A New Reference (and also a Mystery) in...
I first heard this unique* cable, from a small company located in Texas, with an associate (he had purchased them based on the advice of a friend), more than two years ago. The results of our original experiment, and our impressions of it, were surprising and unprecedented, for both of us. I have delayed writing my report for various reasons, though mainly due, as usual, to prior commitments, and then eventually the pandemic.
However, I also had another reason for delaying my report. This reason was unusual in my experience, so I was seriously concerned about it at the time. The Reason - Our further experiments, with the same Aural Thrills cable, produced results which were inconsistent with the original test. So I decided to wait until I had the time to verify all the results and make some sense of what we were observing. Here are the details, beginning with a short introduction, and history, of my experiences with signal cables.
*The Aural Thrills cables use a dedicated power supply for filtering and shielding. For details, see "Odds and Ends" and pictures below.
During the 1980s, and somewhat less so in the 1990s, there were relatively large improvements in signal cables, especially interconnects. This makes sense since there was no interest in signal cables prior to the late 1970s, even by the most fanatical audiophiles. However, in the last 25 years or so, the improvements in signal cables, while real, have also been relatively incremental, despite the incredulous claims of the (easily impressed - to be kind) mainstream audio reviewers and the cable "manufacturers", let alone the now obscene prices of some cable lines.
In fact, to be concise, since the year 2000, I've heard numerous incremental cable improvements, but only two cables, both of them interconnects, have made a "dramatic" difference to the performance of my audio system. Listed below are the two cables. It is critically important to note that the first cable's peak performance is frequency limited, while the second cable was able to accomplish this rare performance feat full-range, and also in two (very similar) situations.
1. Coincident Statement Interconnect - Line Stage to Subwoofer Amplifiers Only - The Statement cables initially outperformed all the other interconnect cables I had ever heard, overall, but they were at their unprecedented best when used with the Coincident Dragon (subwoofer) amplifiers. The sound quality in the bass was so improved with the Statement, that it actually forced me to re-evaluate the performance of the Pure Reference subwoofers.
Up until then, it had been literally decades since I had heard such a dramatic improvement with a single cable change, and this observation was verified by my associate, a highly critical and experienced listener, who was also shocked by the degree of the improvement (and that's not hyperbole). In fact, at the time, we both commented that unless the Statement cables were used with the Pure Reference Extremes, it was highly probable that the listener would never experience the actual potential of the speaker in the bass frequencies.
2. Aural Thrills Interconnect - APL NWO-Master Digital Player to "The Truth" T3 Line Stage - This time the improvement was not only "dramatic" (details below), but was even full-range (except the deep bass, since it was the Coincident Statement cables that were replaced). Once again, the same associate, who had previously heard the Statement/subwoofer bass improvement, agreed with my observations.
3. (Repeat of #2) Aural Thrills Interconnect - Budget* Digital Player to "The Truth" T4 Line Stage - In a repeat performance, the improvement using the Aural Thrills cable was dramatic and across the board. This time it was a high quality DIY cable that was replaced by the Aural Thrills.
However, it wasn't long before we experienced an inconsistency in performance with the Aural Thrills, which was also a mystery of sorts: We couldn't fully replicate the dramatic improvements, with the Aural Thrills, anywhere else in my system. And this brings us to the important details...
The results of the cables being replaced from the two digital players (APL and Budget*) were so similar that there is no reason to repeat myself by describing each experiment individually. However, my listening session with the Budget Player is obviously much fresher in my memory. So this what I heard very recently (10 days ago as this is written, based on my contemporaneous listening notes), on my own, with the "Budget"* player:
The Aural Thrills (AT) was cleaner, especially at high volume levels. The inherent metallic character of the budget player was noticeably reduced. The AT also had more natural body, with a darker background and sounded more relaxed. There was a greater separation of instruments and less break-up.
The AT was more immediate and had a lower sound-floor, with a superior harmonic structure and greater amount of "bloom", and a larger sound and greater information in the rear. The AT was also more dynamic and reproduced more space around the instruments, and in general. These improvements were most easily noticed at high and low volume levels, though the AT was superior at all volume levels.
Most important to me, because of all the extra musical and extraneous information revealed by the AT cables, the musicians were more "individualized" and humanized.
In general, the sound was more like analogue, and without any downsides. Importantly, the sonic improvements were cumulative and even synergistic, so that they added up to a more significant sonic advancement than they are described individually. This synergy is somewhat unusual in my experience.
