Avalon

Vic, the answer to your first question is "yes". Cables matter. I don't have any experience with the HA or Gabriel cables. Though The Avalon Eidolons sound natural and coherent to my ears. If you wnat to continue with that theme, I can recommend either Jorma Unity and Jorma Origo cables depending on your budget. Origo is better than Unity and is more neutral in tonal balance. Unity is a bit warmer. Here is a link fyi. You can check retail pricing on thecableco's website. Cheers.

Hi Vicweast,

First, fantastic speakers - I owned the Avalon Eidolons for close to 10 years, and to me they represent the point of diminishing returns in speakers - you can spend a lot more, but not get all that much better. I powered them mostly with Cat JL-1s, but also with BAT VK-60 monos, an Ayre V-3, even some VTL TT-25s.

The Eidolons are revealing of upstream changes, and I think an upgrade in speaker cables would result in a notable positive change for your system. With that said, what is your budget for the cables? Depending on how much you are willing to spend, I think you might be better off upgrading the Rogue Cronos first. For example, since it seems you like the Ayon sound (given the CD-07s), the Ayon Spirit III might make a nice upgrade, and the new version with the KT-150s should be able to drive the Eidolons a little better. Assuming your are interested in tube integrateds, the VAC Avatar might be a great choice as well, depending on the size of your room and how loud you like to play music.

If you are focused on upgrading the speaker cables in particular, the best choice with the Eidolon in my experience, hands and feet down, was the Siltech Emperor (I am still kicking myself for selling those). I also had success with, for example, the Purist Aqueous Anniversary. Thus, guessing your budget to be in the $1500 range new (based on the reference to Homegrown Silver), I might recommend you try the Purist Aqueous Luminist or the Siltech Classic 330L. Both should be available for demo via thecableco.com so you can try them in your own system. If your budget extends up to $3k new, there are a number of other cables I could recommend.

Best of luck.

I have Eidolons and tried the anticables, but preferred the Audience SE speaker cables. Unfortunately the only way to really evaluate is to try many cables which can be costly. After numerous cable trials I was blown away with the Dspeaker 2.0 EQ "tone controls" which allowed tuning the system to my liking, somewhat regardless of cables used.

@RZADO Thanks for your response. I was afraid someone was going to nudge my amp choice into upgrade mode.

Vic,

What is it about your current cables that you like, which you describe as sounding "fine" and what attributes are you seeking that you would describe as "better?" I ask this simply to get an idea of where you are trying to take your system. I will say that I have found the Kimber Select series of cables to work very well in my systems. Also, I consider their 12TC to be a great bargain in speaker cables and is my recommendation for speaker cables unless one is wanting to move into the Select series. The 12TC cable uses their Hyper Pure copper which is the grade of copper used throughout my system. Among its attributes it provides an absolutely grainless sound. I have posted my thoughts on the various cables I've tried on my system page.

I am curious too, what tubes are you running in your Cronus Magnum?

Finally, a few months ago I installed into my system a Bryston AVR20 isolation transformer and love it. (Note, the Bryston isolation transformer products and the Torus Power isolation transformer products are the same thing - the original products produced in a collaborative effort, but now each company offers their own branded units). I have written my impressions of the AVR20 and will post to my system page but at the moment there is an issue with the Audiogon system preventing me from making updates. Once the issue is corrected I will post. For your power conditioning in lieu of the Power Plant you might want to consider one of the 15 amp versions. They are available in three variations: (1) the "IS" series has the isolation transformer only, (2) the Torus RM15 or Bryston BIT 15 includes surge protection, and (3) the AVR series adds automatic voltage regulation. Regardless of whether you see a particular model listed online, they will be made to order. For instance, I wanted to go with Bryston but didn't see an AVR20 listed on the Audio Advisor website, but the salesman there called Bryston and got me a price quote and the unit was made to order. The prices of the Torus Power and Bryston units are identical by the way. The relationship between between Plitron (makers of the units and the Torus Power brand) and Bryston remains very strong. Anyway, you might want to consider an RM15 or BIT15 for your system.

Cheers,

John