Slow Down, You Move too Fast


Hello Again,

It's been a while and nice to be creeping back in to the game!

My system has sat pretty still for a while and some recent changes have made it a bit lean and quick. The most recent culprit are MG Audio planus III speaker wire. Amazing detail and extension. And fast. A bit too fast for my system: I initially loved them, and still really appreciate their attributes, but these old dog's ears got tired.

So, I am looking to slow things down into a more of a comfy zone.
I am thinking of new speaker cable and perhaps a set of interconnects and could use some insights...

The speaker cables that look good to me are:
-Tara Labs, the One or Two +/-EX
-Purist Audio Venusta
-Kubala Sosna Emotion

The Interconnects are the same-ish. I try one instead of one of my Gabriel Gold Infusions:
-Tara Labs, the One or Two +/-EX
-Purist Audio Venusta
-Jade Audio Hybrid Gold

Is that too much for one thread?

Looking forward to batting it about.

Enjoy the tunes!

And, thanks.
budburma
Has anyone noted the post title, which is a lyric from the song 'Feeling Groovy?' Made popular by S & G buy however written by Harper's Bazaar.
HA! Ok, I've done just that....And smelling the roses with a nice cup of Joe in hand might be the thing to do. The shopping list is long, the time short and the tunes need their due.

SRA speaker cables....done. And loving them!
Dynamic Designs Heritage line on all digital components...done. (BIG bingo)
KCI and Jade....done. Big boy Jade Platinum (PlatinYUM!) on the way.
Plinius upgrade in the wings.

Hmmm...jupiter caps for the Romulus?!
Audio Horizons PlatinYUM fuses all around?!!
DD Nebula power cords!!!!
Power conditioners and cords!!!! NOW my head is spinning.

Back to the flowers and java.
Denon1 is right on the money! I recommend that you go with the Snake River Audio Cottmouth Signature speaker cables Art, you will love them. Also, try some Jade and KCI interconnects, and some Dynamic Designs power cords while you are at it. That should slow the sound down to a pace that pleases you. ;^)

One more thing, send that Plinius SA-201 amp out to Vince for some modifications, that will really get your head spinning!!

Cheers,
John
Bud, yes plinius amps are great match with Dynaudio. I had SA 201, but SB301 is better. I regret not buying SA Ref when I had a chance, but Hiato sounds fine. I always come back to plinius.
You should consider upgrade, especially now Plinius has new US presence and customer service is great. I can recommend you a great dealer As for cables Gabriel reflection speaker and Ics cables sounded worse in my system. No balance, lack of bass and hifi ish. The MG has been better but a little bright and I did not like their look and lack of flexibility. I assure you that Snake river signatures have great bass - outstanding, try them you will not regret. I had Hybrid Mlt and dream petite, they are Ok cables but overpriced even with good discount and their bass is not on the level of Snake river. Their latest dreamV10 speaker cables are great so ,but again pricey. I had many cables to demo in my system and has been skeptical about Snake River until gave them a chance. They will not shock you from the first try, but somehow they draw you into music and eventually you realize that you love them.
Hi Budburma, You have to excuse Devon at Taralabs, he is from new-york, I get along with him fine, I know how to deal with him, when you get to know him, he is a great guy, They got that poor man running crazy with sales world-wide, from single sales to huge mass sales to dealers or distributors, to traveling here and there, Devon is correct about the two, that cable is forgiving, what I posted would be of benefit for your system, you could use the two where you need forgiving, reread my post, other than my recomendation, my post said to mix the other cables, that's where you could use the two at, cheers.
Alrighty! Before I hit the slopes with my boy!

Denon1-Thanks for the tip. Snake River looks very interesting. Nice metallurgy. I wonder if they have an amalgam made for their Cottonmouth Signature or use a combo of plated and pure wires.

I have come back to Plinius and Dynaudio over and over and am finally resting my head and ears right there. I started with their 8150 integrated and have owned a lot of their gear. The combo of their amp with a tube pre is my favorite sound, but mixing those is tough for my wife to keep straight. I lost an expensive, somewhat rare and very beloved pair of Dynaudio Contour 2.8's to that...compromise is good and a happy wife is a happy husband. What speakers do you use?

