music”. The SAMBA story A history of the 20 year cable design journey that has produced Back Rhodium SAMBA Loudspeaker Cable “. . .overall a true heavyweight in the speaker cable world.” DAVID BROOK, MCRU By Graham Nalty of Black Rhodium 1 Index The start, using PTFE insulation Why silicone rubber? S300 Successful application of Silicone Rubber insulation BiWire cables are also popular S300 becomes Salsa Testing the sound of reversed conductors A surprising difference in sound quality Post curing Deep Cryogenic Treatment A small change to the overall sound of the system - A massive change in the enjoyment of music DCT expands Black Rhodium’s range DCT++ Further sound quality Improvements The Benefits of DCT demonstrated in public Ninja, an important step on the road towards Samba ACT 1 and ACT 2 TWIST The Proximity Effect and its influence on sound quality Transient Phase Distortion And TWIRL And now SAMBA The Sound of SAMBA Next Stop for SAMBA – DCT and other new developments With the very best Speaker Connectors SAMBA specifications, and their features and benefits The Sound of SAMBA Next Stop for SAMBA – DCT and other new developments 2 The Samba story Black Rhodium Samba follows a long tradition of development of high quality audio cables following on from research and listening tests carried out by Black Rhodium people over many years. Starting using PTFE insulation The story starts in the early 1990. I was very heavily involved manufacturing amplifiers. I wanted to use the best sounding wires for the internal wiring of the amplifiers. At that time I was not expecting to buy in the quantities that wire and cable manufacturers would expect and so I examined the catalogues of various electronics distribution companies to seek out wires of the best specification. A few distributors offered wires in the higher grade materials for use in high reliability military or close tolerance instrumentation electronics. One electronics distributor offered a range of silver plated copper wires insulated in pink PTFE. For speaker cables, and also for re-wiring the internal; wires in loudspeakers, I bought some lengths of the largest size, 37 cores of 0.4mm diameter silver plated copper wire (approximately 4.5 sq mm). The same distributor also sold a thin coaxial cable with a silver plated copper conductor, PTFE insulation and a silver plated copper braid. This was used as an interconnect cable with great success. When I later found a manufacturer to make cables to my own specification, I used this design, but with a thicker PVC outer sheath to be more acceptable to consumers. This cable, known as ‘Silver Pink’ because it used silver plated conductors which were not very common then and had a pink colour body, was very highly praised by Hi-Fi Choice as the best cable in a group of ten cables even though it was the least expensive. A reprint of the review appears in Appendix 1. I used the 37 core wires for upgrading the wires in loudspeaker, being careful to mark the positive and negative wires. Looking back, I remember that the re-wiring of customers loudspeakers, coupled with the replacement of electrolytic capacitors for lower loss plastic film types, produced many very satisfying speaker upgrades, though I cannot remember selling large quantities as speaker cable initially. A visit to an electronics exhibition followed with an order to a British cable manufacturer for a 3 core power cable using silver plated conductors and PTFE insulation. This cable, later called First Mains, was the first mains cable specially manufactured for high quality audio using high grade materials with conductors in the correct mains cables colours. This was not the first audio mains cable and others before me had produced mains cables using the conductors from high quality speaker cables. First Mains was a big hit with HiFi News magazine when Martin Colloms reported in the July 1990 issue on the improvement that First Mains made on a Mission Cyrus amplifier. Speaker cables were hand assembled from PTFE insulated wires, the same company manufactured wires in 19 x 0.45mm silver plated copper and insulated in PTFE in both black and red colours. These were placed together in an expandable braid to make them suitable for connecting to loudspeakers. 3 Around 1996-7 I investigated the potential of using silicone rubber insulation. Like PTFE. Silicone rubber has a very low dielectric loss and this means that distortion to the music from dielectric absorption will be very low. Early testing of silicone rubber insulated cables against PVC insulated cables showed that silicone rubber enabled the leading edges and natural decays in music to sound more natural and authentic. Later tests on a like-for-like comparison between PTFE and silicone rubber insulation in a high end interconnect showed that silicone rubber insulation offered a more natural and less ’hard’ presentation of music than PTFE, but only marginally. Why silicone rubber? There is perhaps a very obvious reason why silicone rubber insulated cables seem smoother and have a more natural sound and PTFE has a more brittle and hard sound. As we have found recently cables with thicker insulation sound clearer because the magnetic field associated with the current in one