Jafant, No they don’t. They are produced in California. If I were you, Jafant, I would aim for the sweet spot of your budget and go from there. If your budget allows, I would go the atmosphere route, as I’m sure it’s a larger helping of goodness. If not, I urge you to check out these lower cost offerings, and see if they give you a degree of Improvement you are satisfied with. You really have little to loose with a home trial. I think some vendors even give 60 days. With proper break in and usage, you should definitely be able to know whether these are right for your system. As an aside-here is an update to my black cable upgrade after some moderate break in time.
Yesterday my good friend came over for a listening session. He hadn’t heard the system since the power amp cable had been ordered. Upon arrival, the power amp cable had around 100 hours on it, just about enough time to be able to make a preliminary assessment. We set up the room. Blanket hanging over plasma, pillows lined up on rear wall, wifi router off, and all unneeded appliances unplugged.
The system was ready as I had set an alarm earlier to warm it up so it would sound it’s best prior to his arrival. He started going through my CD rack, and selected the few acid test titles we know well to listen for differences and I say differences, because many times, theyre not necessarily improvements, but differences in sound, with one compromise or another. Many of the cables I’ve made through the years fall into this catagory. So we selected Bob Marley "Uprising", Pink Floyd 2011 remasters, and Madonna "immaculate collection" (no snickering- it’s actually a great cd for soundstage.....okay. You got me, I like Madonna-now back to business!)
Bob Marely is not an audiophile 180 gram virgin pressing, blab bla bla kind of recording. Simply good music on a silver disc with aspirations of a quality recording. It’s not a system showcaser, but there is a lot of information on the disc and it can give your system a work out. This disc has the tendency to sound bright. Now, it retained it’s brightness. But it was more tolerable, and with a much greater sense of ease and the resolution was through the roof. Seperation of instruments, and articulation of those instruments, we’re so imoroved, it was a completely different experience than we had ever heard before.
My friend commented that he had heard this album hundreds of times, and many times on my system, but actually this time, was transported to the 80’s as a child on a TWA flight to Jamaica, Sony sports Walkman with the white cassette tape of this album playing on it. That right there is a testament to what these power cables have achieved. Emotion- not just the emotion the system is able to project, but the emotion it elicits from the listener. Now the system, can’t project humidity and palm trees, but it sure was close.
With a smile on my face I queued up "wish you were here". When the guitar came in, my friend let off a long "wooooooooooooow" as I expected, because I had done the same on my own the night before. It was so clear and free of any haze, with a pitch black noise floor, it was absolutely amazing. We then listened to "Money" on SACD and were similarly impressed, and led on a tangent to discus wether we liked the SACD copy vs. the 16 bit remaster. It was nerding out at its finest. We then moved on to Madonna.
This disc really sounds amazing, especially older tracks that at the time of their release I was a child, playing them on 45’s on nothing more than a 5 and 10 $ 100 dollar Emerson all in one "stereo". You know the kind that literally has cardboard speakers with silver chrome dust caps, tinsel leads and loud mechanical buttons, all weighing in at a massive 10lbs combined......listening to these tracks was an adventure.
So much information, but the system never coughed, and never sounded congested. What’s more, we didn’t have to turn the system up to be satisfied, as the scope was still large at low volume. Dynamics were still readily apparent which was very welcomed. Synths and actual instruments gained warmth. Micing techniques were highlighted. With "Crazy For You"- I had my own TWA moment, and recalled moments of sticker and pencil case heartbreak, being dumped by my 7 year old "girlfriend" and thinking my life was over.
Sure, the system has evoked feelings from me before, but never as elicit as this. I would caution about saying that a cable can change ones life. It boarders on lunacy, but it has changed my listening experience, so game changer-yes.
Before my friend left we went into a discussion trying to wrap our brains ohow a powercable could have such a profound improvement. We were expecting an improvement, or differnce, with something given back for that improvement, but for the first time- we gave up NOTHING. And then we speculated about the obvious Roswell technology that we must be dealing with here. 😉 I can understand now why it says "never compromise" on the box.
