Today is a sad day for me.

mantis

It finally happened.
The Kimber Kable Hero's have been beat. I thought these cables where the end for me. the ones I can grow around with upgrade this and that yet keep my very loved kimber Hero's. But As everything else in life goes, one must move toward the light.

I have been burning in my Audioquest CV8 speaker wires and new Jaguar IC's both have the 36 volt DBS system. As most of you know I really don't care for any kind of add on on my cables. Like Network bricks, and now damn batteries. But whats funny about them and I know already but burn in isn't changing the sound. They sound exactly the same as when I first hooked them up.SO I figured , what the hell, time for yet another mantis IC shootout.

So I figured the Hero's being the winner of every single Ic shootout I have conducted since I got them, why would these over 2x's the price Ic's be any different. They have the damn batteries on them, they are ugly green color and the ends are silver but they don't lock in like the WBT's do on the Hero's. So what chance do they have? NONE from what I thought untill I listened.
I closed my eyes and listened. I connected both the Hero's and Jaguars up at the same time configuring the CD input and the Tape Input in bypass mode on my Rotel Rsp 1068 preamp.

Ok so here we go. First up was my mighty true champion Hero's. They are very smooth and extremely detailed for a cable that costs 150.00 for 1m. No other under 300.00 dollar cable even came close to beating them. The sparkle I love is all about these Ic's. they gleem with glory and I just love em to death.You can hear every breath that anyone takes passing through them.
The champion Hero's make me smile the same the day I got them.

So I switched over to the Audioquest Jaguars and noticed right away playing the same song same time switching in the middle of the song that they clear up what I didn't know needed clearing up. Wait a Effin minute. Maybe the CD input isn't in bypass and I have it in stereo by mistake. I checked and no It was correct. Bypass mode with no gain settings of any kind, just like the Tape input. So I thought "well maybe the Tape input just sound better for whatever reason the damn jacks are cleaner or something. So I switched the Hero's over to the Tape inut and the Jag's to the Cd input. Nothing changes. The Jaguars are still smacking around my Champions. As much as I'm cool with getting higher fidelity, I sure didn't want it to happen over my Hero's. No man something gotta be touching a power cord or something, I messed something up when I installed them. Nope everything is in complete order just as I perfer it. So I sat on the couch, switching back and forth trying to find something the Hero's did better. They are now out classed.The Jaguars gave my system another lift. Another lift I wasn't expecting.

Should I be extremely happy that I just made my system sound better then it did when I started??? Well if you ask the other me, sure whatever makes the best positive influence is the way to go. Try not to worry about brands, worry about the overall sound quality. I guess I didn't realize that I developed a Brand name thing for Kimber. Ok I understand it, they did me very well. But now that I own the Jaguars, I really am digging my sound all over again. My speakers just love more detail. They life for it. They shine and I'm so into them. But my speakers aren't on trial here. The Hero's are.

So whats a man to do? I'm gonna uninstall all my pairs of Hero's and upgrade to the Jaguars, thats what I'm gonna do. I got alot of pairs of Hero's so I'm gonna make a list and order all Jaguars for my preamp to amp, Cd, Sacd.Thats should cover it.The pair I have now will live where my very fist pair of Hero's lived, between the Preamp and Cd player.

I'll post some pic's. I'll snap a few.

So If anyone wants to give my Hero's a good home and love em as much as I did, they will be in the flea market soon. One pair is ready to go now. I also have a single for the center channel on the pre to amp.

Sad and happy all in one breath

Dan

PolkThug

Awesome review Dan, you tested them the right way. This review holds a lot of weight in my book, good job.

I would be interested in borrowing a Hero for a couple months, with an option to buy, I'll pay shipping both ways. Let me know.

Toby

janmike

Congrats Dan and you have my condolences at the same time. I have been pondering a similar situation about the 2CH rig I want to build over probably a year or two. When it comes to speaker cables & IC’s, should I stick with Signal Cable that I currently have in my HT system or go even better. I think experimenting is a good idea. Anyway, enjoy your new sound Dan.

polkatese

I am sorry to hear that, Dan!

congrats, though.

aaharvel

great review Dan.
you scared me there for a second.

mantis

PolkThug wrote:

Awesome review Dan, you tested them the right way. This review holds a lot of weight in my book, good job.

I would be interested in borrowing a Hero for a couple months, with an option to buy, I'll pay shipping both ways. Let me know.

Toby

I think we could work something out man. Pm me or IM me and we can talk.

