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Audioquest Firebird Zero

I've tried several speaker cables over the past year; Shunyata Alpha and Sigma, Wireworld Silver Eclipse series 7, Audioquest Oak and Redwood, Audience Au24 SX, and I own Clarus Crimson speaker cables. I prefer the Clarus over all of the aforementioned speaker cables. I've had the Audioquest Firebird Zero speaker cables on loan for three days. My initial thoughts were everything is a little clearer through them compared to my Clarus Crimson. Not a night and day difference, but definitely clearer. The Clarus are slightly more 3-dimensional to my ears. My wife on the other hand just keeps saying the AQ sounds sharper, clearer, there are less impurities in the music. I'm not sure what she means by impurities, but she keeps repeating it. Maybe she means a darker background? My plan was to have a home audition of the Thunderbird Zero speaker cables, but they had banana plugs on the amplifier end and I can't use them. I took the Firebirds with the logic that if I can't hear a difference between them and my current cables I didn't need to have a home audition of the Thunderbirds. $14K for an eight foot pair of speaker cables is freaking crazy and sad! It would be easy for me to dismiss it  because there isn't a night and day difference, but once you hear the difference it's very hard to ignore. Financially I just can't justify spending $14K on speaker cables and hope to hear the AQ Thunderbirds sometime next week. Once again I'm reminded that absolutely everything makes a difference. For those that can easily afford $14K, $20K or more speaker cables I understand, because cables can be equivalent to a component change. Does it ever end?
ricred1

Showing 5 responses by eziggy

eziggy
137 posts
 
@ctsooner you can always send the Hurricanes back to AQ to get re-terminated for a small fee, it's a simple process.
eziggy
137 posts
 
I would imagine there should be a big difference between using just the Zero cable vs. adding the bass cable. You are essentially adding more copper and splitting bass from Treble/Mids.

While I liked the Thunderbird Zero cables, I always wondered how much better it would be with the Bass cable since they were designed to be used together.  It's a bummer for people who cannot bi-wire their speakers.
eziggy
137 posts
 
I had the Thunderbird Zero cables and before than Oak and Mont Blanc.  The new cables are in a different league in terms of transparency and resolution.  Of course this is all system dependent and personal preference whether you would like it.

One thing that I noticed was that the Thunderbird Zero cables have less copper than Oak but cost more.  It also seems they keep raising prices every year.
eziggy
137 posts
 
Bob, the new AQ speaker cables have two components a treble/mid cable and a bass cable.  The treble/mid cable is called Zero and the other is called Bass.  You can use the Zero cable as a stand alone cable or combine it with Bass cable for bi-wiring.

For power the High Power is a thicker cable for high current components like amps and the Source cable is a smaller gauge meant for source component like DACs etc. 
eziggy
137 posts
 
@meuch I would go with either Thunderbirds or William Tell Silvers.  The Robin Hoods are pretty low gauge in comparison.  

I have personally tried Thunderbird Zero cables with ML 11As and was overall impressed with transparency and resolution.  I had WEL ICs and they worked well together.  The Thunderbirds are very different the prior model Oaks.  They will sound closer to older gen silver than copper.

That being said, I have spoken to dealers who absolutely love the William Tell Silver.  I think they had them paired with Vandersteen speakers as I recall.

Either direction you go they will both be very transparent and true to source.  This is a good thing and also bad if you are looking to use cables to balance sound.  As an example I had the Luxman 509x paired with the 11As and when I switched to the Thunderbirds I thought it lacked bass.  I replaced the Luxman with a Vitus RI-101 and it was like adding 2 sub-woofers into the room.  The difference wasn't as apparent with older model AQ cables.

I second @gdnrbob's recommendation, I have spoken to John @Audioconnection and he is very knowledgeable and straight forward.  He actually talked me out of upgrading a while back.
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