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New Cables from LenehanAudio


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Yes Gents        there are new cables from LenehanAudio. First lets talk about the speaker cables (FoilTek)

 

The new cable is nearly twice the width of the earlier RibbonTek at 48mm. The other big change is there are now two separate cables or conductors ! one for + and one for - which are only joined together again near the ends where the spade terminals are .

 

I won't go into too much detail as much of this will come out at the show on the 1st ! But I can say there is a very different cutting profile for the cable with specific perforations as well as very different dielectrics used.

 

Yes frankn the earlier RibbonTek is a good cable but we did a comparo at our last GTG here on the Gold Coast and the improvement was considered to be not subtle . By the way Mike Kirkham from Magenta Audio now uses our new speaker cable with his BHK300's as well as our latest ML2Reference speakers (plug Plug)

 

When I get back from the show I'll see if I can instigate a pair to do a bit of a tour .     Regards Mike Lenehan

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Get thee behind me Satan ......... tempting a poor country lad with tales like that .... :-)

 

And Satan said to the poor farm boy ! Look down upon the land of BHK Monoblocks , ML2Limited's and other such tempting morsels (there were a couple of cute Milkmaids to )  NOW if you will only kneel and worship me all this will be yours  :)  

Roger Flammin Ramjet  you beauty, where do I sign ?  Can Ya throw in a P10 Power regenerator and some of those FoilTek cables !!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I think I have spent considerable amounts thus far worshipping at your altar ...... hang on ...... did you mention milk maids ..........

 

Holy Smoke Cameron (pun intended) thats an awesome system ! Clays Dac is excellent and the Dialogue Premium HP is probably the best high end amplifier value available today .

 

But Buuuuuuuuut you must have the new cables and one more thing you'll fall off ya flammin listening chair when you hear my Prima Luna HP upgrade .   Come on Cam you'll be OK Bro ! Jus look into my eyes don't look there look here  :) :)       Ya Ole Mate Mike

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  • 8 months later...

It is a complete travesty that these cables haven't had more exposure than this. Mike, let me help you out a tiny bit... :D

 

Folks, RibbonTek speaker cables were the first thing I ever bought with a Lenehan Audio label. They were a big spend for me back in those days but the improvement they bought even to a low-end/mid-fi system was well worth it. I remember the impression of speed, coherence and clarity from top to bottom as they made my original Van den Hul sound like pieces of rubber. 

 

Fast forward something like five, maybe eight years. Almost nothing is left of that earlier system. As of last month I'd replaced the speakers (Orpheus Aurora 3.3 with ML2 Refs), the amp more than once (NAD C320BEE, Rega Elicit, Rotel RB990 modified, now MF M8 500S), the DAC about five times (CA, Rega, Audio-GD, Metrum, PS Audio) and even went through a number of Mike's interconnects (replaced Transparent brand with RibbonTek, RibbonFlex, some prototype thing with a shield wire coiled around it, and finally a set of balanced FoilFlex to mate the DAC with the new amp). Through all that the RibbonTek speaker cables have been a constant.

 

Mike had told me about these awesome new speaker cables he was testing way back in December 2015. I said great, build a 2.5m pair and I'll have a listen. Somehow that never happened. I went and heard the introduction of the BHK250 amplifier using the new cables and then heard the difference when a set of RibbonTeks were swapped in for comparison. I said that sounds amazing, build a 2.5m pair so I can have a listen at my place. And that never happened either. 

 

A few weeks back my old Rotel power amp blew up. I'm so glad it did, because it put me in exactly the right spot to nab a wonderful Musical Fidelity M8 500S second hand. And also because that meant I needed to look at new interconnects to take advantage of the balanced topology of the DAC and amp combo. 

 

"Mike, please build me a pair of your new balanced interconnects AND A 2.5M SET OF THE SPEAKER CABLES. Just take my money, OK?"

 

I've had the interconnects in place for a bit, and they're unsurprisingly great. Then this afternoon I received my brand new "FoilFlex" speaker cables.

 

I will never forget the impression of speed, coherence and clarity from top to bottom as they made my original RibbonTek sound like... well I'd better be a bit nice. Let's just say the difference is not subtle.