conductor affects the current flow in the other conductor. As the magnetic field decreases with distance away from the current carrying conductor the distortion effect created by the magnetic fields will be less. The insulation thickness for a 3 sq mm wire insulated in PTFE is typically 0.4mm and 0.8mm for the same wire insulated in silicone rubber. So this, partly at least, explains the differences between silicone rubber and PTFE insulation. S300 Successful application of Silicone Rubber insulation The ‘AERO SPACE TECHNOLOGY’ Silver Aero S300 loudspeaker cable was made from 19 x 0.45mm silver plated copper wire insulated in silicone rubber and the two cores were held in a silicone rubber outer sheath of about 9mm diameter. The name ‘AERO SPACE TECHNOLOGY’ was chosen to highlight the cable because the factory that made the cable advertised themselves as being the ‘aerospace division’ of the electronics company that owned the factory. Later the company was bought by the management and still makes cables for Black Rhodium. The cable was very successful commercially and won the coveted 5 star award from What HiFi?. What Hi-Fi? October 1997 BiWire cables are also popular To accompany the Silver Aero S300, we added the Silver Aero S300x2, a 4 core BiWire cable made from 4 separate cores of 19 x 0.45mm silver plated copper wire and covered in a silicone rubber outer sheath. Silver Aero S300 sand S300x2 stayed until 2002 when the Black Rhodium brand was created . The sound of reversed conductors 4 I was alerted to the potential of reverse wiring of the conductors in audio cables by Stuart Wennen, a reviewer for Hi-fi World magazine with considerable experience of installing sound systems in pubs and clubs. The theory was that the music sounded better if the current that produces the sound in the speakers travelled in the same direction as the direction in which the wire was originally manufactured.. On Stuart’s advice, I tested a number of cables and was convinced of the benefits I heard as clearer sound quality. I decided to include the reversal process in the manufacture of all Black Rhodium cables where it was possible, being fully aware of the extra complexity in the manufacturing processes that this required. S300 becomes Salsa The S300 cable not only acquired the new name, Salsa, but was also upgraded in sound quality. This was by a very simple measure of enabling the direction in which the wire was drawn in manufacture to follow the same direction as the current flowing between the amplifier and loudspeakers. To achieve this reliably is not as easy as may be first thought. The first consideration is that the whole batch of cable to be manufactured has to be taken from the same continuous length of wire supplied to the manufacturer. If the wire for positive and negative conductors comes from different reels, there is no easy way to find out whether one reel of wire has been reversed before delivery to the cable manufacturer or whether the two reels were actually made from the same ingots. After selecting the reel of bare wire from which the cable is to be made, the manufacturer produces two similar lengths of insulated wire in red and black insulation. These are printed with a direction arrow to show absolute direction in relation to the wire direction on the supply reel. All the lengths of insulated wire of one colour are rewound on to another cable reel to reverse their direction. A red wire and a black wire, with direction arrows showing in opposite directions, are then fed into the manufacturing plant for the white outer sheath of the cable to be applied. This is then overprinted with the name Salsa and the cable can be left to cool. Salsa loudspeaker cable showing direction arrows Testing the sound of reversed conductors When the reversal process had been incorporated into the cable manufacturing processes I tested a pair of speaker cables. I first connected the cables in the usual way with the writing on the cables reading from amplifier to loudspeaker. Many hi-fi experts advise that cables should always be connected with the signal following the manufacturer’s direction arrows on the cable. Others recommend that new cables should be tested in both directions by listening and the cables should then ‘burnt-in’ by keeping the cables connected in the direction that gave the best sound. With this in mind I reversed the direction of both cables. I could certainly tell a small difference, but I have no recollection which I thought to be better. The difference in sound quality between the cables in both positions was not enough to justify the extra expense of further manufacturing quality control. 