The Poiema! speaker cables offer as big an improvement as the interconnects. Brian, I love the way the installed cables behave as they are not floppy but neither are they stiff. I agree with every word written in this review. Great products from a man with the highest of integrity.
Review: Ridge Street Audio Poiema Interconnects
Category: Cables
I have been an audiophile for 17 years. I have a neutral, dynamic, open, airy, and 3 dimensional system with no grain or high-end distortion. I have used silver interconnects for the last 10 years. The last 4 years I have been using AQ Audio Truth Diamond X 2's.
I first heard the Ridge Street Audio Poiema's in a life-long friend's system. I known his system very well and have heard every different incarnation. I could not believe the difference. If I hadn't heard the system before and if I hadn't known what was in it, I would have sworn that he had changed everything.
So, I ordered a pair of speaker cables and then 2 pair of the interconnects. The cables and interconnects are broken in for 48 hours before they are shipped. Since I added the interconnects, I have played the system almost continually for the last two weeks. The interconnects were broken in and ready to go after 20 hours.
First of all, these interconnects give you all of the benefits of silver and none of the weaknesses. There is nothing cold, sharp or harsh with these cables. Yet, they are very tranparent, open, layered, neutral, airy and dynamic. The imaging is outstanding. The bass is deep and articulate. The cables are neutral. There is no fatness.
These cables added a dimension and a completeness of presentation that I have never heard before in my system. The instruments are separate but totally integrated in the same environment in a way that is both surprising and involving. I have listened to a lot of music both live and recorded. The presentation of the piano, the saxophone, the trumpet, the articulation of the bass, the voices, the violins, the cellos, the percussion and the drums are so involving, and at the same time so transparent, that it seems as if I am really hearing them for the first time. Up-beat music has the swing. Orchestras sound like orchestras. Soft, lyrical pieces melt the heart.
Look. I wouldn't buy anything based on a review from someone I don't know. However, if you have top flight equipment and you want to hear it really sing, if you want to have your speakers and your system really disappear, and if you want to really hear why you have spent all of the time and money on your system, you owe it to yourself to audition these.
There is a money back guarantee. How can you lose?
Background information. I mainly listen to acoustic jazz, classical including chamber and orchestra, some broadway and opera, solo acoustic intruments, some new-age, vocals both male and predominantly female, and some late '60s and 70's rock.
I used various cds and sacds for testing. The list includes, but is not limited to Norah Jones, Barbra Steisand, Rosa Passos, Diana Krall, Patricia Barber, Dave Grusin, Herbie Hancock ('Round Midnight and the other side of 'Round Ridnght), Eva Cassidy, Strunz and Farah, Lynne Arryale Trio, Miles Davis, Warren Bernhardt, several sacds from rca living stereo which included but was not limited to: Reiner's Scheherazade, Dvorak's # 9, and Rubenstein's Brahms Piano Concerto #1.
Associated gear
Sony Scd 777ES Sacd/cd player
conrad-johnson Premier 14 pre-amp
Innersound Esl 300 stereo amp
Innersound Isis speakers
Blue circle music ring 1200
Tice Power block and titan
star audiopoints
cable insulators
M&K X700 subwoofer
Signal Cable Magic Power Power Cord
The Signal Cable Magic Power Digital High Current Cord
Similar products
Audioquest Diamond and Diamond x2
I have been an audiophile for 17 years. I have a neutral, dynamic, open, airy, and 3 dimensional system with no grain or high-end distortion. I have used silver interconnects for the last 10 years. The last 4 years I have been using AQ Audio Truth Diamond X 2's.
I first heard the Ridge Street Audio Poiema's in a life-long friend's system. I known his system very well and have heard every different incarnation. I could not believe the difference. If I hadn't heard the system before and if I hadn't known what was in it, I would have sworn that he had changed everything.
So, I ordered a pair of speaker cables and then 2 pair of the interconnects. The cables and interconnects are broken in for 48 hours before they are shipped. Since I added the interconnects, I have played the system almost continually for the last two weeks. The interconnects were broken in and ready to go after 20 hours.
First of all, these interconnects give you all of the benefits of silver and none of the weaknesses. There is nothing cold, sharp or harsh with these cables. Yet, they are very tranparent, open, layered, neutral, airy and dynamic. The imaging is outstanding. The bass is deep and articulate. The cables are neutral. There is no fatness.
These cables added a dimension and a completeness of presentation that I have never heard before in my system. The instruments are separate but totally integrated in the same environment in a way that is both surprising and involving. I have listened to a lot of music both live and recorded. The presentation of the piano, the saxophone, the trumpet, the articulation of the bass, the voices, the violins, the cellos, the percussion and the drums are so involving, and at the same time so transparent, that it seems as if I am really hearing them for the first time. Up-beat music has the swing. Orchestras sound like orchestras. Soft, lyrical pieces melt the heart.
Look. I wouldn't buy anything based on a review from someone I don't know. However, if you have top flight equipment and you want to hear it really sing, if you want to have your speakers and your system really disappear, and if you want to really hear why you have spent all of the time and money on your system, you owe it to yourself to audition these.
There is a money back guarantee. How can you lose?
Background information. I mainly listen to acoustic jazz, classical including chamber and orchestra, some broadway and opera, solo acoustic intruments, some new-age, vocals both male and predominantly female, and some late '60s and 70's rock.
I used various cds and sacds for testing. The list includes, but is not limited to Norah Jones, Barbra Steisand, Rosa Passos, Diana Krall, Patricia Barber, Dave Grusin, Herbie Hancock ('Round Midnight and the other side of 'Round Ridnght), Eva Cassidy, Strunz and Farah, Lynne Arryale Trio, Miles Davis, Warren Bernhardt, several sacds from rca living stereo which included but was not limited to: Reiner's Scheherazade, Dvorak's # 9, and Rubenstein's Brahms Piano Concerto #1.
Associated gear
Sony Scd 777ES Sacd/cd player
conrad-johnson Premier 14 pre-amp
Innersound Esl 300 stereo amp
Innersound Isis speakers
Blue circle music ring 1200
Tice Power block and titan
star audiopoints
cable insulators
M&K X700 subwoofer
Signal Cable Magic Power Power Cord
The Signal Cable Magic Power Digital High Current Cord
Similar products
Audioquest Diamond and Diamond x2