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Break In Experiences with Anti-Cables level 2.1 speaker cables?

Just looking for any other user info on Anti-Cables level 2.1 speaker cables
Too cut a long story short, all of my previous speaker cables were always bought used so I guess already well broken in. After buying a short pair of anticables used for my ht rig and hearing very good improvement I stumped up for a pair of brand new direct from Anticables 15ft level 2.1 speaker cables
These replaced a set of AudioQuest cables
At first I really heard no difference so just though oh well, not a lot of money spent so no big deal.
However as the week progressed they changed, oh how they changed!
Horrible...
Vocals have faded into the background, low to mid bass is now bloated and booming and just, well horrible is best description.
I am sincerely hoping this is just a phase in the "break in" process and this will clear and all will be at least as good as previous.
As a simple near solid copper wire I truly did not expect such a startling change.
Nothing else has been changed in my setup at all, just the addition of these cables.
Does anybody else have experience with these cables and their break in process?
128x128uberwaltz
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Thanks Steve
Sounds like a plan to just leave an internet radio station on for a while, BAT SS amp so not worried about cooking tubes.
I would estimate maybe 30 hours on the cables right now 


janehamble
123 posts
 
I had their level 3 cables.  Like you, they followed AudioQuest - in my case Rocket 33's.  They were horribly bright and metallic sounding - mellowed slightly after a few weeks but I knew they were never going to make it, so they went back.  I replaced them with Morrow SP4's.  Massive improvement in every way.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,355 posts
 
If you aren't liking them after the first couple of hours, you will never like them.  Send them back and get something else.  Why torture yourself?
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
Its  not quite the case of not liking them.
They were fine when first installed but have changed drastically for the worse in the course of a week.
I am hoping they will change again and this is just a break in phase
Hence the point of this thread, to inquire of others actual experience with these cables.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Uberwaltz, in this thread a few months ago you indicated that you improved some deficiencies in the bass region that we and others had discussed by adding a sub, and a few weeks later you resolved them "big time" by purchasing the BAT VK600SE amp you are presently using. By any chance is the sub still in the system, and if so is it connected at speaker level to the outputs of the BAT?

If so, it seems to me to be possible that the amplifier might not be reacting well to the combination of the capacitance of the 15 foot length of Anticables (which I suspect is significantly higher than the capacitance of the former AQ’s), plus the capacitance of the wiring to the sub, plus the fact that the signal on the negative output terminal of the balanced amp is being grounded through some unknown impedance in the sub. (In general it is not a good idea to connect a powered sub to amplifier outputs that are either balanced or bridged, and of course the BAT is fully balanced). And perhaps it took some amount of time before the sonics of the amp succumbed to that combination of issues.

In any event, given that there is not a great deal of dielectric on the Anticables to be broken in, and given the severity of the symptoms you have described, my guess is that something unrelated to cable breakin has changed and is responsible for the problem.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

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