ANTI-CABLES by Paul Speltz: Anyone Using Them?

I actually had a freebie pair of Magnetwire speaker cable a gentlement name Jim Hess used to sell on this forum that had been sitting in a closet for over a year. I had replaced them with Acoustic Zen wiring (first Satori, then Holograms, then Satori again and finally Hologram II) and never looked back. Then shortly after purchsing my abbys something just didn't do it for me. At the suggestion of Terry I decided to root through my closet and broke out the magnet wire. I'll be damned if it didn't best the AZ cables in most every avenue in my system! Dynamics were much better, sound was no longer soft and flabby, soundstage stayd about the same but imaging really improved and overall I greatly prefered the new tonality. This was about 5 months ago now, and I'm still using the Magnetwire with no desire to change--this says a lot about me as I'm a very 'fidgity' hobbyist.

For the price they're worth a try and if I'm not mistaken Speltz offers a money back trial. Give it a shot, worst case scenario you've learned something from the expereince and are out ~$5 for the shipping.

i'm still at a loss as to why people are paying $10 per foot for 12 guage magnet wire that retails for about $3-4 per pound. a 10 foot pair costing $200 is about 10x what you would pay for an entire spool of this stuff, which has 100 feet or better. there's no magic here, it's just magnet wire. sure it works and sounds great, but people need to do their homework and save some serious money. those isoblocks sold for $25 to $50 for a set are the same ones you can get at a furniture store or appliance store for about $1 each or less. and no, they are not "specially tuned" or formulated in any way by the resellers.

Hi!

I received Paul Speltz Anti-Cables (speaker cables) the other day. I have listened to them for about 20-25 hours now and I must say as I've seen a reviewer say: Wow! And wow again!

I do not have much experience of speaker cables, specially not expensive ones such as Audience, Crystal etc., not even standard audiophile cables as Kimber, Van den Hul or JPS. My speaker cable experience is the following: Linn K20, Linn K400, DIY CAT6 (TNT Twisted Twins), Supra Ply, and that's all. Of the above the Supras were my favourite. I would have preferred the Twisted Twins had they not been so slow...

Now, if someone asked me how the Anti-Cables compare to any of the above I would frankly say, they don't. It's something completely different. I won't write a review, a couple of words sums it up: openess and transparency, natural dynamics, and most of all palpable presence (who turned my unmoddified T-Amp into a tube amp? :o) ). The clichés such as opening a window to the music etc. are true with these cables, at least to my ears. Break-in time is said to be 50 hours but they sound good already now after 20-25 hours (still opening up and settling in, though)

If you're after new cables, I strongly recommend you try these out. For people who are used to pay thousands of dollars a meter they're a bargain at about 30 USD/pair/meter. Before I tested them I considered the price as reasonable. Now, after having heard them I am extremly glad to have found something this good at this price.

Next on my list are the Anti-ICs.

Cheers!
Jolojl

Stvncar, it's $10 per foot PAIR, so half of what you imagine. For many of us, it's a reasonable premium to pay to have the wire cut to size and terminated.

drubin,
sorry, i did miss that fact in my post. a reasonable premium, perhaps, but crimp on spades will set you back less than $10 for 4, and the wire and heat shrink are dirt cheap as well. for about 15 minutes of effort you can still save a bundle. same goes with "cable lifters", the primary pin insulators that sell for $3.50 each and are on most telephone poles. these regularly sell for $160 for a set of 8. amazing what clever marketing hype will do. i don't begrudge anyone for making a living, but some of the markup on common items that are being sold as high end tweaks is just ridiculous and needs to be exposed.