Clear Day Audio Double Shotgun speaker cables


 

Here is the link to my system on Audiogon to give context to the review to follow: https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/6116

 

Why the review?   Well, I’ve learned a lot from the A’Gon postings of others and would like to return the favor. I’ve been into this audiophile thing for 40+ years. Made great and not so great system decisions in the quest for a musically satisfying system.

 

I thought my system sounded very good until visiting a friend recently and hearing a transparency in his system that was foreign to me in my listening room. Upon coming home from that experience, my system sounded too “heavy”. My music was comfortable and warm and relaxing, but the comparison revealed how much genuine detail and transparency was lacking.

 

What to do? Think about that other system and what it had that I wanted. What was I missing? What might I do to bring openness and detail to my system?

 

My situation had been predicted? by John Rutan from whom I bought my speakers. I was using two separate runs of very copper heavy speaker cables which he cautioned me might indeed be too much for the Vandersteen Treo CTs. They sounded great with my previous Vandys so I assumed they would with my new transducers as well. If you want to be hugged in a warm aural blanket then yep. If you want open, transparent sound minus the “bassy blanket” then perhaps not.

 

Now’s an appropriate time to thank all of you who have had the Clear Day experience and were good enough to share it here. Thank you so much!

 

The Clear Day speaker cables are made of 24 GA solid core .999 soft annealed silver wire. The double shotgun models reviewed here contain several runs of this wire. Silver is a superior conductor to even the best copper and has earned a reputation for detail and transparency.

 

Perhaps unfairly, silver has garnered the negative reputation for treble brightness. During my first conversation with Paul Laudati, the “father” of these cables, he assured me that brightness was not a problem with his cables. He backs up his assertion with a 30 day money back guarantee if in any way you are not satisfied by his cables. That puts the ball in the prospective customer’s court. Try ‘em or not??

 

The Clear Days sounded nice right from the get go. That “heaviness” was gone as was most of the bass period. Ugh.

 

Paul was clear, as are most designers, that break-in is obligatory. So on went the music on repeat. Each night the Purist Audio System enhancer went on repeat as well. Sure enough as days passed, first the treble opened up, then the bass became tight and present and finally the music began to “jump” from the speakers. The soundspace gained greater height, width and depth.

 

It was time to rediscover many much loved pieces of music. I found myself planning listening sessions and thinking about what I should listen to next to affirm for myself that this new-found musicality was real. I mean I had my speakers since June of ’16. Now I was finally hearing the transparency and detail that Richard Vandersteen had designed into the Treo CTs.

 

I had read many times about the beautiful treble from the carbon tweeter. Now I was hearing it. Fantastic. These cables have been a revelation. To acquire something so transformative for such a ridiculously reasonable price is jarring. I don’t expect my Hyundai to drive like a Mercedes. The price differential would make that an absurd expectation. Perhaps that is an extreme comparison but the Clear Day speaker cables are a crazy great value and the cherry on top is getting to deal with a fine gentleman like Paul Laudati.

 

Hey, I’m not trying to sell you on anything here. It just seems wrong not to share such a wonderfully transformative experience with others who may similarly benefit. If you do contact Paul he will counsel you on which model(s) of Clear Days might be best for your particular system and then let you try them and decide for yourself. Worst case… you’re out a small return shipping fee.

 

One last thing…in full disclosure I bought two 8’ pairs of double shotguns to biwire my Vandys with 3/16” silver spades custom terminated by Paul for the Vandy termination strip that only accepts small spades. Once I sent Paul the check I knew that my specially terminated wires were NOT returnable. Between what I learned here from previous A’Gon posters and Paul himself, I took the plunge. No regrets, just appreciation.

 

While writing this review I listened to Chesky SACD289, Larry Coryell, Badi Assad and John Abercrombie’s “Three Guitars”. I’m so glad I chose to play this while writing. I was previously kind of bored by it. Tonight, I could hear the skin on the strings, the sustained resonance of the wood guitar body and that beautiful aural decay into the soundspace. The three guitars came to life. The sound had realistic transient jump. I’ll be enjoying that disc again soon.

 

As I conclude this review I am listening to the second go round of Stockfish Records “Closer To the Music” Volume 4 SACD. This sampler offering is beautiful music, expertly recorded. ( I have all 5 of their sampler discs!!) These discs were so “heavy” sounding before the Clear Day’s that I was never able to appreciate the true musicianship of the Stockfish stable of artists. Problem solved.

 

I keep trying to conclude this review…Done!

 

 


128x128hifiman5
Oh, and Symphonic is not all I listen to, but as it is the hardest thing to get right in audio, it's how I do my system setup .
You are welcome @hifiman5 . Glad to know that you are enjoying your music. Also try to listen to some old or no-so-well-recorded songs, and you will be surprised by the musicality of this cable.
I did try clear day cables, I would say they are a better match with the older Tube style electronics.

I found them bright on some systems, whilst it performed wonderful on others. Its very system dependant.
Agreed DV.  I must say the owner of Clear Day is a great guy for sure. One of the best I have ever dealt with for sure. I found his cables a tad too thin and a touch bright. It is system dependent to be sure. I also think we each have our own preferences. I find silver, every silver cable I have tried and I have tried many, to be less full bodied than I prefer. Others love the smooth and detailed sound of great silver cables. 


In talking to Paul of Clear Day Audio he did say that he's never had a pair of his cables returned by Vandersteen owners.  I've been listening through different models of Vandys for the past 30 years and the Vandersteen house sound leans to the warm  side of the spectrum especially as relates to the mid bass.  With the notable exception of the original model 3s which I found to be a bit much in the treble, most other Vandys are linear in treble and upper midrange response versus many other brands which tend to be a tad more forward in those areas.

For me, the all silver Clear Days have opened up the treble of my Treo CTs.  They have helped to lean out the upper and mid bass relative to what my copper heavy Audioquest Earth series cables were delivering.  grannyring you mentioned "smooth.  That is the cool thing about the Clear Days to me. The sound across the frequency spectrum is smopth and open.  

A concrete example of the smooth detail I'm hearing now is listening to a jazz piece the other day and for the first time clearly hearing that the drummer was hitting the ride cymbal with wood tipped rather than plastic tipped sticks.  I had never noticed that detail on that well known song before. 

In fairness to Audioquest, (all of my interconnects are AQ) I'm quite certain there are listeners out there with the opposite sonic situation as me whose systems could really use a slightly rolled off treble and bit more guts in the nether regions.  Such is the nature of this interesting  hobby.  There are an almost infinite number of possibilities appreciating all of the different components, speakers and most importantly, ears out there.  

For me, the Clear Day Double Shotguns are here to stay.  I am finally hearing what the rest of my system is capable of reproducing in a musically natural, satisfying, yet revealing way.