Merlin vsm mme owners, Cardas cabling Question.

I was recommended to use Cardas with my Ayre components....after all, Cardas even manufactures the Ayre cables. As it turned out, Cardas cables were absolutely awful - closed in, grainy, dead sounding. You absolutely MUST try all cables in your own system to hear what they do or don't do....they all sound different in different systems.

Bobbyapalkovic.... I have an all Ayre system with balanced interconnects including LP...V1xe, K1xe, C5xemp, VPI Superscoutmaster/rim drive/Benz LP, into Vandersteen 5A's. I had Ayre and Cardas cables in my system for over 5 months each. I thought that's the way the system supposed to sound until a friend came over with some high end Purist cables. The difference was absolutely stunning. This prompted me to audition lots and lots of cables. The best sounding ones for my system was Audioquest Sky/Everest, and Anti-Cables. These sounded very similar, so I got the Anti -Cables because of the price difference. In truth, no one could tell me which cables were better when I swapped out one for the other.

Bobbyalkovic - When I got my Ayre equipment...V1xe amp, K1xe preamp, and C5xemp Silver disc player, I was advised by Ayre itself that Ayre/Cardas cables were the best, so I completely wired the system with the Ayre cables. The cables were in for about 7 or 8 months when a friend brought over a balanced Purist Anniversary interconnect. The difference was screamable. When I went to my dealer, he insisted Cardas was right, and gave me every Cardas balanced interconnect and speaker cable he had to try. They all sounded similarly bad. As I mentioned before, it closed in the sound, became grainy, brown in character, etc. Every cable I substituted sounded better. The best cables by far was Audioquest Sky/Everest and AntiCables. They sounded similar, but I nor anyone I asked could say which ones sounded better, so I did the system in Anti-Cables. I am using Vandersteen 5A speakers, and the sound is wonderful. I would guess that Cardas can sound good in the right system, but mine wasn't right for Cardas. The very worst cable - the ones that ruined the sound completely were the Cardas power cords.