It’s a string driven t’ing…
By Roy Gregory
Crystal cable may have launched itself onto the unsuspecting audio market with a range of string-thin cables, but more recently it’s the high-end models that have been getting most of the attention. First came Absolute Dream, then Ultimate Dream and then a re-brand to Van Gogh and Da Vinci. Now there’s even an Infinity power cord. Yet the Crystal Cable line was originally intended as a minimalist alternative to the heavy-weight Siltech cables, low-mass designs intended to make the most of advances in conductivity and metallurgy. Look at the Da Vinci cables and, whilst they are deserving of both the attention and their reputation, they are at least approaching ‘reassuringly bulky’ in a way that the original designs never did. But the original minimalist logic still makes sense, while the conductor materials have evolved through two further generations since the companion brand was originally launched. Time then to revisit the simpler, thinner, end of the Crystal Cable line. Products that are more practical and arguably more attractive (certainly in financial terms), they are also especially revealing of cable strategy as a whole, a subject that is as widely misunderstood as it is overlooked.
Future Dream sits in the middle spot, perched between the Diamond Series (with its silver/gold SG2 alloy conductors and silver plated copper shields) and the flagship Art Series, with its proprietary Infinite Crystal silver conductors and shields throughout. As befits its positioning, it is a hybrid design, using the top-end Infinite Crystal silver conductor material combined with the minimalist coaxial construction of the Diamond Series. This mates a central solid-core conductor, wrapped in thin, Kapton insulation, with an inner shield woven from Infinite Crystal silver and an outer from AG2 silver/gold alloy, separated and enclosed by a pair of thin PTFE sleeves. It’s a construction that not only ensures excellent geometrical consistency (an often overlooked aspect of cable design) but also delivers a remarkable ratio of conductor to insulation. The metal in each Crystal Cable constitutes around 60-65% of its cross sectional area, a number that drops down to single figures for most of the Siltech (and other, large diameter) cables. Given that insulation in cables comes hand-in-hand with a host of destructive or subtractive effects, less can definitely be more, at least in musical terms.
One of the things I’ve always liked about the Crystal Cable designs is the use of a single conductor type/size for an entire family. So each Future Dream interconnect, speaker or power cable is built from a twisted pair of identical coaxial conductors, only the termination arrangements varying. It’s an unprecedented level of consistency across the entire cable loom, a theme that is continued through the use of Furutech connectors throughout. These may not be my favourite connectors, but they do at least ensure complete consistency of materials and contact surfaces. The result is a complete set of highly flexible, beautifully finished and extremely practical cables – not something that can be said for much of the competition.
