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Equipment Review

May 1999

JPS Labs Ultra Conductor Interconnects
and Speaker Cables

by James Causey



Review at a Glance
Sound Smooth, with excellent pacing and clarity; great for loosening up rough-sounding recordings or digital front-ends.
Features Custom solid-core aluminum-and-copper conductors; speaker cables available with spade or banana termination; interconnects use non-locking RCA connectors.
Use Very flexible, unlike other JPS Labs designs; solid-core conductors merit gentle treatment; RCAs fit very tightly.
Value Smooth, clear, engaging sound for the cost of a good steak dinner (with desert).

To be the best

As it is with the interested parties in many hobbies, audiophiles are often driven to seek the best possible musical experience. This is a never-ending struggle, normally involving the investment of rapidly escalating amounts of money in the pursuit of perfection. Each magnitude of expense returns diminishing results, with the very finest equipment costing literally obscene amounts of money.

Most audiophiles, however, simply cannot afford to enter this quest for audio’s Golden Fleece. Never mind the frustration and anguish, the time spent agonizing over miniscule details rather than enjoying music; the fact is, some of the really great high-end products cost too damn much. Why, then, are there so many incredibly expensive superproducts available? Well, there are a number of factors contributing to the seemingly top-heavy market. For one, cost-no-object statement products serve as excellent advertising for a manufacturer’s more modest product lines. For another, a good number of audiophiles are, in fact, extremely well-heeled, and as connoisseurs, they are willing to pay for that umpteenth degree of sonic improvement (or, more cynically, simply want to be able to impress lesser mortals with their largesse).

However, I assert yet another reason: it’s easier to design and develop top-of-the-line engineering masterpieces than real-world products that deliver excellent performance. When the minds of enterprising audio designers are let loose with unlimited resources, the best possible materials, and no time restrictions, they can follow their muses and fully realize their inner vision. The real challenge comes when engineering to a specific price point; how can you leverage the lessons learned from products where price is not a factor into a design that Jim Sixpack can afford?

Enter the Ultra Conductor

Joe Skubinski at JPS Labs has a legacy of designing high-end wiring that surpasses expectations. His Superconductor series has garnered a reputation for quality and transparency, as evidenced by past SoundStage! reviews, among others. And, while reasonably priced, JPS cables have traditionally fit solidly in the moderate-to-expensive realm. Thus, budget-minded audiophiles like myself were interested in the announcement of JPS Labs’ new Ultra Conductor line of entry-level wiring. Professing to deliver similar sonic characteristics to the Superconductor series at a fraction of the price, the Ultra Conductors have large shoes to fill.

Design

The Ultra Conductor borrows a number of design features from earlier JPS Labs designs. Much like the Superconductor+ and Superconductor2, the Ultra Conductor relies on a conductor formed from an alloy of aluminum and copper, which JPS claims provides the finest sound of any standard conductive material. The conductor is a solid-core, single-strand design, much like that of earlier JPS Labs cables. However, unlike the materials of its predecessors, this new alloy is far more flexible, allowing the resulting cable to be much more pliant and easier to handle than the traditionally stiff JPS Labs fare. In addition, the conductor is thinner, and the Ultra Conductor lacks the solid copper shielding of JPS Labs’ pricier designs, further reducing manufacturing cost and increasing the wire’s flexibility.

The Ultra Conductor wire also uses more basic termination, with standard RCA plugs replacing the screw-down connectors found on some of the company’s higher-end interconnects, and smaller plated spades in place of tooled rhodium jobs on the more expensive speaker cables. The outer jackets in the original review set were constructed of a stiff, textured cloth material, while a later set of wiring, more representative of full-production cabling, arrived clad in a slicker PVC jacket.

While more flexible than other thicker solid-core cabling, the Ultra Conductor still should be handled with care. This ham-fisted reviewer managed to break the speaker wire near the spade terminators through overly-aggressive bending to accommodate large binding posts. Skubinski had already improved the stress relief at the termination points from the early prototypes I’d received for review, and he graciously rushed me out a new set. I’ve had no further problems. However, as he pointed out, any solid-core cabling can only withstand so many bends at one point before becoming worn and possibly breaking. Thus, it behooves the owner to handle the wiring with care, making only gentle bends and avoiding placing undue torsional stress on any one point along the cable’s length.

