I have had a similar experience to LOST . When I first got my Harmonic Tech. cables there was an upsetting period of about 85 hrs break in with poor results, BUT... after another 5-8 hrs. passed, things really did change significantly. They offered the most focused imaging I have heard to date, The least distortion in the high end and a clear bass. I did not simply "get used to them". I have far too much experience for that. As it happened I was almost never home during the break in period and listened critically for short amounts of time during the first 80 or so hours. I do agree with JRT that in many cases people ears do adjust to the sounds they are hearing. Sometimes this leads to an exaggerations of the qualities of the product being reviewed, but sometimes it leads to something great, as occasionally, aquired tastes are the best. I think Redkiwi knows a lot about these subjects and only hope that his problems were on his own system and not that as I gain more experience I will notice te same things he did with H.T. cables. I have the Pro-9 bi-wire spkr. cables, The Pro-9 AC power cord and the Cyberlink Platinum interconnect. So far, I am delighted with the improvements over my previous cables(Monster 2.4s', XLO and Tributaries interconnects and spkr. wire). A good friend of mine has a dream, top of the line system, DCS Delios & Purcell, Avalon Opus, Conrad Johnson Premier 16 LS, VAC Rennaisance 70, Theta transport w/Synegistic Designer reference cables through a Bybee power conditiner, etc. and although his speakers are superor to mine, the Harmonic Technology cables and their pinpoint imagiing, clarity of the high end and enormous midrange are not outdone by his system. I therefore recommend that you try the H.T. cables as they can be returned have a 30 day trial period. Just make sure you really break them in for over 90 hours with both pink noise and music with a lot of dynamic range. Good lick. Great to hear such imformed and open minded opinions.
Cables:Harmonic/Nordost/Cardas
I'm new to this high end stuff. After buying a Conrad Johnson PV-11, with a CJ MF2300 SS amp, fed by a Thule CD100, all driving a set of Audio Physics Virgo's; I find out I need to get speaker cables. So now for round 2 in the lets get educuted/serious confusion, about music. I need at a 12' because of the funky space that I'm in (ie read to achieve marital bliss with all this big stuff in the living room). Right now I have 15 year old, first generation monster cable. My guy who got me the CJ stuff has a 14' run of Cardas Cross ($850). Originally I was going to get Nordost Red Dawn from him, but it was to short. I have since found some for $850 that would work. I have also found some great reviews about the Harmonic Tech Pro 9. I did'nt find the pro 9, but I can get the Pro 11 for $500. I'm sure it will all sound better, but what do I get? Secondly, it seems that buying used cable will get me over the burn in period. Any thoughts? Luc