Cable Shoot Out!

[mwicks]

I've recently been overhauling all the cabling on my stereo system, and I'd figure I'd post some of my findings in hopes of hearing some other opinions. First, I'll start with my system,

TT: Rega P1 w/ Denon DL110 cartridge & glass platter into Cambridge 640P phono pre
CDP: Rega Apollo
Amp: Cambridge 640A
Speakers: Boston Acoustics A400s

Now, I'll start with the speaker cables. I've currently run the following through my system,
-Planet Waves 12 gauge cheap stuff from Musicians Friend
-Kimber 4TR and 4TC
-Mapleshade Golden Helix
-Cat 5e
-Monster Standard

OK, so I'll start out by saying out of all of those, I'm sticking with the Mapleshade Golden Helix. When I first connected them (following the 4TC), I thought "Hmm, a bit small sounding". However, after a listening session I was converted. The bass was MUCH smoother and articulated, the highs were crystal clear and suddenly it was like the music was in the room, not coming from a pair of speakers. Big thumbs up on these cables from me!:thmbsp:

As for the others, I'll just sort of paraphrase my thoughts,

Planet Waves - Nice, basic cable. Nothing overly exciting but a very good cable. I'm using these in my home theater setup now. Bass is fairly boom-y compared to Kimber and Mapleshade, mids are more muffled but overall pleasant. A bit of a step up from my ol' Monster Standard cables (So I don't need to talk about the Monster Standard anymore!). Everyone should snatch some of this stuff up while its cheap!

Kimbers - Really nice sounding cables. Fast, full bass and fairly crisp highs, very realistic mids. My second favorite cables out of all I've tried so far. I found them a bit weird for my HT setup though, sorta like the bass was sucked out (I'll get to that when I post on interconnects more).

Cat 5e - Wasn't feelin' it. I know this is a popular, cheap method but I just found them to be really thin and brittle, with a super muddy low end.

Well, this is about it for my speaker cable tests. Anyone else had similar experiences? One thing I've really learned is that you really have to just try everything (you can) out and make your choices based on YOUR OWN SYSTEM and try and tame that monster known as "the room".

When I've fully evaluated them, I'll post about the interconnects I'm currently trying. I've got Kimber Tonik/PBJ/Timbre/Hero, Blue Jeans LC-1, Straightwire Musicable II and a mystery cable here.

 

[Bigerik]

Good stuff.
Can't wait to read more.
Thanks! :thmbsp:

 

[Face]

Thanks for the comparison. I also found the Kimber 4TC's less than impressive in my rig.

 

[mwicks]

Anyone else find Kimber Kables generally suck the mids out a bit? I find they sound amazing on softer recordings, but anything that kicks it up a notch seems to lose a good bit of "edge" (for lack of a better term).

 

[Face]

I found they sucked the "life" out of my speaks.

 

[240sx4u]

Cool, I love "reviews" like this!

 

[Tedrick]

Nice review. Thanks especially for the comments on the Mapleshade cables. I've read through their catalogs before and found them interesting, to say the least. Also been tempted on several occassions to give their cables a try, but have always been hesitant because of some of the hype. Now I'll have to add those to the 'must try' list.

 

[mwicks]

Nice review. Thanks especially for the comments on the Mapleshade cables. I've read through their catalogs before and found them interesting, to say the least. Also been tempted on several occassions to give their cables a try, but have always been hesitant because of some of the hype. Now I'll have to add those to the 'must try' list.

I find it a bit "ehhhh" that Mapleshade constantly calls their products "better than (insert other company here)", but the Golden Helix are certainly worth a shot! They've got a 30 day return policy too which is a nice enough touch.

 

[mwicks]

Ok, I think I'm about ready to post on the interconnects now.

I'll be using my CD player as the component of choice for the following reasons,
a. It's a more expensive piece of equipment than my TT.
b. I personally find CD players more sensitive to different interconnects than any turntable I've ever used.

Now, a rundown of everything I've tried starting from cheapest to most blingin'.

Generic 10.00 RCA Cable - Decent enough highs, muffled midrange and very weak/muffled bass. About what I expected for 10 bucks really, not a harsh listen but not impressive by any means.

Blue Jeans LC-1 - This is a very nice sounding cable and a BIG jump from the generic cable. Highs are much more pronounced, midrange is aggressive and clear but remains pleasant and the bass is much more articulated and rhythmic. If you don't want to spend more than 100.00 on an interconnect, I highly recommend this cable as a solid performer.

Straightwire Musicable II - Very nice highs, very nice mids, GROSS bass! The best way I can describe this cable is a not-as-good version of the LC-1. After switching from the LC-1 to this, the bass went from very rhythmic to weak and buried (similar to the cheapie cable). Needless to say, I didn't stick around this cable too long.

