Brandt Audio Cables
By Roy Gregory
There are basically three ways to create a range of audio cables:
You can manufacture from scratch, building (or hiring) a plant to pull, encase and wind your chosen conductor materials and then terminate them yourself. You might even go as far as designing and manufacturing your own connectors: easy for speaker cables, harder for interconnects and a seriously demanding proposition for power cords. The problem is that the up-front costs and risks are huge. Just imagine having to commit to a kilometre of cable that you haven’t even heard…
The far easier (and far more common) alternative is politely referred to as “exploiting found technology.” That means hunting through the massive range of cables that are manufactured for other larger and more financially viable purposes than audio, for something that works okay in a stereo system. Over the years there have been some notable finds, but it’s not an approach that lends itself to the creation of a coherent cable line, or ultimately, to optimum results.
Then there’s the third way…
You can source cable components individually and “roll your own.” Everything from individual conductors and connectors through to strain-relief and sheathing is available to those who know where to look. You can, literally, assemble a kit of parts and combine them to create first a cable and then, with termination, a finished product. This artisan approach has both upsides and downsides. It lends itself to almost endless experimentation and allows small-scale production employing surprisingly exotic materials. For building one-offs or samples it’s a versatile and tuneable process. As a way of manufacturing a product line, it is incredibly laborious and exacting – at least if you are going to achieve consistent, repeatable results. It also places a heavy burden on labour (as opposed to material) costs. But – and it’s a BIG but – if you have the patience, the discipline, a clear sonic/musical goal and the focus to attain it, then constructing artisan cables can produce remarkable results.
It’s no surprise that artisan cable brands seem to arrive (and depart) with the seasons. Anybody who has fiddled with cables knows not only how big a difference they can make but how easy it is to make a difference. The skill comes in making a difference that matters! Some of these artisan brands go on to greater things, generating enough business to start systematic manufacturing. Others simply disappear, often without so much as a ripple… But some – a hardy few – soldier on, appreciated for their consistent musical quality and reluctant too risk compromising a product often arrived at through years of experimentation and audition. One such brand is Swiss cable manufacturer Brandt Audio, passionately conceived audio ‘baby’ of Charles Brandt, sometime impresario, and committed music consumer. With a background in organising classical concerts – concerts that involve seriously high-profile performers – his ear for live sound and the demands that places on his stereo system, led him to develop and ultimately offer for sale, his own audio cables.
