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Synergistic Research

KIMBER CABLE THRU OUT AND I LOVE IT.

AudioQuest Emeralds. Don't know why, and don't care, but I like the sound of my system with them---much prefer them to, say, the Rubys. Very solidly built as well. Haven't really tried a lot of different brands ---I settled on these early on.

Electra Glide cables more importent than the gear itself!

As I like speed, i.e. fast transients, because remember you can't be too much fast, but only slower than the real event, I choose the "affordable" KCAG Kimber for all interconnects but the phonos which are shielded Thorens silver cables, supplied with my little Goldmund table. I use DNM single core cable in a triple-wired way to feed my highly sensitive Rehdeko RK175A speakers, which are themselves the quickest I've ever heard. The result in this "high speed" Graal is that at first glance it doesn't sound hifi at all, but after 15 minutes for non trained audiobud (and less than 1 minute for the fortunate owner), the sound is very near that you can simply hear outdoors at the metro station, i.e. live acoustical performance. But spending 15k for a single cable is not on my priorities, the more you generally spend and the less you improve, especially when you flirt with these dreaming prices.

Wireworld Eclipse II interconnects Cable Talk Concert 2.1 Bi-wire speaker cable

Speaker cable: Wireworld Gold Eclipse. Interconnects: Siltech 480S. Digital Link: Madrigal MDC-1.

Esoteric Musica 500 between the components (the only plugs that'll fit those #@*&%$! jacks on my NAD 3020), OMC to the passive subs, and Kimber 4PR to the main towers (bi-wire configured). Not budget-killin', garden hose thick, wires-n-cables, but it does the job!

The High End is replete with astonishingly expensive magic cables of questionable technical performance and unprovable subjective claims. I believe most are total rip-offs that rely on the placebo effect for any supposed benefit. I have had some pretty high-end cables in the past, but find them no better than some very cheap stuff: Mogami microphone cable for interconnects with Vampire RCAs, and bundled Catagory 5 wire for speaker wire, using Vampire spades. CAT5 wire is used in computer network applications. It is composed of 4 twisted pairs of 24-gauge individually Teflon-insulated solid-core copper wires. You can take three lengths of the stuff and braid them together to yield a bigger gauge (a total of 24 conductors: 12 for positive and 12 for negative). Excellent bandwidth and impedance characteristics. Sounds phenomenal. Best of all, incredibly cheap (the 3-group braid described above would cost about 30 cents/ft., not including spades). So if you have the skill and an hour or two of time, I would recommend building your own cables.

KimberKable - nothing I've tried has the "zing" - the speed and taut bass that the Kimber gives my system. Plus it looks way cooler than anybody else's stuff.

Kimber Select KS-1010 interconnects (RCAs)---tonally neutral and extended, no bloom anywhere, which is okay because there's plenty of that with the tube amp and Morel speakers. Speaker cable: double run of Kimber 8TC.

I use Kimber Cable Silver Streak from the source to my preamp. Maybe cables as tone controls are a bad idea. Still, there is an incredible synergy between the Streak and my PSB Gold i speakers. Beyond the source, I've never heard a clearly discernible difference with wire in other circuits. I wonder if others agree with this observation?

AudioQuest

Monster M1000 interconnects for all channels and Monster M2.4 speaker cables for the left, center, and right. Lower-quality Synergy and Monster speaker cable for the rears.

Interconnects make a huge difference! But they're kinda weird and not entirely predictable. One of the biggest things was replacing the tonearm wire in my hot-rodded Dual 510 belt-drive. Discovery tonearm wire all the way from the van den Hul gold cartridge clips to RCAs on the other ends dumping right into the phono section at the back of the turntable (inspired by a 7/96 review of a Naim phono section). Erased 35 years of dealing with those maddening phono connection problems. A strange thing with interconnects happened just a little while ago. I had my most expensive interconnect between a solid-state DB Systems phono section and a Threshold preamp (its own phono is too polite though it has loading switches). Analog deserves the best and I wasn't super happy. This combo was a little too bright- and hard-sounding. Moving things around because of an added component, I just happened to connect the DB and preamp with PBJ, the first "designer" interconnect I ever purchased. Suddenly, magic and beauty! Totally unexpected! Wow! In other linkages the PBJ can be bettered, but it just totally changed the DB Systems unit to smooth and luscious. Well, at least very nice, though I dream about building a tube phono section, soon. So, right now the PBJ feeds the Threshold preamp, next AudioQuest Quartz rushes the music to the EL34s, and then off to the speakers on Goertz (terrific). In other linkages, AudioQuest Topaz has worked very well. The whole rig sounds very good at the moment. Better than ever. I think tubes slow down the music a bit, so I have ordered some Silver Streak to replace the Quartz, which will move over to the DAC, and so on. Someday, Quattro Fils, Yamamura, maybe.

SilverAudio Interconnects DH Lab Speaker Cable

Purist Colossus Rev A for both interconnects and speakers. Really quiet background, great blacks, and a very smooth, harmonically rich presentation.

Interlink 400 by monster cable that will eventually be replace by Kimber silver streak;speaker cables are 8tc in a double tri-wire mode.

DHLab Silver Sonic. I buy the wire in bulk and make my own.

Transparent Reference Interconnects and speaker cables. They add significantly to the sound of the rest of my system.

I have Tara Labs Decade interconnects and master generation speaker cables. I enjoy these products.

Transparent Music Wave Bi-wire Speaker cable Interconnects: Audioquest Ruby, Kimber PBJ, Tara Quantum IV

I use transparent super cables. Although they're expensive, I'm quite happy with them.

AudioTruth Lapis X3 interconnects, Theta digital interconnect, AudioQuest Midnight. AudioQuest/Truth products have worked the best in my system. I found that staying with one brand of interconnects seems to work best. The Theta cable sounds the best for Theta equipment.

Rightnow I am using MIT 5 interconnects and speaker cable, but I would like to try others to see if theres better in the same price range.

monster2.2cables and monster sigma2000 interconnects

Kimber PBJ to preamp and Silver Streak balanced from preamp to amp. Kimber 4TC biwires to the speakers. Kimber is reasonable, well-reviewed, and there seems to be SOME objective basis for thinking that it makes a difference (and that my ears don't lie).

TARA Labs The One rules my world for interconnect and speaker wire. J-10 doesn't lie! Hovland's superb cable gently chaperones the baby MC signals from from tonearm to phono preamp. Overall effect? Sweet, full, extended, coherent, and detailed. Wire matters.

I use Harmonic Technology, "The Truth" interconnects. I don't believe that there are any better at any price! I also use Kimber Cable 4TC&8TC Bi-wire speaker cables.

kimber select interconnects two runs of kimber 8TC