Posts

Re-engineering the Cobra (Thanks to Henry Fellner)

Here is a new post after a long break (been busy at work).  First of all, I would to thank reader Henry Fellner for starting me down this path with his post about removing the outer sheath, the inner damper and fluffing up the cable diameter (to remove dielectric materials and increase overall diameter). Although I agree with Henry's thinking (remove dielectric materials & increase cable diameter), I wanted to make it user friendly. Leaving the cables with no outer sheath (for protection) and no inner scaffolding (to maintain the shape and diameter) is hardly practical. Experiments: I removed the outer PVC sheath from my 1.5m single pair. Then I tested the following combinations. All original but without the outer PVC sheath. No audible change in sound. Removed the inner 4mm diameter Silicone damper and replaced with same diameter Teflon tube. No audible change in sound. Hmm...this was a surprise as I expected the removal of the solid silicone rubber damper to make a difference...
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Cable review Custom Silver Vs Polk Cobra 6 Shorted Parallel Vs Kenkraft-Labs Zeus in a SS system

 Here is an interesting review/shoot-out of three speaker cables in a High End system. First: The review by J A Garcia of Porta Mallorca, Spain 1) Custom 1.5 m. pure silver made with 4 cores 37 strands 0.08 mm and 2 cores 14 strands 0.14 mm. with pure silver Z banana plugs. It's a 12 parallel configuration: Very clear and detailed sound with stunning sound stage and great presence voices and instruments. I don't know resistance, inductance and capacitance values since my friend have not the machine to measure it.   Very nice sound really with the most balanced and natural sound of the 3 speaker cables for my taste. 2) KenKraft-Labs Zeus 1.5 m. pure copper and silver with copper banana plugs. (please google Kenkraft-Labs for more information). Very clear and detailed sound with great sound stage and presence voices and instruments, but for my taste the sound is not so soft and detailed overcoat in the middle high as my Custom silver speaker cable...
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Polk Cobra User comments & reviews Upated 11 October 2022

 This page is dedicated to user comments and reviews of Polk Cobra cables.  Those who have not used/listened to Polk Cobra cables please listen/try before commenting. Thank you. I will add some of the reviews and comments in the main post with permission by the author. I will leave all other comments in the comments section. Review by Sujesh Pavithran for Audiofi.net (Malaysia) This is an excerpt from a professional review of Accuphase E470 integrated amplifier.  Quote One final thing – I went through a variety of speaker cables, and a couple of weeks before I sat down to write this review, I managed to procure a pair of Japanese-made wires which, back in the 1980s, were marketed by Monitor Audio and Polk Audio (as Cobra) and have attain cult/mythical status. These took the performance of the E-470-1.7i to another level –  nuances were better revealed, there was an on-the-edge quality to the bass that will shock ribbon panel sceptics, and more clarity and r...
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Polk Cobra - Amplifier Compatibity

Polk Cobra-Amplifier Compatibility This table lists amplifiers by Technology/Brand based on compatibility with Polk Cobra speaker cables. No Type/Brand Yes/ No Comments 1 Tube OTL Yes   2 Tube Single Ended Yes   3 Tube Push-Pull Yes   4 Solid State Class A (NFB) Yes 5 Solid State Class A Yes Krell & Firstwatt 6 Solid State Class AB (80's onwards) Yes Tread carefully! 7 Solid State Class AB (pre 80) ? Tread carefully! 8 Early Naim, Threshold Stasis, LFD, NVA and similar designs without adequate output protection. No High capacitance or low inductance may cause HF oscillations Table 1 : Amplifier Compati...
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