Acoustic Zen vs. Coincident CST

Can only give performance of the "Coincident" cables as I have not made comparison to the Acoustic Zen. Have the Coincident CST I speaker cables, Interconnect and Power Cord. First of all the build quality is exceptional, the spade ends on the speaker cables remind me of the ends on Transparent, top notch quality. Each product brought my system to a new level of performance, the speaker cables brought actual sound out on some recordings that I had not heard prior with my existing cables. Exceptional detail and clarity on the top end with precise and tight bass on the bottom end. The soundstage opened wider and with more depth than my previous cables. The power cord & interconnect on my CDP made the sound more accurate and clear with a sense of weight on the bottom end. I was skeptical about these cables and purchased these based on reviews from others on audiogon. For there affordable price range compared to the higher prices of cables I had in my system before, build quality and exceptional performance they compare and better all other cables I have owned before which included MIT, Tara Labs, Transparent Ultra, XLO & Analysis Plus. They do continue to perform better and better as break-in time elapses and am really enjoying the processess, my hope is that they continue as more detail to the music is exposed almost each time the system is turned on. One of the best investment risk in audio by far, my search for cables is over, thank God.

500 hours is about what they take.

I can only give you the AZ side as I have no experience with the Coincident. As always this is my opinion based on my system.
The Az is very, very good. I have put alot of cable in my system over the last few years, some very expensive, and the AZ is as good as any and at a real world price.

I cannot be definitive about this, but I believe the Coincident speaker cable is not a low-capacitance cable, not real high either like the Goertz, but at least moderate capacitance. This will cause it to sound too laid back and fuzzy with a few amps. But in the right company it has a rightness to its sound, that makes everything seem like it comes from the one musical event rather than a disconnected patchwork of nice sounds. It is a strength that some people fail to notice because they get too analytical about resolution issues.

I would like to address some technical points applicable to speaker cables in general and how they apply to the Coincident CST1 and TRS speaker cables in particular.
It is commonly mentioned that capacitance is an important fator in speaker cable performance.This is incorrect.A speaker cable's capacitance is in parallel across the power amp output,not in series with the signal.The musical signal does not go through the cable's capacitance to go back and forth between amp and speaker.Therefore,speaker cable capacitance has very little deleterious consequences upon the accurate transmision of music along the length of the cable.

On the other hand ,resistance and even more significantly, inductance, both have very profound affects on the musical signal.

The resistance of a cable is determined by its cross sectional area and by the material of the conductor.The larger the gauge,generally the lower the resistance.
Low resistance cables have a low propensity to effect frequency response deviations with a given loudspeaker while
high resistance cables have a higher propensity to do the same.The sonic affect of the cable will be dependant upon the impedance characteristics of the loudspeaker.A high, flat impedance speaker will cause little or no frequency response deviations( even with a high resistance cable)but with a loudspeaker that has impedance dips,a high resistance cable will superimpose more of a frequency response deviation.

Self inductance is determined by the physical intimacy of the 2 conductors of opposite polarity( hot & ground).The more intimately intertwined the conductors ,generally speaking ,the lower the inductance.Without getting too involved,it is safe to state,that the lower the inductance, the more extended the high frequencies.The higher the inductance ,the more rapidily will the high frequencies begin to roll off.

Both resistance and inductance,unlike capacitance,are critical to accurate reproduction ,because they are in series with the amp and the speakers.The music must pass through the cable's resistance and self inductance.

It is precisely for the above noted reasons that the Coincident CST1 and the Total Reference Series speaker cables ,have been designed to be low resistance and ultra low inductance and only medium capacitance.The proof of any design ,is the sonic results with a very wide range of available associated components.Our experience and those of many hundreds of Coincident cable owners would appear to substantiate that Coincident cables sound superb with virtually all components.