Best cables for Krell Components

Thanks Dave. I can't stress MIT enough. The Shotgun 330 Proline XLR interconnect is just the most awesome interconnect you can ever use for less than a grand, with balanced equipment, especially Krell, IMO. I think there is no flaw in these at all with my Krell KAV-250a, when driven with the balanced outputs of my CD50 (I have no balanced linestage at the present time, and don't need one for the CD50 anyway)......I've tried Cardas Neutral Reference speaker and ic, and there is no comparison at all between those and the MIT 330, combined with the low cost (and now discontinued) Terminator 2 speaker cable (I tried the corresponding 750 speaker cable, didn't like it at all...so I don't "blindly love" every cable MIT makes). I feel that this combo (with the right power cords and room set-up) gets very close to what my Rogue tube amp does "right" (and that's with other cables, however), and does things that NO tube amp I've ever heard can do, especially the effortless macro dynamic swings that give the feeling of lifelike acoustic power on ANY recording...also the MIT cabling actually increases the apparent/perceived damping factor of the power amp, even when driven at earsplitting levels (like louder than you can yell over with someone next to you...not a good idea to do often though, lol!). In my observations, there is barely some sacrfifice of absolute bass extension with the MIT cables (compared to others), in exchange for pitch control, dynamic weight/slam, and tube-like "musical roundness" from the middle bass and upward that can almost frighten you. I'm talking REAL power, with imaging that is so SOLID and DIFFERENTIATED, that you could likely fool people who are blindfolded (but perhaps not most musicians...maybe a few), that there isn't a REAL instrument in the room with them (with parts of certain recordings, that is, but not necessarily with the entire duration of such recordings...but still no small feat IMO!). Anyway, the sheer power delivery is something that I gurantee you will never get with ohter cables, including other terminated ones like Transparent. I'd bet my life on that! In my experience, NBS is more dynamic than Transparent, but is still almost asleep compared to the better MIT cables. My feeling is that those who hate MIT (and who have actually tried it) do so because their room isn't set up properly, and the tonal and dynamic balance aren't being fully realized...and are even being countered by other anomalies that other cables can hide. In other words, if there is a problem with the speaker or the room, it could very likely sound much worse with an MIT cable in the system. If you have all first reflection points damped, have round traps in the corners, and tweak the speaker placement by fractions of an inch (and can spend the time it takes to do this), I can alsmost gurantee that just about everyone else's system you'll come across, will cause you to lose respect for them (especially if they're a dealer with the resources to do it right, but with the brains and ears to do it wrong...to compromise when a compromise isn't called for, etc.).

Carl, Thank you very much for the enlightening post, and mentioning that you tried the Cardas Neut Ref ICs. Can you give me a better idea of what you heard with Cardas cables that you didn't like? I will definitely have to give the MIT 330s a listen in my system, regardless.

Carl, I must say one thing "THANK YOU VERY MUCH !". I have heard Cardas and StraightWire cables and it is not the sound I am looking for. One thing I don't like about Krell sound is the middle. The dynamics are to punchy. I am definitly looking forward to hear the MIT cables to get a more "tube-like musical roundness" as you say. That is exactly what I am looking for. Thanks again, it is really appreciated.

One thing I will say, is that if you like what the Cardas are doing in your system, you might not like the MIT. The main problem I had, was that neither the Cardas NR ic, nor the speaker cable, were tonally neutral. In my system (on either my Krell or tubed Rogue amps...also on HD-600 headphones for the ic, with a 6922 tubed headphone amp), the NR ic was forward in the midrange between 500 Hz and 2 kHz, and the speaker cable was very forward in the range between 3 kHz and 8 kHz...that one to an "analytical/clinical" degree. There were other tonal, "glare", and "musical timing" problems (those mostly in the upper bass), but the tonal ones I mention stood out the strongest. Both of these were rentals from The Cable Company, and had around 2000 hours of use on each one (so burn in was not an issue). I also burned them in for long periods in my system, before evaluating (I had the speaker cables for nearly two months). LET ME STRESS AGAIN, IF YOU AREN'T HEARING THIS FROM THE ONES YOU HAVE (or if you hear some of the opposite, even), THEN IT IS LIKELY THAT YOU WILL NOT LIKE THE MIT CABLES. They will still be more dynamic than the Cardas, of course, no matter what system they are in IMO...but they won't be tonally neutral in a context where the Cardas NR sounds "correct", in my opinion. THIS IS ALSO NOT TO SAY THAT I AM CLOSED MINDED TOWARD CARDAS (unlike I am toward one cable maker that I won't belabor about here). I still want to try Golden Cross interconnect, and Golden Reference ic and speaker cable. However, I am in no hurry to do so (you can't be in a "hurry" for much of anything in this hobby, as I'm sure you all are already aware). From the specs, Golden Reference looks like it would sound radically different, from that of either NR or Golden Cross.

Carl, thanks again. Your comments are very pertinent. I've been told that Granite and Tice cables were suited for Krell components. It is the first time I heard about these two companies and it is not easy to find authorized dealers. I must say that I listened to the cheaper Quadlink cables from Cardas. I would be very interested to listen to the Golden Cross or the Golden Reference cables. I think, the next step will be to test these cables. Thanks again.