@bobheinatz I love the 866 too. Really happy with it on all counts. The Takumi is still breaking in, but most prominent to me so far is increased detail and musicality. To my ear, there is a better sense of flow without loss of precision with regard to leading edge transients and decay. Like you, I've had tube gear before, but I felt like the bloom (which I liked) obscured the detail, which didn't work for me. Here, I don't feel I'm sacrificing anything...well, except $$.
Choosing new cables
I am looking to upgrade my current cables. This should be my last system as I retired a few years ago and most of my components have been seriously updated in the last couple of years. I have been in this audio hobby for about 50 years and have always have great sounding musical systems.
My current cables all work and sound great but are 15 - 20 years old. So updating is what I need. I am budgeting around $10k - $15k for all new cables.
I have always felt the i/c's were the most important cable followed by the speaker cables and the power cords. However I am now leaning towards spending more on the power cords followed by the speaker cables and last the i/c.
I know all cables are very important but how would you prioritize the cables? Any suggestions on any brands would also be appreciated!
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After my above post, I recalled using the following website as a primer (if you will) for making cable selections for auditioning purposes: Audio Bacon Obviously, like all reviews, the outcome is subject to the reviewer's ancillary equipment, room and their presentation tastes and preferences. However, the question of where to begin the auditioning process is always a foremost one. Thus, the more information that can be amassed and analyzed, the better. |
Prior to upgrading all my cabling from Wire World (4 Electra 7 @$260, Series 8 XLR @ $600 and series 8 speaker cable @ $1500+, and 2 x 15 yo Boutique PCs @ $500) I applied Mad Scientist Audio's Graphene Contact Enhancer to all of them (ditto to all the new cables). That alone was revelatory, and dirt cheap compared to replacing cables, but I read a Agon forum thread about Counterfeit Chinese Cables and tried replacing just my Pangea Premier SE coax ($169) with a Nordost named brand (only the name is copied, still bad, but...) Nordost Odin 2 from DIY HiFi Store at ~ 1/3 the price + free shipping. The only knock being it took 3 weeks from China to S FL, but it was WORTH IT. I then slowly proceeded to replace everything with the exception of 2 PCs; one to my CorePower 1800 PLC and one to my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 external power supply both from Amazon < $35! and amazing. The XLR interconnect is Odin Gold as are the PCs to my Audiolab CDT6000 and Tweak Audio EVS 1200 power amp. Finally I bought Nordost Odin 2 speaker cables which I eventually replaced with Odin Gold. All in < $1000 since then, Verifi Audio has introduced 2 products that from the user reports are amazing and relatively inexpensive; the Swiss Fuse and the Puron AC power conditioner (see the Agon forums). I haven't gotten them yet, but these plus Graphene Contact Enhancer seems to be must have upgrades before upgrading cables hth |
This may sound counterintuitive, but we have found the best cable upgrade path is: Power --> Speaker --> ICs --> Digital In case you are interested, Finley Audio (I am one of the owners) will be partnered up with a Boulder 866 this year at Axpona 2023. We will be using our Cirrus family of cabling to connect the whole system if you want to stop by. If you cannot make it, please feel free to call or reach out to us. We would be happy to discuss your specific system and help you in any way we can. We also have a trial period for our products to make sure they synergize well with your system. Good luck in your search and happy listening!
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