Chris Sommovigo - Black Cat Cable

“INSANITY: Doing the same
thing over and over again and
expecting different results.”
This famous quote has been widely
(mis)attributed to Albert Einstein, Mark
Twain, Alcoholics Anonymous, and novelist
Rita May Brown.
It is generally used to illustrate the futility of
habitual approaches to solving problems.
The embedded intention is, presumably, to
inspire the reader to snap-out of their
reliance upon old cognitive habits in order to
explore new solution-pathways.
These things are much easier said than
done, as the forces of habit are often deeply
ingrained.
Such was my condition after many years of
designing and fabricating audio cables in
the usual way: I would design cable forms
around the limitations of the industrial
processes that were available to me through
subcontractors. This is the way audio cables
are made, thousands of feet at a time, by all
the famous-name cable makers you can
think of … and even the not so famous
ones, like me.
Throughout my many years of designing
and making cables for Illuminati, Stereovox,
and Stereolab I was ostensibly chained to
this mode of manufacture and I did the best
I could to work within the limits of these
industrial processes. My subcontractors had
some tricks up their sleeves, of course things that made them uniquely precise and
able to do things that more ordinary wire
and cable subcontractors were unable to do
- but they were still working within the
narrow confines of the industrial processes
that were at their disposal.
This is the general state of audiophile cable
manufacturing, with very few exceptions.
Chris Sommovigo
Designer, craftsman: Black Cat Cable
I worked to explore areas for improvement, and
this effort actually led to the launch of a relatively
well-known connector-brand, XHADOW. All of
my cable designs in the Stereovox and
Stereolab marques were terminated with
Xhadow connectors that I designed, and which
lent me some additional control over the quality
of my products.
Nevertheless, I was still bound to the industrial
model for my actual cable designs and I
desperately wanted more creative control over
the process itself. That’s when I came up with
the ideas for Black Cat Cable.
Black Cat was going to be different.
Black Cat Cable was originally based on a
handful of innovations that were developed over
the course of about four or five years. Most
importantly, the ability for me to insulate my own
conductors with materials that were superior to
insulating materials ordinarily found in high
performance audiophile cables was critical to the
mission of bringing the means of production into
my own workshop.
The development of my AERON™ insulation
process made this possible, and this has led to
many new and different solution-pathways.
Black Cat Cable is, in some ways, the story of my
emancipation from the industrial approach and my
exploration of the artisanal approach to designing and
building audiophile cables. Because of some very
unique capabilities, I’ve been able to do things that
others, who are locked into the industrial model, aren’t
able to do.
I’m not dependent upon industrial subcontractors
squeezing out tens of miles of thermoplastic-covered
cables … I can make 50 feet of a custom design any
time I care to, even at midnight on a Sunday if the
mood strikes me.
More importantly, staying artisanal means that I can do
something that the big brands cannot do – I can
personally build every cable that leaves my
workshop. You just can’t get that kind of personal
involvement from the creators and founders of the big
brands.
I love being directly involved with the
manufacture of my products,
beginning at the point that they are
just a collection of raw materials, to
the point that I have packaged them
to be sent.
It is personally gratifying to me that,
when you receive your Black Cat
Cable, you’ve gotten an authentic and
original product that was created,
manufactured, and assembled by me
in my modest workshop. It’s this
personal touch in every aspect of
making cables that I truly enjoy..
I may have a modest business, but I’ve worked hard to achieve this level … it’s an artisanal level of
involvement with my products instead of an industrial one. That’s what I think the real high-end of
audio is truly about: connecting end users with authentic, creative designers who make nice things.
These are products that are made slowly, intentionally, with a focus on delivering a high quality
product that is also a superior technology.
It may have taken me a couple of decades to arrive at this moment, through various struggles and
mistakes, challenges and successes. But I’m here and I’m happy, and I hope that all of this
translates into the kind of lasting and meaningful value that is as important to you as it is to me.
