Cardas ICs are too warm for Tube amp

The Cardas Clear are in a completely different league than the GR. They deliver everything the GR does, but they strip away a huge amount of veiling. Soundstage depth is dramatically increased and even the most subtle ambient cues are rendered with absolute clarity. I strongly encourage anyone shopping for new cables to audition them. They are really quite amazing.

I quite agree with you, high definition, warmth & musicality at the same time time, but speaker cables (bi-wiring) too expensive, not in relation with the single wiring.

Cardas is often a tough call. I have used a variety of their older lines and still tend to use Cardas Golden Ref fairly often.

The bottom line for me often is this:
- Objectively, I will sit there and think that the other cable (the non-Cardas) has more detail in the treble, for example, and so my analytic brain will choose the other brand.
- But when I just want to kick back and enjoy the music, ah, Cardas often wins hands down. It makes me wonder whether the extra detail in the non-Cardas cable is actually an exaggeration.

To my ear, live concerts generally sound more like the house sound that Cardas offers than the sound some other cables offer that my analytical brain tries to convince me is more accurate.

Go figure.
Art

I recently heard a system with all Cardas Clear. This was at a dealer playing Wilson Alexandrias driven by VTL electronics.

It had the characteristic Cardas sound, i.e., warm, slow and lacking excitement. I'm sure system synergy plays a role but the cables were not doing this dealer any favors. Try the WyWires Hot Sauce which is designed for warm tube amps.

I'm using Cardas GR IC's's and Golden Cross speaker cable's with a Art Audio Signature SET and Joule Electra LA-300ME....

I had a musician friend of mine comment after hearing a new recording of some Beethoven piano music,that he thought it sounded very much like a performance he heard recently at Carnegie Hall!
(could be the good food and bourbon talking)

So it seems the combination of Cardas and tubes seems to be working for me...just fine.