The most expensive cable in the world?

Tuesday, February 8th, 2011

It’s fair to say I’ve spent a fair few pennies on hi-fi over the years. Speakers, amplifiers, subwoofers and DACs have steathily crept into the Muller household, along with enough CDs and vinyl to fill my spare room from floor to ceiling.

The one thing I haven’t spent much money on is cables. You know, those snaking trails that hook your speakers to your amp; your PC to your DAC or home cinema receiver. My power cables are black (they came in the box); my speaker cables are a fetching shade of blue, and my digital cables? Well, there were some lying around in PC Pro’s labs (That’s £15 you owe us Sasha – Ed).

This morning, though, I’m worried that I might be missing something. Something crucial. Something that, say, for the sum of £16,114.72, could revitalise my music collection and destroy my credit rating with one fell swoop. I’m talking about a speaker cable.

Not just any speaker cable. The marketing blurb for the Kimber Select KS-6068 is unequivocal: “Listening confirms that they are significantly better, with a lower noise floor and even better detail retrieval and transparency.”

And just in case your hi-fi system is just too far away from your speakers, you can upgrade to the 3.5m variant for £21,387.57. Yes, that’s more than £5,000 per metre.

Get your orders in now.

Finally – the self-build PC lives

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

It’s been a long and arduous process: ever since our esteemed Editor challenged me and four of my colleagues to acquire computers for £250 – with Stuart Turton trying to blag one for free – I’ve been scratching around dozens of online retailers to find the cheapest components and the most reasonable component prices.

Last week I finally put together a specification I was happy with and ordered my components, and it was soon time to start building. A somewhat slap-dash assembly proved that the rig worked, and yesterday my three replacement case fans turned up.

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No “up to” speeds with cable

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Recently I admitted defeat in a battle with unhelpful telecoms companies and jumped ship to cable, and I’m absolutely delighted with the results. The Virgin Media kit was couriered to me within days, easy to set up myself and required a simple two minute phone call to activate. But the best thing by far is the speed.

Used to the fluctuating performance of ADSL, my new service runs like a dream. It doesn’t drop out, it doesn’t slow down when someone next door phones a call centre in India, and – best of all – it runs as fast as it should.

I ordered the “Up to 4Mb” service and last night ran a speed checker: my download rate is a little over 3.8Mb/s. Considering that’s faster than I ever got at my last address from my “Up to 16Mb” Sky service, I’m absolutely ecstatic with the results.

Others out there may have had wonderful experiences with ADSL, others may achieve speeds close to those they were promised when they signed up. I personally haven’t ever got what I paid for from broadband, until now. In this house at least, ADSL is history.

Keep your bloody phone lines, I’m off to cable

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

I moved house a couple of weeks ago. Very spacious actually, although the garden could do with a trim, thanks for asking. Being an IT nerd, the first thing I did when I’d finished unloading boxes was to get the phone line and Internet set up – how hard can it be, right?

The answer, according to those lovely folks over at BT and TalkTalk, appears to be “as difficult as we can possibly make it without sticking two fingers up and suggesting yoghurt pots and a piece of string”.

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