Associated equipment

I used the Ultra Conductors with a variety of equipment. Amplification duties were handled by my trusty McCormack DNA-1 as well as by the Alternate Audio CA35. The McCormack TLC-1 passive line stage and Alternate Audio BCAP preamplifier served for volume control and input selection, while my Parasound C/DP-1000 single-disc CD player served as the front-end. Loudspeakers used for listening included the PSB 1000I, Vandersteen 1C (review pending), and Nova Audio Bravo (also pending). All equipment rested on a Michael Green Designs Justarack in natural cherry, with the exception of amplifiers, which were placed on home-brew amp stands constructed from granite paving stones. All connections were cleaned with Caig Pro-Gold and treated with XLO’s TPC wipes. Electronics were plugged directly into the wall with stock power cables.

Comparison wiring included the Kimber HERO interconnects and 8TC speaker cables, both with WBT termination (locking RCAs on the interconnects, locking bananas on the speaker wire), as well as Cardas 300B MicroTwin interconnects and TwinLinkA speaker cable. My reliable blue lava lamp teamed up with candles from Pier One to provide soothing visual ambience, while my trusty friend JP provided technical assistance and valuable second opinions. Gabby the Audio Cat, when not trying out for the part of Shakti Cat by resting on warm amplifiers, served to provide level-matching and leg-scratching.

Ergonomics

The Ultra Conductors all arrived at my home coiled in round, clear-plastic basins with removable lids, a distinct packaging upgrade over that of most of their cost-competitive brethren. Removed from their protective lairs, the Ultra Conductors reveal an attractive blue jacket through which one’s fingers can easily feel the solid-core conductor. In fact, the sensation I felt was one of vulnerability, causing me to treat the wire with care (although apparently not enough care to prevent me from manhandling my first set of speaker cables).

RCA termination of the interconnects was on par with my Cardas MicroTwin, consisting of well-built, tight connectors that gripped RCA jacks well. In fact, as with the Cardas (and any high-quality non-locking RCA connector, for that matter), I found that disconnecting the wire from electronics required caution to avoid damaging the jacks! While disconcerting to the uninitiated, this is actually a sign of well-engineered cabling, as a lack of mechanical grip can severely degrade sound quality. Ample lubrication with TLC wipes helped to alleviate any potential damage.

The Ultra Conductor speaker cables strongly resemble the interconnects, without obvious width or stiffness differences. The provided spade terminations were too small to fit on the binding posts of my PSB 1000i speakers, but slipped through the holes in the center of the posts easily; their relatively soft nature made it easy to torque down and grip them without causing damage.

Sound

Joe Skubinski recommends only a modest break-in period (roughly 10-20 hours) to eliminate a slight forwardness to the Ultra Conductors and settle in their sound. Being anal, and having a day job that makes this sort of thing convenient, I broke in the Ultra Conductors for over 100 hours before doing any critical listening.

I find listening to and determining the sonic characteristics of wiring to be the most difficult task in reviewing audio equipment, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s rather labor-intensive, and often involves a great deal of crawling and stooping behind equipment to swap out cables. Second, and most importantly, the range of wire I most commonly deal with tends to provide only minor sonic differences between different types of cable and manufacturers.

I was not disappointed, then, when my initial listening sessions with the Ultra Conductors didn’t exactly leap out at me. In fact, I took this as a good sign -- the job of any wire (or any component, for that matter) is to get out of the way of the music, letting the performance and presentation of the original recording come to you. The Ultra Conductors didn’t seem to provide any hint of unpleasantness, either in the form of screechy highs or booming lows, that I come to fear when reviewing new products.

As time went on, however, I was better able to wrap my ears around the character of the Ultra Conductors. The Ultra Conductors provide a presentation that is detailed and rich. Take, for instance, Donald Fagen’s 1982 solo album The Nightfly [WEA/Warner Brothers 9 23696-2]. This is a classic performance, and Fagen’s smooth vocals and arrangements are sometimes poorly served by the slightly grainy, hashy mix of the early digital recording. On the opening track, "I.G.Y.," the sparkly keyboards and slightly hissy cymbals can almost be overpowering on bright equipment. The Ultra Conductors helped to tame this strident bunch, while never seeming to mask the music itself. Indeed, Fagen’s vocals benefited from the Ultra Conductor’s low-grain presentation, helping to bring out the richness of his voice and toning down the peaks of his notes. This same character was evident on "New Frontier," whose opening keyboards and rhythm tracks can be almost unnerving in their stridency. With the JPS Labs cable, however, I made it through the opening bars with nary a wince.