5 A surprising difference in sound quality I then tested the same cable with one channel reversed. The sound lost its focus and the quiet background between the instruments was much less apparent. It certainly more than justified the extra manufacturing processes that we used to ensure full control the ‘drawn direction ‘of each wire in our cables. This does leave two questions unanswered. First – Let us consider two pairs of speaker cables, of which one pair is a standard cable with positive and negative conductors in the same direction, and the other is a Black Rhodium cable with both positive and negative wires in opposite directions. The question is - will there be a bigger difference in sound quality when both channels of one pair are reversed than with the other pair? Secondly – If only one cable of each pair is reversed will the sound quality difference that is heard be greater with one of these pairs of speaker cables than the other? My intuitive thoughts are that with a standard cable (with both positive and negative wires drawn in the same direction) there will be a greater difference when both cables are reversed and a smaller difference when only cable in the pair is reversed compared to the Black Rhodium cable (with one wire only reversed in direction). Post Curing At one time Black Rhodium also arranged for the cable to receive a further treatment after manufacture to improve its sound quality. This process is called ‘post curing’ and is used for cables that are to be used in underground railways and other places where the fumes from a burning cable can cause toxic injury due to gas inhalation. Silicone rubber cables do not burn easily and do not exhibit as much toxic fumes as with other insulating materials and the ‘post-curing’ further reduces the toxic effect of burning. Tests were carried out by Black Rhodium that showed that ‘post-curing’ made a small but noticeable improvement to sound quality. This process ceased when a re-evaluation showed that the improvement in sound was no longer justified by the additional cost of the ‘post curing’ the cable Deep Cryogenic Treatment Shortly after introducing the Black Rhodium brand, in the autumn of 2003 we were offered the opportunity to test the benefits of cryogenic processing of cables as a means of improving the sound quality. In this process the cables are gradually reduced in temperature to -190oC, held at that temperature for a period of time and then taken back slowly to room temperature. “A small change to the overall sound of the system A massive change in the enjoyment of music” 6 We applied the DCT process to a selection of cables. We listened to compare the effect of the Deep Cryogenic Treatment process the effect of the DCT process on the cables and found the DCT processed cables to improve the sound in aspects of the music. The changes may at first seem subtle, but when you listen to music you know, you begin to appreciate the more precise imaging, improved resolution, enhanced articulation of voices and instruments and a quieter background, together with superior timing of the rhythms in the music. DCT expands Black Rhodium’s range The commercial benefit of using the DCT process was that it enabled Black Rhodium to expand the cable range further. Applying the DCT process to Salsa, and covering the cable in a black expandable braid to distinguish the DCT cable visually from the non-DCT cable, converted it into the Gladiator. Applying the DCT process to the Salsa BiWire produced the Emperor (2 core) and Samurai (BiWire) cables. DCT++ Further sound quality Improvements Further improvements were made to the DCT versions of Salsa and Salsa BiWire when the cryogenic suppliers offered Black Rhodium a more advanced process which was called DCT++. In this process, the cable not only undergoes a standard DCT process, but also a process that includes raising the temperature of the cable above room temperature. This process can only be carried out on cables with high temperature insulation and the silicone rubber, unlike other cable insulations, handles the process without problems. The sound quality of DCT++ treated cable is considered by Black Rhodium to be very much improved over the sound quality of a standard DCT treated cable. The Benefits of DCT demonstrated in public In autumn 2004, we carried out listening tests at two hi-fi shows in London and Manchester to demonstrate the benefits that Deep Cryogenic Treatment delivered in sound quality. Thanks to the support of Arcam and B&W who kindly loaned electronics and loudspeakers, we set up two identical sound systems in which the only difference was that one system used our standard Black Rhodium cables and the second system used exactly the same cables, but all the cables had been DCT processed. So that people would be more able to spot the benefits of DCT in a way more appropriate to applying the DCT process to all their cables in their music system we used five different cable in each system; The stereo interconnect between CD player and amplifier The speaker cables from the amplifier to the speakers The mains cable supplying the CD player The mains cable supplying the amplifier The 4 way cable extension supplying both mains cables In our tests we asked everyone to write down which system gave the best sounds and to describe the improvement made by the better system. Over 89% of the 100 plus visitors were not only able to say that the DCT cables sounded better, but could describe in words. Here is a small selection of the responses we received. 