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Anti-Cables

soundmig

soundmig

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Has anyone auditioned or use the cables made by "Anti-Cables"? I spoke with the founder at RMAF, and he seemed very cogent, logical and otherwise well-informed. I'm thinking of giving his speaker cables and RCA interconnects a whirl, but would like to hear from those who have actually had some experience with them. If you have used or heard them, please give me your thoughts :-)
 
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I bought two pair of his cables so I could bi wire, single wire, twist, untwist and experiment. At first I was truly impressed by the cables and wrote good things about the AntiCables. As time wore on I began to notice a lack of instrumental texture to the sound almost to the point of making the sound glassy.

Granted cables can react differently with different components and speakers but in my system that character began to creep into my awareness. It was one of those aspects that once heard could not be unheard. I do prefer solid core cables and Audioquest is my favorite.
 
I tried a pair of speaker cables and some of their interconnects.

My impressions? Worst set of cables I have ever purchased. I know that sounds harsh but there's no reason to varnish the truth of my experience with them.
 
anticables

I have their original speaker cables. I liked the sound initially thinking they were clearer than my Morrow cables. I eventually concluded they were brighter which was something that I couldn't handle. I also found them stiff and hard to work with in my living room. YMMD. They come up for sale on Audiogon frequently which is a cheap way to experiment if inclined.
 
Never tried 'em, but the description of dielectric distortion in the FAQ is just wrong. Dielectric issues are not magnetically induced.
 
JohnMichael said:
I bought two pair of his cables so I could bi wire, single wire, twist, untwist and experiment. At first I was truly impressed by the cables and wrote good things about the AntiCables. As time wore on I began to notice a lack of instrumental texture to the sound almost to the point of making the sound glassy.

Granted cables can react differently with different components and speakers but in my system that character began to creep into my awareness. It was one of those aspects that once heard could not be unheard. I do prefer solid core cables and Audioquest is my favorite.
Click to expand...

This sums up my experience with anti-cables as well. I was blown away when I removed then and out the original cables back in the system. The thing is, often times we can convince ourselves that different is better, even when it isnt. That's why it's always good to switch back after a period of time to see if your initial impressions are still valid.
 
Thanks for all of the input. I too use quite a bit of AQ solid core cable and find it to be my favorite for many applications. I do use Cardas Neutral Reference on my DAC as it seems to mate with it better than my other cables. Interesting that a couple of you both had the same experience with liking the Anti-Cables at first, but not liking them after time passed. Ultimately, that is the best test as we have all heard things we thought we liked only to find after time (and sometimes money spent) that we were "drawn to a flaw" that ultimately disappointed us. This reminds me of my first wife … oh, that's off topic, sorry.
 
Trolling is not welcome in this thread. Or in any part of AK actually. If you don't have interest in the subject matter, feel free not to post. If you still wanna troll, we'll give you a break from posting.
 
I love them, they work great in my setup.
I tried the new versions also and I am sticking to the 'old' level 2 RCA and speaker cables.

For me they improved over the AQ Columbia RCA and AQ Rockefeller Speaker.

Everyone's experience is different and I truly believe that your setup is an important component to let any cable sound good.
 
Absolutely, synergy is very important in cable selection. No single cable type or brand works best on everything. Have you or any other AKer's used any of the newer interconnects that use the silver/gold alloy center pin conductor? I'm curious about those as I like detail, but hate harshness …. I've made the mistake of using "detailed" cables only to find out that they are too harsh for "music", but the folks at anti-cables claim that the addition of a small amount of gold eliminates this sonic "bug" sometimes associated with silver. It's an alluring claim.
 
Bump … has anyone tried the anti-cables RCA interconnects that use the silver/gold alloy for the center conductor? I'm very curious …
 
It's interesting to see the polarised opinions by people who have bought them. That is unusual- people usually love their cables.

Do you think the unconventional solid core is too fiddly to get looking right and owners get annoyed with them?

I have been toying with the idea of solid core myself (DIY)
 
JohnMichael said:
I bought two pair of his cables so I could bi wire, single wire, twist, untwist and experiment. At first I was truly impressed by the cables and wrote good things about the AntiCables. As time wore on I began to notice a lack of instrumental texture to the sound almost to the point of making the sound glassy.

Granted cables can react differently with different components and speakers but in my system that character began to creep into my awareness. It was one of those aspects that once heard could not be unheard. I do prefer solid core cables and Audioquest is my favorite.
Click to expand...

This also sums up my experience of ditching a silver strand rca for copper. Texture is a very helpful term here.
 
restorer-john: I used a lot of solid core cables (mostly AQ) and I like them. I also use a couple of Cardas neutral reference cables that I like in my Dac to pre-amp run. I have copper and silver solid core cables (also silver plated copper). I have learned to NOT like the silver plated copper as it can be very edgy. Silver overall is somewhat more transparent, but it also tends toward "edgy". This is something that Mr. Spelz at A-C says he has addressed with the new RCA's that use a silver +(or pin) wire that has a small amount of gold in the alloy. He claims that this addition of gold takes away that "sonic signature" of silver. So, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried these out yet and if he truly has found a way to keep the silver transparency while ditching the tendency toward and "edge" to the sound with silver? Anyway … if anyone has - I'm interested in your experiences.
 
They are OK, but I could not hear a significant difference from regular speaker wire.
The stiffness of the wire makes them tough to work with in some setups.
Mine are currently out of rotation.
 
Interesting … another person who has tried them but no longer uses Anti-Cables. For speaker cables I currently use a set of AQ Type 6 (or 8?) bi-wire with DBS on my mains. I really like the sound of these cables and will probably stick with them for a while. Just wondering about those silver/gold alloy jobs from Anit-Cables for RCA Interconnects. I guess nobody has tried them?
 
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