Burn Baby Burn....Siltech Classic Anniversary 330L Speaker Cable

Hopefully to get these babies by Sunday....

Unveiling at home...

Have yet the time to set it up with the Pro Ac.....plan to do so this weekend... Stay tune for a review..

Did you get the cable flotation devices for better isolation???

You mean the black sponge hehehehe???? No...I will use Scotch Brite sponge ...

Cannot tahan to wait till weekend. Took half day off....and set this up.




At the same time, sweet surprise from LTB....my pair of M1 PWR monoblocks arrived. So went to pick it up as well.

Now listening to Eric Clapton uplugged on LP.

Review soon.

Champion la u...day off for this!

He is Ze Elhefe.......Champion of Upgraditis! Good for you man!

El...

Quick question...wonder how would the SQ be when its Birwired with two different make of cables with different charateristics Interesting That I would want to know .

Cheers to you for the upcoming review session .

cheers

Hi-Fi 4 Sale wrote:Champion la u...day off for this!

Flexi hours maaaarrr.... hahahah.

wingman wrote:El...

Quick question...wonder how would the SQ be when its Birwired with two different make of cables with different charateristics Interesting That I would want to know .

Cheers to you for the upcoming review session .

cheers

It is very unorthodox of me mixing the cables. But no harm lah. The 2 items I wanted arrived at the same time... the Siltech speaker cable and the power amp. And since its not easy to keep on changing cables, I decided to set it up as such. BUt nevertheless, another Siltech is on order

Straight up, I know the Siltech is outperforming QED. Not to say QED is bad. I have been an avid QED user for so many years but of course, it is a different league between them.

The review will be quite interesting as there are 2 new elements at hand now...the speaker cable and also the new power amp.

elhefe wrote:

Hi-Fi 4 Sale wrote:Champion la u...day off for this!

Flexi hours maaaarrr.... hahahah.

The true measure of a man's success... not how much money he makes, not how big his car is, rather his ability to use his time precisely as he chooses. Sigh, which makes me an utter failure...have to sit here entertaining people i don't want to entertain until 7pm, before i can go home to the 'sanctuary' ...my hifi room. Safe and warm in there, and So so sweet sounding with ZeeBee's new speaker cables in.

Bal. Wishing i was somewhere else.

El...

Aren't the QED's on a brighter side of the spectrum ? Had a try with QED's ( loaner from a friend ) was not to my liking. Pretty much settling for the Chords for my Diamond 9.2's. ( single wired configuration )

Looking forward and thanks for sharing.

cheers

bal wrote:

elhefe wrote:

Hi-Fi 4 Sale wrote:Champion la u...day off for this!

Flexi hours maaaarrr.... hahahah.

The true measure of a man's success... not how much money he makes, not how big his car is, rather his ability to use his time precisely as he chooses. Sigh, which makes me an utter failure...have to sit here entertaining people i don't want to entertain until 7pm, before i can go home to the 'sanctuary' ...my hifi room. Safe and warm in there, and So so sweet sounding with ZeeBee's new speaker cables in.

Bal. Wishing i was somewhere else.

This is not a measure of a man's success...its actually a sign that this man will get fired soon hahahah.

Your profession is more meaningful as it helps the society. Mine is just mucking around with clients on the golf course . No satisfaction.

wingman wrote:El...

Aren't the QED's on a brighter side of the spectrum ? Had a try with QED's ( loaner from a friend ) was not to my liking. Pretty much settling for the Chords for my Diamond 9.2's. ( single wired configuration )

Looking forward and thanks for sharing.

cheers

Yes it is. But the MF set up balances them with some warmth. That is why I think the first listen with this combination with the new power amps, the treble seems a little bit dominating. Will try to do a swap soon.

Elhefe,
I guess everybody here zeroing in to your pending review of the new stuffs. I am sure you are like a kid with a new man-toy. Can't wait to read the review. Happy listening. Jangan ponteng kerja!

bal wrote:

elhefe wrote:

Hi-Fi 4 Sale wrote:Champion la u...day off for this!

Flexi hours maaaarrr.... hahahah.

The true measure of a man's success... not how much money he makes, not how big his car is, rather his ability to use his time precisely as he chooses. Sigh, which makes me an utter failure...have to sit here entertaining people i don't want to entertain until 7pm, before i can go home to the 'sanctuary' ...my hifi room. Safe and warm in there, and So so sweet sounding with ZeeBee's new speaker cables in.

Bal. Wishing i was somewhere else.

Hey Bal, you got the Synergistic Research from ZeeBee? Man, I was eyeing on that too. How's the cables performance?

Very very nice. Excellent synergy with my present set up, except there was a little brightness, or whiteness. I played around with cables, and finally found that the whiteness was being produced by my power amp power cable, something i did not notice before. So out it came, and when i replaced it with another, man it was magic.

