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Analysis Plus Silver Apex Speaker cable

Hi All, I am a fan of Analysis Plus for several years now. I've tried several of their cables having been generally satisfied with the upgrades along the way. I just bought a pair of the new Silver Apex speaker cables. I've been listening for about one week so far. This is definitely a dynamic cable! Sometimes with improvements comes a down side. As I said, this cable is dynamic. A large sound stage with really nice bass on the up side. On the down side, it's bright on my Snell Type B's. I know that silver has a reputation for being bright. I was wondering if it's the age of my tweeters? Perhaps a shortcoming on the now 28 year crossover? I called the company today and spoke with a rep from AP. He basically said that he wasn't familiar with my speakers so he had no advice. Nice! I asked what speakers they used to test their cables on. One set was Watt Puppies. Another was a ribbon speaker from Australia (I wrote the brand down at work and left the note there). Another set of speakers they had on hand was Von  Schweikert. Who among you are using (and enjoying these cables? Any help is appreciated. Oh ,my equipment consists of PS Audio Directstream DAC and transport, Pass Labs XP20 and Pass 250.8 amp. Cabling is AP. Thank you. Joe 
jnovak
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,566 posts
 
I had a pair of Von Schweikert speakers that were wired internally with Analysis plus cable and I don’t know if that was the problem but I found them quite tipped up in the treble region.  They were the VR33 speakers with all the extra bells and whistles. I found myself not listening to that system and after a year and a half, unloaded them here.  Some people swear by those cables but after that, I never had a desire to try them.   I did hear that silver cables need a lot of break in so maybe that is the case with you. 
jnovak's avatar
jnovak OP
451 posts
 
Which cables did you end up listening too? Joe
erik_squires
16,829 posts
 
I have to say, I'm a little surprised AP is still in business.  I too liked their cables, but as far as i could tell, they haven't done any R&D in many years. 

They seemed to me like a pure marketing, manufacturing company.

Have they released any interesting new designs lately??
decooney
2,341 posts
 
@jnovak

As you noted, yes, the silvers are kind of known for being forward and detailed, in just about every review I’ve come across where someone jumps from richer sounding copper, or OCC Crystal Solo to "Silver". Particularly in some cases when combined with brighter sounding systems and speakers. Same for X1 vs. XP20 or XP20 vs XP32. I run the AP Crystal Solo Coppers, some consider them warm, even they are more forward, transparent, and more detailed than most other coppers. There may be another quick test to try.

Also, that particular tweeter in the Snell Type B looks familiar, maybe the same Vifa D25AG aluminum dome tweeter [definitely brighter] I used for number of years in my former custom speakers. Worked great with vinyl or the old FM Radio days with Snell Bs. Not so much for today’s hi-res streaming content, too edgy. A friend acquired a set of those custom speakers from me years ago. Last year when he went to Silver interconnects and Silver speaker cables, it was not a good match but he wanted to keep the cables and tune "elsewhere". I had to swap out that same 1" 25mm Aluminum dome tweeter for him - we went to a soft [fabric] dome D25 TG-05 type tweeter to take the edge off. Same chassis. Big difference, helped smooth it out notably. Maybe a low cost $45-$60 experiment for you. Doing some checking saw a few on the fleabay auction site. Cheaper than reselling those APs or buying a warmer new XP32 or older X1 preamp to take the detail/forward sound now exposed by the "silvers", fwiw. Caps in the x-overs may help, but I’d replace those tweeters, I always felt they were kinda grainy and edgy, even with a damped down x-over. Good luck.




jwpstayman
409 posts
 
HI Joe- give the Silver Apex cables at LEAST 150 hours to fully break in.  The top end is lively, but not out of proportion with the rest of the frequency spectrum.  Your patience will be rewarded!

As for Erik's comments- the Silver Apex IS a new design and Analysis Plus is no more of a marketing company than any other cable manufacturer.  Their hollow oval design is unique and well engineered.
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