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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
jeoneil
29 posts
 
@ctsooner 
If I were you I would try to borrow a CAD and see what it will do in your system. The CAD is eating ultrasonic noise which is not even supposed to be audible. Therefore it should not make any difference and its a safe bet most designers don't attempt to manage/suppress such noise. And yet, in my system and every system I've heard them added to, the sound improved. Sometimes by a lot.

I first heard these devices at Axpona in a demo by CAD where they had 5-6 ground controls on one system using their DAC and streamer. It was some of the most relaxing yet highly resolved digital sound I've ever heard. 

And now I have cable envy reading this thread....

earthtones
110 posts
 
@ctsooner I’m using the M5-HPA’s with 5A Carbons. The preamp is the mighty new ARC Ref 6SE. But at the time I was evaluating the WTs, I was borrowing Johnny’s Ref 6. I had been so satisfied with the PS Audio BHK Signature preamp. It’s checks off so many of the boxes - no added feedback, simple tube input stage, great value for the money. But whether it’s the mosfet output stage or the capacitors that are holding it back, it just sounds flat and saccharine compared to the ARC. It took the better cables to highlight the problem. The new ARC is sublime. I told RV how much I love it and he said he’s heard great things about it. The $64K question now is, is he going to roll out that rumored preamp he’s supposedly been working on? He set the bar incredibly high with the M5-HPAs.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,914 posts
 
earthtone and Pete - how fun and congrats on the M5 amplifiers:-) i have ref6se envy for sure. have fun and enjoy the music 
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
Jim, thanks.  We need to talk on phone and catch up soon!!!  I can't afford a preamp right now, lol.  I'm hoping and praying that the volume control they install in my server/DAC is of the highest quality.  The designer built the Melos gear back in the day.  It was OUTSTANDING sound wise, but broke down constantly.  He's fixed all of that now and his designs are sublimed.  We will see.  I also need to get an electrician into my listening room to run conduits for the two dedicated circuits in the room that are on an adjoining wall.  I moved the system 10 years ago and just never moved the circuits.  I now have no choice as I don't have enough outlets on that wall to plug in the speakers, mono's AND the Niagara.  Can't plug one mono into the Niagara and the other directly into the wall, lol...  I'll have him put one circuit behind each speaker for the mono blocks and speakers and then a four pack behind the TV/server area for the Niagara and router/LPS unit that run that and the cable box, lol.  I also just realized that I can't use my Hurricane cords on the Mono blocks due to them being 15amp and the amps being 20amp. DARN IT TO HECK!!!
eziggy
137 posts
 
@ctsooner you can always send the Hurricanes back to AQ to get re-terminated for a small fee, it's a simple process.
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