Anti-Cables mini-revie

Ern Dog

I've been hearing about these Anti-cable speaker cables for years and have always wanted to hear what all the hoopla was about. These have won several awards from The Absolute Sound and countless of positive user reviews to boot. These reviews have words like transparent and open and neutral, so for the price I decided to finally try them.

I bought a 5 foot cable I saw in our flea market and ordered a short single run from the Anti-cable website so that I can make jumpers. Then I listened to them for over a week. Then switch them back and forth with my PNF's. Here's my impressions. Before that, I have to say that I have been using PNF Symphony speaker cables for over a year now. They are inexpensive and perform waaaaay beyond their class. They just do everything right, but they aren't perfect. They are colored. The bass is a bit emphasized and bloomy. Ok let's talk about the Anti-cables:

Sure enough they sounded detailed, clear, open sounding, neutral. The bass was impressive because it was very tight and tuneful- which I really liked. I would not call them bright. I really liked that they are very flat in that nothing seemed to be emphasized. I actually heard extension in the treble and the low end which was a nice surprise as I wasn't expecting that! They did sound thinner than what I'm used to. They sounded more polite than the PNF's. The sound stage also got a little smaller. All in all it was a mixed bag.

These cables made me become aware of how colored the PNF's are. It took me awhile to get used to the new sound I was hearing. I was thinking 'was this how my system really sounds?' With the Anti-cables my system lost a little excitement. With all the pluses and minus taken into consideration, I preferred my PNF's. It is hard for me to tell if I prefer the PNF's simple because I'm used to their colored presentation.

This led me to think about whether it is better to have a transparent system that reproduced exactly what is on the CD or one that is euphonic/colored but sounds really good. The longer I'm in this hobby, I'm finding that my preferences are swinging more toward transparency.

These Anti-cables are definitely worth auditioning for yourself but only if you want something neutral. I think these would be a great match for a dark sounding rig to balance things out or if you want to open up the sound some.

VR3

To ME (YMMV) there is a side of audio that sucks the life out of the sound and music...

I have always avoided that!

Nice write up!

Ern Dog

VR3 wrote: »

there is a side of audio that sucks the life out of the sound and music... I have always avoided that!

Amen Bro dog

Jer.War

Agreed, thought it never hurts to try something new, but after a few swaps I still keep coming back to my PNFs. Those anti
cables do look cute though

doctor r

Nice review. I had a similar encounter with how "polite" they were when I borrowed a pair of the SC from a friend while he was on vacation a few years ago. Everything seemed to be there.......except me. It is worth continuing to look and try other cables because you will find ones that in hour system continue the emotional involvement you now have but supply the increased clarity and decreased coloration you caught a glimpse of. Such an adventure we are on.

mantis

Nice write it. It's the goal to have cables that just pass the signal. I don't want cables to tune my system. Many cables do just that , they can do some frequencies better then others hence color the sound.

Thanks

tonyb

I'll disagree here Dan, I want cables that color my system to the sound I like. Cheaper than constantly switching gear to do that, no ? Everything in the chain colors the sound, for good or bad.

inspiredsports

Whether we want to admit it or not, EVERY choice we make in our rigs is about coloration.

Every wire, tube, resistor, capacitor, control, driver, room surface, etc., etc. colors what we hear.

(Relax, it's not a bad thing).

decal

I tried them, left them in my rig for three months to get an accurate representation of them. Verdict, I didn't care for them, way too sterile for my liking. This is nothing more than my opinion, yours may differ. I did get most of my money back when I sold them.

Dawgfish

I tried these at one point in both my home theater setup and my two channel rig. I thought they were decent, especially for the money, but had better synergy in my two channel setup with some AQ CV-4s. There is another company called JW Audio that makes some cables that look identical to these. Don't let the looks decieve you because the JWs are light-years better than the ACs. The JW cables use the same wire, but adds a deep cryo treatment and a high energy break-in regiment. I tried them just out of curiosity and the fact they are so reasonable ($10 per foot/pair). I wasn't expecting them to sound any different than the ACs, but I was way wrong! The transparancy, detail, soundstage, and imaging were amazing. The JWs sound better in my system then the CV-4s by a mile. The JWs definitely do not lack energy like the ACs. I was shocked how good they sound. I highly recommend anybody who is curious about the JWs to give them a try. They very well may be the best bang for the buck item in audio.

tonyb

decal wrote: »

I tried them, left them in my rig for three months to get an accurate representation of them. Verdict, I didn't care for them, way too sterile for my liking. This is nothing more than my opinion, yours may differ. I did get most of my money back when I sold them.

My thoughts exactly as I have had these in the past also. As far as speaker cables go, I dropped that merry-go round ride after hitting up some Gregg Straley cables. They kinda look like a thicker version of anti cables but the sound is soo much better in every way. Authorative bottom, snappy mids, and an extended airy top end with a good well placed soundstage. What more can anyone ask for from a cable ? Now ic's is another story. Still have a mixture of Bens silver, Audio Metalurgey, with some silver MAC+ soundpipes on the way to try out. Picked those up on auction at Audiogon for the sky high price of 35 bucks for the pair. Always looking for that bang for your buck item. So far, Audio Metalurgey, Audio-GD products fit nicely in that catagory.

Ern Dog

mantis wrote: »

Nice write it. It's the goal to have cables that just pass the signal. I don't want cables to tune my system. Many cables do just that , they can do some frequencies better then others hence color the sound.

Thanks

I totally agree with that approach and yet when I had the opportunity to move to a less colored cable, I chose not to because it didn't sound "as good."

I want cables that are transparent and just pass the signal, but I also want it to sound lively and have a great soundstage and 3 dimensional, etc. I want the best of both worlds, instead of having to choose between the least amount of short comings. And hopefully that won't cost me a fortune.

Those JW and Straley cables sound interesting, but of coarse I'm skeptical.

CSM41

I also have the JW's and have to agree with the comments made by Dawgfish. I am not using mine as of now because they aren't long enough for my current config, but he is right. They are very nice sounding cables! I believe I got mine through the ad at Audiogon.

steveinaz

The bottom line to any system sound character is this: You'll either get there the hard way, or the easy way---but either way you will end up "engineering" your system the way YOU want to hear it; so get there the easy way and buy what pleases you.

Forget about other peoples opinions, they don't matter---if we want to be completely honest on this subject. It's like someone trying to convince you that you look good in clothing you HATE. It just doesn't work.

This IS the biggest element of "tail-chasing" in hi-fi. People not giving in to what they know to be true (for them), worrying too much about how the "audio community" views your choice.

Remember, pretty is as pretty does. People can deny it all they want, but it doesn't change a thing.

Joe08867

I think I will stick with my Kimber 8's.