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Nordost, Jena Labs, Pure Note etc: my experience

Posted by soundquest (A) on November 11, 2001 at 14:17:39

I have been reading with interest and much profit Tekunda's shootout, for I have been on my own pilgrimage for wires. His published opinions have been very helpful. I thot I would share my experience, subjective as it is. For a couple of years I have been assembling my system; the last piece to put in place has been wires. No matter what some say, they make a huge difference. My system is tube based, and horns, and my room is quite large and actually very good for sound. The tubes and horns will of course affect my preference in wires, so what is good for me won't be for everyone. My system so you have some idea of evaluation:

Verdier turntable with battery power supply and koetsu urishi/moerch
Classic Audio Reproductions T-l horns with the gorgeous Tad 1602 woofer and maple midrange tad 4001. The woofer goes up to 800 cycles before cutoff which important variable. But just fantastic sound.
I am bi amped with custom 45's running the mid and hi's
Custom pre/phono with 437A tubes so very quiet.

I am almost strictly vinyl....for a lot of reasons. My tastes are classical, opera, R&B (espec Albert King) and blues.

I am simply going for the most real "you are there" illusion possible, and pay particular attention to voice, piano, violin at upper frequencies, the skin sound on congos etc.

I have tried Cardas Golden and Neutral, Purist Audio Proteus, Goetz AG 2 Veracity and Triode TQx and MI2 Veracity, Nordost Vahalla, Jena Labs Fugue i/c and twin 11 speaker, and then finally, the Pure Note.

To my surprise, i am keeping the Pure Note.

The only other I am borrowing this week will be the Silver Smith. I would like to try the Siltech G-5 but too difficult to get and,....and I the price is just astronomical. Heh,heh, most of these prices are!

Most of these companies are owned by truly fine people. Jennifer at Jena Labs is wonderfully helpful. And I must say I could only borrow toward the bottom of her line. The $6000 speaker cables at 3' may be out of this world, but can't borrow at that level, so I can't say.
All of this is subjective and this is my system, but to my ears, Pure Note is significantly better for me.

Vahalla's: I was very excited to borrow them, and they were fantastic in pace and rythymn etc, but a week later, after I installed the Pure Notes, I could never go back. The Vahallas were significantly better than Alpha and Cardas: more resolution, bigger soundstage, pace and rthymn. But with the Pure Notes, everything was better.

These are just plain more musical. The music is more "alive". It is as close to real as I have ever heard. The Pure Notes has signficantly more resolution, especially lower range inner detail. On
Take 5 by Brubeck on 180 gr the skin is just more palpable in the drum sequence, and the sticks hitting the drum edge are by far the most immediate and resolved of all these cables.
Or take The Best of Gene Ammons. I have a lst issue copy and it is so good. the lst track "exactly like you" has some great horn work, and a couple of times he raps so fast and all over the range -- The Vahallas sounded resonant and rich and very very good, but the Pure NOtes sounded like i was in the club. The Horn is not so "rich" -- a haze is lifted. It is simply more halographic on the stage and like a horn really sounds. And the cables are so-o fast on rise and decay. When the cymbals are hit they are more distinct and last longer in decay. they shimmer.

Or Patricia Barber Cafe Blue. lst track. What an incredible recording. The stage is so big.... but the Pure Note make it so halographic. Almost 4 dimensional that just not heard on Vahallas or Jena Lab.

I found myself drawn into the music like no other cable heard. THEY ARE JUST SO DARN MUSICAL. And the haolograhic soundstage with a resolution none of others could match. Mozart Concerti No ll with Perahia at the piano. When the keys are struck, they hand in the air and I can distinguish lst and 2nd violin row that couldn't on others.
Same with Janis Ian's wonderful Breaking Silence, lst track! I heard things not heard before. Instruments were more defined in space, and on my system at least, no other cable gave such volume and definition to instruments.

You have read on this forum about the wbt spades etc and build quality. This must be responsible for just dead black space around the instruments. Blackest and quietest of those I have tried.

Only rap on these cables is that they are not as flexible as others. a little stiff. Only thing I wish different. I am just glad I tried them, because now I don't buy the Vahallas. To me, this is another time expensive doesn't mean better. I, for one, am taking these over the Vahallas and others mentioned here. Only caveat is trying the Silver Smith this week, and then decision time. If you haven't tried, sure is worth the effort. Oh, I also asked for a 30 day trial when they happen to be having a sale of 33% off prices that are already 50% off normal retail. Evidently every month something goes on sale.

Oh: They also don't make a phono cable....which I also need to ungrade. Otherwise this is first class company, as are all the rest I mentioned.

Your mileage may vary...as they say.

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The Cable Cooker

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