~ Chris Sommovigo
Yugawara, Kanagawa
JAPAN
Black
Cat
Cable
Handmade
in
Japan
Digital
Cables
Although I’ve been producing award-winning analog cables since 2000, I got my start by
designing some very nice digital cables with my first company, Illuminati Electronic
Systems and Cables, Inc., which I founded when I was 25 years old. In fact, over these
many years, I have probably designed more digital cables than anyone else - both for my
own companies and for others.
In the Black Cat Cable lineup my digital cables are the only ones that have a
subcontracted component. For well over 20 years I have been making the inner cores for
my digital cables with one of the best OEMs in the world. They are U.S. military and
Surveillance Industry subcontractors that have made extreme-performance “whips” for
weapons systems, fighter jets, submarines, AWACS, AEGIS, and for national security and
surveillance systems. When I need something done with extreme electrical precision at
ridiculously high frequencies, as we do with digital signals, I can count on these guys to
execute my designs perfectly.
That’s why when you purchase even the least expensive of my digital cables, you are
getting something of truly outstanding quality and unmatched performance.
~ Chris
Silverstar!
75
S/PDIF
Coaxial
Cable
In 2010 we released the first-ever
Black Cat Cable product, and it was a
little 75 Ohm digital cable named
“Veloce” - it quickly gained a
wonderful reputation for being a
wonderful performer, and was
celebrated for being something of a
“sure thing” by Srajan Ebaen of
6moons.com when he said:
“ … that makes the Veloce a sure
thing for all but the excessively
monied. Sure things in as
uncertain a sector as high-end
audio are always welcome. When
sure things cost only a little, they
become sure things for sure.”
Silverstar! 75 is the evolution of the Veloce, and has been a major underground
favorite for good reason – it bests some of the most expensive SPDIF cables out
there, and it’s a steal by comparison!
The raw cable is manufactured to our specifications by a military/aerospace
contractor in the USA that we’ve been doing business with since 1994, and
terminated right here in our workshop in coastal Japan.
Terminated with 75 Ohm BNC connectors and provided with our precision BNC:RCA
adapters.
Digit-75
/
Digit-USB
DIGIT 75 is a “lite” trickle down from
TRØN, where we are using some of our
QuieTex materials and techniques to
create an RF and EM insulated “blanket”
of sorts in order to help defray the
effects of RF/ EM from without and
within.
It’s an electrically precise 75 Ohm
coaxial cable with an outstanding
bandwidth, terminated with precision 75
Ohm BNCs and sold with my NEW XOX
Precision BNC to RCA adapters
included.
DIGIT USB is a very different take on
the ordinary/mundane USB
architecture that you’ll find even in
some of the most expensive luxurylevel USB cables available. In this
instance, it provides twin 45-ohm
highly precise micro-coaxial cables
with real silver-plated copper-foil shielding (NOT metalized plastic mylar!) for the
data lines.
These are bound by a common pure copper shield, and then jacketed in nylon.
Power and Ground are run in a separate layer in counter-rotating helices, and then
an overall jacket is woven around the whole form.
Both of these are best-in-class, in our opinion, and will be extremely hard to beat
even with substantial investments in competing products.
TRØN
This is my top-line 75 Ohm SPDIF cable, of which I believe there is no equal in the
world. Many years of experience, many iterative improvements to my digital cable
designs over those years, have taught me some important lessons – not just about
controlling the electrical parameters within the cable – but also about controlling
other factors.
Aside from its core precision electrical characteristics, TRØN incorporates a
complex layering of metallic and pyrolytic interstitials between the main cable and
the outside jacket. This complex, referred to as “QuieTex”, has several functions
both in terms of absorbing and/or rejecting RF and EM fields from outside, as well
as absorbing and dispersing RF that may be radiating from within the cable.
TRØN is terminated with a precision 75 Ohm BNC and provided with “XOX” BNC to
RCA adapters.
