Does the sound of an audio system depend on cables? Experts from Nordost answer. The whole truth about wires (to be honest, not quite the whole truth, but a lot)
Calculator for calculating the cross section
Description
How to check a current-carrying wire?
The color of the copper core should be uniform and golden. There should be no stains, inclusions or streaks on the surface of the core. The minimum permissible diameter of a copper core for the most common cable cross-sections:
1.35 mm for 1.5 mm sq.
1.73 mm for 2.5 mm sq.
2.18 mm for 4 mm sq.
2.67 mm for 6 mm sq.
3.46 mm for 10 mm sq.
Danger if violated
Fire hazard.The occurrence of a fire from heating the cable with increased resistance, even when connecting rated or below rated loads to this cable.
Problems with cable installation.
A waste of time and money, cable lugs and sleeves do not adhere to a cable with a reduced TPG, since their nominal diameter is larger than the diameter of the TPG.
Lack of protection in emergency mode.
Frequent operations due to overload damage protective electrical equipment (circuit breakers, RCDs) connected to a cable with a low TPV. After frequent activation, this protective equipment may not turn off in emergency mode.
Premature aging and failure of equipment.
Increased galvanic corrosion in electrical appliances with heating elements (water heaters, washing machines and dishwashers) and the ground loop in private homes - the devices do not withstand the declared service life.
How to check the insulation of a power cable?
The cores must be located in the center of the insulation. The average thickness of the power cable insulation must be no less than the nominal value in accordance with the requirements of GOST 31996-2012. For cables designed for a voltage of 0.66 kV, the insulation thickness, depending on the cross-section of the conductor, should be:
- not less than 0.6 mm for cable with core 1.5 and 2.5 mm 2
- not less than 0.7 mm for cable with core 4 and 6 mm 2
- not less than 0.9 mm for a cable with a core of 10 mm 2
The minimum value of the insulation thickness should not be less than the nominal value by more than (0.1 + 0.1bi), where bi is the nominal insulation thickness in mm. The internal and external spaces between them must be filled.
Description
Manufacturer's name;
Cable brand;
GOST number;
TU number;
Date of manufacture;
Country of manufacture;
Market circulation mark - EAC.
Markings must be legible, easily readable and applied at regular intervals.
Danger if violated
Criminal liabilityProduction, acquisition, storage, transportation for marketing purposes or sale of goods and products without marking and (or) application of information provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, in the event that such marking and (or) application of such information is mandatory Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
No manufacturer's warranty
Lack of manufacturer's guarantees for the operational life of the cable;
If there is no marking on the cable, responsibility in the event of an emergency passes to the construction and installation organization that laid the cable and the trading company that sold the cable.
Problems with customers and energy supervision.
Failure to deliver the object to the customer;
Failure to hand over the facility to energy supervision.
Description
How to check the outer shell?According to GOST 31996-2012, Clause 5.2.1.17: The outer sheath or protective hose of the cable must not have dents, cracks or marks that would take the thickness of the sheath or protective hose beyond the minimum value. The cable sheath serves as the main load-bearing element, determining the quality and strength of the cable. The cross-section of the power round cable has a perfect round shape.
Danger if violated
Short circuit in cableA decrease in the strength characteristics of the sheath leads to damage to the TPZh insulation as a result of a decrease in the fire safety of the cable.
Large number of victims
Underestimating the amount of smokeless materials in the cable (marked LS) leads to difficulty evacuating people during a fire.
Description
How to check the certificate?The certificate must comply with the “Unified form of certificate of compliance with the requirements of the technical regulations of the Customs Union and the rules for its execution” numbered No. 293 dated December 25, 2012.
In the section "MEETS REQUIREMENTS":
certification must comply with the requirements of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union TRTS 004/201 “On the safety of low-voltage equipment”
In the section "MANUFACTURER" the actual address of the manufacturer must be indicated; cable production cannot be located in a room, office, apartment.