That said, the SA100 mkII with a Cary SLP98P upscale hot rod with some Sylvania 6SN7w's. Yowza! That's for another thread.

I would love to hear your impressions of the GG vs MG vs Snake River. Those are one's with which I am well versed....Also Stealth MLT (one of my past favorites) and Analysis Plus Oval 8 and 9. The Snake RIver's have me a little concerned over their relative lack of bass heft mentioned in the Mojo Audio article? I have Dynaudio Confidence 3 monitors and while the are competent at digging out deep bass, they are still monitors.

At his point I have shifted gears a bit and am leaning towards Stealth Petite Dreams or Jade Vermeils (both of them are more of a know quantity, but certainly different "flavors") and looking hard at the Snake RIver.

I have some new IC's in the house...Some Jade Hybrid and Vermeil (redux!) and Silnote Orions. Just poking around, got a rec to try Cerious Nanos and might just do that (thank you, John!). I would rather keep my GG Infusions in place and even consider going up to the Halo's if I find the right speaker cable. They are incredible to my ear; the most accurate, linear, organic and musical I have heard. My ear, my system, my taste, but on the beam!

All of this has to wait for two things for final eval: 1. I am still awaiting the return of my AMR CD 77.1 from Avatar for repair and upgrade tweaking. It's be a couple of weeks, so a cable log jam is building up! 2. All work and no play (except today and tomorrow, sweet!) until a week from Wednesday.

Audiolab-I spoke with the peeps at Tara Labs. They recommended The 2. Hard to say the guy was the most warm and fuzzy, but we all have those days. He said they were more forgiving and would address those needs, so I remain open to that, but he get my aural juices flowing or have me reaching for my wallet.

The snow is calling! Hold Spring at arms length and embrace the winter and enjoy the tunes!
Hi bud, I also have plinius amp (Hiato) and the speaker cables I settled with are Snake River Audio signatures Cottonmouth. I liked them the most, after trying MG audio III, Kubala Sosna emotions, Hidiamonds8, gabriel gold reflectinos, purist audio venustas and corvus latest versions, and some others. Based on what you are looking for, I think the Snake River may be a good fit and good senergy with plinius. The kibala sosna emotions and purist venustas may be a little warm and laid back with your plinius. For Ics try latest version of KCI silkworm +. terrific ICs for the money and great manufacturer to deal with.
hey there audio labyrinth. I am deep into a long stretch of hours at the hospital and will try to find time to respond. BMI power cord has been a staple of mind for some time. I have not heard anything that sounds better on my system
Hi Bud, Very nice system and set-up, I believe you would benefit more from the Tara the one speaker cables, you need a speaker cable that will resolve the resolution out of the plinus amp, that is resolving, allow the cable to pass that information thru, I would use the two on digital, and the one I/c on pre-amp to amp, then mix whatever cables you want, bottom line, Iwould use the One on the pre to amp, and use the one for speaker cables, use other brands if you like on everything else, you will get a good dose of the Tara the one useing what I offered here, remember, it gets alot better going up the cable food chain, Taralabs is getting ready to release some new cables very soon, a few are affordable, a couple of models is just crazy exspensive!, They are still going to carry the one and two, Here is a bit of info, you can go to the Tara site, scroll down to you see a link that says, controlled band width and extended band width, its in the technology section, this is part of what they are actually carrying, their site is goofed, so this is the way to read on these cables, I say use the extended band width the one, then controlled band width on anything else you may want, I am saying, Taralabs is currently making two versions of most of their cables now!, when you read all that, get back to me here.

