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Kimber Timbre, Part 3

The July 1993 Stereophile review of the red/black/blue Kimber PBJ (then $62 for a 1-meter pair) mentioned that, finally, here was an interconnect you could actually afford. Then in the Fall, the Pet Shop Boys came out with a new album, Very , which came in a "Lego-styled" orange jewel case. Their cover of the Village People's "Go West" inspired Bay Area audiophiles to go west, to authorized Kimber dealer, Ultimate Sound. Back then, PBJ came in a thick Ziploc-style plastic bag.



Later in the 90s, dyeing your hair became more common. However, my nerdy female friends had never done that before, so their initial attempts were, um, amateurish at best. Hmmm, our attempt to mimic PBJ's red/black/blue went awry.



At the 1997 Stereophile Show in San Francisco, Ray Kimber seemed like a really nice guy. He seemed resigned that, though his Utah Jazz were a tough out, they would inevitably succumb to the Chicago Bulls.



Anyway, if you continued (south)west from San Francisco, you could go to Honolulu's Kimber dealer, Audio Directions Ltd. There, the late Stewart Ono (AA's UncleStu52) reported that his experiments showed that the dye used in Kimber interconnects and speaker cables had sonically negative effects. Showing honesty, he was adamant, that he was not the one who had discovered this. He said that he merely, via comparisons, verified the dye issue. Kimber listened to customers and dealers, and came out with a PBJ with all-clear Teflon outer jacket, the Timbre.

It's true. In the early-2000s, my friends started to get married. While preparing for Claire's (the girl above, with the bad hair dye) wedding, her bridesmaids applied the logic, reasoning, and good ol' peer pressure, to reach out to Alan Kafton, creator of the audiodharma Cable Cooker. We ordered one, which arrived in Spring 2003.

At the time, we lined up six identical pairs of 1-meter Kimber PBJ, all with Ultraplate RCAs. Two were new and never used. Two had been in use since 1993-94. And the other two were from the late-90s, and hardly used. Because we had these six pairs, we could Cook one, and not the other, and then compare.

Sacre red, black, and bleu! PBJ needed just 2-3 days of Cook time. But even a mere 2-3 hours of Cook time blew by what 10 years of regular playing time was able to do.

Next, we brought in PBJ with WBT RCAs. After Cooking all of these, it turned out that the UltraPlate RCA was responsible for most of the PBJ's "harsh" or "bright" nature.

We then experimented on multiple pairs of Kimber KCAG. Not that we needed any more proof, but the Cooking process shattered and disproved the myth or falsehood, that "silver is bright."



In time for holidays 2003, the Pet Shop Boys came out with a greatest hits double CD, PopArt . It included the killer new track, "Flamboyant." And that was the first time we placed Kimber Timbre on the Cable Cooker. Over 17 years later, we put some more Timbre on the Cooker.



North, east, south, or west, let's not mess around. Let's hook up the Timbre to the Simaudio 750D/820S. Wow, the Cooking process enables the Timbre to punch far above its (admittedly light) weight! That is, the Cooked Timbre is clean, open, and honest. In some ways, it comes across as a poor man's Tara Labs ISM OnBoard The 0.8. You'd never know that the Timbre was a "budget" product. When you switch back and forth, you start to notice where the Timbre falls short. It does not reproduce the images as fully, nor with proper fill or body. It does not scrape out as much of the micro details and textures. Thus, the contrast between music and silence is slightly diminished.



More good news. When married to Kimber's own 4TC speaker cable, the Timbre is a good match. They share similar sonic character, so when used together, Timbre and 4TC do not mess things up. They get the gist of the music correctly. They keep the music bouncing, flowing, and moving. If you want even more resolution, dynamics, imaging, heartbeat, and power, you better prepare to spend a lot more.

For me and my friends, revisiting the Kimber Timbre has been educational. For at least two decades, we did not have any bad thoughts or feelings about it. And it turns out that the Timbre is even better than our already positive assessments of it. Moreover, it pairs well with Kimber's own 4TC. If you want a relatively affordable interconnect, which is sonically uncolored, and whose negatives are mostly subtractive, Cook the Kimber Timbre.

Claire says that, whether you're just getting the grays out, or going to flamboyant colors, the Kimber Timbre will leave you with enough money, to get your hair professionally dyed. To which her husband, who is somewhat into audio, rubs his bald head, "F-- you, Claire, that's if you're lucky enough to have hair!"

-Lummy The Loch Monster



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Topic - Kimber Timbre, Part 3 - Luminator 22:54:13 04/20/21 (0)

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