 

The music is just so much more *here*. I don't think the bass changed much (it's still awesome) but the resolution and openness through the middle and upper range is dramatically better. I'm hearing both a more expansive soundstage and more convincing performers inhabiting it. The harmonic structure of solo strings, oboe and trombone shines through like I've never heard before. My system is suddenly doing the sorts of amazing things I read about in reviews, and it sounds like it's doing it effortlessly. 

 

Of course, all of that magic has to be present at the output of the amp, and the speakers have to be capable of translating it into the air, before cables of this calibre become a sensible investment. But at the level of ML2's and DirectStream DACs with a suitable amp in between them... these cables are a must-listen. :love

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@Bilbo I followed Mike's advice and kept them messy, with some quite large spacing between them in places. Avoiding the capacitance of two ribbons flat on top of each other is apparently one of the basic ideas of this design.

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1 hour ago, acg said:

Yeah, c'mon Mike @Lenehan Audiohow about some more info.  Colour me interested in the speaker cables.

 

Same here.

 

I'm replacing pretty much all of my system currently (item by item), and speaker cables are definitely to be upgraded, but it's hard to find info on the Lenehan cables.  Sure, I could ring him and ask but it'd be easier if the info was on the web site (unless I've missed it?).

 

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Hi Guys      sorry about the lack of info on these new cables ! Ive got a big project happening and have little time at the moment .  I'll waffle on after I give you the prices .

                   Ok        2.5mtr pair of the new FoilFlex speaker cables are...................$1500 with + or - $100 per 0.5mtr.

                                1 mtr  pair of FoilFlex  RCA unbalanced Interconnects.............$750   with + or - $50  per  0.5mtr.

                                1 mtr Pair  of FoilFlex  XLR Balanced Interconnects ................$800  with  + or - $100 per 0.5mtr.

 

                    Ok Lads  now for some selling waffle you can all take with a grain of salt :)  They are Freaking Orsum Man.

 

                   We sent the previous Prototype pair to the ones Kdoot has down to Sydney for some involved comparitive testing against another brand of high end cable . The best cable was worth well over $30,000 for a pair and the news came back the they outperformed my cables :(  not by much apparently (I wasn't there for these listening tests) but they were identifiably slightly ahead in a couple of areas . Next up was a pair for $10,000 which our prototype outperformed overall.

                   Ok I was unable to do any comparing here myself and I understand the significant variables present here .  The next opportunity I had to personally run these new Speaker cables against known competition was in my own factory system about 6 months ago . Now this time we were using the latest Production cable that Kdoot has ( this was with upgrades and more development done after they were whooped by the uber expensive cable in Sydney )

                   The other two protagonists were my own RibbonTek speaker cables and a pair of 3 mtr Highend cables that cost RRP$5500. The RibbonTeks and the other cables were both roughly equivalent with the RibbonTeks having slightly weightier bass and smoother lower treble but the other cables being a touch faster with a bit more resolution on top ..

 

The new FoilFlex simply trounced the other two cables ! asking in which areas they do this only results in describing where the other cables fell down . Kdoot has probably describe this well in earlier posts as he has owned the RibbonTeks for years .  

 

One thing is for sure I've come to realise from manufacturing the Curious USB cables and the new RibbonFlex analogue range  that although Cables don't offer much pride of ownership for the money like fancy amps and speakers the actual SOUND per DOLLAR value is the best in High End Audio.  The secret in building an awesome music system is to hit the basic system structure first ! the things that make the most difference for the least money !!! then your in the best place to make the right decisions regarding the big ticket items. So get good component isolation and gun cables then consider Loudspeakers and Front end source components and lastly the amplifier . Kdoot will tell you how awesome his old hotted up Rotel RB980 power amp was till it just plumb wore out . Amps come last in my view , not that there's no difference between them but I feel the other components make more difference , including cables .

 

I should also mention how flammin orsum the FoilFlex Interconnects are to ! I would love to do a cable tour ! and I will but we are flat out building other stuff , leadtime for these cables is about 1 month from date of order.

                           Best Regards Mike Lenehan

                                                 LenehanAudio

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