Anti-Cables on their way/have arrived

[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.

[LeRoy]

First and foremost I have to give a great deal of praise for the excellent customer service provided to me by the entire A/C staff. My order inquiries, processing, and return of goods was handled by a great deal of courtesy and professionalism.

With regard to my experience with A/C- I wound up returning the 10ft pair of speaker wire and both pairs of I.C's. Even though Paul S. was willing to take back the 6 ft. speaker wire set I still needed something for the MiniWatt so I kept them.

The reason for my return is that for my rig and my subjective tastes I simply preferred the cables from Neko Audio. My Neko I.C.'s are XLR out with RCA input to the Rogue.

I listend to the A/C I.C. with a variety of music for 2 weeks through the Rogue. After the initial 24 hour break in I did enjoy what I was hearing....neutrality, separation/space, and unfortunately also some distortion was in the system that I had not noticed before. The A/C cable is very transparent and apparently also delivered whatever distortion my rig is giving out. Of course this is no fault of the A/C.

However, after a couple of weeks the frequency of hearing such distortion was increasing and with a variety of music that I had never heard such distortion before.

My Stello DAC has three outputs all of which can be utilized, XLR out, RCA out, and Toslink out. I had the Neko XLR out to Rogue CD input, and A/C RCA to the Aux 1 Rouge input. All is takes is a turn on the dial on the DAC and Rogue to switch input signals and I don't have to turn anything off..the music just keeps playing.

To my ears the Neko not only met the best attributes of the A/C but also surpassed it. In addition to the detail retrieval, space/separation I also got a richer tonal palate in the mids, warmth with romance, more bass depth and weight, and a presentation that is pushed forward toward the listener. I bought the Neko a couple of years ago and it's a 2 ft set. I think I paid like $67 for the set.

Bottom line: I am sticking with the Neko cable. It's the best cable my ears have heard in a system to date.

With regard to speaker wire. I did not use the 10 ft run and the 6 ft run is on the MiniWatt and I have to spend more time with that before I can comment on it.

[JohnMichael]

Cables are certainly system dependent. I can hear differences in cables but it takes time to decide if the differences are an improvement. I am glad to read you received good customer service.

I either need to solder the wires on one lug at the amp end or buy a banana that will clamp on both lugs for my bi wire pair. I was listening and one lug came off the amps terminal. All of a sudden no midrange or treble in one speaker. Fearing a short I am back to the AQ's until I create a solution so I only have one lug under each terminal.

I think the clarity of the AntiCables helped me hear the distortion that was building and indicated my amp needed repair.

No wire is perfect but the AntiCables are great for their price. My only very minimal criticism is I hear a reduction in instrumental textures. When I put some of my stranded cables in the system I hear more space and air but the sound is less focused. On some recordings I hear almost what I would call ghost images. I like the more focused soundstage.