Audio Magic Sorcerer Liquid Air speaker cables

Category: Cables

If anyone's interested, I recently got the upgrade bug for some speaker cables. I had been using Audio Magic bulk Xstreams for over a decade. Roy Johnson, founder of Green Mountain Audio, uses Audio Magic internally for his speaker design and I wanted to stick with Audio Magic as I've been pretty happy with the bulk cables.

I auditioned two Audio Magic models, Liquid Air and Sorcerer Liquid Air, against my old Audio Magic bulk cables.

Long story short, I found that the Sorcerer cables made me want to keep listening into the wee hours of the night, while the Liquid Airs didn't sound any different than the bulk wire I had been using. I would be hard-pressed to explain exactly why I thought the Sorcerers were an improvement. They just seemed a little more addictive than the other two models. They also made the instruments stand out a little. What I mean is the bass seemed more like a separate instrument from the drums or the guitars. The guitars were less jumbled in with the vocals. Every instrument seemed more solid and independent from the other instruments in the track. This quality is what I like most about my Audio Research VSi60 integrated, so it's no surprise that I preferred the cables that accentuated this.

I also think the bass was more realistic and possibly lower with the Sorcerers. The rhythm may also have improved, as if my system had gained some Naim attributes.

These details may all be in my head, but I am confident the Sorcerers were an improvement. It's very hard, in my opinion, to compare speaker cables, especially with a tube amp that needs some time to warm up after each change-up. I was trying to play a portion of a track, switch cables, then listen again, but this proved frustrating. Eventually I followed the advice of Steve at the Cable Company and just left each one in for a few days and my "scoring" became simply how late I stayed up listening! This worked pretty well and I would recommend it for others auditioning speaker cables.

My system consists of the aforementioned ARC VSi60, Green Mountain Audio Continuum 1.5 loudspeakers, a NAD M5 CD player, a Marantz UD8004 universal player, and a Rega P3-24 turntable with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge with a Dynavector phono pre-amp. (I didn't use much analog for the comparision however.)

I'm pleased with the Sorcerers and although they were more expensive than I was prepared for, I don't regret buying them. I should also mention that the Cable Company went above and beyond in getting me loaners to audition, as they had no Audio Magic speaker cables in their "library" when I called, but they obtained some for me.

I'm more pleased with the cables than with this review;-) The differences were subtle in the cables and are difficult to describe. But hopefully this will help someone in their own quest.