Anti-Cables on their way/have arrived

[JohnMichael]

I wanted to share this link for another solid core speaker cable that a member PM'ed me. Very similar and I am hoping if he does try them he will share his experience.

JW Audio - Speaker Cables

[frenchmon]

Well last night I finally twisted the AntiCables. I noticed an improvement in detail and high frequency extension. I would almost say the sound was a little sweeter but I do not hear any colorations with the cables. I think I may be hearing more of the true nature of the Krell.

The cables have been a lot of fun to experiment with and listen through. I can see the advantages of having Paul create a bi-amp pair shotgunned and twisted. While the two spades stacked on top of one another fit the Krell's speaker binding posts I think a single spade with the two wires soldered to it would be easier. I am also thinking Paul's twisting might be a little more consistent than mine. Even with my twisting it is easy to hear the benefits of twisting the cables.

All this for less than I will be spending tonight to see Lewis Black and a nice dinner. This hobby is a lot of fun.

Thats what I am talking about! It really is a lot of fun!

[salad 419]

I pulled the trigger on some of the JW Audio Cryo Nova Speaker Cables and Jumpers.

Unpacking: The speaker cables came pre-twisted at a 7 foot length. The twists frequency is about one revolution per inch. The wire looks identical to the AntiCables. Since the cables are directional, there is a white stripe for the starting point of the wires. Wow, these wires are not flexible as others have noted.

I honestly can't say much more about my experience that hasn't already been said, but maybe observed a few things that they didn't since I switched from low quality cables.

Disclaimer/Background: First of all, I replaced some cheap Stranded Copper Wire purchased from Wal-Mart, so the quality of these cables probably aren't what you'd call excellent by any means. I have a few different sizes and brands, but didn't really notice a difference between any of said cables. I also have no experience with any other brand of "audiophile" cables or point of reference so my observations could just be that I'm switching to a higher quality cable and you may be able to get similar results from the Wood's Patio Cables, Blue Jeans, MonoPrice or any other quality cable. In my lowly system, the cables made a difference by ear only. My room is probably not even close to being set up properly with treatments. I also have no measuring devices or scientific data to support any of my claims. If I did have the fancy tools to do this, I'd try to support my observations with data.

I did notice a HUGE difference in clarity,separation of instruments, extended highs, more air/ambience, etc. (I should have quoted someone elses posts to get all of the keywords in here, but you've already read them, so let's just say that I agree)

My Observations: The Good: The vocals seemed to move up about 6 inches higher than previous cables and the soundstage was deeper as well. I'm not sure if it is/was a clarity/resolution issue, but it seems that the mids and highs are louder than before. I actually turned the volume down on the pre-amp to get to the same perceived levels.

The Negligible: I didn't really notice any difference in bass response. I can't say that the bass is deeper or tighter. It may be, but it's going to be very slight if at all. Also, the 21L's aren't very bass heavy or extended to begin with and I would probably call them lacking??? I may try switching back to the 22L's some day with the two different cables to see if I notice anything in this area. Another point, my cables were twisted and others have noted that straight wires improved the bass, not twisted.

The Bad: I'm hearing some "noise" in my system, now that I didn't hear before. For lack of a better adjective, just think of the old tape hiss from your cassette players. It's not nearly as loud as the tape hiss of yesteryear, but if you focus too much on it, it'll drive you crazy.

To be determined/More Testing Needed: Previously, I noticed that at higher volumes the sound started getting congested/boxy/colored/compressed?? I've only really turned up the volume once since I've gotten these cables and it was for a short time. I will say that the sound issue is better, but don't know how much better or if the problem is resolved. Also, it may be more of a room issue than a system issue. I'll report back when I get around to turning up the volume, again.

Conclusion: If you're in the market for new cables. I'll also recommend the AntiCables, JW Audio or Magnet Wire Cables. Although, if you're running a system that tends to sound brighter, the cables may push things over the top???

[JohnMichael]

Thanks salad 419 for your review. I agree with much of what you found with the change in cables. Amazing for a cable that is so simple in design.

You mentioned noise and with that additional clarity noise would be more obvious. I reduced my systems noise floor by using a Monster Cable surge protector/filter. I also turn off fluorescent lights for critical listening. As suggested by Absolute Sound I do not have any light dimmers and another concern that I need to test is the Compact Flouescent Lights. I am wondering if they have the potential of adding noise.

Looking forward to more posts of your experiences with the wires in the weeks to come.

