REPRODUCED FROM HI-FICRITIC
yourself,go and find som eone who can’,and this wasnevertruerthanfortheM usicseries.Thecable we were looking atin the M usic range uses such advanced technology that is generaly used in m iltary and space applications.W e’re not even alowed in their factory – it’s seriously advanced stuf! And as the configuration that we want is useles for radar applications, they’re happy to m ake itforus–giving usac es to technologywe could neverotherwise getourhandson. The discoveryofthe radicalnew insulation m aterial used in the M usicrange,which Chord calsTaylon, cam e from a chance m eeting between Gibb and som eone from the US com pany.They gottalking about what they both did and when Gibb m entioned he produced cables.The guy asked him ,“is phase im portant?” – which realy piqued Gibb’sinterest–then wenton to askifhe realised that Teflon isn’t phase-stable at room tem perature? Asking how they solved that led to Gibb’s discovery thatthey m ade theirown,very stable, insulationm aterial,and heeventualylaid handson a sam ple ofthe cable and its specialinsulation. W hen they listened to it,he rem em bers it was “jawdroppingly beter”.So the M usic range was born.
In the digitalarena,Ihave to ask Gibb why,as som e bofinswould contest,a cable should m ake any diference ifa digitalsignalis justzeros and ones? He sm ilesand answers:“W el,cablesconnecttwo boxestogether.Itisnotjustnoughtsand onesyou have pas ing between the two.Ifyou are basicaly squirting RFat44.1kHz,downacableand spraying that around the back ofyour equipm ent,it can disruptstuf and pick up noise.Atthe end ofthe day,itis an analogue signal,a square wave,and you need acable with an infinitelyhigh bandwidth to getthatrise tim e,and thatrise givesyou your tim ing.Ifyou have distorted that,itm ay notbe noticeable when transfering a M icrosoftW ord file ifa couple ofpackets getm es ed up,butwith “ W e are very focused on m aking som ething you’d want to have yourself.Ifwe didn’twantto buy itourselves,how can we expect som eone else to buyit? ”
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