Analog
Cables
Although I’ve been designing and building “analog” cables for my whole career, I’ve only
been marketing my designs since the first Stereovox cables came out of my workshop in
2000. I’ll never forget how happy I was when I read the words written in our first review,
from TNT Audio in Italy, in September of 2001.
The reviewer, M.L. Gneier, had the interconnects for quite awhile before publishing his
review, and I was pretty nervous about it. But then I read his words:
“… if I never review another cable I will be forever happy that I had a chance to
hear & write about the magnificent Stereovox SEI-600.”
“At the risk of seeming indelicate, I must say that the Stereovox SEI-600 are far and
away the finest interconnects that I have ever used.”
“If there was ever a product that was a true benchmark of quality, it would have to
be the Stereovox SEI-600s. Prepare to be amazed; if anything, my comments
presented here are the height of understatement.”
These statements gave me the courage to continue, and over the ensuing years I have
been the fortunate recipient of many such kind words about my cable designs from
reviewers in many respected audio journals.
In the pages that follow, you will see my latest creations - all built here in my workshop by
myself, for you - and these represent the latest and best thoughts I have about the art and
discipline of audio cable design.
NOTE: All RCAs and Banana plugs are of my own design, with signal traveling on directgold-plated pure copper with terminations being made under very high contact pressure
before being soldered to ensure an ideal signal transfer.
~ Chris
ELEMENTA SERIES : COPPERTONE
Coppertone is a beautifully simple cable that has
yet a high-tech twist to it.
It begins with a braid of 256 strands of 100% IACS
copper at 38 AWG each, and this forms the center
conductor. The sum of these strands is ostensibly
14 AWG, which lends it low resistance for
relatively high ampacity.
It sits in a dielectric of our exclusive AERON™
insulation matrix, which is a peculiar cylindrical
weave of raw, continuous filament pure Teflon.
This matrix naturally includes air that is trapped
between the nodes that articulate within the matrix
during processing, creating a very fast dielectric
with low capacity for electrostatic energy storage.
Together, these are bound in a braid of multifilament nylon, and then surrounded with a
tubular braid of the very same copper at the same conductor density.
An overall jacket of multifilament nylon is applied, and then the raw cable is complete. In
total, there are five separate machine operations performed in my workshop to create the
raw cable for Coppertone, after which it is terminated to the appropriate connectors.
I like to think of Coppertone as the real Giant Killer in our catalog because it’s low price is
not indicative of its performance. Because of the peculiarities of its materials and
construction, Coppertone can easily compete with some of the industry’s most celebrated
(and expensive!) cables … and in some cases, utterly crush them.
Coppertone cables are terminated with LOVECRAFT connectors designed by and
manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and loudspeaker cables (banana-termination standard).
REDLEVEL SERIES : The TUBE
Although I’ve been working with variations of the
CuTube for more than a decade now, this is the
first time I’ve put CuTube in a purely air dielectric,
and so it seems we’ve nearly reached the peak of
its potential.
I’m rarely one to advance ideas about “silver
bullets” – single, magical elements that make a
product stand above its peers – but CuTube is one
of those very few that I feel strongly about when it
comes to providing excellent performance at an
accessible price.
“ … Black Cat Redlevel Tube speaker
cables will give you everything you need to push the performance
capabilities of your equipment to its limits and show you exactly
what you may have been missing.” – David Robson, HiFiPig.com
The TUBE cables are terminated with
LOVECRAFT connectors designed by and
manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and loudspeaker
cables (banana-termination standard).
Pure copper microtube in The TUBE
REDLEVEL SERIES : LUPO
Inside Lupo we use a 99.999% pure Silver
solid core conductor, fully annealed dead soft,
inside the central air-filled Teflon tube. You will
not find the high-contrast, whitewashed
“sound of silver” here.
Lupo is rich with all the colors, detail, and
nuance of music without the stereotypical
“spittiness” that silver has the reputation for,
and this is because of three things:
• the temper of the conductor
• the size of the conductor
• the excellent self-damping of the cable’s
form
“The Lupo cables should cause a rather wolfish grin if you prioritize a
fully lit-up dimensionally liberated presentation with detail galore.”