*I will disclose, and discuss, the "budget player" model, on its own, at a later date (see below). I'm not disclosing the specific model now because I believe that the focus, at this time, should only be on the performance of the Aural Thrills cables. I only used the budget player because the APL's transport had a problem, which is obviously costly to repair, and I haven't repaired it as of yet. Further Relevant and Important Note - The initial APL experiment also confirms the fact that the impressive results with the Aural Thrill cables were not unique to a single digital player.
Soon after our considerable excitement with the initial AT cable experiment, my associate ordered a second pair of AT interconnects (shipped directly to me, since my associate did not have a working system at that time). This second pair was 2 meters in length, and would replace the Statement cable (also 2 meters) from "The Truth" line stage to the Coincident Frankenstein SET power amplifiers (which were powering the Coincident Pure Reference Extreme Monitors).
My associate and I were understandably quite enthusiastic at the time, as any serious audiophiles would have been. After the AT cables arrived, they were broken-in for a few hundred hours (as I had done earlier with the initial AT cables). I then invited my associate over for the first listening comparison. (I wanted both of us to hear the 2nd pair of cables together, for the first time, to avoid the possibility of my later prejudicing his initial reaction by my behavior, even if done unconsciously.) And these were the results:
The second pair of AT cables were also an improvement over my Reference cables. However, the performance gap was much smaller this time, maybe around 25%* of the initial cable change (from the APL digital player to the line stage). The sonic differences were typical for a cable improvement: A slightly lower sound-floor, with soft sounds more audible (such as breathing and a sense of space), and an even more relaxed, effortless and natural sound. But in no way could these improvements, even when combined, be described as "dramatic". Not even close. From another perspective:
The 1st AT cable change was unmistakable and impossible to ignore*, while the 2nd AT cable change sounded more like a system, first heard with bad AC power early in the evening, and then heard late in the evening, at its very best. We were disappointed, of course, since lightning didn't strike the second time, but still happy to receive some improvement. Later on, this same level/degree of improvement (around 25%) was confirmed on three other separate occasions:
1. A 3rd AT cable (1 meter) from the Jadis Phono Stage to the line stage.
2. A 4th AT cable from the Graham tonearm to the Bent Silver MC SUT, more than a year later.
3. The 2nd AT cable, once again, from the "The Truth" line stage to the Frankenstein power amplifiers (this time, on my own, in November 2020, effectively duplicating the same experiment from two years earlier, see below).
*To be clear - If the results of the 2nd test were as positive as the 1st test, I would have changed my schedule at the time and written this Aural Thrills review almost 2 years ago.
Later on, in the fall of 2019 to be exact, I auditioned the Aural Thrills DIN phono cables. Since phono signal levels are ultra-low, I had high hopes, at the time, that the AT cables could again provide a dramatic improvement over my DIY phono cables. Unfortunately, I observed the same basic results as before; A noticeable improvement, but not "dramatic". Here is how I described the improvements in my 2019 contemporaneous notes: "More precision and definition, faster, cleaner, a little more separation, bass improvement maybe most important because it improves cohesiveness, slightly more sense of space. A nice refinement, but not significant."
After the inconsistent results of the 2nd test, and especially after the re-confirming 3rd test (involving the Jadis phono stage), neither my associate nor I could understand (and rationally explain) why we experienced only one dramatic change. Then the APL digital player broke down, making matters even worse. So, in the end, I decided to hold off writing about the AT cables until I could conduct further testing, and hopefully better understand what was going on*.
Accordingly, I realized that there was one definitive test I knew I must conduct before I would feel confident to post anything about the AT cables. Unfortunately, conducting this specific test, properly and fairly, required a considerable amount of time and effort, since I had to basically "start from scratch". The required testing protocol would involve effectively going back more than two years earlier, in order to exactly replicate the entire history of AT events. Let me explain...
*I was deeply concerned that the initial APL experiment could turn out to be a fluke of some kind, and/or a one-off. Further, we couldn't even verify the initial APL results after its transport broke down.
I realized that there was no way I could write an honest and complete article/review about the Aural Thrill cables without describing the dramatic improvements in the initial (APL) experiment, but these important results could no longer be verified, for the simple reason that the APL was no longer operational. So, what was an appropriate and alternative method to duplicate those same incredible results (assuming that this was even possible in the first place), without using the APL? (Keep in mind, that I had already failed to duplicate the same results with the Jadis phono stage.)
