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Asterope cable?

toniwonkanobi

toniwonkanobi

May 23, 2008
1,550
144
Northern California
#1
Was flipping through my latest bass player mag and noticed Bob Babbit (with this fender P) endorsing this new cable company called Asterope.

Surprisingly, there is not really any info about this cable on the internet yet...The Gear Page has some 17 page thread about the closing of a previous thread discussing the cable. No specs out there that i could find. 15' cable retails for $200 wow!

Was wondering if anyone here had any thoughts about it?
 
#6
Rick Auricchio said:
The web site says their cables are unidirectional. So they think electrons can't travel both ways in a piece of wire?

Run far, run fast.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that, but i know Evidence Audio's Lyric HG+ cable is also marked as unidirectional. And my mogami cables i've bought and made myself, sound much better in a particular direction. So i don't think it has anything to do with the Asterope peeps defying physics and chemistry or anything :)
 
#8
Unidirectional would apply to the shielding. In this construction (and I'm assuming it's the way I'm familiar with) the shield on the amp end does the grounding. It works. I live in RFI/EMI hell, and I make all my cables that way... and have for over a decade. YMMV (or it may not apply... lucky you)

I make my own. Canare L-4E6s, Neutrik and WBT solder... works for me. I don't endorse ANY brand.
 
#9
ExaltBass said:
Unidirectional would apply to the shielding. In this construction (and I'm assuming it's the way I'm familiar with) the shield on the amp end does the grounding. It works. I live in RFI/EMI hell, and I make all my cables that way... and have for over a decade. YMMV (or it may not apply... lucky you)

I make my own. Canare L-4E6s, Neutrik and WBT solder... works for me. I don't endorse ANY brand.
Click to expand...

I make my own too, out of mogami cable. I have their platinum cable (can't buy the cable in bulk), and it is a bit better than the standard mogami gold, but for the price, probably not worth it. I guess it has to do with shielding. I'm glad i'm not the only one who feels like you can't just (at least with some cables), turn it around and it'll sound the same. Shielding it is. Copper is copper i agree.
 
#10
OK, I can believe the shielding. Attached at one end but not at both.

Two insulated conductors, one for tip, one for sleeve. Shield is left floating at the instrument end and connected to the sleeve at the amplifier end. I suppose it could help.

This is somewhat like what one does to break the shield on a balanced cable, even though in this case we're unbalanced.
 
#11
Well, i emailed the president. Here is our correspondance. In a nutshell, Asterope does not want to divulge their secrets for this cable, that is why specs are not listed on the site. I specifically asked why, unlike Mogami and even Monster, Asterope chose not to publish the "reasons" behind their "better" cable. He was not able to do so. Overall, quite disappointing, but i understand. Unfortunately for Asterope, I'm afraid this will only encourage the skeptics on this board, who are always weary of new products with no written/studied/scholarly proof of their claims. It would appear that many famous musicians in the real world do not demand the same level of written proof as we here on this forum do lol

"Anthony,

I can confidently assure you that our products are not "essentially the same" as any other conventional cable designs on the market. We respect our competitors positions regarding the publication of their technology. That being said, I can only tell you this about our technology... we're "not" defying physics. There's a money back guarantee, If you don't like the "sound", return it. Regardless of how "frank" our competitors are about their designs... NONE of them offer that.

There are countless world class players, producers and engineers who have experienced our products and all agree it "is" substantially better than any other product on the market. Other endorsers currently playing through our cables who are not yet included on our published roster include: Willie Weeks, James Burton, David Grissom, (who I just left playing through our cable at Antone's here in Austin), Reggie Wooten... and countless others. Take their word... not ours. We're not asking you or anyone else to "buy the company line" but rather buy the experience and perspective of the professionals who have heard our products and are enthusiastically convinced of the enhanced sonic characteristics delivered by our cables.

