Information on Empirical Audio IC cables

I think most of these folks post on audioasylum.com, but someone may notice.

During my cable quest I have auditioned those cables also.
I liked them a lot, but eventually found them too lean in the mid range and bass region. But they have a very nice transparency and are not too expensive. You get what you pay for. For a medium high end system, these are an excellent match, but I would not recommend them for Martin Logan Prodigy, which need cables which offer a certain weight in the bass region.

Tekunda: I do not think it is fair to slam your competitors. AudioEngr (owner of Empirical Audio) is highly respected in the forums. And we all know you are the distributor of HMS cables.

My findings were just the opposite of Tekunda's with these cables. So far I have found these to have the best bass and extended highs of any IC that I have ever listened to. As for the midrange, they also have the most resolute mids that I have yet to hear, very transparent clear and musical most of all.

Now for those who prefer some sort of bloated or over emphasized midrange and mid-bass then maybe this is not the cable for you. In a nutshell these are perhaps the most linear cables that I know of. I am not the only one who thinks this either, some of my audiophile friends have sold their $10,000.00 IC's (that is not a misprint) to own these, because they seemed to convey the spirit of the music in ways none of us had heard before. They have extremely fast transients and slam with gobs of detail.

Incidentally they are also the quitest cable I have yet to use as well. Absolutely black dead silence between musical passages. I have tried these IC's on systems costing over a 150 grand with cone speakers such as Wilsons and Krells, as well as more humble sytems with Martin Logans and InnerSound electrostatic hybrids, not to mention some old Apogee Studio Grands, and with a variety of very well thought of amps, though all were SS. We all thought the Empirical cables beat the existing cable within each system hands down regardless of what other wire was previously being used.

Bottom line is this: I have no idea what the best sounding cable is and for that matter it probably does not exist, but I can honestly tell you these cables have to be one of the best musical bargains in high end audio, and they allow the music to flow un-impeded better than anything I have heard yet. No idea how they compare to the HMS though.

Hope this helps.

routlaw

Sonic genius, I think I did not slam my competition.
First of all I have auditioned the Empirical Audio cables a long time before I even knew of the existence of HMS and what I posted here were the same exact findings I emailed Empirical Audio when asked why I am returning the cables.
Although I sell HMS, I am entiteld to an opinon derived at at time when I had nothing to do with HMS.
And I did not slam the cables. I feel these are wonderful cables, just not heavy enough in bass, needed to control the woofer section of the ML Prodigy, which is not an easy woofer to drive. But I think this was more an issue of the ML speakers than of the cables.
I can see many system and great speakers, where these cables would do a wonderful job and in reard of transparency and mid range purity, as well as transient attack, they came quite close to the Valhalla, if you ask me. So they are well worth for an audition.

Tekunda, on a public forum you are not entitled to an opinion about any line you sell......The folks here will not believe you and you are doing your business more harm than good by finding fault in other cables regardless when the opinion was formed.....

As Tekunda knows I am using SS equipment with the Prodigy speakers. Let me list the equipment I am using for the rest of the forum. ML336 amp/ML380s preamp/no cd-still looking/present source a dynalab MD102. I hope this helps. Thank you all for your responses.

My system has been entirely wired with Empirical Audio cable for around 6 months now. In my system there is no leaness in the mids or bass at all. However, I did speak to someone else who felt Holophonic to be lean in the midrange compared to his reference cable. His system is mostly solid state, while mine is all tube based with the exception of my tuner. Despite his reservations in the mids, he did admit however that the bass response with Holophonic in his system was exceptionally good. It is possible I suppose that in an all solid state system Empirical is not as effective. I don't know. I do know that Holophonic and Clarity 7 have brought my system to a new level. Empirical cables are quite neutral IMO, which is what I look for in a cable. Let the cables sing soflty while components raise the roof. After half a year with Empirical in my system, I have no desire to audition other brands. Not even Valhalla or HMS. Nuff said.

My system is all SS. For those with similar systems please comment on Empirical cables, are they harsh?