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Review: Acoustic Zen Absolute Interconnect

Category: Cables

I was looking forward to audtioning Robert Lee's new highest reference Acoustic Zen interconnects & speaker wires which he calls the Absolute. They represent his latest thinking regarding the state of the art in his house of wires. About two years ago I had gone through a lengthy audtion process, which included five highly regarded sets of wires from well known companies, untill I decided to replace all my wires with AZ Silver reference II & Matrix reference II and Satori speaker wire. I'm a great fan of AZ for two major reasons;1) They offer great "bang for the buck" out standing performance for the cost ratio.2) They have,for me, a wonderful combination of tight/powerful bass,great details,transparency,dynamics,natural timbres, along with being musical and a smooth "sense" of ease. The process of audtioning the Absolute began with inserting a Absolute interconnect between my DAC and PRE-AMP along with putting the Absolute speaker wire in. Since I bi-amp there are four sets of interconnects so I put the Absolute interconnect at the front of the system. Well, it turned out to be a very gratifying experience! It not only tremendously improved the above stated virtues but added the following;1) A giant soundstage with excellent layering of players in a sense of real space.2)A sriking sense of air/three-dimensionality around everyone in the soundstage.3)Much improved/natural timbres.4)The new cables added that wonderful "organic/musicality" that I think we all strive for in our systems. It strongly reminded me of the experience I had when I audtioned my Pass Labs-350.5 to my then current amp an Edge NL-10. The Edge, which is still a great amp with many reference level characteristics, just kinda sounded sterile compared with the musicality of the 350.5. I know thats a very subjective way of explaining my experience, but its hard to use objective language at times to explain why a component just sounds more like the experience of real music. These wires are not inexpensive(2000.00 for the interconnects and 2800.00 for the speakers wires) but offer so much without any apparent shoutcomings that I think they are very fairly priced and compete with many reference level wires at a much lower price.So I think Mr. Lee has done it again, great sound at a reasonable price! As a final note I want to mention, even though we all know it all ready, that important factor of system matching and synergy long with your personnal taste make home audtioning a must for us serious audiophiles! I highly recommend you try these wires out if your a fan of AZ or looking to upgrade you wires in your sytem.

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teajay
lrsky
1,118 posts
 
Rspeck, you stated, (I'll probably regret opening this door)
"I went to Acoustic Zen's web-site and looked at their
'technological'" articles. They are a maze of misleading advertising, bogus claims, misapplied and pseudo-scientific gobbledygook."
I am sure that Robert Lee, and his employees, and their families, whose livlihoods depend on the sale of their products, will be pleased to find out your appraisal of his work, or at least your description of his work.
Just wondering, other than the usual marketing hype which all companies employ to get the attention of potential buyers, what parts are, the 'misapplied....and so on" are you referring to.
Having compared this personally to Kimber Select, 3035 and prefering it I am surprised someone would be so vitriolic.
guidocorona
4,114 posts
 
Returning to the subject matter, I called Robert Lee and asked him about the metallurgy of the Absolute wires.
The Silver-Copper Hybrid wires have mixed strands of Silver and Copper. More specifically, 96% of the strands are made from Silver, and 4% of strands are made from Copper.
The function of the Copper strands is to enhance the reproduction of the resonance from the 'wood' of many instruments, such as violins, cellos, violas, string basses, Pianos etc. . .
Enhancement to the reproduction of the resonance of 'wood' is a theme also very dear to Emmanuel Go of First Sound when discussing the characteristics of premium models of his pre line, Such as the Paramount SE, which is equipped with Copper capacitors.
teajay OP
1,333 posts
 
Guidocorona,thanks for sharing the information regarding the type of metal used in the Absolute cables. I also talked to Robert Lee early today and he also shared he went from a teflon to an "air" foam material to insulate the cables. I'm no engineer so I don't quite understand the importance of this change,Mr. Lee said it took about a year to find the right material to use,but I do know the cables sound great.I hope you will audtion them and tell us what you think.
guidocorona
4,114 posts
 
TJ, the Absolute costs approximately 2.5 times the price of the Silver II. I forgot to ask Robert what accounts for the price difference. As far as you know, is there more than the hybrid Copper/Silver strands and the insulating material as the difference between the two lines?
teajay OP
1,333 posts
 
Guidocorona,the way Mr.Lee made it sound to me was the major expense was the new and different dialectic/insulation materials he uses in the Absolute cable. He did not mention anything regarding the metals used in the cables when explaining the higher cost but definitely talked about the much higher cost of the insulating materials. I have always had the impression that as designer,Robert Lee, builds his cables to a high level of quality but doesnot add cost to his cables just to increase profit by using esoteric/expensive materials. So, if he uses a more expensive type of material its the only way to get the sound/improvement he is seeking in his process of improving his sonic reference.I want to be clear I'm not saying the Absolute cables are the "best" in the world.I can state there the best I tried in my system and are highly competitive with much more expensive cables on the market.
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