initforthemusic: Please keep us posted as to your impressions of the SP7s. Thanks. |
Thanks, lancelock. I have looked at Cerious, but they are priced a bit out of my range, even if they might offer a good value at their price. I have a lot more wire to buy over the next year, and I simply can't afford to try the CT stuff. I can't afford the higher-end Morrow stuff, either, for that matter. The MA3 with the current sale of 40% off was about all I can manage. I also really like the Morrow business model - 60 day trials, discounts, trade-in allowances, etc. |
Thanks, initforthemusic. I just yesterday decided to try out Morrow. I ordered a 2 meter run of MA3 interconnects with the Eichmann copper RCAs. I also ordered the longer burn-in service, so I am looking at about a month or more for delivery. Patience is a virtue! I will post my impressions here as well. |
Initforthemusic: Thanks for the update. Since your last post, I took the plunge (the sale in May was too tempting) and ordered an MA-3 IC to replace the Monster Reference cable now connecting my DAC to my pre. I ordered the Eichmann copper RCAs (I have them elsewhere in my system and like them). I also ordered the long breakin, since, based on my time available to listen, I would need more than the 60 day return period to fully break them in from 0 hours. (I have a tube preamp, so I don't want to let everything run all day without me being there.)
I will post my impressions here as well. I should have them by mid-June.
Interesting that you have those Pioneers. My son-in-law just got a complete Pioneer surround setup (Elite AVR, towers, subwoofer, center and bookshelf surrounds) all the same Andrew Jones designed speakers. My daughter works for an authorized retailer, so they were a bargain. I have to spend a bit more time listening, but my initial impression was that they are a stone cold steal for the money. Surprisingly clean in the midband. |
Thanks, Wolf. My MA3s (with Eichmann copper RCAs and 10 day break-in) are in transit. I should be able to get them inn my system over the weekend. I am trying to manage expectations, but I am excited. |
Well, the MA3s arrived yesterday. I am glad I did my homework and knew what to expect... otherwise I would have thought they were somewhat unsubstantial for the money spent, in terms of appearance and weight. But, I guess that is the point... the things that make other cables thick and heavy (and less flexible) don't necessarily help the cable perform well. Perhaps, the opposite is true. The felt bag is a nice touch. The quality looks good, the Eichmann copper RCAs seem securely attached. The assembler's names (Matt) was written on the labels. Nice touch. I hope to get them in my rig tonight. |
Well, they're in! (Oh, my cable assembler was Mike B, not Matt). So, my MA3s had the 10 day burn in, so ~240 hours, but they did sit unused from shipping, on Monday, until last night, so that could be a factor. I immediately heard differences between the MA3 and the Monster Reference cables that they replaced (about 15 years ago I worked at a retailer whose only decent cable was Monster, and employees got 60% off retail, so most of legacy cables are Monster). Overall, the sound was smoother, particularly in the lower treble on up. With the Monster, there were some upper-mid/lower-treble areas that would kind of jump out at me (not in a good way). These jump-out frequencies were gone, replaced by some lesser jump-out frequencies lower down in the mid-band. They were noticeable, but not nearly as bothersome. One big area of improvement I heard was in the decay of cymbols, which seemed to go on forever. There was a smoothness to the sound that might be what TAS's Jonathan Valin (and HP before him) call "continuousness". Soundstage seemed a little wider, and there seemed to be more depth as well. There was an increase in detail, with certain lines of music becominng much more easy to follow than with the Monster. Bass seemed to have a little more definition, with no big difference in output, although there seemed to be an increase in the "subterranean" feel of really deep synth bass (Soundtrack to "The Mission", by Vangelis, track 1).
One thing that I noticed was more frequent spine-tingling running up the back of my neck, and my desire to keep listening past bedtime. Another point in favor of the Morrow is that a ragged zone of treble, like in the 5kHz range, which I had accredited to my speakers (Ohm Walsh 2000) vanished. So, happily, it seems this was not an issue with the speakers. And no, this did not occur at the expense of any treble detail or extension.
Music I listened to included Veruca Salt ("25"), Angelfish ("You Can Love Her"), Count Basie ("Kate" from 88 Basie St. XRCD), the Vangelis soundtrack for "The Mission" and others. All from my server, all 16/44 resolution via my Squeezebox Touch to my Superberry DAC (a highly modded Beresford 96/24 DAC), to my McIntosh C220 to Odyssey Audio HT3 amp to the Ohm speakers and Vandersteen 2Wq subwoofers.
