Sorry to take so long to respond to you, Larryb. I lost track of this thread. My apologies.
I know precisely what you mean by the dryness of the midrange and treble of the Midnight. In the systems I have tried it in, including my friends, the cable always came across a lot different than its description would lead one to believe. It has an overall dry tone, sounding thin and lightweight. And, yes, I found the bass to be more than underwhelming. It was flat out disappointing.
What I am at somewhat of a loss to explain is that I have also used a double run of AQ Dragon SE, which uses the same cable construction as Midnight, but with FPS Silver instead. While being more than a bit relentless in my former system, the bass was astounding. Explosive, concussive, reaching down at least what felt like another octave compared to any other cable I have tried.
Coincident CST0.5 is great budget cable, and sounds like a mini version of their CST1. If you are trying to look for something in the $100 - $150 range, it might be something to consider. You may want to make sure it isn't veiled for you, as you mentioned that above. The same goes for the more budget oriented Alpha Core and the Cardas.
I think the Coincident CST1 is a great all around cable in most of the systems I have tried it in. When it errs, I would say that in some systems it sounds too lush and mellow to the point of being rolled off. I hear this mostly with solid state amplification. With tubes, it seems to do tremendously well. Its bass is of note, and much superior in my opinion to AQ Midnight. If you are looking to get away from that semi - harsh midrange and treble of AQ Midnight, and you are running tube amplification, I can more than recommend it.
If you are local to me (Philadelphia, PA area), you are more than welcome to come and give it a listen, and even borrow it to try out. If you find it your cup of tea, it can be had quite reasonably used here on Audiogon.
Coincident TRS seems to be very system specific, moreso than a lot of cables I have tried. It does stupendously well with OTL amplification, which is where I use it. In some other applications, it can sound all disconnected and weird. With my transformer coupled tube amps, it just kind of separates all of the musical spectrum in a very off putting way.
JPS Superconductor is the other cable I recommend. Depending on your budget, I can give you a very attractive option. I don't have any in my system, but it is another lush sounding cable, though I definitely do not want to give the impression that it is at all lacking in clarity or detail, because it is not. And, it seems to do well with both tubes and solid state. I am not sure if you would be interested, but it has a really punchy midbass that gives it a great sound to many people's ear.
And, depending on your budget, Cardas and Alpha Core might be a bit high for the ranges that start sounding better.
Good luck!
I know precisely what you mean by the dryness of the midrange and treble of the Midnight. In the systems I have tried it in, including my friends, the cable always came across a lot different than its description would lead one to believe. It has an overall dry tone, sounding thin and lightweight. And, yes, I found the bass to be more than underwhelming. It was flat out disappointing.
What I am at somewhat of a loss to explain is that I have also used a double run of AQ Dragon SE, which uses the same cable construction as Midnight, but with FPS Silver instead. While being more than a bit relentless in my former system, the bass was astounding. Explosive, concussive, reaching down at least what felt like another octave compared to any other cable I have tried.
Coincident CST0.5 is great budget cable, and sounds like a mini version of their CST1. If you are trying to look for something in the $100 - $150 range, it might be something to consider. You may want to make sure it isn't veiled for you, as you mentioned that above. The same goes for the more budget oriented Alpha Core and the Cardas.
I think the Coincident CST1 is a great all around cable in most of the systems I have tried it in. When it errs, I would say that in some systems it sounds too lush and mellow to the point of being rolled off. I hear this mostly with solid state amplification. With tubes, it seems to do tremendously well. Its bass is of note, and much superior in my opinion to AQ Midnight. If you are looking to get away from that semi - harsh midrange and treble of AQ Midnight, and you are running tube amplification, I can more than recommend it.
If you are local to me (Philadelphia, PA area), you are more than welcome to come and give it a listen, and even borrow it to try out. If you find it your cup of tea, it can be had quite reasonably used here on Audiogon.
Coincident TRS seems to be very system specific, moreso than a lot of cables I have tried. It does stupendously well with OTL amplification, which is where I use it. In some other applications, it can sound all disconnected and weird. With my transformer coupled tube amps, it just kind of separates all of the musical spectrum in a very off putting way.
JPS Superconductor is the other cable I recommend. Depending on your budget, I can give you a very attractive option. I don't have any in my system, but it is another lush sounding cable, though I definitely do not want to give the impression that it is at all lacking in clarity or detail, because it is not. And, it seems to do well with both tubes and solid state. I am not sure if you would be interested, but it has a really punchy midbass that gives it a great sound to many people's ear.
And, depending on your budget, Cardas and Alpha Core might be a bit high for the ranges that start sounding better.
Good luck!