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Acoustic Zen Hologram II - best for the $

Hi everyone,

I'm upgrading my system from the Nordost Blue Heaven LS (a bit too forward for my taste), and I have read nothing but positive comments about the Acoustic Zen Hologram II. I have the following system:

Oppo 105 for CD/SACD
Exposure 2010s2 Integrated
KEF LS50 speakers

The description of the AZ sound in the reviews appears to be quite balanced, perhaps a little to the warm side. This is what I'm looking for. So, my question is whether there is anything at $1000 (for 2m) price point that you think is clearly superior to the Hologram II.

I don't have an audio store near me, so I'd have to buy blind and deal with the return as I audition cables. I want to make sure that narrow it down to a very limited number of high quality choices.

Thanks so much for your time, and have a great day!
Scott
smrex13
foster_9
1,610 posts
 
I agree with Almarg that you try cables that are inexpensive to see if you can address your issue (forwardness). The Audio Sensiblity cables I find interesting, but they are in Canada which always means shipping back and forth through Customs. This can easily turn into added expense and hassle. I know from experience.

I can recommend JW Audio Cryo Nova as an inexpensive quality cable. They are a cryoed cable, and solid core. You have 30 days to try them in your system and can return them if not to your liking.
smrex13 OP
423 posts
 
I appreciate all of your feedback. In fact, independently of your responses, I started thinking about my system components more and realizing that I should be focusing on upgrading there. My guess is that the Exposure is too "analytical" for my tastes and that a slightly warmer sounding solid state with a more power would be more to my liking (and drive the KEFs better). I'll probably post a question on the amp/preamp forum to get some more of your input.

Oh, and I did order a pair of Clear Day cables to save some money and get some idea of how much cables affect the sound.

Thanks again for your time in answering a newbie's questions!

Scott
sunnyjim
884 posts
 
You might want to check out Audio Art speaker cable. The more expensive model is SC-5E; I use the less expensive
SC-5 which sound good to very good. However, the Clear Day's single silver speaker cable is better than the AA SC-5.

There are many cables out there, and I know it can be confusing and frustrating to find the right fit of cable One last possibility is the StraightWire's Rhapsody II speaker cable. An 8ft single wire pair should about cost $285.00 on sale from factory direct The cable has received limited but respectable reviews on the audioreview.com blog.
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