In the section "PRODUCTS" The following information must be provided:
- name of the type of cable being certified;
- cross-section and number of cores of the certified cable;
- voltage of the certified cable;
- technical conditions (TU), according to which serial production of cable products or other regulatory document is carried out.
The validity period of the certificate must be current.
You can check the certificate on the Russian Accreditation website at: http://188.254.71.82/rss_ts_pub/
Danger if violated
When detecting violations and forgery of a certificate, a prosecutor's inspection of the entire supply chain is assigned, and each participant (installation, trade and production organization) will be checked for non-involvement in document forgery, which is associated with a large loss of time and effort, even in the case of innocence.Criminal prosecution in case of deliberate distribution of products that do not meet the requirements of GOST - Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products, performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements.”
The maximum punishment is imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years with a fine in the amount of two million to five million rubles or in the amount of wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of two to five years or without it and with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to ten years or without it.
Connecting to the player
In the following photos you can see what our HDMI cables look like from the IconBIT media player.
Mystery HDMI 2.0 Pro Cable
Arbacom Hi-Grade HDMI Cable
IconBIT HDMI to Ethernet Cable
Try it and tell me that all the cables are the same!
Test process
For testing, we used a Toshiba 42-inch LCD TV connected directly to a NetGear NeoTV 550 media player. Next, we launched a BD remix of the movie "Avatar", paused one of the fragments - and began to change cables sequentially, taking photographs of the screen so that see the difference.
Looking at the pictures in Photoshop at maximum magnification, I still did not find any differences in the picture. It is more likely that the processor of a digital camera will make an error and interpret the colors of the picture differently, which will result in differences in HDMI cables.
Conclusions
When choosing an HDMI cable, you should pay attention to Ethernet support - for new TVs with network functions this is a useful option, and perhaps someday other A/V equipment will learn to connect to the network via HDMI cables.
Otherwise, if your goal is not to save every ruble, you can safely purchase cables in the $10-20 price category for a 2-3 meter model. In particular, IconBIT HDMI 301G and IconBIT HDMI 302B cost the same, about $18. In our case, overpaying for design is completely justified. As our test showed, these cables have redundant shielding, the same connector structure and do not provide visible differences in picture quality.
All other things being equal, I would buy the IconBIT flat cable for aesthetic reasons: it looks seriously more expensive than its price.
We thank IconBIT for providing the cables.
Mikhail Degtyarev (aka LIKE OFF)
12/03.2012
Many modern smartphones, tablets, portable drives and other portable equipment are equipped with a USB Type-c port, not to mention the fact that in some laptop models this port is used not only as an...
Microlab, a well-known manufacturer of speaker systems, took the right path - in addition to caring about sound quality, it began to pay attention to the technical capabilities of its speaker systems. So the new Solo model...
A gaming tablet from IconBIT with a very interesting configuration. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9, so its body is more compact and better suited for watching movies than traditional models. At the same time, the tablet has a powerful...
Today our guest is the crown of tablet manufacturing, a model with a 9.7" IPS screen and a fast 2-core processor. This tablet is perfectly packaged both literally and figuratively. Modern technical characteristics, in...
When choosing a portable charger, many users first look at the combination of two parameters - capacity and size. After all, not everyone agrees to carry around a very “powerful” battery the size of a suitcase...
The situation on the cable and wire products market is known to all our readers and industry specialists. The critical level of oversaturation with counterfeit products, according to market participants, is gradually subsiding. Those times when manufacturers young and old practiced “truncated” have almost come to an end. However, not for everyone. has always actively contributed to the fight against counterfeit cable products and widely publicized this activity. Today, we bring to your attention a new exclusive investigation, dedicated to the lesson that consumers should not forget to be careful, even in such “optimistic” times.