7 “I thought that the DCT cables sounded more dynamic and brighter. The other cables sounded more mellow and rounded. Whilst the DCT cables were more dynamic and detailed, I thought that both systems sounded good.” R. N. of Leatherhead “I have been involved with HIFI as a user-and later a maker- for almost 50 years. I have to say that the all round improvement in sound quality when the cryogenically treated cables were in use was dramatic. If I had not heard it I would not have believed it.” M. A. of Rushden “Definite improvement in detail and openness far greater clarity over standard cable.” B. B. of Northallerton “At moderate listening levels the DCT cables made a noticeable difference in the sound stage which opens up and becomes more dynamic.” C. S. of London “The difference was as clear as night and day. Overall clearer, less distortion and a more musical sound.” B. C. of Brogsborough The tests showed quite conclusively that Deep Cryogenic Treatment significantly improved sound quality Ninja, an important step on the road towards Samba With Cryogenically processed versions of our best cables, we appeared to have reached the limit of development without going on to much more expensive conductors such as pure silver. What we did next was critical to reaching the path which today has taken us to Samba. We decided in January 2005 that the only way up was to use all 4 conductors on the DCT version of Salsa BiWire as a single very large (12 sq mm) wire. To keep the cable manageable, we twisted the two thick cables together and bound them in an expandable braid. The resulting cable we called Ninja. The first time I played Ninja in a system, I noticed that it sounded much cleaner, smoother and more natural than any other speaker cable had been in that system. Since then, Ninja has become a very successful cable for Black Rhodium. When reviewed in Hi-Fi World in July 2006, the verdict was that “It is stunningly fast, incisive and transparent – so clear it’s almost frightening – and boasts a massively well articulated bass performance with firecracker dynamics.” Over the years various comments from customers pointed us towards the idea that Ninja sounded so good because the positive and negative conductors were physically further from each other than in any of our other speaker cables. When we increased the insulation thickness of a mains power cable to ensure we were exceeding safety regulations, an overseas distributor told us that we had improved its sound. 8 Ninja loudspeaker cable ACT 1 and ACT 2 In September 2011 we decided that we wanted the quality that we very much admired in Ninja to be available to customers who had much less ambitious budgets for their speaker cables. We made up samples using all four conductors of other BiWire cables as each conductor of the speaker cable in the same way we assembled Ninja and these became ACT 1 and ACT 2. Performance was far better than we expected. Even ACT 1, made from our basic tin plated copper was giving superior results to some cryogenically processed silver plated cables, breaking our long held belief that the best materials are essential in achieving high quality sound. ACT 1 loudspeaker cable ACT 2 loudspeaker cable TWIST With suppliers’ prices rising following world wide price increases in materials, we were faced with the imperative of finding ways to manufacture better quality cables at lower manufacturing cost. We found from our suppliers that we could reduce our manufacturing costs of our lower priced cables if we omitted the outer sheath covering the conductor wires. We used that information to develop a cable based as closely to Ninja as possible but at the lowest possible cost. We designed Twist so that its insulation thickness was twice that of the Rumba cable it replaced. Rumba speaker cable (left) with insulation thickness of 0.6mm alongside Black Rhodium Twist which has a 1.2mm insulation thickness. Both cables have the same 24 x 0.2mm diameter conductors Twist has been an immediate success with top reviews in Hi-Fi Choice and Hi-Fi World magazines. “A well thought out cable that delivers a touch of class to budget systems at a very reasonable price" "A classy, high quality cable, providing top quality sound reproduction over all formats and sources." Twist has been awarded the HIFI WORLD best cable award for 2012. 9 TWIST loudspeaker cable The Proximity Effect and its influence on sound quality Basic Electrical theory tells us that when two parallel wires are placed close to each other, the current flowing in one wire will affect the current carrying performance of the other. This is known as the ‘Proximity Effect’. In most loudspeaker cables, the positive and negative wires are often spaced closely together, the distance between the conductors being no more than twice the thickness of the inner insulating material. If both wires are carrying the same current, the current distribution in either wire will be at a higher level at the side furthest away from the other wire. If, as is the case in driving loudspeakers, the currents in both wires are in opposite phase, then the current distribution in both wires will be higher at the sides closest to the other wire. The effect of the altered current distribution on both wires is the increase the electrical resistance of the wires. Additionally, the increase in electrical resistance will be greater at higher frequencies. This will potentially alter the phase response of the loudspeakers. AC Current distribution when the current is flowing in opposite directions in both conductors. Current