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Digging deeperinto the DNA ofacable,he adds: “These are m echanicaldevices,so the ac uracy and precision ofthe shield,how faritisawayfrom the conductor,how m any coresyou use,whether theconductoristwisted,how m anytwistsyouhave perm etre,are al thingsthatoverthe yearshave been fine-tuned.And when the com pany started to getbigger,ordering largerquantities,we got the opportunity to aces larger, more sophisticated suppliers.W e m oved from buying of-the-shelffrom a catalogue to using bespoke m aterials built to the specification we’d gleaned from ourexperience.” Delving into how a wire is m anufactured, Gibb explains:“Ifyou take a solid-core cable,you have one bitofcopper.You can extrude itquite slowly and geta very nice surface finish.In a m ulti-strand cable,if it has been extruded at speed from a supplierthatis m oney-and price-oriented,then those strands ofcopperare com prom ised.Ata m icroscopic level,you end up with a very wavy surfacethatgivesyoualotofproblem s.So agood solid-core cable wil always beat a bad, m ultistranded cable.Al things being equal,we would alwaysgo with m ulti-stranded. “O n ourtop cables–M usic,Sarum and Sarum T – aswelasbeing slowlycold-extruded in anitrogen atm osphere to avoid thatsurface wavines ,they’re silver-plated and also ground and polished,which isaphenom enalyexpensive thing to do.
“O n cheaper cables, silver plating is actualy a good way to im prove the surface finish,because when you plate with silver,itgives you a beter finish unpolished.The downside with silveristhat you have to be realy carefulwith the insulation m aterial.The onlyinsulation m aterialwe would be happy using is eitherPTFE,orTeflon as people know it,orTaylon,which isourtop insulator.Ifyou use a cheaper m aterial,you can end up with a realybright,nastyand horible sound.” Hearthe diference Gibb explainsthatthe finalarbiterforThe Chord Com panyhasalwaysbeen whetheryou can heara diference. “And not whether it’s diferent, but whetheritbring you deeperinto the m usic:is it m ore m usicaly involving? And we’ve alwaysstuck to that.Ifyou’re spending m ore m oney,itshould giveyoum oreinsightinto,and m oreenjoym entof, thatpiece ofm usic.
“Saly had a philosophy that ‘if you can’t do it
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