...have not tried the 'serenity' speaker cables but recently bought the 'reference ' speaker cables ..2 pair for biwiring and they are the best speaker cables i have tried in my system...they are fast..detailed..great 3-d soundstage and tight bass...they replaced a pair of crystal cable 'ultra' cables ..the argento is more neutral then the cc which in my system tended to be a little bright. they are more well known overseas then in the states....i have a 'serenity' i/c that i am cooking now and will compare it soon against my jps 'aluminata' i/c..hope this helps..
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As you can see by looking at my system, I have a good amount of experience and have ended up purchasing as much Argento stuff as I can afford. My IC's will switched to Argento as well once the bank account recovers. I have extensive experience in conducting power cord tests both in my system as well as at several friend's places that I am intimately familiar with. So just because it is easier to do, here are some top notch competitors that I haven't heard; Isoclean Supreme Focus, JPS Labs Aluminata, Stage 3 Zyklops, Stealth Dream, Jena Labs Model One, Nordist Odin & Valhalla, Elrod Power Systems, Purist's newest with the box in the middle (heard the Anniversary though). So some stuff in there that is probably really good that I just haven't been able to thoroughly listen. Have heard a few but not in systems I knew well. But outisde of those, I have tested via shoot outs and long term sessions close to 40 others. As for Argento, the only cable in the Argento PC line that isn't incredible is the Level .5, but even that cord is more musical than a Shunyata Anaconda Alpha Helix. But it has some flaws. An Argento Level 2 Mk 2 betters the Shunyata in all ways, except perhaps soundstaging. Then the Flow series takes it all up another level, with the Flow Master Reference being the equivalent to a major component upgrade on my system as well as a friends. It is a ridicoulously expensive cord, although in line with many of the other big name cords listed above, but well, everyone should just have to hear it. That FMR brings a smile to my face every time I think about what it did for my system. I also have the entry level Serenity speaker cables, which aren't entry level by any standard other than their own product line up. I have owned Tara Labs, Tg Audio, Ensemble, Analysis Plus, Audience speaker cables in the past. They are a big improvement over any of those, but none of those are super high dollar. The Ensemble set at about $3200 new being the priciest. Ensemble would rank third behind the Serenity then TG audio. I love these cables, but they are staying only for length of time it takes me to afford the Flow speaker cable. The new Flow series just takes everything up a notch, and by all reports betters everyhting in the Serenity line, yet costs a bit less. I also have a little experience in a friend's system with him deciding on a balanced IC between his CD palyer and preamp. We compared an Audioquest Sky, Purist Venustas, and Serenity SE. The Serenity was the cheapest of the three at the time, but it was easily the most musical, and just no big flaws. He bought the Argento. If you want more info on Argento cables and experiences of guys who have compared them against just about everything, no matter the cost, go to Audioexotics.hk Hope that helps. But yeah, I really like Argento. |
I had been using one Argento Serenity Reference and one Serenity SE interconnect.In my opinion these cables are the best in the world. Two weeks ago I compared my Serenity SE interconnect with a Stealth Indra in a friend's house (his system is a Weiss Medea/Wavac 805/Verity Sarastro setup) and I found the Serenity having a more neutral and balanced sound.Its soundstage was less extended than Indra's but if you try the Serenity Reference line you achieve that effect. Last week I sold both my interconnects and ordered the new Flow interconnects together with the Flow speaker cable... I heard that they are amazing but I will report my experience once I receive them.. |
Geopolitis Argento are good but stealth ARE better. We were three in the comparison you mention and two of us thought the Argento were over energetic on top even compared to Indra. You forgot to mention you were the only one that thought the Argento was better....;) Music with the Argento also seemed not to "flow" as well and the soundstage collapsed. Argento are really good cables but not better than stealth...IMHO |
First of all we all express our personal opinions here. In my opinion even the Serenity SE is better than Stealth Indra in terms of tonality and neutrality. Indra sounds like it has a peak in 4 KHz that makes it irritating for my ears in the long term. That is probably the reason you see so many Indras sold in the second hand market. If the Serenity SE performs like that then I imagine the Argento Flow will eliminate any possible competition. People in Honk Kong (check the Audioexotics Forum)have compared the new Argento Flow with Stealth Indra, Jorma Design Prime and Siltech G6. They said all the other cables didn't stand a chance against the Argento Flow. And these guys have some super systems.... |
Of course we all express our feelings, all I am saying is that you forgot to mention you were the only one preferring the Argento...lol I think the peak is at 3792.1 Hz by the way....hahahaha What do you mean many indras are sold? Right now there are 3 indras for sale in a market of millions....;) You mean the Audioexotics forum that is owned from the Guy importing the Argentos...? Happy Nameday! :) |
04-23-09: Geopolitis 04-23-09: Geopolitis Yo Geopolitis, what crawled up your skirt???? Heed you own advice & express your opinions *only*! Don't take a pot-shot at somebody else. Who's to say, YOU might be the deaf person in that listening session??? You prefer Argento over Stealth, so be it. Keep the Argento, enjoy your music. Don't bad-mouth somebody else in an attempt to overturn their opinion. This is a public forum to discuss opinions & not a place where people have same-same opinions. Calm down, dude! |
04-25-09: GeopolitisOh, OK! thanx for the clarification - it looked like things were about to spiral out of control w/ some name-calling. Good to see that it's just friends jibbing at each other. :-) |
"They pay to buy these products like the rest of us..." Incidentally Audioexotic forum is a private forum, only exclusive to those who are customers of Audioexotics. Hence one will never find opionions to the contrary of Audioexotics there Check their login page, no button to even create a new account when I want to post a negative opinion ;-) http://www.audioexotics.hk/forum.php?act=show_login |