In addition, the Ultra Conductors seemed to help conjure detail from the mix; background voices, including Fagen’s own background overdubs, appeared more clearly and distinctly in the soundstage. Where before the background voices often came across as a murky mixture, I could clearly make out the separate voices’ positions in the soundstage, and I was able to more clearly discern individual singers’ voices. 

The Ultra Conductors’ smooth character served equally well on Toto’s greatest hits album, Past To Present 1977-1990 [Columbia CK-45368]. "Africa" shares (to a lesser degree) the same sparkliness evidenced on a great deal of Fagen’s first solo effort. Again, the Ultra Conductors stepped in to smooth out the tinkly bits, and allowed the individual strikes of cymbals to appear clearly.

Another standout aspect of the Ultra Conductors’ sonic character was their preservation of musical speed. Both the Toto album and The Nightfly came across with a sense of precision and accuracy to their pacing, making listening both engaging and enjoyable. Rather than seeming to increase the tempo as some components will do, the Ultra Conductors enhanced each song’s natural pacing, with slow songs lingering pleasantly (or unpleasantly, depending on the performance), and up-tempo beats urging my feet to tap and my head to nod in time (and my cat to leave the room in search of more peaceful surroundings).

Comparison listening

Because the differences between cables’ sonic character can be so subtle, extensive comparison to competitive designs is crucial to reveal strengths and weaknesses. To this end, then, I spent a great deal of time swapping out the JPS Labs cabling with my Cardas and Kimber standards.

In comparison to the Kimber HERO, the Ultra Conductor interconnects seemed to present slightly less overall grain in the highs. The difference was subtle, however -- the HEROs never came across as overly resolving; in fact, their slightly more aggressive treble presentation was enjoyable on the rich instrumentation of "Desert Song" from Dead Can Dance’s Toward The Within [4AD 9 45769-2]. However, the Ultra Conductors better preserved the sense of space of the live recording, and matched their smoother presentation with a less veiled midrange. Indeed, the clarity of the Ultra Conductors extended down into the midbass, making the HEROs sound somewhat muddled in comparison, although slightly deeper and more full. And again, the Ultra Conductors proved to display a superior sense of pacing, making the dynamic live performance all the more engaging.

In comparison to the Cardas MicroTwin, the differences in the Ultra Conductors’ character were slightly more distinct. The Cardas’ slight treble emphasis contrasted more strongly with the Ultra Conductors’ smooth highs. Going back to Toto’s Past To Present, the clear recording of "Can You Hear What I’m Saying" was well-served by both wires, with the MicroTwin coming across slightly more forward, but never harsh. The Cardas wire also reached slightly lower on the bass guitar licks and sacrificed nothing in terms of midbass clarity.

The Ultra Conductor speaker cables also compared quite well to the Kimber 8TC and Cardas TwinLink wire. The 8TC presented the deepest, most powerful bass of the trio, but also demonstrated perhaps the least control down low. In that category, the Ultra Conductor was king, followed closely by its Cardas competitor. For midrange performance, the three sets of cable were neck-and-neck. In the highs, however, the Kimber was perhaps the darkest, with the Cardas wire most glittery and forward. The Ultra Conductors distinguished themselves here by their sense of smoothness (again) and neutrality, seeming neither overly dark nor overly bright.

Conclusion

JPS Labs has found a way to provide a detailed, smooth-sounding cable at an excellent price. The Ultra Conductors hold their own with other premier competitors in the budget-priced range of cables (and are, in fact, somewhat cheaper than both the Cardas and Kimber wire used in this review). To many ears, and in many systems, it will in fact prove to be the superior wire. I personally found its lack of grain and non-fatiguing sound a pleasant improvement over my current stable of wires.

Anyone looking to improve a slightly harsh-sounding entry-level wire, or perhaps to upgrade into true audiophile-quality cabling, will do themselves a disservice by purchasing anything before listening to the JPS Labs Ultra Conductor. It's good wire and doesn't break the bank.

...James Causey
james@soundstage.com

JPS Labs Ultra Conductor Interconnects and Speaker Cables
Prices: Interconnects: $109 per one-meter pair; custom lengths and termination options extra. Speaker cables: $199 per eight-foot pair, spade or banana termination. Custom lengths and termination options extra.

JPS Labs
6 Hampton Court
Lancaster, NY 14086
Phone/Fax: (716) 685-5227

E-mail: joejpslabs@aol.com
Websites: www.jpslabs.com, www.ultraconductor.com

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