gonefishin
Super Member
My System is Bi-Amped with 300B tubes on top and SS on the bottoms, driving the woofers. The Bass is made up of TAD pro audio 16" woofer in a sealed enclosure with response to 38Hz...and usable response after that. The midrange tweeter combo are horn units. The Midrange is provided by a JBL 2441 compression driver attached to an EdgarHorn Round horns and a Fane Horn tweeter on top.
My musical preferences are (somewhat) all across the board. I enjoy everything from old jazz, blues to the newer stuff coming out. I've been known to take in quantities of older rock...ranging from earlier stuff in the 50's and 60's...going up thru the 70's. After the 70's (in the 80's) and up to current...I can't say I really like everything coming out...tho there are certainly still some newer bands I do enjoy (it's just that I think the majority of the stuff in the 80's to present is crap) I also enjoy ethnic or cultural music such as Celtic, old world Italian, African, Mediterranean and so on. Lastly, I love listening to Gospel music and also some classical and orchestra (but I haven't been exposed to much of these types of music...so I've got a lot of "discovering" to do...but I still enjoy what I've listened to)
Systems that usually impress me (as of late) have good tone, low distortion, good dynamics and just play music sooo damn nice! Even tho there is room for improvement in every aspect of my system (or any system for that matter)...my system falls into the category of "one that impresses me".
Maple Audio Whisper interconnect review
These interconnects were used between my cd player and preamp. I switched back and forth between Blue Heaven interconnects and the Maple Audio Whisper interconnects.
Fit and Feel
The Maple audio cables were of good construction. They are stiff...and hold their shape, yet they're easy to bend. The connectors fit a bit tight onto an rca jack. But this really shouldn't be a problem...as long as you aren't taking them on and off a million times to compare them to another interconnect. Jacket was fine.
The Nordost cables I have in my system are also built well. These wires are about as far from stiff as you can get tho. they just flop down like a beagles ears...no matter where you put them, they just flop and form themselves...I actually do like this a little better than the stiff and formable. But either design is really fine...how often do you really mess around behind your system. The connectors on the Nordost cables are really nice. They use a spring loaded collar which secured tightly and never left any doubt of...is that thing on all the way???
Comparisons
First song into the mix will be Songbird -- Eva Cassidy - 2. Wade in the Water
This is a great album that is very well recorded. The tone, tempo and music is just extraordinary. But, it seems like it's a recorded a bit above where it should be (like the recording engineer had a tendency to push everything up on the eq) there are also better recordings for imaging. But...if you don't have this album...get it! It's one of my favorites (of course...aren't they all
)
MA - The sound had a fuller sound with the Maple Audio cable in. It also was a bit smoother sounding too.
Nordost - Not as lively but a bit more detail shown thru. On certain instances when Eva was singing there seemed to be a slight harshness, where the MA cable kinda smoothed things out a bit.
Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett 4. North Dakota
MA - nice full sound.
Nordost - clean clear with good imaging.
Notice I'm not describing how my foot taps or anything. hey, I love all this music...and if you want me to describe how I almost jumped up and started dancing...I'll be happy to do that...in the music forum. Here, for this...I just wrote down what impressions I had about the cable that was in at the time.
Also, at this time...I started to think that there might be some traits with these cables...where one cable may have different characteristics not only from system to system...but from song to song. After hearing the difference between "what the cables did" with the Eva song (a bit brighter recording with mediocre staging) and comparing to how the cables sounded when listening to the better recorded Lovette song. Maybe...just maybe...
I wasn't going to throw this next CD in...but the previous thoughts had me thinking. Sure, I like that Come Away with Me -- Norah Jones CD...but man is everything turned up on that thing (even more so than the Eva Cassidy CD)...I know...I'll put it in and see how it compares. So, on to 1. Don't Know Why .
Nordost - Wider soundstage, bigger sound. You can hear a bit of harshness during some passages.
MA - a bit smoother...although you can hear some of the same things with this cable in...in both her singing and the bass...like the notes had nowhere left to go...'cept distortion.
Rock Spectacle [LIVE] - Barenaked Ladies 6. Hello City
Nordost - Wider soundstage, more separation, better imaging...clean.
MA - Narrower stage but a bit more lively.
The Best of Van Morrison - 1. Bright Side Of The Road
Nordost - Clean, clear wide, separate
MA - Fuller, livelier
Before this point I wanted to listen to more music...like some classical, orchestra and other stuff. But I got a bit tired of changing wire back and forth.
Conclusion
In conclusion...I think it's really system dependant. Both wires had nice qualities to them. The Nordost was cleaner with a wider stage...and perhaps a bit more neutral. While the MA cable was a bit smoother with a little livelier sound. I think it's as much recording specific as system specific. It's a shame we don't have any standards for recording albums. Maybe we could put governors on the eq's that some of these recording engineers use.
All in all...both are nice cables...perhaps they should combine qualities from both of them into one
But it really comes down to your system, your music, your room...and your self.
If you would like to set up an in-home audition of this cable (or others) , please visit The Demo Room . Once there you can just follow the instructions, to notify the correct individual,for the particular wire you would like to audition.
Thanks for reading...
thanks to AK for making this available to us members...
