Wireworld IC and usb cables acoustic zen speaker cables.

erniejade

Over the past few months I have changed cables. Tonyb loaned me his acoustic zen satori speaker cables and matrix II IC. The synergy with those cables and my Joule / Mcintosh / LSIM combo was a good fit so this started my search to completely re-cable the system.

I found a set of acoustic zen double barrel speaker cables for a good price and a set of Martix II IC. One small thing I ran into with the Matrix is the thicknesses / size. They are thick and do not bend easy. Not a good fit for components that have rca's too close or if your equipment is close to a wall or back of a rack. They need room. I did not want to give up the AZ signature in sound but I also needed something more flexable.

@DSkip suggest I try some Wireworld cables. After doing a lot of research I decided to try the eclipse 7 and ordered them from skip. I am impressed with them! Just as open as the AZ Matrix II and slightly on the warm side of neutral vs the AZ but you really have to listen for it. It's not a jump right out at you different. They are actually close. Thanks again to @tonyb and @DSkip for the help on this. I loaned tony a set of the ww for his impressions and his was close to mine. Actually I need to grab some wine and get them back soon.

Talking more with skip on why things played from my CD player via the w4s dac2 sound different vs the cd flac rip playing via jriver to the same dac, he suggested again a wireworld cable but, not a lower end or even middle one. He suggested a $700 sub cable. It took me a bit to digest this. For those who don't know skip, he usually does not tell people to go right to the top of a food chain. He tries to suggest things within someone's budget or below. He also takes it personally if you buy something he suggests and you don't like it even if you didn't buy it from him. That's rare especially in a dealer. His heart is in it.

So I went with the wireworld Platinum. It's fully burned in and it was a big difference. I can still hear the difference between cd and flac of the same cd rip on the same dac but, it's a heck of a lot closer! Wonderful cable! I only hope as usb3 dacs come out, they have a trade up program???????

I also wound up finding some Wireworld Electra and aurora power cables used and again, impressive! I put the Electra on the amp and Aurora on the dac. Using cardas on the pre.

I would not hesitate to purchase Wireworld or AZ products again.

tonyb

Nice Brian, and I know Skip wouldn't suggest going straight for the top if he didn't think your gear warranted it. Always a hard sell to some about higher end cables but they can make as big a difference as changing pre amps or amps.

Another thing we have to remember too when handing out advice.....is to listen first. Get a grasp on what exactly is trying to be accomplished with a given budget in mind.

Looks like that swanky room of yours is finally buckling under your demands. Lots of trial and error went into that puppy for sure.

erniejade

Lots of trials instead! I have had decent cables so it definitely was not my first rodeo trying out a different brand.The synergy with the AZ and wireworld and the Mcintosh amp was a good match up. I tried a few MIT speaker cables and ic's in the past from S1 on down and they didnt sound right with my rig. It could be the autoformers / MIT boxes didnt play well? The same MIT on a friend's system sounded wondeful. So good he bought them from me on the spot but he even agreed, on mine, not good.
My cheaper DH Q10 on my rig sounded better. Sometimes $ cant buy synergy!

tonyb

erniejade wrote: »

Sometimes $ cant buy synergy!

Amen to that big guy, except finding it in the first place can be a huge pain in the rear.

dhart86

^^^^ AGREED ^^^^

dhart86

Tried some AZ Santori speaker cables that WagnerRC was kind enough to let me audition with some Harbeth SH5 speakers (I just got) and my McCormack amp. the synergy was much better than with the MIT S1 cables they replaced. I still have the MIT S1 RCA cables in the chain but I may have to get a hold of a pair a AZ matrix 2's to see if that takes it up a notch.

Thing is before Bob lent me the AZ Santori sc, I was not impressed with the Harbeths,
couldn't understand what all the hype was that I read about . I have the SHL5 speakers and not the later SHL5+ version, so I thought that was the major difference in what I read and what I heard

The AZ Santori provided more openness and detail now I just need to tweak it a bit