In the end, I had only one real alternative; the (APL replacement) Budget Digital Player, which, as it turned out, was the near perfect choice, because if this budget player could be dramatically improved, I felt confident that any other digital player should also be equally improved.
However, this duplicate experiment wasn't as straightforward as it first appears. After some thought, I realized that to truly replicate the initial APL/"The Truth" experiment, from 2 years earlier, I had to first remove every single Aural Thrill cable in my system, and essentially start from scratch. I would then later test the first AT cable on its own, without any interaction from any other AT cable in the system.
So, I removed all the AT cables from my system this Summer (2020), including, obviously, the cable from the budget digital player to the line stage. I then listened to my system, CD only, daily, for a few months, using alternative signal cables, until I felt confident that I was used to this new system performance level. It was only at that point, in November 2020, that I finally re-installed the AT cable from the Budget Player to "The Truth" line stage, thus allowing the most critical experiment to be conducted.
The results of this important experiment, described above, finally replicated the exciting results of the initial test using the APL, from 2 years earlier. They are obviously the most important observations in this review, though they are also not the complete story, as seen below.
There is also an Aural Thrills Power Cable. It uses an attached battery-powered electronic filter and shield (see picture below). I've had it for a while, but it was only this November (2020) when I conducted a serious test, using a new battery, by comparing the generic power cable, which came with the budget digital player, with the AT power cable. The results, as taken again from my contemperaneous listening notes: "A more vibrant sound, lucid, pure and more, lower sound-floor again. More immediate or "gut presence". Noticeable reduction of "electronic sound or character". Battery status made a difference - must be fully charged!!"
The differences with the AT power cable, while noticeable and highly welcome, were not nearly as large, or important, as the two digital cable replacements. I have another AT power cable which I will use with "The Truth" line stage. This will be a much more difficult test of the AT power cable, because "The Truth" is currently using the Coincident Statement power cable, the finest I've yet heard. I will report back when I have the results of this experiment.
So, where do we stand, as of now, with the Aural Thrills Interconnects. Below is what we have observed so far and, importantly, later confirmed by multiple experiments. The results were also, later on, observed by other (3rd party) serious listeners (all of whom were highly experienced and objective audiophiles):
1. The Aural Thrill cables provided a "dramatic" improvement over all other cables I have ever heard with the signals from two separate digital sources, one of which was an "all-out" player (>$ 25K), and the other a budget player (<$ 500).
2. The Aural Thrill cables were also superior to every other cable I have heard with all other line-level and phono-level sources, except in the bass frequencies. However, the sonic improvements, in these various instances, were "only" around 25% as great as with the two digital sources.
In our observations, to experience and appreciate the full sonic potential of the Aural Thrills cables, they must replace the entire cable system, with the exception of the bass amplifiers. The final results, cumulatively, can be disarming at times, though I must emphasize that the first signal cable had, by far, the most noticeable improvement and effect. The Bottom Line - What do I advise, especially for those readers who want to take the minimum risk?
I no longer "Recommend" purchasing any component or accessory without conditions and/or qualifications, since every listener, and/or audio system, is different and unique, but if the Aural Thrills cables sound interesting, than I would purchase just one pair, for the digital source only. If the AT cables even remotely duplicate the highly satisfying results we received with my own digital sources, then consider them an unusually good audio investment, with little monetary risk (they are not expensive), and with even greater potential audio rewards in the future (as seen above). This advice may sound optimistic, but it is entirely consistent with our own experiences now for the last 2 years, and longer.
The Aural Thrills cables utilize "energized" grounds, filters and shields, which require an independent and dedicated power supply. These power supplies are included when you purchase the cables (one power supply for each cable pair), and utilize a single tube (12AU7). The AT power cords use a (9V) battery instead of a power supply. (See pictures below.)
I also auditioned the AT cables without the power supply. They still sounded outstanding, and even competitive with the finest I've heard, but their unique "magic", which separates the AT cables from all other cables I've yet heard, was gone. The particular tube and power cord, used with the power supply, also make a small difference in sound quality, but I wouldn't invest big money in an attempt to improve them. Experiments are in order however, since most audiophiles have spare tubes and special power cords hanging around, so why not use them?
Finally, in case anyone is interested, we paid the full retail price for all the cables we purchased and received from Aural Thrills. No discounts and no loaners.
As I've described in detail above, there is still a mystery related to the performance inconsistencies of Aural Thrills cables. This mystery specifically involves the relative performance of the APL Digital Player as compared to the Budget Digital Player, when both utilize the AT cables. I believe that this mystery, and maybe other related issues, will be at least partially resolved when I finally have the APL NWO-Master digital player back in my system, in full working condition, for further experimentation.
