Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II vs. Absolute Copper IC's

@audphile1 

silver has about a 5% better conductivity than copper..  doubt it would be noticeable in many tests if at all..  I recently had some custom transformers built. I had asked for silver, which was quite a bit more expensive.. The designer/builder uses both copper and silver upon request. I was told that silver doesn’t sound any better and that I should stick to using copper. I was all ready to buy silver and pay the premium over cooper, but went with cooper after listening to the guy with 40+ years in designing and building transformers who could have easily taken my money and let me walk away paying almost twice the price… 

@mikem:

Sorry for the delayed response. We've been hit hard by three feet of snow coupled with ongoing power outage and power's not projected to return until 1/7. I'm on generator and can't stay long. 

Anyway, I use Audio Art speaker cable. I have long runs (20 feet) and when I started out, that's what I could afford. I've upgraded all my other cables over time (some, more than once) but not the speaker cable and I can't see doing it until we live somewhere that affords much shorter runs. 

The storm's brought a halt to my experimenting but The Cable Co. has generously granted me an extension on the loaner cable. I will try combining the A. Copper and Silver Ref. with the Lokius, next. 

I have not been able to get a remotely neutral sound out of the Absolute Copper IC's. They are incredibly dark in my system. Of course, YMMV. 

The Silver Reference were brighter than I prefer with the Hegel BUT I have since changed out a power cord, inserted Herbies Threaded Stud Gliders back into my speaker stands and things are sounding much closer to what I like. 

By contrast, I was not able to find any work-a-rounds to lift the system out of the stygian depths with the A. Coppers in place. Combining them with a pair of the Silver Reference via the Lokius with the EQ tweaked did not succeed, so I'm returning them to The Cable Company. 

I will keep the system as currently configured for awhile and continue to evaluate.

Having just come off an in-depth search for an integrated, I don't have the energy at this point to immediately embark upon a cable "grail quest". 

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. 

Happy to hear you got your power back on ahead of schedule :)