...and thanks to Omer from OZ Enterprises . You can also visit his forum here at audiokarma.
ok...I'll proof read this later...the baby woke up...gotta go play
My musical preferences are (somewhat) all across the board. I enjoy everything from old jazz, blues to the newer stuff coming out. I've been known to take in quantities of older rock...ranging from earlier stuff in the 50's and 60's...going up thru the 70's. After the 70's (in the 80's) and up to current...I can't say I really like everything coming out...tho there are certainly still some newer bands I do enjoy (it's just that I think the majority of the stuff in the 80's to present is crap) I also enjoy ethnic or cultural music such as Celtic, old world Italian, African, Mediterranean and so on. Lastly, I love listening to Gospel music and also some classical and orchestra (but I haven't been exposed to much of these types of music...so I've got a lot of "discovering" to do...but I still enjoy what I've listened to)
Systems that usually impress me (as of late) have good tone, low distortion, good dynamics and just play music sooo damn nice! Even tho there is room for improvement in every aspect of my system (or any system for that matter)...my system falls into the category of "one that impresses me".
Maple Audio Whisper interconnect review
These interconnects were used between my cd player and preamp. I switched back and forth between Blue Heaven interconnects and the Maple Audio Whisper interconnects.
Fit and Feel
The Maple audio cables were of good construction. They are stiff...and hold their shape, yet they're easy to bend. The connectors fit a bit tight onto an rca jack. But this really shouldn't be a problem...as long as you aren't taking them on and off a million times to compare them to another interconnect. Jacket was fine.
The Nordost cables I have in my system are also built well. These wires are about as far from stiff as you can get tho. they just flop down like a beagles ears...no matter where you put them, they just flop and form themselves...I actually do like this a little better than the stiff and formable. But either design is really fine...how often do you really mess around behind your system. The connectors on the Nordost cables are really nice. They use a spring loaded collar which secured tightly and never left any doubt of...is that thing on all the way???
Comparisons
First song into the mix will be Songbird -- Eva Cassidy - 2. Wade in the Water
This is a great album that is very well recorded. The tone, tempo and music is just extraordinary. But, it seems like it's a recorded a bit above where it should be (like the recording engineer had a tendency to push everything up on the eq) there are also better recordings for imaging. But...if you don't have this album...get it! It's one of my favorites (of course...aren't they all
)MA - The sound had a fuller sound with the Maple Audio cable in. It also was a bit smoother sounding too.
Nordost - Not as lively but a bit more detail shown thru. On certain instances when Eva was singing there seemed to be a slight harshness, where the MA cable kinda smoothed things out a bit.
Joshua Judges Ruth - Lyle Lovett 4. North Dakota
MA - nice full sound.
Nordost - clean clear with good imaging.
Notice I'm not describing how my foot taps or anything. hey, I love all this music...and if you want me to describe how I almost jumped up and started dancing...I'll be happy to do that...in the music forum. Here, for this...I just wrote down what impressions I had about the cable that was in at the time.
Also, at this time...I started to think that there might be some traits with these cables...where one cable may have different characteristics not only from system to system...but from song to song. After hearing the difference between "what the cables did" with the Eva song (a bit brighter recording with mediocre staging) and comparing to how the cables sounded when listening to the better recorded Lovette song. Maybe...just maybe...
I wasn't going to throw this next CD in...but the previous thoughts had me thinking. Sure, I like that Come Away with Me -- Norah Jones CD...but man is everything turned up on that thing (even more so than the Eva Cassidy CD)...I know...I'll put it in and see how it compares. So, on to 1. Don't Know Why .
Nordost - Wider soundstage, bigger sound. You can hear a bit of harshness during some passages.
MA - a bit smoother...although you can hear some of the same things with this cable in...in both her singing and the bass...like the notes had nowhere left to go...'cept distortion.
Rock Spectacle [LIVE] - Barenaked Ladies 6. Hello City
Nordost - Wider soundstage, more separation, better imaging...clean.
MA - Narrower stage but a bit more lively.
The Best of Van Morrison - 1. Bright Side Of The Road
Nordost - Clean, clear wide, separate
MA - Fuller, livelier
Before this point I wanted to listen to more music...like some classical, orchestra and other stuff. But I got a bit tired of changing wire back and forth.
Conclusion
In conclusion...I think it's really system dependant. Both wires had nice qualities to them. The Nordost was cleaner with a wider stage...and perhaps a bit more neutral. While the MA cable was a bit smoother with a little livelier sound. I think it's as much recording specific as system specific. It's a shame we don't have any standards for recording albums. Maybe we could put governors on the eq's that some of these recording engineers use.
All in all...both are nice cables...perhaps they should combine qualities from both of them into one
But it really comes down to your system, your music, your room...and your self.
If you would like to set up an in-home audition of this cable (or others) , please visit The Demo Room . Once there you can just follow the instructions, to notify the correct individual,for the particular wire you would like to audition.
Thanks for reading...
thanks to AK for making this available to us members...
...and thanks to Omer from OZ Enterprises . You can also visit his forum here at audiokarma.
ok...I'll proof read this later...the baby woke up...gotta go play