I still don't have a scheduled date for this event, but it should occur sometime in 2021. I will make a full report of the results at that time, along with the promised report on the Budget Digital Player. Further...
There is also a mystery, of course, of why only digital players have received "dramatic" sonic improvements with the Aural Thrills cables, while my main analogue source (the Jadis JP-80 phono stage) did not receive the same degree of improvement. My associate speculates that the AT cables have the unique ability to remove harmful RFI/EMI signals, which may be inherent in all digital sources, no matter what their design, price and build quality. This (RFI/EMI) theory sounds reasonable to me, though I'm hoping to eventually learn the definitive answer one day.
Relevant Links:
Aural Thrills Audio (Unique Cables and Electronics)
A reader sent me a letter with his experiences with the Aural Thrills interconnect cables, which are still somewhat rare and unknown to most audiophiles. I feel any relevant information on these unique cables should be shared. Minor editing and my bold:
"I hope you will find the following comments on Aural Thrills Audio cables interesting.
I live in England, and my music system is not particularly high end, consisting of an Esoteric X-05 SACD player, Townshend Allegri pre-amp, Red Dragon Audio Class D power amp, and a Michell Orbe turntable with SME V arm. The speakers are B&W 804S. I first came across your website about 15 years ago when I was looking for a new cartridge, and through you I discovered ZYX, though I cannot afford the more expensive models and am happy with something from the R100 range.
I read about the Aural Thrills Audio powered interconnect that you had found so effective. The valve-powered version that you tried is more expensive than I wish to afford, especially as shipping and taxes to get it here would increase the price by about 40%. Tom advised me that the battery-powered version would be good, and I was also interested in a cable caller Silver Tri-Brade, which Tom said would show great colour and detail.
When they arrived in January I first tried the silver cable from the SACD player to the preamp. It certainly provided detail and instrumental colour, but in some ways it seemed to dissect recordings. There was one piano CD in particular where the treble and the bass were exceptionally clear, but seemed to be entirely separate from each other with no atmosphere to the performance at all. There was also a tendency for notes in the range from roughly the E below middle C to the A above it to mask what was happening in the treble, when they should have been accompanying it. Obviously a period of burning in was required. I installed the battery-powered cable instead and connected the silver one to a 30-year-old Denon DCD1520 where it could be run in without being listened to.
The powered cable also displayed considerable detail without the initial drawbacks shown by the silver one, but the instrumental colour and character was less marked. After the silver cable had been run for about 100 hours (not enough to be fully burnt in, I know) I re-attached it to the SACD player. Things were now very much better. There is far more detail from most recordings than I have ever heard before. It's possible to hear exactly which notes a chord consists of, and to follow harmonies and counterpoint, to an unprecedented extent. The problem of the over-emphasized mid-range has largely (though not entirely) disappeared. There is also greater instrumental individuality and colour. I expect to hear more improvement as the cable is burnt in further.
I moved the battery-powered cable to run from the phono stage to the pre-amp. This improved the detail I could hear from LPs, though not to the same extent as with the silver cable and the CD player. I haven't been able to explore LP reproduction further as we will be moving soon and I have now packed the turntable in readiness for that.
Overall, I think these two interconnects are the best I have ever heard, especially the silver tri-brade, and for the price ($99 for the silver and $129 for the powered one) they are remarkable. Probably Tom's own design of plugs has something to do with it. At some point I should try one of the silver cables between the pre-amp and the power amp, and it will be interesting to see what degree of improvement that brings. The cables that the Aural Thrills replaced were a Snake River Audio Mamushi Signature interconnect between the SACD player and the pre-amp, and an Albedo Solid silver interconnect between the pre-amp and the power amp. Albedo is a Polish manufacturer not currently distributed in the USA." (3/21)
A New Standard...
Important Note - I had originally planned to first experiment, and conduct direct comparisons, with the Statement Speaker cables. However, as this is written in early 2018, the Statement speaker cables have not sonically stabilized. In fact, they are still improving, despite their now 200+ hours of break-in. It is obviously useless and a waste of time to focus on these cables until their optimum performance is known with certainty and fully experienced. Meanwhile, the Statement Interconnect cables, with line-level sources only at this point, have been optimized using various musical and non-musical signals (in my system, but mainly using a CD player on Repeat). Below is our report on these cables.