At the beginning of November 2017, we attended the conference of the federal project " Cable without danger", which brought together interested gearbox manufacturers under the auspices of the fight against counterfeiting. Much was said at the conference about activities carried out against unscrupulous manufacturers and certification bodies. And much has been said about the need to continue this work. In particular, project coordinator Vladimir Kashkin devoted part of his report to the case of the WellCab ghost plant, which produces cable but does not physically exist. You can read more about this in our material. And it would seem that such a blatant case of violation of all foundations and principles would become the single most striking example for a long time. But already at the end of November, portal site took part in the investigation of the high-profile case of the Energokabel company, which revealed an even more serious case of violations.
As part of our cooperation with the “Cable Without Danger” project, we received alarming information from our colleagues. There have been reports of suspicious cable products appearing on the market. Its price turned out to be significantly lower than the market price.
Having received the company’s data and its tax identification number from the project representatives, we immediately generated a full report in industry counterparty verification service. The information presented in this report served as a starting point for further unraveling of this story.
Firstly, we made sure that the company has no connection with the Energokabel plant from the city of Elektrougli, the association with which comes first. Our story will tell about LLC "Energokabel" from Western Siberia - city of Tomsk. Perhaps the company name was chosen intentionally.
According to the data collected from the report, it was established that Energokabel LLC was legally formed on January 10, 2017. The authorized capital of the company was no less than 10 thousand rubles. Just right for a major cable company, right?
With great difficulty we managed to find the company’s website on the Internet. In search engines, priority is given to a well-known company from Elektrougli. Finally, we found it. In a rather stingy and discreet form, the company’s website talks about its 100% honesty and reliability. The emphasis in presenting information is on selling products at low prices. Pay attention to the quality of the site, quantity and presentation of text. It does not contain management contact information, and there is no information about participation in competitions and tenders.
“We work quickly”, “100% quality”, “Prompt delivery”, “Team of professionals”, “Wide range”.
The truth is that they worked really quickly here. Not at Energokabel, but V certification bodies. Absolutely openly, issued certificates for serial production of power cables, SIP wires, etc. are published on the website. Also, information about certificates is available in the RosAccreditation register. In four months, the company managed to issue five TR CU conformity certificates.
When looking at certificates, the first thing that catches your eye is several important aspects. In the case of a document certifying the release of “Wires and cords for rated voltage up to 450/750V”, these are dates. The grounds for issuing the certificate were the presence of:
- act of analysis of the state of production dated March 23, 2017 by the product certification body “Cert and Co”;
- test report No. 16/01/15695 dated 01/13/2017 issued by the testing laboratory "SM-TEST".
The company was formed on January 10, 2017 and in 3 days, January 13, has already been a test report has been drawn up, familiar to many as the SM-TEST office. On January 18, a similar paper was drawn up regarding the power cable, and the next day - January 19, the Federal Accreditation Service suspended the accreditation certificate testing laboratory "SM-TEST". On March 29 of this year, their activities under this name were completely terminated.
« Due to the fact that the actual absence of IL “SM-TEST” was established at the place of activity indicated in the Register of Accredited Persons and the absence of legal grounds for the right to own and use premises at the place of activity of the accredited person", - stated in the official release of the Federal Accreditation Agency.
This combination of circumstances raises certain questions. “Rapid” testing and certification are known to everyone. But with the analysis of production, gentlemen, the counterfeiters have clearly crossed the line. The validity of the accreditation of the certification body "Cert and Co" LLC, which concluded certificate of satisfactory state of production, was also terminated by Rosakkreditatsiya. But you shouldn’t limit yourself to just this. After all, this office and the people behind it are responsible for complicity in the production and distribution of dangerous products.
A visit was made to the production address indicated in the documents and on the “official” website of the company for the purpose of our own assessment of the production.
Kuzovlevsky tract, 6/20, Tomsk, 634059
What did we see there? Factory. Do you see him?
Exclusive photographs taken at the address of the company Energokabel LLC.
No? And he is. And his condition meets existing standards.
It was found on the spot abandoned building, not connected to utility networks and absolutely unacceptable for any type of production. According to visual assessment, it turned out to be empty and subject to gradual destruction. The window failures gape in toothless darkness, and the wind blows through the corridors of the building. It was here that the enterprise launched production, produced samples and then sent them for testing. The tests took three days, Energokabel received a certificate and began to produce a cable of 100% quality. That's how it was.
