Agear,
You wrote "Zus are not impervious to associated gear." That's certainly correct and if anything I wrote was inferred by others to mean otherwise, I certainly didn't intend it. I've lost count of all the cables types I've heard on my Zu systems over the past seven years I've owned Zu speakers, let alone all the cables I've ever heard. But I'll mention a few that bracket the discussion: JPS Aluminata, Audience, 47 Labs OTA, Kimber, Audioquest Everest, Zu Variel, Ibis, Event, Mission. For the moment, let's stick to speaker cables.
I'll also add that I have heard an ASR amp on Definition 2, and while I understand why that brand's amplification is well regarded, it's not an amp I consider musically convincing. It has a lower noise floor than top tier 845 SET amps, though my Audion amps aren't noisier enough that their noise floor is obscuring to the point of allowing the ASR to reveal anything I can't hear via the tube amps for that reason. The ASR is a "better microscope" than the 845, but not a better microscope than my Audion Golden Dream PSET with its high silver content, including in the OTs. Certainly it's possible that a given listener prefers something akin to the ASR amplification over what I listen to, and certainly the complementary or compensatory properties I would want from cable would be affected by the amp I listen to. When I want to hear cable contributions, I aurally dissect using the Golden Dream amps first.
In the compass points of cable in the examples I've mentioned above, there are several design approaches. JPS prioritizes noise elimination and shielding through brute force material density and mass. Audience emphasizes time domain. 47 Labs emphasizes coherence and speed. Kimber emphasizes RF rejection and magnetic behaviors. Audioquest strives for transparency. Zu seeks coherence and balance. Auditorium targets convincing tonality.
Some of these cable choices are mass-intensive. Others eschew mass every way they can. There's a long-running debate about the sonic benefits of very low mass connectors vs. metal-intensive termination. So in brief terms, JPS Aluminata is quiet and good at preserving and presenting dimension, but I don't have significant cable-induced noise, so everything is pretty quiet anyway. I did not find any collapse of dimensioning going from JPS to Zu Ibis, but I did find the JPS to be less dynamic, certainly smooth but not as fast as Ibis. More to the point, it wasn't as coherent and resolving as the 47 Labs OTA, which counterintuitively uses single-strand conductors. But I can understand how the JPS can be heard as fleshing out a leaner audio device chain. Of the cables I mentioned, the various Audioquests had no advantage over anything else, so set all AQ aside for this discussion. Auditorium 23 cables are the most reliably musical regardless of source material of this group. Kimber never makes a misstep but it doesn't equal the best of the group in tone, transparency, resolution or dimensioning. It's a safe choice. Audience is incisive and precise. Zu delivers total balance with the silver content cables matching anyone's resolution. In some significant properties of sheer musicality, I liked Auditorium and 47 Labs best, and both emphasize low mass, particularly at termination. I would take either over JPS. I came back to Zu Ibis (and I can equally endorse Event, which is actually more forgiving than Ibis) for its well-rounded ability to be exceptional on speed, bursty dynamics, tonal coherence and event coherence.
I've tried many more cables than this, including Cardas and Nordost, and I haven't even gotten into ICs and power cords. But there's another dimension to the discussion. How much money should be allocated to cables in a system, or how much is needed for the system to be musically convincing?
All of the speaker cables I mention above were quite good on Definitions, in varying ways. None made the system unpleasant to listen to. But with a cable as good as Ibis or Event, I can drive larger positive deltas in musical performance by upgrading elsewhere with the thousands of dollars not spent on cable if Zu, Auditorium and 47 Labs are chosen instead of JPS Aluminata or the upper line AQs, for example. And if you prefer the more moderate cost lines, then standing pat on cables to put money into other areas or just buy more music, or pursue another interest in life can be the better choice. I can spend $6000 on speaker cables, but I won't if the results aren't compelling. I haven't heard compelling from JPS, as an example. I've heard "good" that didn't win against alternatives. But someone else like Glory who may hear differently or whom has different criteria for being convinced of a system's musical thruthfulness might prioritize his resources differently.
But I repeat that with Def4 restoring the Speakon connector for B3 geometry pass-through to the amp, the benefits of leveraging that via a Zu cable are significant and not exactly matched by other good cables that can't continue B3 to the amp output terminals.
