Audience Au24 vs. Ridge Street Audio?

I'm kind of at a loss as to how to contribute here because at least the last 4 posts have needlessly gone off topic. If it had stayed on topic, I probably wouldn't be posting but this thread appears to have gone wrong and so now, hopefully, this post will keep it from degrading any further. If this forum were different and I were a moderator, I would either move the last 4 posts to a different venue or say "Start a new thread if you want to continue this part of the discussion.".

Hopefully for benefit, here are my thoughts on this that hopefully will be a conclusion to the last 4 posts. I'm stating my opinion and this is not an invitation to debate.

Is the Cable company a valid resource? Certainly, for some folks in many situations. Was Audiofankj's experience with out cables a noise issue? I don't think so. Was the performance with the Poiema!s in that system a synergy issue. I don't think so. What was the issue? I don't know with any certainty.

It's water under the bridge now and I'm not going to go on a witch hunt to figure it out but I do have some possible ideas. After doing a bit of research, It wasn't an "impedance or capacitance" issue I'm sure. I'm also certain that, because our cabling is very proficient at telling you what's in the recording and what the gear is doing with the recording, that the cables were revealing a deficiency somewhere in the system. Audiofrankj acknowledged this and to his credit, is more than most people would do. All systems have deficiencies to one degree or another. The selection and application of cabling falls into one of two camps; predominately neutral or predominately tuning devices. We've chosen the former camp. With that, our cables will allow a high performance, well assembled system to portray a musically satisfying experience that is excellent (in spite of the deficiencies), not perfect. Perfection is unattainable. On the other hand, our cables can also reveal how painfully obvious perfection isn't available. With the "tuning" camp, cabling will help provide a musically satisfying experience but, in my view, introduce further compromise away from excellence when the system is viewed as a whole. Again, in my view, one of the downsides of this approach is that it becomes much harder if not impossible to discover and address the "weak link(s)" in the system.

Specific to Audiofankj, here are some ideas I could investigate. He mentions an "out of phase" character. First time I've heard him use that descriptive. Couple of possibilities here. Maybe he has his listening chair positioned so he faces the wall and his back faces the system. Maybe he sits in a manner that puts him upside down with his legs resting on the chair's backrest. Maybe he uses mirrors for room treatment. These possibilities are certainly opposite of what is normal but, knowing Audiofrankj, I'm thinking "NOT!". What is more conceivable is that one or more of the drivers in the speaker system is reversed polarity. Some designers do this to meet other design criteria. It could be that through the course of the signal getting to the loudspeakers, the polarity is inverted somewhere in the electronics...not uncommon. Some people are sensitive to this while others aren't. Knowing how obsessive Audiofrankj is (LOL!), I wouldn't be surprised if he is. I don't know if this was the issue. I do know our cabling will reveal a reversed polarity system and I know that with lesser cabling, it's significantly harder to discern. I know also that a system polarity issue can be the difference between very (or not) good hi-fi vs. the "Real" or the "You Are There"(YAT or YID if you're more comfortable with "You Is 'Der") illusion. Beyond that, I don't know and can only say that you win some and you lose some. Fortunately, for us, we win 93% of the time.

So, now, maybe this can rest. I can't speak for Hassel but if this thread had been my initiation with the same question, I would have shook my head and pretty much ignored the last 4 posts.

Sincerely and kind regards,
Robert

Let me respond to Robert with what I hope is an "on topic" post:)A few months ago I decided (before I had heard of RSA)that my Krell KMA 160s/Wilson Watt-Puppy 3/2's were too "harsh" for my ears and I started looking for a new Amp (tube) (Separate thread in Amps). This is taking longer than I had hoped because of a dearth of dealers in Connecticut selling the tube amps that I am looking for, so in the meantime, I changed my front-end and tried various cables from The Cable Company and also RSA Poiema! balanced interconnects. I really liked the Poiema! between the Esoteric DV-50 and ML-32 pre-amp. It was my first choice (vs Syn Res Ref x2, Au 24, and various others, although I must confess that the cramped space behind my set-up made the RSA cables a breeze to install (vs the heavy PAD cables - however, I did hook up the Vensustas for a short time and still liked the RSA the most after a shorter listening period than maybe a true reviewer would give - it was enough time to savor the dynamics, depth and sparkle of the sound (not the cable, Robert!!) -just seemed more musically pleasing. So I kept the Poiema! cables. Then I did what I have wanted others to do for me - but nobody has obliged - compared Poiema! with PDA Venustas/Dominus Speaker cables. What happened, is either a reflection of what I knew before - (which I suspect) or else a function of the cables (which I doubt) :the Krell/Watt Puppy combination is too harsh, lean, almost, but not quite glaring (my wife said it was brightly harsh and left the room - she exaggerates......)with the Poiema! cables and with the Venustas was pleasing, mellow and laid-back to an acceptable - but still, to me, neither musical enough nor "warm" enough for my taste. However, I believe that the fact that the RSA cables sounded so good with a front end of gear that is probably neutral and accurate and too bright with a system that is probably too lean/ bright to start with,is affirmation of what Robert is saying. Poiema! cables are in my opinion extremely dynamic and accurate, and, in my opinion, just showed me what I already knew......
I will put my money where my mouth (or pen) is, and keep these cables until I get my new amp, which I hope will be an Atma-sphere if I can find a used one, and will then compare it to PAD Venustas again. If they are still too lean and bright, you'll see Poiema! cables for sale. But I wouldn't count on that!
For what it's worth, on my junior rig, in a small room, the Poiema! sounds glorious on a modified Jolida 502B/Totem Sig 1 set-up.
(The RSA were still "better" - in terms of tonality and range than the Au-24 in my speaker cable tests, behind Syn Res and Harm Tech Magic Woofer as well as Venustas - which is how this thread started!!)

Robert, you did real good! Congratulations. BTW, my little sister tried your MSE Gen II's between her DAC and classic NAD 7125 receiver when I set up her stereo back in October and she wanted to keep them! She said that of everything that was done to her system they made the most improvement. She wanted them for free, of course...

One more thing quickly, I owe Darrylhifi a humble apology. Please forgive me for lumping you in the "last 4 posts" Darryl. I actually didn't consider your post as part of what could could have been the degradation of this thread. I assumed people would get that and that was wrong of me to make that assumption. As usual, when one (I) assumes, it makes an ass out of u and mes (I've never been able to figure the "mes" part).

And now I feel I must also apologize for having to post this but if I didn't, I think that would be the greater wrong.

Bumbly,
Robert

Ridgestreetaudio,
although I was the one asking for advice, I did not get the feeling the thread went off-topic. Interesting questions were raised. I, for one, have found the advice of Robert Stein of the Cable Company to be as helpful as correct.
Thanks everybody for advice. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have experience with the Virtual Image ICs. If I were in the US, I´d give them a try, but living in Moscow I will go for cables I can easily sell off if the result is not to my liking. Reading all your advice and other threads on this forum and elsewhere, I have just taken advantage of Audio Advisor´s special sale and ordered 2 PS Audio Statement ICs to try. I tried their power cable against Shunyata Black Mamba, the Eichmann power cable, a HMS and a LAT, and the PS Audio trumped them all. Maybe their IC is of the same quality. On top of that, I will order the new Pure Note Cerulean IC and speaker cable. And if the distributor here in Moscow is right, he shall receive Audience 24 cables soon which I will try as well. I will post about the results.