NOTE: Michael Rhodes told me himself that shared the cable with Tony Levin at Winter NAMM, both were blown away. I saw Victor Wooten at Summer NAMM two weeks ago, seeing me holding one of our cables... having received and played through one he said "that" is a great cable. Bob Babbitt just asked me (the same day) for two more cables which he wanted to share with Will Lee and Lee Sklar. None of those guys would have shared Asterope w/ their associates if they didn't believe in the "sound" of the cables... Regardless of the technology.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck w/ your studies and thank you for your questions. You obviously have a scientific mind. I respect your curiosity and hope you'll respect our decision to preserve our trade secrets. It "is" our advantage, and ultimately the way we feed our families.

We hope you'll give us a shot. We're confident you'll be happy with the sound. If you'd like to discuss this further... or have any other questions that are not specifically related to our technology, please feel free to call me directly.

Regards,

Dariush Rad
Asterope - President
512.461.4789


On Jul 3, 2010, at 11:58 PM, Anthony wrote:

Hi,

I am an avid Mogami Platinum and Mogami Gold instrument cable user. I saw an add in Bass Player mag with Bob Babbit and i figured you guys got a nice endorser right there! I'm curious, besides just 'buying the company line' of "this ____ [thing] is using a proprietary technology...," i would like to know why/how your cable is radically different from Monster's studio cable and Mogami's Platinum cable? Those manufacturers' are quite frank and open about their manufacturing techniques, and your website is devoid of anything specific that sets your cable apart from other high-end cables.

Just wondering if you could shed some light on your product, as I am interested in buying it, but not if it essentially the same as my current cables and cables i have tried in the past. Thanks!




-Anthony"
 
#14
On the site it sys about the different colored plugs..." the dark end plugs into your instrument, and the light end plugs into your output source..." I always thought that the instrument was "the output source or am I missing something?
 
#16
Rezdog said:
Greetings from the North,

I think I'll try a patch cord first. They're only $30.00 a foot. But then again I might wait until they start making curly cables.

Rezdog
Click to expand...

A one foot cable wont tell you much about how a 20 foot cable will sound, since cables have a rated capacitance per foot.

Curly cables will always sound darker because it's a lot more wire.

If you have an active bass none of this matters because the output is buffered. ;)

$220 is an awful lot of money for a 20 ft. cable. :eek:
 
#18
Nikoubis said:
Thank God I only play active basses. Imagine the kind of money I would have to spend on premium cables if I didn't. :eek:

:D
Click to expand...

Some people think cables all sound the same, but they really don't. I used to use a standard instrument Monster cable, and it sounded good, but I tried one of the bass cables at a rehearsal studio, and they have a very attenuated top end and a lot of low end. I have some no name cable with the vintage cloth covering, like an old clothes iron, and it really sucks the top end out when used with a passive bass.

But with my active basses they sound more alike because of the buffering.

When my Monster cable got noisy (after 30 years) I tossed it and got a Spectraflex and some other cable. They sound good, but I had to repair both of them after a few months! I should have went to GC and got a new Monster cable for free. I don't think it sounds all that different from the Spectraflex, but it was made better.
 
#19
SGD Lutherie said:
Some people think cables all sound the same, but they really don't. I used to use a standard instrument Monster cable, and it sounded good, but I tried one of the bass cables at a rehearsal studio, and they have a very attenuated top end and a lot of low end. I have some no name cable with the vintage cloth covering, like an old clothes iron, and it really sucks the top end out when used with a passive bass.

But with my active basses they sound more alike because of the buffering.

When my Monster cable got noisy (after 30 years) I tossed it and got a Spectraflex and some other cable. They sound good, but I had to repair both of them after a few months! I should have went to GC and got a new Monster cable for free. I don't think it sounds all that different from the Spectraflex, but it was made better.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. When i use my sadowsky preamp before the input on my amp, i am pretty much negating the effect of having a mogami platinum cable (gold we be just as good there probably).
 
#20
This has all the hallmarks of a cable scam.
1. Big appeal to authority (big name players)
2. Can't give specs -trade secret

I agree that cables CAN sound different; mostly dependent on capacitance. There are really only 3 things to worry about, and they can all be measured:
1. Noise
2. Frequency Response
3. Distortion

Anyone who has this cable can MEASURE the specs, without knowing how the company built the cable (i.e., so called trade secrets). There is a common fallacy that says "I can hear it but you can't measure it". False. If you can hear a difference it can be measured.

Insert argument against double blind testing here.
 

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