KCI Pure Gold and the benefits


Hi Guys just wanted to share my new love for the majic of pure gold interconnects. Ive been through the paces of tring different mid to high grade interconnects in my system and finally tried pure gold. Now the price does vary significantly from pure gold cable to pure gold cable, I picked up the KCI and have really loved what gold did for my modest system compared to pure silver, flat ribbon and tons of different copper. I have read the white papers about silver being a better conductor and even some on why gold is more pleasing to the ear. I feel that gold is more coherent top to bottom than silver but noticed many of my audio friends are using silver still. What is the general feeling and use here amongst guys with the high end of equipment? Are you using gold and does it get even better with higher end equipment?
stivervii
The Silkworm+(pronounced Silkworm Plus) is a project that I've been working on for quite a while now. My goal was to design a cable offering the same level of performance as our Silkworm Special Edition but without the extreme cost of the S.E. We often have customers contacting us asking for the S.E. but once they hear the price they shudder and run(I don't blame them one bit!). With gold prices continually on the rise the S.E. just gets further and further out of reach-for most of us anyway so I've known for a while I really needed to expand on the orginal Silkworm. One important goal was to try to design and build a cable capable of retaining all the great aspects of the standard Silkworm but expand and improve on this-smooth and even more extended highs, more authority, more texture and a deeper tighter bass. I wanted it all but without the extreme cost.

We began working with our wire vendor late last year on this project and after several failures, a whole bunch of "good but not good enough" prototypes, several bloody fingers as well as a few set backs, we finally got it. Success at last-and it's a beauty! It's got more of everything and brings our Silkworm platform to a level of performance that is beyond our expectations. I'd rather not give away any proprietary secrets but I can say this; this newest cable does retain the original pure 24 karat gold Silkworm wire so you're still getting your fair dose of pure gold, BUT, this baby now has double the amount of wire as previous versions. The Silkworm+ also incorporates a new and improved larger, more pure Teflon, an improved and more robust strain relief and to top it off.....some shielding! This is not a full braided type of shield as we found that type of shield sucked the life right out of our cables, but, it is a shield and it works very well. This extra shielding really helps the Silkworm+ offer a deeper/darker back ground making for a very quiet cable.

So, in short you still get the wonderful open/airy, warm and organic signature sound of the original Silkworm, but now you get an improvement across the board; oozing with texture, smooth and extended highs, deep and tight bass, a cable with the authority this baby will make you sit up and take notice. The Silkworm+ is exactly what we were hoping for and it has managed to exceed our expectations. They are much more labor intensive and take me twice as long to build as the standard Silkworm but it's worth every minute of it. I'm tired but I'm also very proud of this cable, it's what I've been striving for for quite some time.

As a side note; if you took note of our last few auctions on Audiogon a few months back you may have seen us selling the Silkworm MK-II, this was the beginning of the Silkworm+ but now we will have the true "Plus" version for sale very soon.
Hi John,

Good for you John. I hope all those inquiries turn into sales! If it sounds close to an SE,then you are going to have very happy customers. Good Luck! It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
If you are ever in the area it would be my pleasure,John.

Regards,
Joe
Hi John,

As you may remember, last year I exchanged a pair of Silkworm balanced for a shorter (.5m) pair of single ended Silkworm SE cables and never got around to sharing my impressions.

They connect a Bottlehead Eros phono stage to a highly modified Audio Note L3 preamp and will remain in place "forever". They are smooth as silk, yet pass on all the microdetail I want to hear from my lps.

If your "plus" cables come very close, you have whipped up a special product.

Best wishes,

John B, Utah, USA
Hey Joe,
Thanks for the props Joe. I'm happy to hear that you are still enjoying the S.E.'s, darn good cable and I'm a tad emarrassed to admit that even I don't own(to costly at the moment) though I hope to one day.

Thanks for the offer Joe and you can bet if I'm ever in your area I'll be ringing your door bell. I would love to hear that system!!

Hi John,

Man I was flipping through my files the other day and ran across your name(for all the digital cables) and was wondering how you've been, how are you? Are the digital cables still keeping you happy?

How is that Bottlehead phono stage? I'll be needing a phono stage for my wife in the future and have no idea where to begin, she's a vinyl freak and I am of no help to her at all.

Oh, and if I am ever in your area expect a door knock as well!! So many fine systems I'd love to hear-so little time.....

Best to ya both,
John
I have had some prototype Silkworm + with Xhadow Connectors for a few days now and wanted to give some quick, early impressions for those following this thread and wondering about the next gen cables from John. The + has all the qualities of the original Silkworm, but adds decided amount more flesh on the bone in terms of fullness/richness, and is a subtle level smoother on the top end without compromising the detail of the original. There also seems to be a bit more three dimensionality in the soundstage and image. The + is most definitely a nice step forward over the original, which was already a terrific cable.

I'll post some further thoughts as I get a few more days on them, but believe at this point it will be worth the cost and effort to get my originals upgraded to the new + model. Nice work John, I know it was a lengthy process to arrive on these improvements, but it has paid off based on my early listening to the +.

Of course, these are my opinions, based on my ears and preferences in my system, YMMV as always.