La Prima Donna
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An Audiophile-Reference Grade cable La Prima Donna Analog Interconnect superdeeds the previously-named Myth Interconnect, and compliments the performance of high-end single-ended hardware, irrespective of price.
La Prima Donna is stunning designed and beautifully constructed. Indeed, every inch of this cable has been well conceived and precisely executed. The conductor and return, the interior insulation, the triple screens, the vibration control, and the outer jacket, have all been designed as one.
So what so unusual about La Prima Donna: well in this age of ultra expensive, over hyped interconnects La Prima Donna is unique. Firstly its NOT made of single crystal copper*.
Secondly, although its ‘asymmetrical’, it is also available in balanced configuration. Here the centre core is positive phase, the inner screen negative and the outer screen becomes ‘earth’...
Thirdly and most importantly its conductor is ultra high grade SOLID SILVER OF 6N purity. (99.99997%), perfectly circular in cross section and offering stunning propagation speeds. The return conductor is a close-lapped braid of heavy silver-plated Ultra-Hi Purity-OFC™ (grounded at source end only). This is sheathed in an expansive (and expensive) PTFE (Teflon) separator. A copper foil and tertiary outer screen of silver-plated Ultra-Hi Purity-OFC™ ensure 100% coverage against the deleterious effect of RFI, EMI, and ESI induced distortions.
Fourthly, and heres the clever bit, there is a layer of Neoprene ‘Vibrakill™ sandwiched between the outer screen and the soft PVC jacket, virtually eliminating the effects of microphony and contributing greatly to the preservation of the accuracy and integrity of the signal.
We offer La Prima Donna Analog with our most sophisticated RCA plug assembly-the awesome MACH3 constant-impedance Monocrystal™ Ag (silver) over Cu (copper) RCA plugs with their unique self-cleaning conjugate bracket shields (designed to form a ‘Faraday Cage’-a device designed to maximise RF screening). A heavy, silver-plated brass body, with twin high tensile fixing screws, clamps this double-shielded assembly uniformly and without stress. This shield, which grips the cable, does so firmly but without compressing the cable, ensuring that the crucial characteristic impedance is maintained. In ‘balanced’ configuration we use our over-designed MACH3 Ultima XLR plugs.
The clever bit is the layer of Vibrakill™ Neoprene™ sandwiched between the outer screen and the soft PVC jacket, virtually eliminating the effects of microphony and contributing greatly to the preservation of the accuracy and integrity of the signal.
For lovers of music where cost is an object- La Prima Donna must be on your list.
It is sincerely recommended that you consider matching 'La Prima Donna' with either our SMS2.4 loudSpeaker cable or, for ultimate satisfaction, with our US2 Monocrystal™ Silver Speaker Cable. The complete cable-matching table is here.
*An audiophile conductor material that Ecosse pioneered back in 1996 and brought to the market at prices audiophiles could afford. Monocrystal™ single crystal copper and silver is Ecosse‘s unique Trademark.
A word about our unique terminations
The terminations at the ends of cables are part of the transmission path and therefore vital to it. They must not impede the delicate audio signal as inappropriate termination changes the so called characteristic impedence (and other electrical attributes) of the cable. The can be severely compromised by poor, compressing RCA plugs that grip the cable with a grub screw or a collett action. The cable loses its integrity and the impedance can drop to somewhere in the region of 35 Ohms resulting in reflections and a deletions.
To maintain the quality of the all-important interface between interconnect and component, and compatibility between wire material and plug, Ecosse has developed our unique and ULTIMATE non-compressing constant impedance MACH3Ag ULTIMA RCA plug. This high quality RCA plug consists of a centre pin and conjugate bracket shield* which together offer going and return paths for the audio signal.
For continuity and optimum conductivity, these contact points are made from direct hard silver plated Monocrystal™ copper(others use 'flash-gold' OFC plating which is a very thin coating that wears away very quickly and soon looks tarnished!). The plug casing is precision machined from highest quality copper alloy and is deep-plated. This thick casing offers further shielding - effectively a second 'Faraday Cage' - and reduces the ingress and radiation of EMI, ESI and RFI 'noise' even further, to virtually zero.
The interface of shield and casing is one of high mechanical impedance, dissipating energy and rendering microphonic effects negligible. The full assembly represents Ecosse's Audiophile Grade RCA termination for smaller diameter cables and we believe the Ecosse MACH3Ag ULTIMA RCA to be the best available price wise, electrically, mechanically and aesthetically - anywhere!
These shells are designed to perform a 5-fold function:
- They provide a terminal to which the return/screen conductors can be firmly crimped and soldered.
