Stunned by a cable upgrade


Yesterday I received a 12ft. pair of Analysis Plus Oval Nine speaker cable and I am absolutely stunned by the positive difference they have made in my setup. They replaced a 14 ft. biwired pair of DH Labs Silversonic T-14s. I ordered these on the advice and glowing reviews of fellow members of this forum in an attempt to tame my bright system. I am currently using a Sim Audio Moon I-5 integrated, Sonus Faber Concertinos, Musical Fidelity E60 CD player and NHT SW3P subwoofer.

I must say I've never had the experience of one component making such an audible difference. The DH Labs have a very in-your-face presentation, and the soundstage is flat by comparison. Changing to the Oval Nines I was shocked how much width and especially depth were added to the soundstage. It had the effect of opening backwards like an accordian. Amazing! All the glare was gone and the music became bigger, fuller and just seemed to roll out effortlessly. So full in fact, I had to adjust my subwoofer to compensate for the increased bass and corresponding mudiness.

I spent the entire evening marveling at how the music of Robby Longley, Sunny Sumter, Diana Krall, Jesse Cook, Inscendio, Yo Yo Ma, and Oscar Lopez came to life. My gold Dave Brubeck Time Out CD had always sounded so thin, but now flowed with an ease and roundness I had never enjoyed before. Paul Desmond's sax was so real. The instruments and voices on every CD I tried seemed more lifelike and natural.

Previously, I had tried various affordable interconnects from Cardas, Kimber, Tara, Monster and DH Labs thinking this might help. While the different interconnects did change the character of the sound, the shifts were pretty subtle. A pair of Cardas Golden Cross proved to be the most effective and expensive, but the problem still persisted. It's almost as if everything was bottlenecked at the speaker cables, and now the music seems to flow unrestrained.

The DH Labs are in biwire configuration. The Oval Nines are a single run. I would have thought the biwired cables would have an edge in spaciousness, but this is not the case in my system. I had considered changing out the Moon I-5 for a tube preamp/SS amp combo hoping to cure the leaness. With the Analysis Plus now in my system, I no longer have the urge to change my amp. I'm starting to see how good the Sim Audio really is. I also have on order a Bel Canto DAC 1.1 and I hope this will reap even greater rewards.

I know this must sound like a cheap plug for a product by a manufacturer, but it's not. I'm still amazed by the transformation my system made last night, especially since both cables have been so well reviewed and are fairly close in price. Has anyone else experienced such an improvement in their setup by changing cables? And if so, what were the components involved?
gunbei
Isn't it great when the system takes a jump? You're all giving some excellent advice. I did find the absolute power cord a definate improvement over the stock power cord on my own simaudio 4070SE so I would suspect the sim l-5 would also enjoy the cord...I'm now believeing almost any audio power cord is better than what is free with the gear. My biggest jump in wires was going from the red dawns to the acoustic zen satori speaker wire and matrix reference....in my system the zens stomped on the grave of the red dawns while singing "we will, we will, rock you." This is not to dishonor the fine reputation of the red dawns but they were simply bested in every possible way in my system......I couldn't get any work done for a week......cheers, Bluenose
Megasam, I have already contacted GTT Audio through Audiogon. If all the cord does is clean up the sound a bit, I'll be very happy. Can't beat the price either. Thanks!
It is so fun to hear people so excited when a discovery is made. Excellant post Gunbei, it was well written, excellant information, and the type of post I can believe, understand and I think helpful to every one. Thank-you, J.D.
Bluenose, I know just how you feel. I was having so much fun re-listening to my CD collection I didn't want to go to sleep last night! What speakers are you running with your 4070SE and Satoris?

Thanks for the kind words Jadem6. I'd been reading about other people making great audio discoveries and always wondered if they were exagerating. Well, add me to the list of audio yarn-spinners!

Now I can't wait for the Bel Canto to arrive. It's so fun being an audio newbie!
Hello, Gunbie...I enjoyed your post. The sim 1-5 is a very musical integrated as are all of the moon pieces I've heard so far. I'm running the sim4070SE with newform research dr-8-2's....These were John Meyers top of the line when he started. They have the 30" ribbons and two 8" peerless drivers. I'm using mapleshade ribbon jumpers and running them single-wired....the cross over at 900 hz is hard to notice single wired, IMO. The Bel Canto is supposed to be excellent.....you won't get any work done. Oh, a free tweak...try liffing your monster off the floor. I have mine up on a tile, vibrapods and a footrub[the dr scholls type] sounds silly, I know, but try it and see what you hear...cheers, Bluenose