Re: Monster Cables

About 20 years ago I had a sudden insight... If single-crystal silicon could be created by silane reactions... why not diamond?

I mentioned this to a friend who knew a few physicists, and he found out that I was not the first to think of it. Turns out that the thermodynamics did not support single-crystal diamonds, but multi-crystal diamond layers could be deposited. My memory is that a number of audio products, including pickups, used multi-crystal diamond layering.

Synthetic diamonds have been around for more than 50 years; GE was the first to produce them. They were not of gem quality, but fine for industrial saws and drills, and GE did use them for phono styli. They developed a process to "grow" gem-quality diamonds from a melt of liquefied diamonds, but it wasn't efficient.

Most of the current crop of synthetic diamonds are made in Russia (I don't remember the process), and they're yellow because of nitrogen inclusion. This problem will eventually be solved, and we will have pure-white synthetic diamonds at a fraction of the cost of natural diamonds. Not surprisingly, DeBeers is shaking in its corporate boots.

You can't impress a woman with a SOT-23 diamond.

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But if I could, I'd keep her.

DeBeers?

They are.

You forgot, "presence" and "ambiance" and the billion other marketing-speak words used by audiophools.

Nope. My ears are fine, as is my wallet.

Daddy has been dead for over forty years, kid.

diamond for

In a lecture I attended the speaker pulled a $5 gold piece out of his pocket and said, "When this coin was minted you could buy a nice suit with it. You can still do that today."

don't

IIRC, the process consists of putting a graphite crucible inside a huge assed press and induction heating it. The graphite crucible isn't transmuted; it contains a molten iron bath, which becomes saturated with carbon. Thanks to a temperature gradient, carbon is deposited on a diamond seed crystal for a while.

It's my understanding that atmospheric nitrogen diffuses through this apparatus and dopes the crystal, coloring it yellow. Fortunately, yellow diamonds are also the most expensive type, so it's not all bad.

I don't see why they can't put the thing inside a vacuum chamber and exclude nitrogen, or use nitrogen-free elements to assemble the apparatus (which includes the metal, which can be nitrided; how much in atmosphere, I don't know).

Heh, even cooler would be modulating the impurities, to make a banded diamond. To hell with tourmaline!

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @

They can. There are numerous colours of manufactured diamonds available in the jewellery market or on the way in the near future. I did a week of lectures on gemstones a couple of months ago which was quite enlightening.

Phildo

-- Les Cargill

If diamonds became too cheap, something else would replace them as a ludicrously expensive token of appreciation to give the love of your life.

I'm reminded of the once-astronomic value of aluminum:

"In the mid-1800s aluminum was more valuable than gold. Napoléon III's most important guests were given aluminum cutlery, while those less worthy dined with mere silver; fashionable and wealthy women wore jewelry crafted of aluminum."

Do people wear diamonds because they're expensive, or because they're beautiful?

My understanding is that high-quality natural rubies and emeralds currently fetch more than diamonds.

It's interesting that synthetic ruby and emerald aren't common, as they're made from aluminum oxide. I think.

Do you think they use natural ruby stones to make jewel bearings?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

No, they used to use natural sapphires, though, back in the days before good cheap synthetics. I have an old 35mm projector with sapphire gate guides and of course Ampex used sapphire tape guides for years. These days, of course, the synthetics are very cheap.

Synthetic diamonds are still pretty expensive, though. Although a lot of cutting diamonds are synthetic today, the fine diamond paste you use for lapping work is usually mostly natural.

--scott

I can't speak to the exact state of the market this afternoon, but, yes, that's generally true. High-quality natural rubies and emeralds are a good deal rarer than high-quality natural diamonds.

Don't know your definition of common, but you can get lab created emeralds and rubies is most any jewelery store for at least the last 5 years or so. The emeralds are generally much more attractive than most of the natural ones that are available (granted, I'm going to places like Kay's & Helzberg, not Tiffany's).

I think a jeweler told me once that ruby is carborundum.

Rarity.

Are you honestly trying to claim that 14AWG zip cord doesn't carry electrical signals at audio frequencies just as well as