The first commercial cable that comes to mind fitting your description would be Cardas. Sean
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The Audioquest OpalX3 (now discontinued) exhibits your aforesaid desired characteristics. Admittedly, these interconnects lack the Nth degree of refinement rendered by ionospherically-priced silver cables but offer an excellent value to the purchaser. If cost is no object and your ancillary gear is of pure Blue-Blood, then you may want to try the top-of-the-line Audio Magic interconnects. Enjoy the music, brethren. |
agree with formula1 on the opal x3. adds a tubieness to solid state stuff. kurt |
I would recommend Tara Labs. They are great sounding warm smooth and laid back. The Cardas is also warm and laid back but they are to warm which will give you a false presentation of the music. Good Luck |
Ditto Cardas, especially Golden Reference or Golden Cross. |
It may depend on how much you would like to spend. If you are looking for a very cost effective choice, you should go the the InnerSound web site. The offer an excellent and inexpensive interconnect that is quite good. |
Sean is probably right, but if Cardas doesn't work out, check out Harmonic Technology's "Truthlink". If you can live with deep, but not the tightest bass, it is a lovely and unsurpassed cable in its' price range and has the other qualities you are looking for in abundance. |
I have found my Tara Air2 and Air3 to meet your criteria after a generous break-in of 50 to 75 hours. They are neutral and extended but can be very revealing if you have problems in the HF. The bass is very tight and controlled. However, I recommend you audition a pair for yourself in your own system. |
Van den Hul lst and 2nd.....relaxing, smooth, the warm side of neutral but not too dynamic....great at low level retreival. When played at low volume they do not drop out the bass like some cables can.....all in all, a fine interconnect....I've owned both.....replaced with acoustic zen matrix......more expensive but another level......cheers, Bluenose.....welcome back everyone.... |
You can also try AudioMagic. I've tried several models in two different systems, and they seem to approximate your description. The entry level models are very reasonable.
Good luck, Ed |
May want to consider Magnan Vi. Or if on a lower budget I'd recommend the Music Metre Signature at www.hcmaudio.com |
You may want to call Jena Labs and ask about the Symphony cables. They have a dead flat frequency response from 0 - over 10 mega hz. Each cable is tested and measured, unlike any other cable on the market. The cables are also cryogenically treated which smooths everything out without the loss of detail. They are dead quiet and also very reasonabally priced.
Call Jennifer at 503.639.7551 for a 30 day in-home audition. You will not be disappointed and have nothing to lose.
Good Luck,
Jonathan |
I will add my vote for the Cardas too. In my system, the inexpensive Microtwin was warm, but overly bloated in the bass and had a vague presentation overall. However, the Golden Cross is working wonderfully in my system. It helped take off much of the edge in my setup, without sacrificing detail.
For half the price, the Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II worked pretty well too. Close to, but not quite as warm as the Golden Cross though.
I hope that helps. Good luck! |
Take a look at Bear Labs Silver Lighting Interconnect. It might work well with your system. |
Try a Wireworld Polaris, preferrably a series one or two. You can probably get one for about a hundred bucks, far less than some of the admittedly good, but overpriced Cardas products.
T.H. |
Stay away from anything silver, check out the Cardas stuff. |
We swapped out all of our Cardas for Red Dawns and have never looked back. We listen to a lot of fusion, Al Dimeola stuff and it has the same requirements that you stated in your original post.
Jim, Have you tried the Innersound innerconnects yet? I was thinking about trying some on the HT gear and seeing how it went.
all my best,
AJ |
Ensemble. Audition their 'Dynaflux' IC, 1m $850. Nothing else compares. Transparent, Cardas, MIT, HT Magic, Discovery, Nirvana, Acosutic Zen, KS, Nordost,........ |
You can consider the Cardas Cross, Golden Cross, Wireworld Eclipse copper and the AZ Matrix! Their prices as used cables here in Audiogon are reasonable! I've tried them and find all to give what you're looking for! However, out of the 4, I prefer the AZ Matrix which I believe to be in a class of it's own!
Feel free to email me should you need more detailed info!
Rgds,
Ramesh |
I forgot about Tara's and some of the Audioquest's might also work. A lot of it will boil down to being system dependent, personal taste and budget.
Thanks to Jonathan ( Jtinn ) for suggesting Jena Labs. I've heard / read about their stuff but never did any digging. Finally looked up their website and took a peak:
http://www.jenalabs.com/
While i'm sure that the parts quality is quite high, the design of the IC's look quite high in capacitance. I did notice that they have NO technical specs whatsoever listed on their site. Given their reputation, i'm sure that they would be glad to divulge such info during a phone call though. Sean
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I'll also suggest Cardas Golden Cross, very detailed, balanced tonally and can cure a little solid state harshness. The mids are just slightly warm not overexagerated and the resolution is close to some of the pure silver cables without their tinkly top end.
The Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II is also an excellent cable. Both of these can be had used here at audiogon quite affordably.
Tom |
I'd suggest you check out the classifieds here. There is a pair of AQ AudioTruth Diamond X3 cables available. I have had a pair for 2 years, and have absolutely no complaints with them. I find they provide better bass than Cardas Golden Reference, great mid-range (only bettered by Nordost Quattro Fil in my system), and extended, but not harsh highs (not as forward in my system as Nordost, Kimber and some others I have tried). These might just fill the bill. |
Thanks to all you guys for your posts. I just spoke to George Cardas who says as follows:
If the room has slight echo for whatever reason, go for the Golden Cross but if the room is soft, practically perfect, go for the golden reference. The bass of the Golden Ref is tight but a little softish than that of Golden cross.
Any comments, please from users. |
Arupg, thanks for relaying that piece of advice. The Golden Cross is working great for me. I hope you're happy with the cable you choose. Good luck! |
Hi Arupg,
George is right! However, I won't term the Golden Reference's bass as softish but rather tighter & less robust! Comparing both, The Golden Cross bass is more robust than the Golden Reference which is tighter and slighly less forceful. However, both are detailed and tuneful in their bass.
If however you're looking for something that is big sounding, then you should consider the Cardas Golden Hexlink 5c IC, Cardas older model which frankly is still good sounding till today and has very deep & robust bass but never sounding bloated!
Enjoy,
Ramesh |
I used van den Hul 2's for a long time, which made for a sweet, warm, relaxed presentation with great clarity. Bass was deep and fairly tight. Tried HT Pro Silway II's, and they were awful--far too bright, even after lengthy break-in. Finally moved to Siltech, which are fabulous in every respect: tone, image, soundstage, air. Can't imagine much improvement unless spending 1k+. |
Madisonears, I agree with your suggestion of the siltech. I've hear generation 3 a year ago in my system. A friend brought over his interconnects and even with red dawn speaker wire the system simply made music I had never heard. Siltech can bring a system alive....cheers, Bluenose |