But anyway I took a few snap shots of the speaker wires. The Ic's are Installed but you can see the batteries sticking out of my rack so it's a **** pic but you get the idea of the ugly green I talked about.

Funny how I didn't even review the speaker wires yet. I'll post one as I already reviewed them.

Dan

Early B.

Dammit, Dan!!

I swore I wouldn't even consider changing out my Heros and you go posting this?

Damn, damn, damn.

cmy330go

Thanks for the review Dan. This was really helpful for me as I have been considering trying some different ICs. In fact there is a guy at a local shop who has been trying to cram the Jags down my throat for a while now. I guess now I'm going to have to audition them.:rolleyes: It's good to hear comments from someone who isn't trying to make a sale.

Thanks Again!
Dave

danger boy

Good review Dan..... I got a pair you should try out at well, I have a 1 meter pair you could demo if you would like to.. PM if interested. I won't tell you what the IC is... or the materials it's made of... but it's very reasonably priced.. and in my system.. sounds more expensive than it is.

Detail is quite good.. but I've found that is makes a big difference where you install the IC too. I find the biggest noticeable difference is between the amp and pre amp.

Al

michael_w

What's this dbs system with the new ones? I personally like the green too...

Great review, but I think I'll be sticking with my hero's as well for a little longer

mantis

dangerboy,
Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on it down the road.

michael w,
the DBS system is basically a 36 volt battery attached to the speaker wire or Interconnects Dielectric to keep it in "broken in Mode". It cycles a 36 volt charge which is kinda what happens when you have a brand new Ic then run it in or break it in the Dielectric seperates from the conductor not restricking signal flow. Honestly I think the battery is hooky dooky. I don't like it but my ears tell me a different story. I rely on them more then my eyes. I get past the green color wire and damn batteries when it outperforms what I considered my go to cable.

Dan

Willow

Pardon my ignorance, but with a high price like that, isthere a warning when the batt. gets low? will you notice a diff. in sound when they start to die and drain?

Early B.

Here's some more info on the dbs system:

"The effect of dielectric (or insulation) on cable performance is universally acknowledged. No insulation, other than a vacuum, is perfect. All insulation conducts some tiny degree of electricity in the presence of an electrical field, and this effect can cause distortion and signal loss.

The grossest errors caused by "dielectric involvement" occur when the dielectric hasn't been given sufficient time and voltage to stabilize. Breaking in a cable simply means allowing time for a cable's dielectric material to adapt to a charged state. But what if a charge were present from the very beginning of a cable's life, allowing the dielectric to maintain a 'stable' state?

AudioQuest's patent pending Dielectric-Bias System (DBS) puts all of a cable's dielectric into a comparatively high-voltage DC field beginning at the moment that the cable is terminated. This exceptionally simple design puts a wire down the middle of the cable, which is merely an extension of a battery's anode. In other words, this wire is attached to the positive terminal of the DBS battery pack and not to anything else. The wire is not in the signal path and has no interaction with the signal.

The shield or outer spiral of conductors is used as the DBS cathode by connecting it to the negative terminal of the battery pack. Again, there is no interaction with signal flow and no extra connections are introduced into the signal path. The batteries are doing no work. They will last as long as the batteries sitting on your storage shelf, so you will very seldom need to change batteries. To check battery status, the DBS pack includes a button and LED.

The benefit of maintaining a constant bias on the dielectric is dramatic. Even a cable which is fully 'broken in' or which has the loudest music or pink noise continually traveling through it never has a fully formed dielectric compared to what the AudioQuest Dielectric-Bias System achieves."

Early B.

There's an audio shop in Atlanta where a guy makes cables insulated with cotton. The cables are simply comprised of a flat silver wire covered with cotton and terminated with bananas. They look like shoestrings. Cotton was chosen because it's nearly non-conductive, so it addresses the same problem AQ is using with the dbs system. I thought it was weird until I heard them. Pricey, though.

pjdami

I tried Kimbers on my Dynaudio Contour bookshelf speakers but thought the sound was a little too aggresive. I like Kimber on my Spendors which are more of a laid back speaker.

Dan, glad to see you found some new wire. Surprised you haven't given the new Transparent MM technology a whirl.

mantis

pjdami wrote:

I tried Kimbers on my Dynaudio Contour bookshelf speakers but thought the sound was a little too aggresive. I like Kimber on my Spendors which are more of a laid back speaker.

Dan, glad to see you found some new wire. Surprised you haven't given the new Transparent MM technology a whirl.

Wouldn't be a bad Idea but the Transparent dealer in my area closed up.

Thanks

Dan