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Audioquest Firebird Zero

I've tried several speaker cables over the past year; Shunyata Alpha and Sigma, Wireworld Silver Eclipse series 7, Audioquest Oak and Redwood, Audience Au24 SX, and I own Clarus Crimson speaker cables. I prefer the Clarus over all of the aforementioned speaker cables. I've had the Audioquest Firebird Zero speaker cables on loan for three days. My initial thoughts were everything is a little clearer through them compared to my Clarus Crimson. Not a night and day difference, but definitely clearer. The Clarus are slightly more 3-dimensional to my ears. My wife on the other hand just keeps saying the AQ sounds sharper, clearer, there are less impurities in the music. I'm not sure what she means by impurities, but she keeps repeating it. Maybe she means a darker background? My plan was to have a home audition of the Thunderbird Zero speaker cables, but they had banana plugs on the amplifier end and I can't use them. I took the Firebirds with the logic that if I can't hear a difference between them and my current cables I didn't need to have a home audition of the Thunderbirds. $14K for an eight foot pair of speaker cables is freaking crazy and sad! It would be easy for me to dismiss it  because there isn't a night and day difference, but once you hear the difference it's very hard to ignore. Financially I just can't justify spending $14K on speaker cables and hope to hear the AQ Thunderbirds sometime next week. Once again I'm reminded that absolutely everything makes a difference. For those that can easily afford $14K, $20K or more speaker cables I understand, because cables can be equivalent to a component change. Does it ever end?
ricred1
ricred1 OP
2,058 posts
 
jafant,

Thanks. I view cables as the icing on the cake. Finding the right cables is a very tedious process. There are just too many cable options and it can be overwhelming.  
ctsooner's avatar
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
I'm getting either the William Tell or Robin Hood bi wire's tomorrow. I have Vandersteen Quatro's, Ayre AX5/20 and The Memory Player server and DAC (most current model, the DAC is their prototype and will keep getting upgrades and a new cabinet soon).  

I just told my AQ Castlerock cables tonight.  I heard the Tells on a larger Vandy system a few weeks ago and the Hood on a lesser system.  Both were killer and a major upgrade over the older AQ speaker cables.  Garth is a great guy and to me one of the top cable/cord designers going.  

I have heard most of the speaker cables on the market over the last year or so.  For my ear I just enjoy the AQ neutrality.  I've never felt they lacked in '3D' sound.  I can say that you need to spend some time with them to truly appreciate what they are doing in the system.  

I too enjoy the Clarus Crimson.  Perfito's nephew owns The Stereo Shop in Hartford, CT and of course they sell the Tributary's as well as the Clarus lines.  You can't go wrong with either cable.  Just great choices and we all win out.  Thanks for sharing info guys.  
ctsooner's avatar
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
I ordered the William Tell bi wire combo for my Vandersteen Quatro's, Ayre AX5/20 and The Memory Player server/DAC.  I can't wait to get them into the system.  I've heard them a few times now and feel they are a GREAT value (seriously) at this price range for speaker cables.  The Robin Hood's sounded incredible, but the price difference was the same as moving up to a new component.  That's RARE in cables, but it's how I feel. 

What are other's thoughts on the new AQ series speaker cables? 
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
We had a lot of discussions lately with Audioquest about the use of the Zero with bridges. I have done thousands of tests with cables in over 20 years of time now. I have tested single wires vs bi-wire compared to each other a lot. In most situations, the bi-wire works a lot better compared to the single wire with most bi-wire loudspeakers.

We sold this year several new Zero+Bass of the new Folk and mythical creatures series. The combination of these two is far superior compared to only the Zero version. We sell the most expensive Audioquest loudspeaker cables in the Netherlands. We never sold any single wire cables to any owner with bi-wire loudspeakers.

I use the Firebird Zero+Bass combination with my Monitor Audio Pl-500, This is of a different planet. And creates new reference standards in audio.

https://www.facebook.com/bobby.kingma/media_set?set=a.10161505935885083&type=3

We recently started to sell Audioquest cables in the US to new clients from the US as well. We hear from all these people how much more knowledge we have regarding all the differences in detail of all Audioquest cables compared to US dealers.

Soon new clients will place reviews of their experiences with our insight and knowledge regarding audio.
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
Next month Audioquest Europe will visit me for a demo. We will prove and show how much more details, dynamics, and layers we can get out of every single Audioquest cable.

A new client of ours from New York will soon put a review about his experiences with how we work. And he will explain how much more we can get out of each cable and component.

We are a company that have spent thousands of hours in research in both sound&vision in over 20 years of time. In the last 4 years, we have done a lot of research regarding electricity. And we have done research in Elektro-smog, high-frequency noise, and magnetism. Always together with the best experts in these areas in the world.

This gives us now a huge advantage in insight and knowledge regarding both sound&vision. We can prove over and over again how much more details, dynamics, and layers we can get out of each cable and component.

In the last few weeks I am surprised how little insight and knowledge there is in the US regarding electricity. These are clients with systems of over 200.000 dollars. We adapt not only electricity. We go so much further into details. We use the best conditioners in the world.

We use tools and also modifications to minimalize electro-smog, high-frequency noise, and magnetism. We do this by each individual aspect. It will blow your mind how much further we are in knowledge and insight.

In the last years, I spent all my time in research. With one goal to create new reference standards in both sound&vision. We did research on stereo, surround, and vision. Because we want to outperform in each area.


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