Break In Experiences with Anti-Cables level 2.1 speaker cables?

Uberwaltz, in this thread a few months ago you indicated that you improved some deficiencies in the bass region that we and others had discussed by adding a sub, and a few weeks later you resolved them "big time" by purchasing the BAT VK600SE amp you are presently using. By any chance is the sub still in the system, and if so is it connected at speaker level to the outputs of the BAT?

If so, it seems to me to be possible that the amplifier might not be reacting well to the combination of the capacitance of the 15 foot length of Anticables (which I suspect is significantly higher than the capacitance of the former AQ’s), plus the capacitance of the wiring to the sub, plus the fact that the signal on the negative output terminal of the balanced amp is being grounded through some unknown impedance in the sub. (In general it is not a good idea to connect a powered sub to amplifier outputs that are either balanced or bridged, and of course the BAT is fully balanced). And perhaps it took some amount of time before the sonics of the amp succumbed to that combination of issues.

In any event, given that there is not a great deal of dielectric on the Anticables to be broken in, and given the severity of the symptoms you have described, my guess is that something unrelated to cable breakin has changed and is responsible for the problem.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

@almarg
your supposition is correct
the sub is still in the loop and connected in exactly the way you describe.
now I did turn the sub off and heard no real improvement but of course the cables were still connected to the sub as this was something I did not even consider.
it will be an interesting test tonight when back from the daily grind to disconnect the sub entirely and see if any audible difference.

+1 jayctoy and williewonka

Took the sub out of the loop entirely by disconnecting its feed cables from the BAT power amp.
This actually left the sound to be somewhat thin and hollow BUT with still a mushy boomy bass.
Reconnected the sub and fleshed out but still with the bloated lower bass although after a few more hours of playing it may be a little better.
I have plenty of time yet before the 30 days are up so I may as well keep burning them in and see if anything changes for the better.

Although it may not help your problem, instead of connecting the sub’s negative input terminals to the amp’s negative output terminals, try connecting the sub’s negative input terminals to a chassis screw (or screws) on the amp. That is what REL recommends, for example, when connecting their subs at speaker-level to amps that have balanced or bridged outputs.

There is a slight possibility that doing so could result in significant hum, depending on the internal grounding configuration of the amp. But assuming hum doesn’t occur that approach would be preferable to grounding the full amplitude signals that are present on the amp’s negative output terminals through an unknown and possibly very low impedance in the sub. Which, depending on the internal grounding configuration of the sub and the amp, could conceivably result in damage to both components, eventually if not sooner.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al