David and Herman. You have caught me. Your deductive reasoning has caught the scheme it seems! With all do respect; your comments are the very reason for the opening line of my original post. There are always going to be flamers who should have probably bit their tongue a little more before saying what was on their minds. However apologetic they may seem after making rude and inappropriate comments. So where to start?
Of course there are similarities between Tubeears' response and mine. People have been asking about these cables, not only here but on other audio/video sites on the internet. I feel Audiogon is the best place to find information and I too felt it was best to post at least what I knew. People always want as much information as possible; even if it is only based on appearance. Someone has to be of the first few to buy and review a product. Enthusiasts on Audiogon are often excited about getting what seems to be a bargain before it is too late and my goal was to give them everything possible to make that decision about purchasing. What I did, was give people what they wanted to know, which was as much as I did. This is why I stated I would post a review under cables. I guess I should have been clearer in what I said, which should have been, “I will post a review later under cables”. Once I have had time to listen to the cables I will give them a full review. Good or Bad… These cables are in my opinion going for prices much less than they are worth. Heck, you can spend $50 on a set of AR cables at Wal-Mart. These aren’t going for much more than that right now.
As far as determining the workmanship of a cable I do feel that this is one of the nicest cables I have seen for under $1000. They are also much netter than many costing much more. People buy cables all the time without ever seeing them and often do so from a magazine or other source based on advertisement slogans. “I thought the testimonials on Audiogon were a good remedy to this. Maybe I was wrong! I took a chance on these cables based on the excellent feedback from the manufacturer and largely based on the good marketing materials/photographs that were posted. I have never had as good of feedback from a manufacturer as I have from W&M. Calculating in the fact that they are from the U.K. and the risks involved I was completely put to ease by their email responses. I never received as good of a response, as a dealer; from most U.S. manufacturers, with whom I spent tens-of-thousands a year with, as I did from W&M. Give a newbie a chance would you? When I received these cables I immediately removed all that I could to see the inner structure. I have sold pretty much all of the main stream cables you can rattle off and based on what I could see this is a darn nice cable. If I had wanted to destroy the fine workmanship in order to examine the solder joint I could have. But based on the amount of money it looked like the manufacturer spent on the cable components themselves and the fact that the connector was injected molded with insulation material, completely engulfing the solder connection, I decided to save my money and not sacrifice the very well built cable. The simple fact that I personally know it costs more money to hide a shoddy solder weld than it does to actually make the proper connection to begin with caused me to put my reservations to rest.
As I mentioned I used to be a dealer until just very recently. Not only was I a dealer but an owner who had invested a lot of time and money into the corporation. I have chosen to better my life and move on to bigger and better things and the fallacies surrounding products in the A/V market and my unwillingness to accept them were one of the reasons for leaving the business. As I don't know your background I will be more careful in my comments than you were in yours, and extend you a little professional courtesy. As a dealer and business professional I have been privileged to see the inside of factories and talk to people most here at Audiogon could only dream of. I would love to discuss details but in releasing this kind of information to a dealer and letting him/her see proprietary manufacturing processes, any manufacturer or representative worth their weight in salt utilizes quite an extensive confidentiality agreement. Trust me they enforce them too! I have seen and heard comments from people that most could only hope to hear or never hear depending on your preference. Things like “That cable costs us 50 cents to make and we sell it for $350” or more comes to mind. I have heard hoards of engineers laugh about the concept of break-in period, inductance, capacitance and various other terms you and I hear on an everyday basis in the industry. I am not saying which of these concepts or methodologies I practice, believe in, or preach. I am just saying that I have heard these statements on many occasions. People seem to think they know what they are speaking of and about the field because they are educated by articles in magazines, web-sites and various other sources. I have been trained over the last 10 years by some of the best in the business and manufacturers have spent a lot of time to put me in nice hotel rooms, treat me to the nicest meals and the best whiskey, scotch and “REAL Beer” money can buy. I have several certifications, designed hundreds of systems and Oh, I have a highly technical background and educational background. I feel that I know what I am talking about.
My review was based on the fact that there was not a lot of hype from the manufacturer in his advertisement and the product seemed to be of extremely high quality. I feel that quality of construction has “A LOT” to do with the sound of a cable much to your displeasure. Having purchased a pair of these cables I was able to see a nice diagram of the construction schematic on the cable itself. Considering it appeared to be identical to the cable I received there was no room for doubt and I felt I got a heck of a bargain. I did have the time to hook my cables up last night. I am sorry I don’t have free time in my day to just write reviews and hook up audio/video equipment all day long. As I have already stated, I am no longer in the business. Based on my initial listening I think that these are fine cables. The experience was transparent, warm and just what I had hoped for right out of the box. I am not a big believer in break-in period. I am not flaming or disagreeing with anyone here on Audiogon. I just simply feel that break-in is a factor of my mind and hearing getting used to the new sound more than anything else. Once I get used to the new setup I will post a review. I can only hope you read it and respond to it with as much candor as you did my original post!
Based on some of your responses it is hard to tell if you are disgruntled with just my post or Audiogon in general. You make it sound as if, despite my bad post, you have a difficult time finding useful information anywhere here on Audiogon. You also seem to think I am in cahoots with someone else but based on your comments one might construe that you, yourselves, were trying to keep others from buying a fine product. Maybe you are the one in cahoots. If there was any collusion going on with myself and anyone else, as you suggest, don’t you think I would build the cables up much more than I did by giving them a full review? I caution you in your comments by the way! Of course you both could very well be one of those guys that used to came into the store, which I was a principle partner in, purchased $2000 worth of, how should I say this, over-marketed and over-hyped cables, and as you were walking out the door my business partner and the representative, who was just visiting that day say, “You just made $1500 on a set of cables!!! If my cost was $500 what do you think the manufacturer made!
I can’t hold your hand. You have to make the decision on what to buy. Based on your feedback and what seems to be an extensive amount of time available to deal and browse around on Audiogon, I would think you had better things to do than try to tarnish the name of a business that is really trying to make a good name of themselves and offer a quality product. Do I sense a displeasing olfactory scent? Just because you feel you are a legacy of Audiogon it does not give you the right to bash whomever your wish. Sorry if I am so blunt!
