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Anti Cables with Simaudio

Here is yet another opinion/experience with speaker cables.

I use Green Mountain Speakers, a Monarch DAC24, and was using an Arcam A90 amp. As a non-believer in expensive cables, I seek out well made reasonably priced cables. For a long time, I didn't even think any cables made a difference. I now have a different opinion.

Three cables compared:
Cobalt Cable - 10 gauge heavy multi-strand solid copper.
KnuKfoncepts - 10 gauge light multi-strand silver coated copper.
Anti cables - solid copper cable with no shielding or insulation other than a light coating.

All these cables cost under $200, I run 4 meter lengths.

I bought Cobalt Cables Ultimate cable and used them with the Arcam/GMA setup. This setup had a very tranparent and detailed sound. I could listen to this for hours without losing interest or fatigue. For an experiment, I bought the KnuKoncepts silver cables. The sound was compressed, the highs truncated and well, the magic was gone. So I packed them up in my closet and forgot about them.

Recently, I sold the Arcam and bought a Simaudio Moon I-5. Nice little amp with great reviews. I hooked it up and wham - it sounded bad. Compressed sound, hard to listen to with little detail or definition, exagerated upper mid-frequencies. Needless to say I was disappointed and thought about listing the amp immediately and buying another Arcam. As I read some articles and got some feedback, I decided to experiment with some cables - so I pulled out the silver stranded cables and hooked them up. The transparency and detail returned but with some additional benefits, the amp sounded more dynamic, more powerful. I went back and forth for a couple days but the silver cables were significantly better sounding and brought the magic back.

So next, I thought, this can get even better and bought some anti cables after reading so many great reviews, hooked em up and the highs and detail were gone again. They still sounded pretty good but not nearly as refined as the silver stranded cable. Again I was dissapointed, the anti cables will be available on audiogon soon.

As I have heard very expensive cables at my local high-end dealer, I have come to the following conclusions from this experience:

1. a speaker wire that sounds good with one amp may sound terrible with another. It doesn't matter how much you spend.
2. The configuration and material (silver vs copper, twisted vs solid, etc).
3. All these cables are decent, one is not better than the other, it depends on the synergy with the amp and speakers.

The reference tracks that I use for my testing are:

Kaki King - "Legs", track 1 - Frame (this is a great close mic'ed acoustic guitar track with ringing harmonics, and natural reverb.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, - "So Far" - track 2 - Helplessly Hoping and track 10 - Gueniverre.
Rachel Podger, Solo Violin - Bach Sonatas and Partitas - various.
Bruce Cockburn - "Breakfast" - Track 4 - That's what friends are for.

If you made it all the way through this, you must be more nuts than I am for writing it - thanks!
drewh1
drewh1 OP
115 posts
 
Danlib1 - I am interested in trying this - since I have already changed my opinion about differences in speaker cables (though not about spending too much on them), I am open to being swayed on speaker cable burn-in! I will hang on to the anti-cables and give them a shot after I put some hours on the ones that are in there. (my next big area of skepticism is power cables).

What I am really enjoying is having a system that allows me to hear very subtle differences. The combination of the Green Mountain speakers and the Simaudio really allow me to evaluate nuances.

I also appreciated the way you communicated your opinion, thanks.
danlib1
819 posts
 
Let us know what you think after some burn in time :)
Ag insider logo xs@2x
knownothing
1,584 posts
 
Drewh1,

I have found that quality power cables have made the largest difference in the sound of my system of any cable type added to date. Perhaps this is because I had already upgraded ICs and speaker cables, and the last cables added benefited from, and added to, higher signal integrity and resolution of the overall system. Whatever the cause, the larger power cables on my integrated and CDP have had a noticeable and positive impact on the overall presentation - way more space and much better bass. Highly recommended.
carl109
134 posts
 
Drew, I don't think it's so much to do with synergy of amp and speakers, but more to do with your own personal tastes when it comes to the way YOUR ears hear and YOUR mind interprets the signals.
The change you noticed (more detail and better dynamics) is also what I found when I switched to stranded silver cables, along with a lift in the upper treble; such characteristics are often applied to silver cables. But are my silver cables "better" than the copper I replaced? I don't know, but they sound better to me, and that's what matters.
drewh1 OP
115 posts
 
Carl,

I hope I made it clear in my post that I was not favoring one cable over the other, merely pointing out that a certain cable performed differently in one system than the other.

However I do not agree that it is only a matter of personal preference. There is clearly a goal of recreating the music the way that the artist and engineers intended it to sound. I do not think that Rachel Podger or Yo Yo Ma would want to hear there million dollar instruments on a system that truncated harmonics and bloated the base, which is what some people prefer to hear. As a musician that has been in and out of recording studios my whole life, I can tell you that artist work diligently at getting a specific sound during the process in recording and audiphile gear should strive to reproduce that sound faithfully, not create a sound that is pallatible to the consumers ears. It is a matter of experience and education learning how to hear faithfully reproduced music.

So I do believe there is a synergy between components that more faithfully reproduces the intent of the artist and that is what I spend my hard earned money on!

I also understand this is a long standing debate among audiophiles.
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