"Why would anybody buy the speakers after hearing the cables? Must be a masochistic audiophile."
Stanhifi
Can I retract my applogy to Stan? (okay I'm kidding)
After talking with and reading comments by several owners of Cerious Speakers, (Ken, the owner of the reference) indicate that he has never heard a better speaker at any price at CES. WHile that is certainly not an exhaustive comparison, it tells me that something very special is going on there with Cerious speakers.
After reading the Cerious technical explanation of what they are doing (read many times) combined with the other things I have read and heard from Bob Grost, there is no denying that even products from Wilson seem low tech in comparison. (execution is another thing however) There is simply no one doing what Cerious is. The technology in and of itself is no guarantee of top notch sound, but putting pieces of the puzzle together, their technolgy, user comments, the success on building upon what Bob had done with Alon, all lead me to put my money where my mouth is. (of course with the confidence of an in home trial period)
Probably few have read every word of the Cerious site multiple times over like I have, but the physics just seem to make sense. One example - Look at the compression wrapped kevlar. Having experimented long ago compression wrapping my current speakers (but to a much lesser extent than Cerious)I am believer in the benefits. (and I still run them that way)
Look at the rigid and non rigid ceramic materials for resonance control and backwave absoption, crossovers with no resitors, built right into the cables, fluid filled pods in the subwoofers, Alum. tubes with lossy materials for resonace control, and no stuffing needed for sound absorption.
WHo is offering anything else like this, and especially at these price points? Though the not terribly expensive off the shelf drivers are treated woth ceramic compounds, That's the only area where there could possibly be room for improvment, (i.e using components from Skanning, or designing their own drivers, but that would bring the cost up quite a bit I think.) I even asked Bob if they have ever tried one of the diamond deposited tweeters in thier reference, and was told yes, with excellent results in the treble, but without good integration with the rest of the freq. range. Bob indictaed the diamond tweeters sounded great, but never blended and thus stuck out. Though not a fair comparison, this is exactly what I heard listening to the B&W diamond series speakers.
SO my plan is to try the Two/bass and if I really like what I hear, save up to buy the reference (if money and space permit)
BTW I am only getting one of the Bass units,(and at a nice cost saving over two basses) and the Two's will go on stands out in the room. Since I am tight on space this should be a good solution, (and with enough bass to satisfy my relatively listening levels) and might be the way I order the reference, should I do so. (The two and 1 bass seem like a real bargain)
I'll know in a few weeks if all this radical technology truly sounds better than traditional cabinet materials (that actually cost alot more), but I am sure that there will be a synergy between the cables and the speakers, so I'm not worried
about some people's finding the cable not to their liking.
I'll have the cables in a few days to test with my currents speakers and of course will share my findings here.