[JohnMichael]

I have lived with the AntiCables for awhile now. Last night I heard the first non musical sound. On Madeleine Peyroux's "Dreamland" I noticed in the song Muddy Water that there is a triangle being played and it sounded a little distorted. I checked with another cable and the sound was gone with the other cable. I might have noticed it earlier if I had been using the OML1's more. Love those silk dome tweeters.

[JohnMichael]

The cables I own combine differently with different speakers. The RS6's sound best with AntiCables speaker cables and the DNM Reson IC's while the OML1's sound best with the AudioQuest Slates and the AlphaCore TQ2 IC's. The AlphaCore Micropurl IC's are used all the time from the Fanfare to the Krell. I am keeping notes these days about the best combinations of equipment and cables.

[frenchmon]

So did the anti cable malfunction ?

[JohnMichael]

So did the anti cable malfunction ?

No I would not say they malfunctioned at all. I am not sure if they have a high frequency resonance or the OML's soft dome has a resonance that the combination causes the distortion I heard. The AntiCables did not have this problem with the RS6's metal dome tweeter. The AntiCables were great with the Monitor Audio speakers. I am glad I have the AntiCables and will use them when I am playing the M A RS6's. The Krell, RS6's and AntiCables work well together especially when I fire up the Black Eyed Peas about 1 AM to send a message to those below me who might be partying a little too loud. The OML1's do not have the bass to deliver the message.

Also the sound of the AQ Slates that sounded thick with the RS6's make the OML1's a little more filled out in the bass range.

[frenchmon]

JM...thought of you as I read this thread.


Speaker Asylum

[texlle]

JM, did you have the later, multi-stranded AQ Slates in the black jacket? I just picked up a 12" pair from a local on craigslist for use with my 603's and just want to get an opinion on some positive qualities of these cables, if possible.

I upgraded from standard wal-mart 14 gauge wire and noticed right away that the AQ cables are terrible out of the box. I assume they were unused when I bought them from the first owner as they have opened up substantially after two weeks. At first, the upper range sounded veiled, if not blanketed, mid-bass around 200-250Hz was over-proportioned and almost boomy. When I moved to the seductive Rotel from the harsh yet precise Yamaha a week before getting the AQ's, I was really enjoying the open and airy nature offered by the Rotel. The AQ slates seemed to take that away completely. The music was extremely closed-in, as if the various instruments were being performed in a tight huddle.

After a few days, the soundstage opened up a bit and some of the airiness returned, but it still seemed a little concentrated. The highs opened up as well- far smoother than the wal-mart cable. Bass is definitely "thicker"- say fuller and just as tight, which was nice.

Now having used them for two full weeks, the tonal balance has shifted upward, away from the 500-1000 Hz range and more toward the area of 1500-3000. Much more balanced overall. The boomy mid-bass has toned itself down, the highs have broken free, and the midrange has gained depth. Soundstaging is still more narrow than I generally prefer, but it seems to be improving by the day, even still. Depth is sensational. Definitely moved the focal point back about 7-10 rows from the front and center stage I'm used to by the B&W's presentation.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied by my purchase. Though the bass does seem a tad embellished, I've written off any further mid-bass boom to crappy acoustics of the house that I wasn't bought out by the wal-mart cables. My favorite album thus far has been Natalie Cole's unforgettable. Her voice hits in that sweet range of 2kHz that really sings with the AQ's. The piano is true, with no glare or roll off thanks to slightly curtailed/smoothed out highs. Brass is bold and weighty. So far, so good!

[JohnMichael]

JM, did you have the later, multi-stranded AQ Slates in the black jacket? I just picked up a 12" pair from a local on craigslist for use with my 603's and just want to get an opinion on some positive qualities of these cables, if possible.

I upgraded from standard wal-mart 14 gauge wire and noticed right away that the AQ cables are terrible out of the box. I assume they were unused when I bought them from the first owner as they have opened up substantially after two weeks. At first, the upper range sounded veiled, if not blanketed, mid-bass around 200-250Hz was over-proportioned and almost boomy. When I moved to the seductive Rotel from the harsh yet precise Yamaha a week before getting the AQ's, I was really enjoying the open and airy nature offered by the Rotel. The AQ slates seemed to take that away completely. The music was extremely closed-in, as if the various instruments were being performed in a tight huddle.

After a few days, the soundstage opened up a bit and some of the airiness returned, but it still seemed a little concentrated. The highs opened up as well- far smoother than the wal-mart cable. Bass is definitely "thicker"- say fuller and just as tight, which was nice.

