SoundStage! Network, the world’s largest group of hi-fi-related publications and resources, features an interview with Edwin Rynveld, Siltech’s CEO and Founder.
In this video, Edwin Rynveld explains the construction of the Classic Legend cables, which employ the ninth version of the company’s silver-gold alloy for the conductors, as well as the measurements and listening tests that go into creating the final designs.
“Siltech has already introduced the Classic Series in 1997. It has been hugely popular and later followed by the Classic MKII, the Classic Anniversary, and now the Classic Legend.
Siltech is very well known for its special insulation technique and its special metallurgy. The metallurgy we developed – which was really special – is the silver-gold alloy. It started with the G3 technology in 1997. At the moment we are at the 9th generation of silver-gold alloy which surpasses the quality of anything we made before.
Insulation-wise we also improved the cables a lot. We learned a lot from the Siltech Signature Series where we pioneered new techniques in insulation that have a lot of benefits over single insulations. So, the three-layer technique that we use in the Legend – which is Teflon, PEEK, and again Teflon – combines different properties so that it extends over a wide range of frequencies.
The extended frequency range has become very important because of all the digital equipment that we use which produces a lot of switching noise. So, proper insulation for a very wide range is more important than in the past.
Our lab is very special. We use both electronic and magnetic equipment and we also use, by the way, optical equipment. All three things are necessary to make perfect cables and all these techniques are used to make a clear foundation for better-measured results.
To give an idea, the signal-to-noise ratio that you can achieve with the Classic range was limited to about 140db. That may sound like a lot but with the new series that’s at least 12db better which is roughly three to four times better. This has become very important with the digital technology that we are using now. We now know that the resolution of the ear is extremely high and because of that also recording engineers are cranking up the resolution of all the recordings – which is just wonderful – and to cater to that we have to be sure that our cables are not a limiting factor in a hi-fi system.
Over the years we increased the knowledge in our company; we use engineers with PHDs that are specialized in the field of magnetics or microscopic signal or in high-frequency behavior which has led to the current high level of immunity and purity of our cables.
The laboratory results that we have can be very exciting. Still, we feel the need to produce three test samples with small variations and very often one of them excels compared to the other two, and the best one we chose for the Classic Legend Series.”