A long-running reference in Japanese audio, the HIGH END HOSE 3.5 has been in continuous production at S/A LAB since 1992 — drawn, stranded and finished entirely in-house under the philosophy of “add nothing, subtract nothing”. Its high-purity OFC conductors use an inverted concentric aligned winding (CPW): two layers wound in opposite directions (29 × 0.16 mm over 18 × 0.27 mm), a slow and labour-intensive layup that yields an extremely stable, dense conductor. Each core is direct-coated in fluororesin, and a composite of Kevlar and polyethylene fibre is wound through the cable to damp vibration under pressure. Five cores are provided — two pairs plus a dedicated ground wire. Expect a straight, high-information presentation: fast and detailed, free of low-frequency overhang and congestion, with high transparency through the top end.
Key specs (from S/A LAB)
- Conductor: high-purity OFC (oxygen-free copper)
- Configuration: inverted concentric aligned winding (CPW) — 1st layer 29 × 0.16 mm, 2nd layer 18 × 0.27 mm
- Insulator: fluororesin
- Cores: 5 (two pairs + dedicated ground)
- Damping: Kevlar fibre + PE fibre composite
- Sheath: polyurethane, outer diameter 13.0 mm
- Rating: 600 V / 15 A
Pairs well with our speaker cables range, and S/A Lab: The Underground Favourite is worth a read for the background.
