I myself found out about MG Audio Design interconnects from an article appearing in TAS by Arnie Nudell. Later I learned that not only did Paul McGowan of PS Audio use them, but that members of the Colorado Society preferred them to top of the line Nordhost in a direct comparison. But even though the top of the line MG Audio Design top of the line interonnects went for $1600 a one meter pair, still they were above my reach. Then I found out they sell their half meter pairs for just $900 prt pair. Even though the best pair I have to compare them to is my Audience AU24se's, their differences are great in ultimate capabilities. I am also using for my speaker wires a combination of a one foot pair of MG Audio Design's top end speaker wires-which also go for $900 a pair, plus runs of Jenna Labs's 18 gage hook up wires. Again, the results are simply spectacular. I can only compare the MG Audio Design speaker wires themself to a 7 year old pair of Shunyata's top of the line speaker wires and the results are not even close. Adding a bunch of Audioquest power cords, a JPS digital power cord for my 2 Oppo players as well as 2 Audioquest Niagara 1000 strips completes the wire-power conditioning system. To get the best results one must complete the whole combination. Put in one truly inferrior wire produt in the system and the whole effect can be easily lost. But I truly believe that the combination of the above mentioned products in my audio system results in audio playback far, far above that of other alternatives for the price. In fact, not even close. That my 20 year old Martin/Logan SL-3 speakers never, ever sounded better. That my 35-40 year old Mcintosh MR74 tuner, Marants 20 FM Tuner sound simply amazing. In fact I believe my McIntosh MR74 tuner is possibly the best audio source avaliable today for the money. At least if you live in Boulder Colorado.
Opening a can of worms
Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV, Proceed PDSD, Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense. Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect.
Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.
Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense. Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect.
Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.
Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
- ...
- 216 posts total
- 216 posts total