The obtained facts allow us to state two things. First, we are dealing with a group of individuals producing under unknown conditions, so to speak, cable products unknown properties and qualities. This group of people supplies the market with truly dangerous counterfeit goods and puts CPT consumers at risk. Secondly, this group of people does not have a sense of fear; they feel their impunity in a blatant form. By indicating fictitious acts and certificates, addresses and geo-locations on their website and in their documents, they don't even try to hide.
The only and most important thing they do not indicate is their contacts and their faces. Let's do it for them. According to official data "Chesnok" service: since July 29, 2017, the General Director of Energokabel LLC is Bulychev Igor Yurievich. Prior to this date, this position was held by Chirikov Evgeniy Nikolaevich. The founders of the LLC are: Ivanov Egor Yurievich(70%) and LLC "Cable Center of Krasnoyarsk"(30%). The cable industry needs to know its “heroes”!
What's being done about it right now?
The “Cable Without Danger” project is preparing an appeal to the Federal Tax Service, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Tomsk Region and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation with a request to check the company for signs of illegal activity. Based on the project agreement with the Administration of the Tomsk Region, an appeal to the governor of the subject is being prepared. An appeal was sent to the structures of the Federal Accreditation Agency regarding the need for inspections on issued certificates. The market is carefully monitored for the availability of Energokabel LLC products to obtain samples and subsequent tests. In the near future, active actions will be taken, as a result of which materials on the results of the work will be published.
As part of the investigation and preparation of materials, we turned for comments to the coordinator of the “Cable Without Danger” project, Vladimir Kashkin, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Energokabel Plant, Dmitry Ptashinsky.
, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Energokabel Plant
— Dmitry Viktorovich, tell me, what, in your opinion, was the main reason for counterfeiters choosing such a name for the company? Intentional misleading of the consumer? Are there those who are trying to counterfeit your products in the market and what measures should be taken against them?
- If people create such phantoms in order to sell an outright defect that has nothing to do with the cable, they naturally need to sell it under the guise of a good product. A factory with a big name and a long history of quality is taken and, accordingly, used for base purposes to mislead the consumer. This is convenient, because for everyone the Energokabel Plant has been an indicator of quality products for the past 17 years. Such people exist and have always been. We deal with them within the legal framework.
At the same time, formally Energokabel LLC has the right to call itself that. And if the company were a dealer and sold gearboxes, that would be one thing. But they produce cable without equipment, in Tomsk, in a building without windows. Most likely, they are at least cool. This is without even considering the question of how you can obtain the first certificate for products 3 days after organizing a legal entity? I think there is something for our valiant internal affairs bodies to do here. You can incriminate a lot: from fraud to Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And there is provision for up to 10 years.
We have one motto: “it pays to be honest.” I wish we could all make an effort to explain this to those who live by different rules. So that they have obvious gaps in revenue. Not like now - he deceived and profitably, but what happened - he deceived and lost 10 times more than he could have gained. We must at least accustom our native cable people to this. I am glad that many are already beginning to realize this need.
Coordinator of the project “Cable without danger”
— Vladimir, tell us how you see the further development of events? What should you do first?
— First of all, it is necessary to convey this information to the professional community so that distributors do not become victims of such scammers and do not bear the risks of selling counterfeit goods. Along with this, it is extremely important to inform consumers about an unscrupulous player in the market so that they do not become victims when exploiting this, if you can call it that, “products”. And then the activities of such businessmen should become the subject of study by prosecutors and law enforcement agencies.
— Are certification bodies that issue certificates to companies located in abandoned buildings subject to administrative or criminal liability? After all, they are accomplices in the distribution of dangerous products, what measures should be taken against them?