Now having used them for two full weeks, the tonal balance has shifted upward, away from the 500-1000 Hz range and more toward the area of 1500-3000. Much more balanced overall. The boomy mid-bass has toned itself down, the highs have broken free, and the midrange has gained depth. Soundstaging is still more narrow than I generally prefer, but it seems to be improving by the day, even still. Depth is sensational. Definitely moved the focal point back about 7-10 rows from the front and center stage I'm used to by the B&W's presentation.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied by my purchase. Though the bass does seem a tad embellished, I've written off any further mid-bass boom to crappy acoustics of the house that I wasn't bought out by the wal-mart cables. My favorite album thus far has been Natalie Cole's unforgettable. Her voice hits in that sweet range of 2kHz that really sings with the AQ's. The piano is true, with no glare or roll off thanks to slightly curtailed/smoothed out highs. Brass is bold and weighty. So far, so good!

My AudioQuest Slates are solid core not stranded. There are a total of eight solid core wires per run. Mine are also bi-wired with 4positive and 4 negative lengths connecting at the amp end and at the speaker wire there are two solid core cables for both low and high frequency and both positive and negative.

The sound is smooth and well focused.

[daviethek]

Glad you like them John, I have had them in for years now. I am so used to them I occasionally take them out and replace with Axiom multi strand, Mapleshade or AR cable I still have. The Anti Cables end up back in there by a comfortable margin.

The red coating is an atomically bonded surface treatment similar to annealing or parkerizing. It is probably applied during hot working of the wire. The coating may be thin but it is effective and very tough. It took an impressive amount of scraping and sanding to remove the coating from one end of the wire set when I went to bare wire hook up. This bears no resemblance whatsoever to magnet wire. This is a sophisticated product with some thought behind it.

It is a neutral cable that has no shortcoming that I can appreciate. I wasn't too thrilled about his IC's however. For IC's I ended up with the Morrow audio product. So when it comes to speaker cables, the Anti's were the best 100.00 I have ever spent and the Morrow IC's were the best 39.00 I ever spent. I am cheap so these were painful purchases.

Well engineered products can rise to the top in the internet world.

[JohnMichael]

I was concerned about some slight distortion in the high frequencies but the distortion is only audible with the DNM Resaon IC's in use. They have no shielding at all and I am very close to a radio station who months ago increased the power of their transmitter. I do hear the distortion with other speaker cables but as soon as I switch to the AlphaCore TQ2 the distortion is gone. The AntiCables were not the problem.

[Mr Peabody]

I ordered a set of AntiCables Reference IC's. I had the privilege of talking with Paul a bit, he is an EE who works in the Telecom arena so has experience getting signals from one place to another. He also designed the crossover for the Gilmour loudspeakers. I certainly came away with the impression he knows what he is doing and does extensive experimenting. Much of his new products are sold by word of mouth and used for a year or more before he puts them on the website. For instance, unless something has changed recently the "Reference" IC's aren't shown yet.

Open debate and exchange of ideas can be good or fun but when people who have not even tried something try to tell you that you imagine things it's insulting and not productive at all. They remind me of those who said the world is flat and could not possibly be round. Some demand science, I demand you try it and you have your science, nothing lost you have a 30 day return. If audio is all based on expectations I would certainly try to convince myself cheaper gear sound better. Hmmmm.... maybe it's not us who is imagining things

[frenchmon]

I ordered a set of AntiCables Reference IC's. I had the privilege of talking with Paul a bit, he is an EE who works in the Telecom arena so has experience getting signals from one place to another. He also designed the crossover for the Gilmour loudspeakers. I certainly came away with the impression he knows what he is doing and does extensive experimenting. Much of his new products are sold by word of mouth and used for a year or more before he puts them on the website. For instance, unless something has changed recently the "Reference" IC's aren't shown yet.

Open debate and exchange of ideas can be good or fun but when people who have not even tried something try to tell you that you imagine things it's insulting and not productive at all. They remind me of those who said the world is flat and could not possibly be round. Some demand science, I demand you try it and you have your science, nothing lost you have a 30 day return. If audio is all based on expectations I would certainly try to convince myself cheaper gear sound better. Hmmmm.... maybe it's not us who is imagining things

I guess its time to update your sig.

[JohnMichael]

I agree Mr. Peabody. Until you have heard a product one can only speculate.

I mentioned a hint of distortion in the highs and now I wonder if that signaled the beginning of the troubles with the Krell. The increased distortion I was hearing I now think was the amp and not the cables. When the Krell is back the AntiCables will be the cables of choice again.

