March 28, 2011

  • Cable Cooker, Part 4

    20 years ago, Rick Astley ditched the Stock Aitken Waterman production team, and the associated dance genre.  With a more soulful vibe, Astley's Free put him into the adult contemporary realm.

    Ah, spring break 1991.  I went over to Jack London Square (pictured above).  I do not know exactly which store or restaurant I was in, but I remember hearing Astley's "Cry For Help."  It made me feel much more urban than UC Santa Cruz.  It made me feel at home [the Bay Area].  Astley co-wrote "Cry For Help" with Naked Eyes' Rob Fisher.  San Francisco's KOIT still plays this song once in a while.  And when I hear it, it once again makes me feel at home.

    Your cables are crying for help.  And for that, they need the Audio Dharma Cable Cooker.  My Cooker itself recently needed help, and underwent some surgery.  And let me tell you, not having a Cooker is like: an alcoholic not having any liquor; being horny and not having your birth control; going to your hockey game, but forgetting your skates at home; being stuck in traffic, when you have to pee badly.  Anyway, my Cooker's board went through professional cryogenic treatment.

    Also in 1991, I bought the Muse Model One Hundred power amp.  It utilized Cardas copper binding posts.  Because those post had no plating, the copper dulled over time.

    Well, well, well, I decided to replace the Cooker's posts with Cardas CCGRs.  Remember, the Cooker has four binding posts.

    If your speaker cables have spades, you can use a binding post wrench, to tighten the nuts.  But for crying out loud, do not over-tighten!  Use extreme caution and care.  While the Muse Model One Hundred also had Cardas chassis RCAs, I opted not to get those for the Cable Cooker.  There just wasn't a need; the Cooker's original RCAs are holding up very well.

    Notice that the banana hole is flush with the nut.  Versus concave surfaces, this flush surface will not reject or push out male bananas with funky bases/sleeves.

    Keen readers while notice that on the left binding posts, the black is on top.  But on the right binding posts, the red is top.  I asked designer Alan Kafton about polarity, and he wrote: "No....polarity dosn't matter.  Each binding post sends/receives the same signal.  However, it's still good practice to match black-to-black and red-to-red."