What is your take on Mapleshade products

I am looking at both the double helix speaker cables and the strange looking interconnects. For the speaker cables, it seems they are bare wire only - no bannas or spades? I was wondering how they compare to dmn and anti cables. I am looking for strong and clear bass and lower mids, not too much focus on highs since my room and setup emphasize the treble. Also, on the interconnects, they look irresistible to cats and pretty delicate in terms of just a plastic bag and a thin wire. Any advice on this?

117,

What voodoo products have you tested in your system to make such a claim?

Taters, yes I was thinking of the Stratum, but even Mapleshade's basic powerstrips can offer excellent dynamics basically because they don't take anything away from the wattage coming from the wall, whereas the PPP necesarrily imposes its own wattage limit. Macrodynamics can often be improved with the PPP simply by not using it and going straight to the wall. Many other conditioners also impose a dynamic restriction (check forums). The better ones have now gotten around this, but for better sound even than that, I would think the Stratum would be a great way to go. I myself use Alan Maher Design gear for that and I'm more than pleased, but if I weren't using it, I know I'd be making a beeline straight for Mapleshade.

Pierre is likely has been one of the few pushing maple for v.c. partly because he has championed using the right kind of maple: soft, yellow (not hard, white - which is more commonly used in construction and for wood products) maple that has been air-dried (not kiln-dried as is the near-universal practice) for a couple years. There are likely not many other makers that are willing to go to these lengths for the customer, let alone at the prices Pierre is charging. Maple is not the only audiophile-friendly wood specie though. American black walnut and myrtle are known to be excellent too.

Skoczylas, Pierre HATES redundancy in all things (after all, he worked for the government didn't he?) so if he can't redesign connectors to be more sonically streamlined then he will seek to do away with them and I would agree with him that unterminated speaker wires sound best (audio-wise, he and I are both minimalists).

But, while I'm at it, Nonoise wrote: "Folk should know that he was head of the design team on the F-16 Tomcat and A-10 Warthog and got in the secretary of wars hair over supply line efficiency in Europe (Pierre was right)". Indeed he was. Evidently there was the right way, the wrong way, the Army way and Pierre's way(!)...no doubt Pierre's was best!

I change things around every now and then and so far (knock on wood) none of the IC's have broken...yet (although I've always tried to be careful with them)...can't answer for your cats, though...

The Mapleshade sound tends to be very clear, fast, tight and extended across the board with excellent soundstaging, PRAT and dynamics.
Regards. John

01-27-13: Skoczylas
I am looking for strong and clear bass and lower mids, not too much focus on highs since my room and setup emphasize the treble.

I would not recommend the Double Helix for you based on this comment. The DH will NOT roll off the high's for you, so you would probably be better suited looking for cables that will attenuate the treble for you. Many out there will, Cardas, MIT, Monster, just to name a few. You may even be happy with Anti-cables or Morrow, pretty much any plain copper cable.
The Clearview are silver plated copper, and tend to be more revealing, but they are not for everyone.