Phil
You wrote "Zus are not impervious to associated gear." That's certainly correct and if anything I wrote was inferred by others to mean otherwise, I certainly didn't intend it. I've lost count of all the cables types I've heard on my Zu systems over the past seven years I've owned Zu speakers, let alone all the cables I've ever heard. But I'll mention a few that bracket the discussion: JPS Aluminata, Audience, 47 Labs OTA, Kimber, Audioquest Everest, Zu Variel, Ibis, Event, Mission. For the moment, let's stick to speaker cables.
I'll also add that I have heard an ASR amp on Definition 2, and while I understand why that brand's amplification is well regarded, it's not an amp I consider musically convincing. It has a lower noise floor than top tier 845 SET amps, though my Audion amps aren't noisier enough that their noise floor is obscuring to the point of allowing the ASR to reveal anything I can't hear via the tube amps for that reason. The ASR is a "better microscope" than the 845, but not a better microscope than my Audion Golden Dream PSET with its high silver content, including in the OTs. Certainly it's possible that a given listener prefers something akin to the ASR amplification over what I listen to, and certainly the complementary or compensatory properties I would want from cable would be affected by the amp I listen to. When I want to hear cable contributions, I aurally dissect using the Golden Dream amps first.
In the compass points of cable in the examples I've mentioned above, there are several design approaches. JPS prioritizes noise elimination and shielding through brute force material density and mass. Audience emphasizes time domain. 47 Labs emphasizes coherence and speed. Kimber emphasizes RF rejection and magnetic behaviors. Audioquest strives for transparency. Zu seeks coherence and balance. Auditorium targets convincing tonality.
Some of these cable choices are mass-intensive. Others eschew mass every way they can. There's a long-running debate about the sonic benefits of very low mass connectors vs. metal-intensive termination. So in brief terms, JPS Aluminata is quiet and good at preserving and presenting dimension, but I don't have significant cable-induced noise, so everything is pretty quiet anyway. I did not find any collapse of dimensioning going from JPS to Zu Ibis, but I did find the JPS to be less dynamic, certainly smooth but not as fast as Ibis. More to the point, it wasn't as coherent and resolving as the 47 Labs OTA, which counterintuitively uses single-strand conductors. But I can understand how the JPS can be heard as fleshing out a leaner audio device chain. Of the cables I mentioned, the various Audioquests had no advantage over anything else, so set all AQ aside for this discussion. Auditorium 23 cables are the most reliably musical regardless of source material of this group. Kimber never makes a misstep but it doesn't equal the best of the group in tone, transparency, resolution or dimensioning. It's a safe choice. Audience is incisive and precise. Zu delivers total balance with the silver content cables matching anyone's resolution. In some significant properties of sheer musicality, I liked Auditorium and 47 Labs best, and both emphasize low mass, particularly at termination. I would take either over JPS. I came back to Zu Ibis (and I can equally endorse Event, which is actually more forgiving than Ibis) for its well-rounded ability to be exceptional on speed, bursty dynamics, tonal coherence and event coherence.
I've tried many more cables than this, including Cardas and Nordost, and I haven't even gotten into ICs and power cords. But there's another dimension to the discussion. How much money should be allocated to cables in a system, or how much is needed for the system to be musically convincing?
All of the speaker cables I mention above were quite good on Definitions, in varying ways. None made the system unpleasant to listen to. But with a cable as good as Ibis or Event, I can drive larger positive deltas in musical performance by upgrading elsewhere with the thousands of dollars not spent on cable if Zu, Auditorium and 47 Labs are chosen instead of JPS Aluminata or the upper line AQs, for example. And if you prefer the more moderate cost lines, then standing pat on cables to put money into other areas or just buy more music, or pursue another interest in life can be the better choice. I can spend $6000 on speaker cables, but I won't if the results aren't compelling. I haven't heard compelling from JPS, as an example. I've heard "good" that didn't win against alternatives. But someone else like Glory who may hear differently or whom has different criteria for being convinced of a system's musical thruthfulness might prioritize his resources differently.
But I repeat that with Def4 restoring the Speakon connector for B3 geometry pass-through to the amp, the benefits of leveraging that via a Zu cable are significant and not exactly matched by other good cables that can't continue B3 to the amp output terminals.
Phil