~ Srajan Ebaen, 6Moons.com
We think you’ll find that Lupo is the silver cable that silverlovers have always wanted but never quite received. The
promise of silver without the penalties.
LUPO cables are terminated with LOVECRAFT connectors
designed by and manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and loudspeaker cables (bananatermination standard).
REDLEVEL SERIES : The MATRIX
The Matrix uses our InterPole™ form with 16
individually enameled pure copper conductors
disposed in an expanded array of interalternating helices, forming a micro braided
tube of tiny wires.
This is then very carefully, gingerly pulled
through the air-filled Teflon tube in our cable
form and terminated according to preference.
This kind of lattice can also be referred to as a
Matrix, hence one reason for the name.
Because of this construction, the interconnect
can be terminated as single-ended (RCA) or balanced (XLR) – and this is the only
Black Cat REDLEVEL model that is available for balanced XLR termination.
For those who have heard The Matrix, it also
earns its name by seemingly placing the
listener in an alternative universe, a
surrogate reality that is palpably real to the
ears (and the heart).
The MATRIX cables are terminated with
LOVECRAFT connectors designed by and
manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and loudspeaker
cables (banana-termination standard).
REDLEVEL SERIES : TRIODE
What do you get when you combine
CuTube™ and InterPole™, and then take that
conductor and deploy it in an air-filled Teflon
tube?
A seriously complex conductor! It takes quite
a long time to put the microbraided pure
copper strands of InterPole around the deadsoft, fully-annealed pure copper of the
CuTube … but we did it.
This is a very finely made conductor that is
small and not so very easy to manufacture.
Don’t be fooled by the name, though – it’s not
designed exclusively for triode amplifiers. Don’t be afraid to put this in your solid
state system – you might just find that you’re having your cake and eating it, too!
The TRIODE cables are terminated with
LOVECRAFT connectors designed by
and manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and
loudspeaker cables (banana-termination
standard).
REDLEVEL SERIES : ULTRANOVA
For many years I’ve had a love/hate
relationship with “ribbon” conductors, as it
seems that in order to solve certain problems
they created new ones.
There’s something delightfully simple about a
ribbon conductor, of course, and I admit to
being lured by the siren song of what ribbons
do really well. But over time certain things
emerged that, to my ears, made the ribbon
approach … incomplete. For me, that ends
here.
Ultranova takes a 99.999% pure silver ribbon
that has been annealed dead soft, carefully
(as in very carefully) twists it into a gentle
helix, and then sends it, by hand, down an air-filled Teflon tube.
The special construction lends
Ultranova a high velocity in a fast
(air) dielectric, with lots of surface
area and conductor mass. This
what I personally consider to be a
“high information” cable and believe
is probably the most neutral in the
REDLEVEL series.
Ultranova cables are terminated with
LOVECRAFT connectors designed by
and manufactured exclusively for me.
Available in RCA interconnects and
loudspeaker cables (banana-termination standard).
XOX: BNC to RCA ADAPTER
The “XOX” brand BNC to RCA
adapter is a truly precision
design, made specifically for
the 75 OHM S/PDIF cable
standard.
Precision machined, this
adapter uses a hollow, directgold-plated pure copper signal
pin - very rare to find in BNC-toRCA adapters, but important for
a low resistance transfer of the
sensitive digital signals.
The XOX adapter comes as an
included standard with our Digit-75 and TRØN digital cables, however it is also
available on its own for those people who have not yet upgraded to Black Cat digital
cables or who have our Silverstar! 75 S/PDIF cable.
Sold in PAIRS only.
Black
Cat
Cable
is a wholly-owned brand of
HIGH-FIDELITY PARTNERS Co. LTD.
1921-50 Yoshihama, Yugawara-machi
Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa-ken
JAPAN
259-0312
e: [email protected]
w: http://www.blackcatcable.com