In January 2018, an associate and I conducted extensive testing, and direct comparisons, of the Statement Interconnect cables in my home. We used the Jadis JP-80 Phono Stage (heavily modified), which has two outputs, going into the "One Tube Wonder" ("OTW") line stage (see below). I used the OTW, instead of "The Truth" line stage, because it has an input toggle switch, which is critically important for performing immediate A/B comparisons between the two inputs ("The Truth" line stage has a selector switch).
Accordingly, we were able to simultaneously connect two competing cables from the Jadis to the OTW, and directly A/B compare them to each other without any other changes to the system (component shutdowns, replacing cables etc.), including, importantly, any changes to the volume level. All of the cables were 1 meter RCA/RCA.
Here are the results:
1. Statement Vs. Purist Audio Colossus Rev. A - My former audio store in Toronto was a Purist dealer many years ago, and for a time the Colossus was also my personal reference interconnect cable, which meant it was the best I had ever heard. During that period, the Colossus had one important sonic advantage over all the cables I heard from its generation; its sound-floor* was noticeably lower, which allowed more low-level information to pass through it.
(*I didn't fully understand and appreciate, or even use, the term "sound-floor" at that time, which I coined many years later.)
This particular Colossus pair we auditioned originally came from my store and has been owned and used by my associate for something like 20 years. Both of us were highly curious as to how this former "champion" would compare to high-quality contemporary cables.
The Purist was still excellent, but it was not the equal of, let alone superior to, the new Statement cable, or even the older generation Coincident Shotgun for that matter. The Purist was still competitive in purity and its low sound-floor was still evident, but it didn't have the immediacy, extended frequency range, details and speed of the Coincident cables. So while it was still enjoyable and unoffensive to listen to, it made its presence known in comparison to the Coincident cables, which relatively "disappeared".
2. Statement Vs. Polk Speaker Cable - Almost 20 years ago now, I (and two other associates, on their own) attempted to convert the Polk Speaker Cable into an Interconnect Cable. This may sound "insane" to some audiophiles, but it was a sensible (if not a mandatory) project for us at the time. Why? The Polk speaker cable was so far superior to any other cable we compared it to at that time (and for many years later), we began to think that maybe the basic Polk design was inherently superior in ALL signal cable applications. So, what happened?
The results were the same for all three of us; mainly frustration. In the end, the Polk interconnects were sonically outstanding, just like the speaker cables; extremely fast, highly detailed, extended and clean. However, they all had serious RFI problems which made them impossible to live with (we all lived in the Greater Toronto Area at the time). So, we simply gave up on the project, and when I used one of the remaining Polk interconnects in my (then new) Florida home, hoping for a reprieve, I still had a problem with noise, so I gave up on them for good. This brings us to 2018.
An old audio friend (and former customer) contacted me in late 2017 with some unexpected, though potentially exciting, news. My friend loves the Polk Speaker cables (even becoming an expert in assembling them) and, like my associates and I years ago, eventually made a serious attempt at converting them to interconnects. However, to my great surprise, he also informed me that this time he had succeeded in eliminating the noise (with extensive shielding). According to my friend, the Polk was dead quiet and, even better, it had outperformed every interconnect he had compared it to, and that included an older Coincident design (the "Extreme"). While the Polk I.C. is labor intensive to build, my friend still offered to loan me a pair to find out if it would work in another environment, and a completely different system. I, of course, immediately accepted. When the cables arrived, I was really impressed with their build quality, and they had excellent RCA males. I overcame my predictable and powerful audiophile urge to immediately use them, and instead first broke them in for a few hundred hours and then played them (I wanted absolutely no excuses if they failed).
Unfortunately, I again had highly disappointing results with the Polks, but not for the reason you would assume. My friend's RFI shielding turned out to be a big success; no noise period, but the highs were severely rolled off. The sound of these Polk interconnects was exactly the opposite of what you normally experience when hearing the Polk Speaker Cables; it was highly veiled, almost like the tweeters were turned off, if not even worse. At first I could not understand why and then it hit me; the Polk I.C. was connected from the Jadis JP-80 phono stage into "The Truth" line stage, with its almost infinitely high input impedance. I theorized that the Polk's high capacitance caused an extreme high-frequency roll-off when it was connected to any input of "The Truth", though I realized there could be other factors I was overlooking.
