The cauda equina (pronounced kaw-duh ee-kwi-na) is the anatomical name for the terminal portion of the human spinal cord and literally means horse's tail, which this part of the spinal cord resembles. Our braided speaker cables bear a striking resemblance to the anatomical cauda equina, and so we decided that it would be a fitting name.

In designing this cable, our goal was to produce a speaker cable that would harness the sonic strengths of silver, namely a liquid high-end that seems to extend forever and a midrange that you could almost touch, but also stay away from the negative qualities sometimes found in silver cables, like weak bass and sibilant, harsh high-frequencies. Additionally, this had to be accomplished in a cable that was actually affordable, because achieving lofty goals are easy when cost is no object, but when you're trying to design products people can afford, lofty goals become more difficult to reach.

We established early on to avoid using high strand counts, silver plated copper conductors, and small gauge cables as, in our experience, these are associated with the qualities people most often dislike in silver cables. So, our cable had to use solid-core, non-stranded silver wire, and it had to be pure, not plated over copper. But, while using pure large gauge silver resolved the harsh and sibilant high-frequencies, we still felt the lowest registers needed reinforcement. The trick was adding solid-core copper wire to the mix. We considered different ratios of silver to copper and different gauges of individual strands until we settled on our final design.

The CaudaEquina uses individual 18 gauge wires, each insulated in a larger gauge Teflon dielectric minimizing contact between dielectric and conductor. Each channel uses 4 strands of pure solid core silver and 4 strands of pure solid core copper braided together in a noise-cancelling Litz configuration. There is a total of 12 gauge of pure silver per channel and a total conductor size of 9 gauge per channel. This is more conductor than is found in many power cords. The CaudaEquina meets our goals of producing a speaker cable that yields clean, liquid, extended highs, a reach-out-and-touch-it midrange, and bass you can feel. And, the CaudaEquina starts at just $180/pr.

• FOUR strands per channel of 99.9% pure silver wire
• FOUR strands per channel of 99.99% pure copper wire
• EIGHT strands of wire total per channel
• Each strand is 18 gauge solid wire (not stranded)
• Total 9 gauge per channel
• 48 ft of wire is used for each pair (3ft)
• Each strand is protected in a larger gauge Teflon dielectric to minimize contact between conductors and dielectric
• Only lead free high silver-content solder is used
• Terminated in gold plated pure copper (not brass) spades