[Mr Peabody]

I received my AntiCable Reference IC's. I picked up the box they came in and it felt empty to me, then I opened up the box, and, lets say the cables didn't make a good impression from what I was used to seeing of other cables, the Ac were just a thin twist of wire connected to plastic ends. The "plastic ends" were actually Eichmann bullet RCA which are said to be very good. The proof was in the performance, the AC's replaced a set of entry Transparent IC's I was using until the AC's came in. The AC's provided immediate better resolution, focus, and gave a more realistic image to instruments. The bass may have been a bit more punchy with the Transparent but the AC was better in every other way, the bass had more bloom with the AC which may give the the impression of less punch, that or the much more midrange detail. The Reference IC's use silver conductors, I'd recommend any one with bad experience with silver to give the AC's a try, Paul Speltz says the purity of the silver is the key to making silver a good sounding material and he worked with his cables until he found the correct balance.

Paul's theory is cables sound different from each other due to the dielectric used, the dielectric can also cause capacitance, the same for shielding. I thought this a very reasonable explanation why some of us hear differences.

I already put the Siltech between my phono preamp and preamp but if I get energetic one day I may pull them for a direct comparison but from memory and knowing the differences between them and the Transparent I'm confident the AC's would still be best. The Siltech is better than the Transparent but they are also a level up as well.

[frenchmon]

And what is the price difference between the Siltech MXT Pro New Yorker and the Anti Cable Reference?

Im sure its hundreds and he AC best them?!?!?!?!?!

[LeRoy]

JM and Mr. P., thanks for the insight on the AC's. I will have to keep them in mind should I decide to begin a cable search. Have a nice day fellas.

LeRoy

[Jack in Wilmington]

Mr P. where did the AC's go in your setup? You said they replaced the Transparent cables and you moved the Siltech's to between the phono pre and the pre right. Is that where the Transparent cables were before? I tried a pair of "The Link" cables in my system, but I never tried anything farther up the ladder.

[JohnMichael]

The AntiCable speaker cables are back in the system. After the Krell came back from service I wanted to hear it with everything in the system to which I had been listening. The Krell is sounding great and it was easy to realize I liked the OML 1's over the RS6's. Then once I was used to the sound of the OML 1's in the system it was time to bring back the AntiCables. All is sounding wonderful tonight.

[Hyfi]

The AntiCable speaker cables are back in the system. After the Krell came back from service I wanted to hear it with everything in the system to which I had been listening. The Krell is sounding great and it was easy to realize I liked the OML 1's over the RS6's. Then once I was used to the sound of the OML 1's in the system it was time to bring back the AntiCables. All is sounding wonderful tonight.

Good deal JM. I have secretly been drooling over your Krell since the day it came out and $2500 was a far out dream to spend. I keep thinking about what I would do when forced to downsize. It might be a Krell and a Tube Integrated to switch with.

I finally bi-amped my Clearfields this morning. Not a match in amps by any means but a fun experiment. I have the woofers driven by my Stratos and the uppers with the Counterpoint. Im using $$$Synergystic cables with the CP and $Tara Labs Prism with the Stratos.

Been letting it warm up and sink in before I sit and listen.

[LeRoy]

I ordered 2 pair of IC's Eichmann and 2 pair of speaker wire from A.C. I plan to use one set of each on the MiniWatt/System Audio/Marantz DVD 6001 set up in the living room. I will try the second set on the Rogue/Stello/Dali Ikon 2 mk2 set up, The Dali's are a recent purchase.

I will A/B against the Virtue Audio speaker cable I got about 3 weeks ago.

[LeRoy]

Update: I got my Anti-Cables wire sets in today. Two pairs of IC's with Eichmann bullet plugs and two pairs of speaker wire. I only have the IC's in play right now with the Rogue, Stello units, and Dali Ikon 2 mk2 speakers.

At first glance the bullet plugs look cheap. The spiral wire guide that protects and hold the signal wire looks really pretty...like a christmas wrapping or ornament. The signal wire itself....looks awfully alike to the Radio Shack 30 gauge Magnet Wire that I have mentioned before on other posts. I still have the R.S. wire on hand in a drawer and will have a closer look at the RS wire next to the other IC set I have.

[Ajani]

The signal wire itself....looks awfully alike to the Radio Shack 30 gauge Magnet Wire that I have mentioned before on other posts. I still have the R.S. wire on hand in a drawer and will have a closer look at the RS wire next to the other IC set I have.

Please let us know how that comparison goes. Especially whether the Anti-Cables sound the same as the magnet wire. It's clear that Anti-Cables are essentially magnet wire, but the question is whether there is something special about the wire in Anti-Cables versus generic magnet wire.