So I placed the Polk cables aside for a while, while attempting to find another method to test them. Then another audiophile friend arrived for his annual visit in January 2018. He had brought along the Purist Colossus cables and, much more importantly, the OTW (which had just been upgraded by Tom Tutay), so now I had another opportunity to test the Polk interconnects with a different line stage, and with a second listener as well.
Sadly, once again, we had disappointing results with the Polks; they were veiled and dead sounding, though they definitely sounded better with the OTW than they did with "The Truth". It didn't take us long to hear their sonic problems. However, the story still isn't over with the Polk interconnects. In May 2018, I received yet another letter (see below) concerning the Polk cables converted into interconnects and, again, the reader has had a great success with them. This is the same reader, Muhsin Ahamed, that generously provided his experiences (and advice) with terminating Polk Speaker cable last year (which is now located in the "Readers Letters" of the Reference Speaker Cables*).
3. Statement Vs. Coincident Shotgun - This was, by far, the most important and closest comparison we made, with multiple A/B experiments. The "Shotgun" was the earlier model that had been replaced by the Statement (as Coincident's top-of-the-line). The Shotgun had, in turn, proved superior to every other cable I had compared it to, from any source, making it the "lineal champion" of Interconnects in my personal experience. It was superior to the Coincident Extreme and my DIY Reference on direct comparisons and, indirectly and by inference, hundreds of other cables I've heard over the last 40 years (or whenever "audiophile cables" had originated).
While the two other direct comparisons were proverbial "knockouts" in favor of the Statement cables, this comparison was different. I heard the sonic differences first, which was unusual for us. I assume this was because I was already familiar with the Statement cables and knew what to listen for, even though I had never actually made a prior direct A/B comparison of them with the Shotgun cables (I wanted a second listener and an easier method of making the A/B switch, both of which my friend provided).
The Statement had sonic advantages across the board; in immediacy, transparency, detail, sound-floor etc., which all became more obvious and noticeable the longer we listened to them. My friend commented to me that he was surprised at how he was able to easily distinguish the two Coincident cables after around 30 minutes of listening, when it had been relatively difficult for him during the first few minutes (when I had noticed the advantages, which was the reverse order of our normal shared experiments).
Thus, the Coincident Statement, having now proved to be superior to every other interconnect cable I've heard to this point, is my new Reference Interconnect Line-Level Cable (phono cables will be tested in the future). However, there's one bit of unfinished business when it comes to the Statement cables.
Important Bonus Experiment...
4. Statement Vs. Coincident Extreme - In Spring 2017, another audiophile friend was visiting me and we had a chance to A/B the older Coincident Extreme interconnects to the then new (though still broken-in) Statement cables. However, this time the (2 meter) cables were connected between "The Truth" line stage and the Coincident Dragon amplifiers, which, in turn, were connected to the Coincident Pure Reference Extreme Subwoofers (doubled up). So, in effect, this test was for bass frequencies exclusively. Now this focus on bass frequencies may not be important for some audiophiles, but it is for me (in fact it is critical). The results of this particular test, especially at this present date, would normally be considered redundant to post, since the Extreme is now an older generation cable. However, the results were so extraordinary that I felt compelled to relay them. What happened?
My friend and I were both stunned at both the scope and degree of the improvement in bass reproduction with the Statement cables; more details, control, solidity, purity, impact etc. We both felt, and this is not an exaggeration, that it was actually similar to a component change. In fact, the Statement may have provided the largest single improvement, or at least the most easily noticed improvement, we had ever experienced by changing cables alone. And, it is important to note, the Extreme cables themselves had already proved superior, in the bass frequencies, to every other cable I had ever heard prior to the Statement. In effect, the new "champion" had KO'd the old and long-reigning champion in only 1 round.
While I was thrilled at the sonic improvements provided by the Statement cables, I was also disheartened by the realization that the Coincident subwoofers -and, by inference, all other subwoofers for that matter- were sonically compromised if their line-level signal cable wasn't equal to the performance of the Statement in the bass frequencies. Finally, while the Statement also had superior bass when we compared it, a year later, to the Shotgun above, that particular improvement was considerably smaller and less noteworthy.
Relevant Links:
Coincident Speaker Technology (High-efficiency speakers, tube electronics and cables)
*Muhsin Ahamed's Polk Cable Termination Article
Muhsin Ahamed Polk Interconnect Letter - "As I have a few rolls of Cobra, I have been happily experimenting. I have made Cobra interconnect with KLE Copper Harmony plugs that are really good. Very low sound floor according to your definition.
My friend who has a uber highend system says these cables are 'really quiet and have great clarity'."
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