— In this part, the current legislation, unfortunately, is poorly regulated. In response to such violations, the Federal Accreditation Service introduced a legislative initiative that provides for criminal liability for such actions. We fully support this position and will promote its speedy adoption. In the current conditions, together with Rosakcreditation, we are actively working to identify such cases and remove unscrupulous certification bodies and testing laboratories from the market, deprive and revoke the accreditation certificate, and terminate their activities. Also, the supervisory authority, through the court, can request the termination of certificates issued in violation of rules and regulations. We enter information about violations into a separate monitoring of certificates, which is regularly updated and posted in the public domain.
— Why do you think the company so openly presents fictitious certificates and the production address in an abandoned building? Do they really have no fear at all, or is everything so bad with market control in the Tomsk region?
“We previously recorded similar manifestations in the Tomsk region, when a similar fictitious company operated on the market under the name Elektrokabel, which has now been liquidated, including after a number of scandals with end consumers that revealed massive falsifications of checkpoints. According to our data, the cable was actually produced at one of the large cable production facilities in Tomsk, which offered consumers two types of products. One produced in accordance with GOST and with the markings of a fairly well-known local plant, and the second produced according to technical specifications with a reduced cross-section of the conductor and the structure as a whole, under the name of such a “phantom”. Surprisingly, the cessation of the activities of one “factory” coincided with the creation of a new legal entity with a similar name.
As for market control. Our project has a valid cooperation agreement with the Administration of the Tomsk Region, signed by the governor of this constituent entity of the Russian Federation. We interact within the framework of the work of the regional commission to combat illicit trafficking in industrial products. This problem is known to the authorities; it prevents other local market participants from developing adequately. We have already prepared information about the identified facts and will immediately inform the governor and the commission’s staff. Also, a separate appeal has been prepared to the Prosecutor’s Office and the MTU Rosstandart for the Siberian Federal District and Rosakkreditatsiya. Frankly speaking, the time has come to take action; it is simply impossible to tolerate such legal nihilism and outright challenge to society.
— What can you say about the persons involved in the management and ownership of Energokabel LLC? What consequences await the people who organized this “production”?
— Through open sources, we analyze data on individuals and organizations involved in the creation of this legal entity. So far we know that the general director and one of the founders probably previously worked at the Tomskkabel plant, and, obviously, should have sufficient experience and knowledge to organize production activities, but also should be aware of the rules and requirements for product certification . Further legal assessment of their activities will have to be given by the competent authorities.
— What actions are planned by the “Cable Without Danger” project as part of the search for the company’s products on the gearbox market and preventing its use at sites?
— We already have information about competitions and tenders that Energokabel LLC is trying to enter with commercial proposals. These include, among other things, social facilities in the city of Moscow. We will carefully monitor these actions, while informing the customers of the work. If it becomes known about specific deliveries of cable products to construction sites, we will invite them to conduct an audit at the expense of the project. We have already tested such an algorithm at a number of construction sites in various regions of the country. One way or another, the activities of this enterprise are now in the area of our special attention.
There are many people who will convince you of the influence of cables on the sound of the system - and no fewer who will dissuade you. Confused? In vain. All you need to do is trust your own ears.
If you are reading this, then there is a high probability that you can easily distinguish the sound of two amplifiers or two pairs of speakers. Well, in this case, you will not have problems with the difference in the sound of the system with different cables, since it manifests itself not to a lesser extent, but from a musical point of view, sometimes to a greater extent, than in the case of equipment.
How to feel the difference?
Get started from a simple system (source, amplifier, speakers), connected with standard wires.
Then pick up a complete set of cables from a company that deals not only with signal, but also with power switching, starting with the lower series. In the case of Nordost, you can try White Lightning and Purple Flare Power Cord cables.
Listen system in its original form, and then replace all cables at once. The result will at least shock you, and any normal audio dealer can demonstrate this trick.
What you've just experienced is the first law of audio cables in action: good cables will never make a bad system good, but bad cables will always make a very good system bad.
Of course, as a cable manufacturer, we couldn't say anything different, but remember: we don't just talk - we come and do. Anyone who has attended a major audio trade show in the last 20 years should have seen our demonstrations clearly showing the difference in cable sound.
