From the virtual page:
"we first crimp the conductors to reduce the amount of solder the electrical signal must pass through."
I thought, never having soldered before, that when you solder wires together, the wires should already be touching and the solder forms an airtight seal around the connection.
If this is the case, I guess that virtualdynamics is saying that they use poor solder technique because the signal passes from wire to solder to wire?
-pat
Hi Pat,
Don't be too hard on 'em. This is not hoo-doo on their part. Compression terminations WHEN DONE PROPERLY are simply better than soldered ones. Numerous studies have proved this.
The hoo-doo begins with soldering after the compression is done. This is overkill as it serves no purpose and, if not done properly, can actually compromise quality of the compression joint. This is not snake oil per se put a play to the consumer about over-engineering and quality construction/manufacturing, which of course justifies their asking price.
You will find most of this stuff is highly over-engineered and over-manufactured in the extreme which is why it is ultimately so costly. (think laboratory stuff.) Alas value is in the eye of the beholder like beauty and consumer demand does drive the market for this stuff. On this board, I've yet to see a system that would ever benefit from a lot of this kind of stuff. HT systems simply don't have the resolution or analytical sound of a $100,000+ stereo system--Goldmund systems start at $1,000,000. And no one would buy it, even if you got the price down, because most everything would sound terrible. Why? Because one would be listening to all the flaws in the source material. TV and movie sound quality are the pits!** These are not live performances in a multi-million dollar concert hall but over-mixed, over-dubbed, compressed, equalized, expanded, digital processed multi-track/source signals starting with those recorded on set (wherever that might be.) A better analogy is visual effects. Ever notice how you feel watching cheesy visuals that don't come-off too well because your TV/monitor is too good at resolving the details that show the effect glaringly fake? That would be the same kinda deal. One couldn't enjoy the show for noticing all the mixing/production techniques and screw-ups. It would destroy the illusion and when all is said and done it this the reason for HT anyway?
**They will never equal music recordings which are often rehearsed for months if not years then executed in acoustically wonderful venues using microphones that are too delicate for field work. Not only that but a recording engineer has a mydraid of the to choose for just the right instrument or voice! Then there is near-field and far-field miking that don't happen on set which use completely different mics, aka highly directional one. You get the idea here. Studio verses a set. Different application--different sound.