Now, I realize there is still much break-in to occur, so that is why I am not going to call this post a formal review. But I am impressed. I would like the mid-band to smooth out a bit more, and hope they will. But even at this point, they are a clear improvement over the Monster Reference. |
Update - One huge, and I mean huge improvement I neglected to include in my last post regards sibilants on voices. Previously, I had a fairly frequent issue in which vocal sibilants projected from a different location in space than the voice itself. Distracting? Heck yes! The MA3 completely eliminated this issue. Vocals and their sibilant components are now anchored together in the soundstage. This is really, really big. Prior to installing th eMA-3s, I had chalked this issue up to everything but the cables - the speakers, my room, the DAC, the preamp, etc. I am amazed that this was just a cable issue. As a friend and gear modifier always says, "everything matters." Cables certainly do! |
Thanks, initforthemusic. I continue to try and put more hours on the MA-3. I am prolly at about 300 hours. Although overall I am very pleased, the bass response remains puzzling. Sometimes, I hear wonderful extension and weight, sometimes there seems to be a lack of bass energy. An email from Mike Morrow confirmed that the bass is one of the last areas that will get fully broken in. I really need to spend more time listening to familiar music, but, like you, I suspect, I am not in this hobby to hear the same audiophile-approved songs over and over. With listeninng time being a very rare and precious commodity, I want to listen to whatever I want to listen to. So, I will try to be more patient with the MA3s. Interesting that you noted more impactfull bass as you moved up the Morrow line. Maybe I need to move up as well... ;-) |
initforthemusic: Thanks for the update. I ordered another MA3 IC to connect my tape outputs to my parametric EQ (from there the signal goes to my CD recorder).
So far, I have mixed feelings about the MA3 with Eichmann plugs I installed between my DAC and my pre. In some respects, it blows away the Monster Reference it replaced. As noted above, it eliminated the drifting sibilants that, apparently, the Monster was misdirecting. (Interestingly, a friend says he has a trick that fixes this issue in cables, and has offered to apply this fix to my Monster cable... I will let you know if this works). It is a clean sounding cable, with a wide soundstage, excellent detail and very good decay.
On the other hand, the bass is, well, funny. It is clearly extended very deep. But, and this may indicate more break-in is needed, the bass quantity seems reduced, almost as if it were a bit out of phase. Some recordings have strong deep bass, but others, the bass is MIA. This may be the recording, and I am spending time with more and more recordings to try and get a handle on this. It could be that the MA3 exposes out-of-phase recordings better than the Monster. Maybe the MA3 is "correct" and the Monster was "incorrect", but I was used to it.
Then there are the highs. No question that the MA3 is more open, more detailed and more airy than the Monster, but I feel like I might have lost a bit of the warmth and lushness I had enjoyed with the Monster cable (that's a strange sentence).
I am willing to keep putting more hours on the MA3 (I would guess I am at about 300-325, including the 10-day break-in I ordered), but I am still uncertain as to whether these are the right cables for me. Overall, they clearly best the Monsters, but I may need a warmer cable. I know, I should not use wire as a tone control, but I want to simply enjoy listening... principles be darned. I am looking at other cables, including the Hyper-Litz Cardas cables sold by KAB-USA. I wonder if the Cullen ICs are worth a try? |
213runnin - Thanks for the input. I wasn't aware that AQ made solid core wire. And yet, some folks swear by stranded wires. For a guy who just wants to enjoy listening to his tunes, this can be a little overwhelming. I will give the MA3s more time and hope they warm up a bit. I wonder what an upgrade to the MA5 would do? Uh-oh. |
Thanks, all. 213runnin: The signal chain in question is Superberry DAC (a highly modded Beresford DAC) > MA3 (w/ Eichmann Copper) > McIntosh C220 pre > custom Litz RCAs (also w/ Eichmann coppers) > Vandersteen M5-HP crossovers > Odyssey Audio HT3 amp (w/ cap upgrade) > Ohm Walsh 2000s and a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs. The only thing I changed was the IC between the DAC and the pre, so all of my impressions refer to that change only.
initforthemusic: Thanks, I looked at the Cullen web site. Not too much info on the cable geometry, which, I think, matters. Is it stranded wire?
In any case, I will continue to try and put more hours on the MA3s, and try swapping the Monster back in once my friend applies his magic fix, and I will report back. |
initforthemusic: Yes, I read that. It really says nothing at all. There might be very impressive technology in his wires, and the end result is what matters, but that paragraph says practically nothing. All I was able to learn is that his ICs use either one or two runs of 18 gauge wire. Stranded? Solid core? Dialectric? Shielding? Capacitance? No way to tell any of this from the web site. Maybe he doesn’t want to give away his receipe for his special sauce, and I respect that, but most cable makers tend to provide a lot of details about the technology in their wires. Just sayin’. |
Thanks, intforthemusic. I might do that. However, my next wire purchase will likely be Y cables, as I am adding a new component to my rig soon. Morrow makes them and makes ordering them pretty simple, so I will stick with Morrow for these. After that, we'll see. |
Meanwhile, back at the topic,... I was listening last night to random tracks on the server, and Sheryl Crow's "Home" came on. Whoa!!! Repeated chills up my spine, huge soundstage, emotional impact in spades. It was almost overwhelming. I wish every bit of music I like would hit me like that. This cannot be completely attributed to the MA-3s, but at least they didn't ruin it. And that, I think, is all we can ever ask of a wire. |
213runnin - Yes, these are bespoke cables, so the full three weeks plus burn in time is not unusual. My second order from Morrow actually took a bit longer than a month. Patience is not something us audiophiles are known for, but, hopefully, the MA5 will be worth the wait. Please keep us posted. |
No apologiy needed, in_shore. Your post wasn't really off topic, IMHO. Thanks. |