Kimber Tonik - I hate this cable...........heh. Midrange gets completely sucked out whenever I plug this into anything, and the bass becomes boomy. The high end isn't actually TOO bad at all, but the rest of its faults instantly cancel that out. A good reference point is the track "Albert Goes West" from the new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album. Hopefully some of you have heard this, cause its got a real kickin' distorted bass line. On the other cables, this bass line is right out front and really sounds SWEET, but the Tonik causes it to almost completely disappear! I tried this with some other harsher and aggresive recordings and found similar results, so it was not an isolated incident.


Kimber PBJ - Can't say I like this cable too much either! Same reasons as the Tonik really, except it is a bit better. None of the Kimber cables I've tried sound unpleasant, but they all give me the feeling the music is being "held back". I think this is just the company trying to produce very relaxed sounding cables, but the end result doesn't really please the side of me that's into louder music. The music sort of rushes past you, it's not very involving at all.

Kimber Timbre - This cable (and the Hero which I'll speak of after) saved my opinion on Kimber interconnects. The sucked out bass came back and the other good aspects of the previous Kimber Kables were strengthened. This is a VERY clean sounding cable that really gives the sense that whatever you're listening to is that much closer . No unpleasantness either.

Kimber Hero - This is the most expensive cable I've tried so far, with the most boastful name as well. I was hoping when connecting this cable it would rescue my system like some kind of braided Superman, and well............it sorta did. This cable is by far the most easy to listen to out of the bunch, nothing ever hits you as "sharp" or thin. However, it kind of lacks edge because of this. I popped on the theme to "Cannibal Holocaust" to A/B between this and the Timbre (don't judge by the name, it's a really beautiful piece of music). There is one part of the song where the key changes and it tends to give me goosebumps. I got them instantly with the Timbre, not with the Hero. While it's a pleasant cable to listen to, it does sort of "pass you by" because of this. It's like a very pretty, but plain girl. I'm on the fence still on this cable........

NOTE: - As stated before, all these tests are based on my own system. These cables may very well behave differently or better on your own rig, so don't tear my head off if I burned out your best friend. I'm open to any suggestions for cables as well, as I haven't made up my mind at this point.

 

[Face]

Thanks for the review.

 

[matel]

Thanks for the review. Always cool to see the same ics sound different on different gear.
I tried Kimber Timbre a while ago and they bored me. The Hero I thought was good except the mids were too cool here.
Your reaction to the Mapleshades is kind of how I'm reacting to the Grover ic's I have. Sometimes a more accurate sound seems smaller but then I start hearing more details. I wish they were a tad livlier though.
Edit . oops I meant your reaction to the Mapleshades

 

[RichPA]

Thanks for the very nice reviews. I like the Kimber PBJ in a lot of setups, a "safe" cable in a sense, but I can imagine that in some systems the result is a lack of excitement.

 

[Mr. Lin]

This is a very interesting read, thanks for posting it.

I've used a lot of Kimber cables. Right now the 4TC is my speaker cable, and I have no complaints, though admittedly I haven't tried anything else in my system just yet.

I also have a couple of 2 meter PBJs which get the job done, the Hero, which is the only Kimber interconnect I've found to be a tad on the warm side, and the Silver Streak, which is actually a great interconnect, and I recommend you try to get your hands on a pair of those.

Overall I think a lot of the Kimber models at this price level (sub $200) have a pretty cold and neutral sound, which is not to a lot of peoples' taste, nor mine in particular. But I have plenty of other components in my system that balance it all out.

 

[Bigerik]

Oddly enough, the Kimber PBJ's sounded like ass between my Nad 541i and Accuphase way back when. Hard and harsh sounding. The Grovers fixed that right up!

 

[mwicks]

^Care to share any more information on these Grover IC's you're talking about? I think we may be on the same page when it comes to the Kimbers......

 

[matel]

Made by Grover Huffman located on the Steve Hoffman forums.
Steve whos mastered 10,000 albums swore by these.
Figures they sound like they do to me.
Do you want a very accurate wire to master recordings?
Not sure if he has a website..

 

[matel]

Mwicks- hows the midrange on the Mapleshade speaker wire? I'm avoiding tubes so I need a little midrange push
wherever I can find it.

 

[Mr. Lin]

Oddly enough, the Kimber PBJ's sounded like ass between my Nad 541i and Accuphase way back when. Hard and harsh sounding. The Grovers fixed that right up!

I'm surprised to read so many people saying the PBJ sounded bad in their system. Not that I doubt it at all, but it was pretty solid-sounding for me.

 

[Bigerik]

Made by Grover Huffman located on the Steve Hoffman forums.
Steve whos mastered 10,000 albums swore by these.
Figures they sound like they do to me.
Do you want a very accurate wire to master recordings?
Not sure if he has a website..

Nope. No website for Grover. Almost kind of cloak and dagger type of a deal to reach him.
But he does make NICE wires!

 

[Bigerik]

I'm surprised to read so many people saying the PBJ sounded bad in their system. Not that I doubt it at all, but it was pretty solid-sounding for me.

I guess it is all about what works well with what components. People have been swearing by the PBJ's forever, so I am not writing them off as a bad wire. Just that in my system, the Grovers worked a ton better.