When I arrived back at my residence after a long day in the office, I found that my house manager had left an unmarked cardboard box on the desk in my study. "Odd," I thought, "Delphi's always told me when a package has arrived, but she has never left it on the desk in my study before - she knows the study is off-limits." I punched the intercom button: "Delphi dear, who's the package from that you left in the study?" The intercom crackled and Delphi said "I don't know what you're talking about sir. I haven't been in the study." Curious and perplexed, I clicked off the intercom and cut open the cardboard container to extract a finely crafted rosewood box about a half a meter in length on each of its three axes. The box' exterior was smooth and unmarked, and except for a ten-tumbler combination lock on one face of the cube, it gave no indication as to its contents. I looked through the packing materials for instructions on how to open the box - or at the very least something with a combination written on it; but to no avail. Irritated, I thought "Who would send me something so absurd?" Knowing that there were 10-to-the-10th-power possible combinations for the 10 tumblers to open the box, I didn't even try. That's ten billion possible combinations!
Upon further careful inspection, the writing turned out to be sequence of numbers; ten numbers: 1123581321. The combination for the lock! But then I thought, "How odd is it to use a combination that could only be discerned in the light of a 2A3 tube." Unless, of course, it was a message meant only for me, not to be discerned by anyone else among the secret audio society of Eastern Washington State. This was intriguing. It meant someone knew I was the only one among the local audio Illuminati with 2A3 amplifiers. What could it mean? Then it dawned on me. The combination of 1123581321 was the Fibonacci sequence of 1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21! Leonardo Fibonacci was the famous 13th century mathematician who had developed the legendary sequence wherein the sum of the first two numbers produces the third number, and the sum of the second and third numbers produce the fourth number, and so on. But not only that: 21 divided by 13, 13 divided by 8, and 8 divided by 5 all give the same ratio: 1.615384. I recognized that number as the Golden Ratio Phi immediately. Ha! I now thought I knew who my conspirator was! I entered the numbers into the tumblers and heard a small click as the top of the box was released. I lifted up the lid of the box to see inset into the lid's underside a beautifully carved nautilus symbol of maple burl outlined with golden wire. Below it was another number sequence inlaid in gold: 1.615384. On top of the contents of the box was a series of parchments with all kinds of complex Leonardo Da Vinci-like drawings and curious symbols, some of which I recognized, and some that I didn't. The all-seeing eye of the Illuminati was there; as was Da Vinci's drawing of the Vitruvian Man; and the numbers of the Divine or Golden Ratio repeating across the parchments: 1.615384. Of course, now I was sure I knew the identity of my correspondent. It had to be Brian Von Bork of Cardas Audio!
Back in October 2003, Doc Bottlehead had put on the ever-popular Vacuum State of the Art Conference and Show aka Audio Illuminati Show in Silverdale, Washington. While visiting the many exhibitor rooms, I stopped in to chat with the Cardas folks and was impressed with the innovative hanging magnet cable display designed by Cardas' Brian Von Bork. Imagine a big rack about the size of an upright metal bed frame with a bunch of steel plates hanging from it. On each plate, the decapitated ends of cables were stuck on with magnets, so you could pull them off and investigate up close how each model was made. It was definitely the coolest and most informative cable display I'd ever seen. I liked it so much, I awarded it a "Jeff's Picks" for Most Innovative Display Award in my VSAC coverage here at 6moons. In chatting with Brian, we had come to the conclusion that I should do a full system Cardas review for our readers. I told Brian to surprise me and send whatever he thought would be a good match for my system. Boy was I surprised when the cryptic rosewood box revealed a full set of Cardas' top-of-the-line Golden Reference speaker cables and two pairs of Golden Reference interconnects! I was wowed by the ultra-high quality of the fit and finish of this Golden Reference cables set.
Phi 1.615384, the essential ingredient of sacred geometry in Greece, Tantrism, Buddhism, every-day biology and even fractals appeared in the very earliest human history and has been referred to as the Divine Number and the Golden Ratio, among other things. Readers of Dan Brown's mystery thriller The Da Vinci Code (which my introduction spoofs) know that the Phi ratio occurs throughout nature in curious places, giving rise to its moniker of the "Divine Number". Did you know that if you divide the number of female honeybees by the number of male honey bees in a hive, you always get the same number? You get Phi. Did you know that each successive spiral of the chambered nautilus shell is related to each earlier spiral by a simple mathematical relationship? Phi again. It goes like that all through nature with various sea life, insects, plants and so forth caught up in the mathematical mystery that is Phi. Not only that, but there is even a connection of Phi to music: The ratio of the 5-note pentatonic scale to the 8-note diatonic scale is a close approximation of Phi, as is the ratio of the 8-note pentatonic scale to the 13-note chromatic scale. Whoa baby! What is it about Phi that makes it so influential?
Where are cardas cables made?
The Cardas Terminators are the dedicated and talented group of technicians responsible for terminating cables at our factory in Bandon, Oregon. Their quality work ensures that we're able to offer a lifetime warranty on our cables. Working with Litz wire requires special skill and tools.
Are cardas cables directional?
Installing Cardas CablesNot all of our cables are directional, however the safe bet is to install them as if they are. Always turn off your amplifier when connecting speaker cables. And start by connecting the cables to your speakers, and then to the amplifier.