- They incorporate tiny teeth that grip the cable firmly and evenly around its circumference without compressing the cable and thereby maintain the cable's characteristic impedance right up to the solder joint.
- When assembled, they form a Faraday cage, screening the signal right up to and including the RCA socket.
- They form a union of high mechanical impedance with the outer casing, dissipating energy and therefore rendering the plug immune to the effects of microphony.
- They firmly locate and clamp the centre pin's polypropylene dielectric, which, in conjunction with the outer casing, results in a strong, stable and extremely durable structure.
Technical Specifications
Pure Silver Solidcore signal conductors
Silver Plated OFC™ close-lapped braid
Copper foil, Teflon and Ultra-Hi Purity-OFC™ triple screen
Vibrakill™ Neoprene™ Jacket
Superior ultra low-loss FPE dielectric
Vibration-absorbing low density PVC sheath
Audiophile Reference MACH3 RCAs with Monocrystal silver contacts
Silver-plated Monocrystal™ Copper pin version of our XLR plug terminations
Tighter tolerances have improved the fit, offering a lower impedance, gas-tight connection, a greater level of RFI/EMI/ESI noise rejection and a more linear and extended frequency transfer characteristic with negligible-no jitter contribution
We cannot stress enough that significant improvements are possible from matching mains cable, loudSpeaker and interconnect cable-grade-wise (see our 'at-a-glance' Cable Match Table) throughout your system, thus enhancing synergy.
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Reviews & Testimonials
“I could say, "Ecosse cables are among the best I've heard." And that would do it. But it is in the telling of how and why Ecosse are so good that makes Ecosse cables fascinating and gives anyone interested in them enough information to consider actually purchasing them...for questers, for those seeking the holy grail of reproduced sound so lifelike it can fool the ear (trompe-l'oreille?) into hearing live musicians in the listening room, for those knights errant they seem a bargain.
The Ecosse 'La Prima Donna' interconnects (nee Myth) among the most "neutral" I've heard. Put simply, they are the least lossy cables I can remember hearing.
I have La Prima Donna between my Marantz 8260 CD player and my much improved JC-2 Mark Levinson preamp, and I can report they never sounded better if the goal is to create the best facsimile of live musicians in the room. The attack/sustain/decay ratios are just so spot-on that everyone in a string quartet seems as though he/she is seated in a horseshoe array, and the sounds originate and develop from very well defined points in space. Each instrument sounds as it should and it knows its place, particularly on small chamber jazz groups, like the Tierney Sutton Band album (Telarc SACD-63650)."
Max Dubious, Positive Feedback Online Magazine USA
“In some respects, the biggest impediment to using these Ecosse cables in truly mind-bendingly high-end systems is the price."
"In a world where people spend tens of thousands on wire, the La Prima Donna and Big Red UC might just not cost enough to be taken seriously.
How messed up is that!”
Alan Sircom - Editor HI-FI+ Magazine, UK
"'La Prima Donna' est l'un des tenors de la modulation made in Ecosse (Scotland), dote de prises exceptionnellement performantes.
ECOUTE: Incontestablement l'une des revelations de ce dossier, le couple Ecosse associe matiere, plenitude et serenite
IMAGE: Le scene sonore dispensee par le cables Ecosse est superbe. Elle est centree a la perfection et affiche une profondeur exceptionnelle.
DYNAMIQUE: Commes toute les ames nobles, notre duo sait conserver l'ascendant sans jamais le montrer avec insistance. Une lecon de puissance domestiquee; une main de fer dance un gant de velours.
TIMBRES: Particulierement elegants et realistes, il sont avant tout naturels et tres limpedes."
Haute Fidelite Magazine, France
"…their rhythmic integrity and drive is excellent."
HI-FI+ Magazine, UK
"LPD (La Prima Donna) interconnect had a similar effect across the board, a neutral and dynamically unimpeded presentation of the output of one device expressed across to another. No shiny highs or plummy mids entailed to the wire; this simply takes what one device offers and plays it honestly and without interpretation. It seems crazy, but such a performance (or perhaps an absence of performance) is relatively rare in the high-end. Normally, a high-end cable acts as a tweak or a filter, to express a particular character the listener wants to draw from their system. Oddly, ‘neutrality’ is called for but seldom delivered. Ecosse’s LPD is a rare exception."
Alan Sircom, Editor, HI-FI+ Magazine, UK
"…one of the best…well-balanced qualities ranging from a stable bass and midband, quick, propulsive timing, expressive and subtle music phrasing, and a high degree of vocal intelligibility." "A heavyweight in every sense, this is a big sounding cable…"
Home Entertainment Magazine UK: Editors Choice, Cable of the Year
