September 23, 2009

  • MIT Z-Cord II, Part 2

    Metallica's Ride The Lightning actually came out in the latter half of 1984.  But because it received little press and no airplay, no one knew about it.  Heck, Metallica didn't even appear in the San Francisco Chronicle's "pink section."  Only through word of mouth, did anyone learn about Ride The Lightning. 

    Back then, the Army occupied San Francisco's Presidio base.  Several of my classmates lived in the Presidio.  Some day in the Spring 1985 semester, I went with such a classmate to China Beach.  It was typically cold and foggy, but not windy.  On a bluff or rock sat some high schoolers, who were listening to a boom box.  I didn't know what it was then, but that was the first time I heard Metallica's "Fade To Black."  The intro seemed to match perfectly the fog, cliffs, beach, and water.

    Fast forward to the Fall of 1988.  As a senior homeroom rep, I suggested to my class that our theme for Spirit Week should be "Ride The Lightning."  The officers/leaders adopted "ride the wave" instead.

    "What's in the box?" wonders Tessa.

    Audiophiles wonder what's in MIT's boxes.  The regular MIT Z-Cord has ferrite cores.  The Z-Cord II, above, may have a resistor.  I've never seen the innards, so your guess is as good as mine.

    If regular use of a cable is like sitting in a student's chair/desk, then using the Cable Cooker is like sitting in Ride The Lightning's electric chair. 

    Some time in the mid-90s, I was at Ultimate Sound, and a customer remarked that he had always used the throwaway cords which came with his equipment.  He had optimized his system, based on those throwaway powercords.  When he tried after-market powercords, they skewed his system's sound out of control. in addition, Naim users stubbornly stuck to the included Naim powercords. 

    So if you had optimized your system around stock cords, what could you do?  Well, the MIT Z-Cord II is like a stock cord, with noise reduction built-in.  The Z-Cord II won't alter your system's tonal balance.  But it will strip away some noise.  So you'll be better able to "see" and follow what music is there.

    Alan Kafton is always complaining about my Cooker sitting on Office Depot boxes [for an example, see the picture above].

    Tessa says, "Maybe this Pampers Cruisers box will be the next platform for our Cooker!"