distribution is highest closest to the other conductor Most loudspeakers are complex reactive loads. The voltage in either wire at any time is not in phase with the current. Thus the magnetic field that is altering the resistance of the wires is not in phase with the voltage in the wires at any time. Hence the current in one wire is modulating the output of the other wire in a way that has no relationship (at any point in time) with the voltage in the wire. Because of the phase difference the small change of the voltage to the loudspeakers due to the ‘proximity Effect’ is heard as random noise unrelated to the signal. This form of distortion is highly audible and can be described as: 10 Transient Phase Distortion ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ is caused by the magnetic fields generated by the current carried along each wire. The magnetic field around each wire decreases exponentially with distance from the wire. ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ can therefore be reduced by increasing the distance between conductors. In practical terms this can be done either by increasing the diameter of the insulation or placing the conductors a fixed distance apart by means of a webbed construction. In Black Rhodium cables, the ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ is lowered by using thicker insulation and twisting the cable to gain lower inductance and pick up of RFI (radio frequency interference) that can distort the music signal audibly by modulation the interference voltages with the music signal voltages. And TWIRL Twirl was designed as an upgraded version of Twist that could deliver better sound quality on account of a greater distance between the conductor wires (around 1.5mm) and a larger cross section of wire (2.5 sq mm). TWIRL loudspeaker cable And now SAMBA Samba is a further upgrade of Twist beyond that achieved with Twirl. The conductor wire is silver plated copper, the conductor size is increased to 3 sq mm and the insulation thickness is increased to 2mm. Full specifications are given below with details of each part of the specification benefits the sound quality. With the very best Speaker Connectors We had two very important requirements for the connectors that we use with Samba. The first is that the connectors should give the best possible sound quality because the Samba connectors will be competing with the best connectors that other cable companies are using on their speaker cables. The second is that the connectors should look good and should stimulate sales even before the cable can be auditioned. To test the connectors, we assembled several pairs of speaker cables each with different types of speaker plugs taken from our stock. We chose TWIRL for the test cable for a number of reasons. Firstly it is an extremely good cable and therefore its imperfections were less likely to favour one type of connector over another inaccurately. Secondly Twirl lies in the middle of our range in terms of physical size and this makes it easier to fit connectors designed for large cables and also connectors designed for small cables. Our tests revealed several important findings. Rhodium plated connectors gave better sound quality than gold plated connectors. Locking connectors gave better sound quality than push in plugs. 11 Z plugs gave very good sound, again better than push in plugs Plugs with moving parts did not give good sound quality Even the way the cable is connected to the plug affects sound quality. Using connectors fitted with two fixing screws, the sound was slightly better when the second screw was used to grip the insulation and only one screw had electrical contact with the cable. And the best plug overall in that test was the plug that we now use with Samba. This plug was originally purchased to be used with our most expensive speaker cable, Ninja, so it was a leap of faith to use a very expensive plug with a much less expensive cable. When expensive plugs are used with speaker cables, there is always the concern that a competitor with less expensive plugs will be more favourably received in a magazine review because it offers better value for money. However these plug not only look good but they sound good and I am confident they will add to the overall value of the terminated Samba. A high quality cable that has beautiful connectors will attract customers to the cable. We are very fortunate that the connector that we use for Samba not only sounds very good but looks superb. It is also a very good fit with Samba. Samba cable is cut through part of the insulation only Following on from our connector research, we use the screw at the cable end of the plug to secure the insulated part of the cable, without making any electrical contact. We do not need to tighten the screw fully because the silicone compresses easily. Samba cable is prepared for connection by cutting a notch into the insulation as shown in the picture above. The screw nearest the mating end screws directly on to the cable using the insulation below the wire. In this way there is only a single contact point between the cable and connector. Ideally we would prefer the screw to press on to the insulation and the wire to make contact with the shell of the plug giving a more direct contact path by omitting the screw, but overall the present method seems to be more secure. Samba fitted with Rhodium plated locking 4mm plugs 12 ‘Simple design, elegant construction, and does not miss a beat.’ Samba specifications, and their features and benefits Specifications Features Benefits Silver plated copper Plated for superior signal conduction Clearer mid and high frequencies 3 sq mm conductor Low impedance connection between amplifier and speakers Clearer and tighter low frequency notes Better focussed stereo imaging Suitable for long cable runs Silicone rubber insulation of low dielectric loss 0.0003 Energy from the music signal can be stored in the insulation and released at a later point in time. The released energy is now out of phase with the music signal and adds a time smeared noise that is very audible as distortion of the music. By using insulation with low dielectric loss the distortion due to dielectric absorption is greatly reduced. The leading edges of the music being performed are much more realistic and the natural decay of the notes are better portrayed 2mm thick insulation of each conductor wire Each conductor that carries current between the amplifier and speakers generates a magnetic field that affects the conduction of the other conductor. This creates a modulation signal that is out of phase with the music and can be heard as a distorted muddling of the sound. By spacing the conductors further apart than is usual, this ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ is much reduced. With lower ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ the sound is much clearer during complex music passages and bass notes are much better defined within the music. Cables are twisted throughout This prevents the cable acting as a ‘loop aerial’ which picks up RFI that adds distortion to the sound. Clearer sound quality Positive and negative conductors are reversed We specify that each batch of cable manufactured is taken from By applying strict quality control to the wire ‘direction’ we 13 the same continuous length of wire and that the positive and negative conductors are reversed in direction. achieve a cleared more focussed sound quality with a darker silence between notes in the music. Rhodium plated 4mm connectors Better signal transmission between the cable and connectors due to lower tarnishing. Rhodium plating delivers a clearer and fast sound than by using gold plating. Locking mechanism on connectors Tighter strong connection between the plug and its receptacle. Sound quality is clearer as a result of the tighter connection The Sound of SAMBA “Black Rhodium have done it again, building on the success of their twist loudspeaker cable, the Samba uses the same "twisted" configuration but instead utilizes heavy gauge silver plated copper wires and thicker insulation, the result is breathtaking. Graham Nalty the owner of Black Rhodium has responded to recent developments in the hi-fi cable industry by producing a wonderfully open sounding cable, bass extension has to be heard to be believed, overall a true heavyweight in the speaker cable world and made in the UK. It makes me proud to be British! “ David Brook, MCRU – www.mcru.co.uk “Very impressive and wide sound stage and good imaging. High level of detail across the frequency range with extended tight bass and smooth top end. My taste is classical and with the combination of Musical Fidelity Amp/CD and PMC Twenty Series speaker cables performed very well in my opinion. New style locking banana plugs are a boon to ensure rock solid contact with amp &Speaker terminals. Good upgrade for home system when you fit and forget but when used in an instore demo situation are not ideal as they require both hands to fit & remove. The physical size of the cable and the twist makes them more visually obvious – needs care when connecting amp to speakers to keep make them discreet as possible. This is often very important when system is integrated into a normal room rather than a dedicated listening room.” David Brown, Technosound. www.technosound.co.uk Next Stop for Samba – DCT and other new developments We plan to introduce a DCT version of Samba during 2013. We are also conducting research into reducing vibration carried by the cable between the speaker and amplifier and also into offering a better (in terms of sound quality) interface between cable and terminals. We will wait for the results of this research before offering our DCT version of Samba, and in the meantime we will be offering Gladiator and ACT 3 as our DCT speaker cables. 14 Graham Nalty Designer of Black Rhodium cables Graham Nalty has designed audio equipment over several decades and is passionately committed to the improvement of sound quality via highly innovative design and advanced technologies. Black Rhodium supplies audio and video cables to music lovers throughout the world via a team of professional audio distributors and retailers. Black Rhodium cables have won many highly prized awards from audio magazines for their quality and have received testimonials from customers who appreciate the added enjoyment and insight into their favourite music that Black Rhodium cable provide. 15 Appendix 1 16
© Copyright 2026 Paperzz