Kubala-Sosna Cables..... I don't get it ?????


Why aren't these cables more widely used by us audiophiles....??? I've been auditioning these interconnects sent to me from a dealer and these are good.....My other cables on the short list to listen to are the Synergistic Absolute Reference X2's, Purist Audio Dominus....they are sweet, coherent, detailed and not popular.....I don't get it !!! Am I missing something ????? Are they just the flavor of the month cable ????
garebear

Showing 4 responses by jafox

To answer a couple of your questions:

You're not missing anything - these really are phenomenol cables. A lot of people are indeed using these cables. Do a search here and you will see this for yourself. And no, these are not the flavor of the month for those of us who have had many in our system at once.

I had the pleasure of Joe Kubala visiting my home and we configured my system entirely with the K-S Emotion. Quite frankly I had never heard another system sound as good as this on that day. These cables brought life to the SoundLab speakers driven by the CAT JL-3 amps that caught me by surprise.

With all this said, shortly thereafter, I was also able to directly compare these ICs with Purist Dominus B and power cables to Dominus B and C in various links in my system. It comes down to a personal preference here. The K-S Emotion has a blacker background, and thus ultimately greater resolution on the top-end that the Dominus does not convey. But the Dominus brings on slightly greater dynamic contrasts, a greater foundation in the bass (never sounding boomy) and a portrayal of lower-midrange textures that is very evident in male voice and piano. These are not subtle differences. And these differences are consistent whether you compare the ICs or power cables. I have had the opportunity to hear the Dominus speaker cable but I understand this to be quite a phenomenol cable.

I am not a big fan of the word "synergy" but each of these two cable lines will benefit different systems and different links in each system. These are both at the top of the class and it truly comes down to personal preference.

A local audiophile (Jadem6) and I have been trying various combinations of the Dominus and Emotion in our systems and sometimes it is not simple as to which way to go. Both of these are excellent and each brings on a different focus to the music. You simply have to try them for yourself as there is absolutely no such thing as a best cable.

The new Purist Aqueous Anniversary could change much in the context of value. So you might want to investigate this as well.

John
Unfortunately Judge Judy has done it again to provide a response of zero value. I do not understand why such people post in these forums when all we get is a quick bashing. Quite honestly, this kind of 'contribution' to these forums gets old fast when a number of us are here to learn from the experiences of others.

The same thing with Judy continues on over and over and over with B&W speakers. Yes Judy, we know you have negative issues with products. What we do not know is what products you like. Without this knowledge, your comments here do nothing more than prove that you have nothing better to do than complain a lot. Is this really what this hobby is all about?

"Lots of hype."

Hype? From whom? This product has had a handful of discussions here, but hardly much if anything at all from the magazines .... and not at all the coverage like many other cables. So this claim of hype is, to use one of Judy's words, crap.

"Nice product but no better than a handful of similarly priced products."

We are not talking 'better'. This is not the point. There is no such thing as 'best' or 'better' in an overall cable standing. And yes, contrary to Judy's ignorance on the subject here, the K-S Emotion has some strenghts like no other cable I have tried in my system; and some of these cost significantly more. I have tried a lot of cables.....all described on A'gon posts over the years.

I stand by my comments above. There are real differences in a highly resolving system and we all owe it to ourself to try as many of these as we can and determine what works best for us.

John
Artg is a good buddy but the reference to Cardas Golden Cross is just crazy. I know CGC very well as I owned a lot of it for a few years before I changed to all NBS Statement. Having to go back to CGC now, with its poor coverage at the frequency extremes, overly warm midrange and a mediocre resolution would be next to impossible. The CGC is one of the most colored cables on the planet. And this alone makes it almost the polar opposite of the K-S product line.
The truth to Judy's post is that there is hype to virtually everything here. Just look at how dead the ARC Ref2 Mk II is now that the Ref 3 is out. Or the incredible Tenor amps and Kharma speakers that we do not hear much about anymore now that the Dartzeel electronics and huge Von Schweikert speakers have taken the world by storm. And what happened to the Linn CD-12? The hype here is gone with the DCS and EMM products doing digital like none of us ever heard analog. And the list goes on.

The point of this thread was not about hype but whether or not the Kubala-Sosna cables were worth the effort to make a serious audition. And I think a number of people here have suggested to the poster of this thread that these cables are indeed worthy of this.

Garebear: Interesting that you mentioned NBS. I ran with these for over 5 years and enjoyed them immensely. But with the sound of my system going in new directions, they no longer sonically fit well with all the changes; there's simply too much of a good thing (midrange warmth) with them in my current system. In the future they just might work mighty fine again.

John