Very wide imaging, nice depth and i really really like the centre image it produces. When you hear Brian Ferry take in a breath of air before singing, well, he's there in the room with you. The bass is boss as well. Cable goes down really deep.

Honestly the best cable i have heard, but then i have only been playing around with anti-cables (which it trounces nicely), Canare, Gotham, Goertz and the like. So this is a new price point as well.

Bal

Got anymore xrcd to let go JoyD?
Bal

bal wrote:Got anymore xrcd to let go JoyD?
Bal

XRCD nope, got some of extra copies of SACD, cds and lps though. Still waiting to move in to my new place, then will decide on what to let go. You know who to contact if you decide to sell the speaker cables in the future.

bal wrote:Very very nice. Excellent synergy with my present set up, except there was a little brightness, or whiteness. I played around with cables, and finally found that the whiteness was being produced by my power amp power cable, something i did not notice before. So out it came, and when i replaced it with another, man it was magic.

Very wide imaging, nice depth and i really really like the centre image it produces. When you hear Brian Ferry take in a breath of air before singing, well, he's there in the room with you. The bass is boss as well. Cable goes down really deep.

Honestly the best cable i have heard, but then i have only been playing around with anti-cables (which it trounces nicely), Canare, Gotham, Goertz and the like. So this is a new price point as well.

Bal

Alamak brother, I syiok dengar your comments, can change balik ka ... Anyway, glad you like them, they are fine cables when I had them running the Living Voice, can't use them for the maggies due to the pins.. and I haven't fixed in the dspeaker, so can't comment yet..

And elhefe, how's the siltechs... I've had the privilege to try for a couple of weeks a set of pure silver cables from Germany for my Maggies and between the amps but didn't quite get to like the highly 'etched' and ultra detailed presentation.. perhaps not-synergistic (pardon the pun) with my system and I can't afford them anyway

Anyway all the best with the cables cooking..

24 hrs review of Siltech speaker cable.

Its been more than 24 hrs now since I hooked up the Siltech to the D18s. Truth be told, I didnt really have to burn in the speaker cables as I have asked CMY to pre burn it with the ProBurn machine for 48 hrs which is supposed to be equivalent to 200 hrs of running in. Heck, dont ask me about the physics behind the ProBurn. Its a free service I get from CMY so I took it. Previously I have purchased 2 QED interconnects, one pre burn and one brand new. There was actually a different in the sound produced in my set up.

So, let me talk about the plan first. Throughout the past 4 years since I resumed the upgrade path after 8 years of not doing so, I have changed cabling (here referring to IC, power cable and speaker cable) from Cambridge Audio to Ixos to QED and now to Siltech. My introduction to Siltech was not a planned one. Since I got the M6i amp, I have always wanted to hear how XLR sound from my M1 DAC. So at first I was loaned 2 models of VDH XLR, but the sound from them was rubbish. Which I was a bit dissapointed after hearing a lot good saying about using XLR. So then CMY loaned me a pair of Siltech XLR. Boy, I immediately fell in love with the sound. Since then, I wanted to see how and what if I have a complete Siltech signature for my cabling to match the complete MF set up I have.

The second came was the RCA interconnect to connect the CLiC to the amp. Then the CDT transport to the DAC, I needed an XLR digital interconnect as well. Then came in the power cable for the M6i. So, until now my cabling from 3 sources (CDT, CLiC and DAC) and the amp are all by Siltech. The synergy between Siltech and MF kit, to me is very very sweet, warm and lively. But then, I was still using QED as the speaker cable. So the full cycle have not been completed. But I had to wait for some more funds to come before parting money for the most expensive cable I have ever purchased - this Siltech Classic Anniversary 330L speaker cable.

Thats the history. Now the review. To avoid confusion, I have disconnected the new power amps and just let the Siltech run my D18 with a single wire configuration ie the M6i is running both the tweeters and woofers, just like before.

The speaker cable although looks thick, it is actually lighter than I thought it would be. I had a concern that in time, it would bend the speaker terminals due to the weight hanging from the cable when I have plugged into the terminals using banana plugs. The cable is flexible enough to easily handle it and plug into my amp. The banana plugs have a see through plastic covering over the metal plugs itself.

When you purchase this cable, it comes in a box and placed in foam. A certificate with 2 serial numbers is also supplied reflecting each of the cable serial number.

So my setlist for the review consists of:

1. Aaron Neville on CD. Playerd on CDT feeding the M1 DAC to the M6i amp.
2. Andrea Bocelli, Diana Krall and The Eagles on hi res music via CLiC
3. Gypsy Kings on 320 kbps MP3

The first thing I notice was some how the speaker cable have amplified the sound a bit. The usual volume level seems louder than before but it did not loose the subtlety. So first up was Aaron Neviile - Lousiana 1927. Hmmmmmm.... The vocals came out to be full of soundstaging. Its hard explain its as if you are watching a 3D movie but for audio. There were layers behind his voice that I could not experience before.