I know because I wanted to post in this forum. Unfortunately you must request a username and a password. Does this mean that the customers of the Audioexotics cannot have an opinion about the products they use? Don't you think that the Audiogon users that post their opinions about the products they use are doing exactly the same ? I am sure that if these guys are not happy with the Argento or nay other products they won't post any positive comments about them... |
The difference between audiogon and audioexotics is that audiogon is an open forum where anyone can disclose all kind of negative and positive experiences. A closed forum like Audioexotics where only Audioexotic customers can adulate on expensive esoteric equipment distributed only by Audioexotics serves only as pure advertisement for their own company. Also note that there are hardly discussion about anything else that's not sold by Audioexotics. Over here where you can praise to the heavens the merits of Argento, at least we also get to hear the other side of the table that Argento isn't the only road to Rome. Open up their forum to other discussions, and you will find other participants sharing different views like myself ;-) |
You are right but Audioexotics built their forum for their customers so they don't care if I or someone else is looking into it. It is used for these guys to exchange info among themselves. It is not their fault if someone else is reading it. I always read these forums with the proper caution but I really believe that is a useful information tool for products that are considered quite "esoteric" and are not so much advertised in the International press. |
I have the Argento Serenity Reference interconnects and sp. wires. I find them very detailed and any high freq. harshness ime has been my room. One acoustical panel behind listening position tamed it right off. I personally really like these Argentos. Bettered Shunyata Python that I had on hand to compare. Wonder how much better the newer Flow is? Audioexotics rave about the Flow Master REf power cord....I'd love to try one. |
I bought two of the latest Flow interconnects (the speaker cable will follow soon). and had the chance to compare it with the Serenity Master Reference. I can assure you that the previous flagship doesn't even come close to the performance of the Flow. The difference is dramatic. It is like you could hear the cables before and now you feel that there is no cable anymore. The Serenity Master Reference sounds compressed compared to the Flow. I cannot even imagine how the Flow Master Reference would perform... |
Geopolitis, I see that Tidal is wiring at least the Contriva Discera SE with Argento Flow Power cable and that they are the importer for Scandinavia. I can only assume that the Contrivas I heard at CES were wired with Argento wire and they sounded great after the Ypsilons had some time on them. They other wires were the Stage Threes. |
Fla, that is an interesting question. Evaluting US retail prices, the Piano Diacera represents an 80% additional price premium over the Piano Cera. Is it better? Of course! Is the improvement commensurate with the premium? Of course not, and this is probably the answer you would get from Tidal. The diamond tweeter upgrade probably makes sense for the Contriva but not for the Piano. |
Geopolitis, I have only heard Tidal speakers with the diamond tweeter. I have long loved the plasma tweeter used in Acapella products but generally it sticks out as superior to and different from the other drivers. All that I can really say is that the diamond tweeter in Tidals sounds every bit as good as the plasma, but different, and it is seamlessly integrated with the other drivers. |
Murataltuev, Yes, Flow are night and day compared with the Echoles I had. Actually the Argento Serenity SE was much better than Echole. I haven't tried the Odin but I can tell you that the Valhalla is a joke compared to the Organic Audio interconnect (by Argento) that costs around 600 Euros. There are a couple of people saying that the Organic is better than the Odin but if I don't hear it myself I cannot confirm anything. |
It seems that Synergistic Research cables are not available in Europe. I have had Valhalla, Townshend, Indra, IsoClean, FIM, and several others that I cannot name in my system and the new Tesla series from SR were clearly better. They are all charged cables. At the last CES a dealer friend and I heard a demonstration of the Odin versus the Valhalla. After we left the demonstration we both said we preferred the Valhalla. But the demonstrator just presumed that everyone preferred the Odins. I wonder what it is within the Argentos that might lead to them being excellent. They just seem to be high purity 5 nines silver with nice looking RCA and pc plugs. Certainly at least first off I am going to be using the SR cables on my Tidal Contrivas. |
Tbg, a couple of people I know have Synergistic cables (mostly the previous series though ) because they are sold here in Greece. I also know that many people prefer the SR Apex to Stealth Indra. I am pretty confident that the Flow (not even the Flow Master Reference) easily outperforms the Stealth Indra but then again this is my personal opinion. Time will tell... I hope that I won't see Argyro switching from Stealth to Atgento Flow when he buys his Contrivas!!!! These speakers will show no mercy.... |
Tbg, SR is distributed in a number of European countries but as you can imagine the Tesla series are very expensive here and there is lots of competition. The real challenge is finding someone who's already tried a good combination of Tesla cables with Tidal speakers and/or amps. You may be the first to go that route and it's bound to be a fascinating one. On a more general note, perhaps it's worthwhile to put the question whether anyone did a comparison with Argento on the widely read Tesla thread? Btw I use Tricon Analog between my WTB 'table and the Preos to great satisfaction. I also tried a Tesla T2 cord on the Preos and was considering T3 for the Intra but that trial was never conclusive since the MPC was noisy (I've been considering ordering a Galileo MPC for it, but am wary that could turn out to be deficient too. What do you think?) |
Argyro, have you compared Odin with Organic in your system? Odin power cord is incredible! Only Argento FMR can be compared with them. I have them both in my system. The rest (I had top models from KubalaSosna, Stealth, Jorma and Valhalla) are much much lower level. But I understand that it doesn't mean anything about interconnects. I had Argento Serenity RCA and didn't like it much. Odin XLR I had few days and was impressed. They was better than my KS Emotion. Valhalla was worse. I sold my Emotions to friend who replaced Valhalla. So, my expirience tells me that Odin is better then Emotion, Serenity and Valhalla. I also had Echole in my system for audition and prefered Elation. If Flows are much better than Echole, than may be they will be better then Elations. |