The best part was that it enhance the low end notes but without providing the excess boom. I was kind of worried the the bass will be to overwhelming for my room. But NO. Play Hotel California and the drums on that tracks just comes out sounding original and even more controlled than before. The wire brush on the snare on one of Diana's track sounded airy and spreaded across the room. I can actually visualize the drummer's hand spinning the wire brush around the snare. Again, its like 3D for audio.

Then comes out Andrea for the ultimate vocal test. Again, it feels like his voice was uplifted and airy. But its all balanced out by the low end produced by the woofers. No pinching experience from the enhanced tweeter sound. Being hi res source, I again was worried that it give too much enhancement on the tweeters but the cable just manage to adapt itself to maintain the warm sound I like but at the same enhance or elevate the music atmosphere up a notch.

The final test was to see how it copes with a fast paced and multi instrument music. the Gypsy Kings Bamboleo track was definitely giving the cable a run for what its worth. The dynamics produced by D18s was something that I have not heard off before. so I had to attribute these dynamics to the Siltech speaker cable.

Now, is there such thing as a speaker cable that chokes back the music? At one point when playing Diana Krall I've Got You Under My Skin, I could hear some sort of struggle for the tweeters to reproduce a few of the piano notes. Was not satisfied with tha, I loaded the normal CD version of this track instead of using the hi res file. Voila, I didnt hear that strain on the CD. It might be a bad upsampling of the track. Damn HD Tracks.

Now, this speaker cable as not on loan for testing. I was so confident of a Siltech product that this time around, I paid and purchased the item first rather than the usual 'Can I Test first kah?' even CMY was surprised as usually I will ask for a loan first before committing.

To summarize, I feel Siltech products provide a signature of dynamics, enhancement and uplifting which somehow creates a 3 dimensional experience. If not for all but at least for my MF set up.

Now.....thats the end of my cabling venture for a while. Maybe in another 8 years time, you will see this speaker cable on the For Sale thread. But for now, its a keeper and the last piece of jigsaw to my cabling quest.

Next....MF M1 PWR amp review.

El...

Thanks for the concise and to the point update.

A all Siltech combination from head to tail and it's revealing all the subdued hiddens sonics. One sure satisfied customer we have here.


cheers

Bro Elhefe,
I am salivating while reading your review!
Well described. Bet CMY is happy that you are doing the marketing for them through the review. A good discount perhaps in the offing ?
I am happy you are closing on to your nirvana.
Its gonna be late nites and loss hours at work all over again!

wingman wrote:El...

Thanks for the concise and to the point update.

A all Siltech combination from head to tail and it's revealing all the subdued hiddens sonics. One sure satisfied customer we have here.

Share you same sentiments with the speaker cables and hope you don't mind me sharing my expereince . Mine would be in a different league comparing to your setup being from Std Speaker Cables --> Transparent --> Qed's --> Cat 5 and now to Chords which have been in my setup for the last three weeks running for at least two hours a day. ( in staggered quantity ) Revealing lots of hidden sonics that were there but more laid back in character ...has better separation...the BASS is much controlled does not overshadow the other charateristics....the mids are tight-er...much love the detail of instruments now and the clarity of the singer...the one song that has taken "my other half" by suprise is the combination of Jennifer Lopez & Mark Anthony ...the vocals are more on the fore ground...delivered with clarity and being crisp...the Bass and Sharpness has seemd to mellowed to a pleasurable listening level compared to other speaker cables.

Even playing the Radio channels are totally awesome.

cheers

Wingman,

Yes, while majority of hifi enthusiasts like to mix around brands of the kit and cabling to find the 'true' satisfaction, I believe in pursuing for one brand satisfaction based on my own believe in engineering and business values. If only MF still produce TT at a cheper price of course, MD and cassette player

Actually I pretty like Chord as well. I have listend to another MF set up using Chord. Quite a synergy there as well.

Marc Anthony and J Lo....let me guess...No Me Ames?

zul wrote:Bro Elhefe,
I am salivating while reading your review!
Well described. Bet CMY is happy that you are doing the marketing for them through the review. A good discount perhaps in the offing ?
I am happy you are closing on to your nirvana.
Its gonna be late nites and loss hours at work all over again!

Bro Zul,

Have a piece of tissue on me hehehehe. Well, CMY has always been kind to me in many ways.....notably One Utama, Sunway Giza and Sungei Wang branches. They actually never ask me to review but of course I like to share good and bad experiences with dealers so that the forum members can benefit as well.

I am officially on 2 weeks vacation, so not breaking any rules here hehehehe.

Hi El...

One make with one sonic signature....true..true....

That's one and another would be "escapemonos"...simply.....

cheers