@ Jmcgrogan2 Gotcha' and am in agreement. Maybe kickback warm would work. Lak is selling some Vermeils...I wonder how they compare to the Moontails as the new Jade entry level. Does the Vermeil suffer from any loss of resolution and detail compared to the Hybrid? Or does the Hybrid more enrich the mids/midbass and and warmth? I have hear the Hybrid and Reference and preferred the Hybrid for the reasons you cite. It also makes me think of some Vermeil speaker cable!
@ MapmanThe DNM's have been around and always looked interesting. I haven't heard them as they are hard to get on this side of the big pond and resale might be tough....
@ Audiolabyrinth Thank you, my system is up to date here on Audiogon. My room is my living room and definitely not optimal, but a nice place to sit with paintings, books and a persian rug. The room is 15x18 with almost 10 ft ceilings 1895 Victorian with a bay window at one end and open French doors on the other....home sweet home. I often wish for another 1000sf so I could have an office and a listening room, but we are cozied up in 1850sf total and our rooms multitask!
Of teh ones I've tried, DNM Reson ICs seem to get it most right for me and for reasonable cost.
Hey Art, I can't help you with the difference between The 2, The 2 EX and The One, as I've never really compared them side by side against each other. I have used The 2 and The One interconnects in series, but not comparing one against the other. I can't imagine there is too much difference in tonal balance, though I'm sure that I will be told differently. ;) Welcome to the circus!!

I think your overall chance of finding a warm Tara Labs cable is about as good as finding a revealing Purist Audio, Jade Audio or Kubala Sosna cable though. I do think that knowing your tastes, you would find the K-S Emotion cables too warm for you.

I've owned the Jade Vermeil and the Hybrid, I never heard the Reference. Though I think the more gold that Jade uses, the warmer and slower the pace is. He uses gold plated silver in the Vermeil, and IMHO that is the quickest and liveliest Jade cable that I have heard. His Hybrid is all gold on the positive leg, and gold plated silver on the negative leg. It was richer, warmer and more colorful than the Vermeil. I believe that Jade is using all gold in the Reference, so it is probably even richer, warmer, and slower than the Hybrid. If that's any help.
Hi Budburma, If I may ask, can you list the equipment you are useing and room dimensions, I believe all of us here may be an asset to you.
@Audiolabrynth There you are! Shazam, right on time! Laughing is such a good thing to do....it's hard to measure the benefit, but I know it's substantial for me. And remembering to take a deep breath several times a day.

I think you CAN help, re: speaker cables-2, 2EX, or 1's? The Tara people recommended the 2....I think because of my over resolution issue. But, I think I can further adjust that upstream. There are 2's and 2ex's on Agon now in good lengths for me......but if the One is the 1, I can wait.

Thank you, sir!
@Isosochronism @Jmcgrogan2
Ha! I am waiting for him! I have seen his tag and rave reviews for Tara. In any case, I'll gird my fiscal loins and try to keep the audiodrenaline at resonable revs.

BUT, I do think the Tara SC's make the most sense. The Kubala may be a bit too much in the warm corner and an over correction. I have looked at the Cable Co.'s lending library and it is not helpful at this time. I can pick up the 2's available or the 2EX's. The 1's here on Agon is spoken for, but I can wait....

Any advice there? 2's? 2EX? Wait for the 1's? I can't help but think of the Matrix and laugh every time I type that!

When I owned the Jade Gold reference there was so much I loved about it, but the pace was too slow. It felt unnaturally held back. Again, it might be an overcorrection. I was looking at Jade's system again (we have some and have had more equipment in common). He was a Kubala man before he plugged in his own cables.....

Maybe the Hybrid is a little quicker. And, mixed with the Infusion would be the ticket for IC's. Feels right in my deep sonic limbic brain in any case.

Maybe some Vermeil Speaker cables! So hard to find any of his stuff on the used market....I see the Vermeil IC's being sold by Lak, but even those are rare birds.

I think I'll calibrate my compass avoiding true north, pitch my tent in the shade and camp with the crazies.

Enjoy the tunes!

Best,
Art
Thankyou gentleman for the Humor, I got a good laugh, If Bud has questions, I will do my best to help.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.

Hey Art, as Brett (Isochronism) says, Keith (Audiolabryinth) will be along shortly to fix you up with the full Tara Labs loom. Be careful though, or he'll have you buying the Zero Gold!!

Though maybe you would have more success, like Jerry (Pops) and myself, with mixing the PAD with the Tara Labs. I was using the Venustas (until I replaced it with Jade Vermeil) with The One interconnects, and Pops is using Tara Labs 0.8EX with Venustas interconnects and PAD Proteus Provectus speaker cable. I know Keith says we are all crazy, and that Tara Labs is all you need, but hey, crazy people need cables too. LOL!!

Personally, if it was me, using your suggestions, I would go with the Tara Labs speaker cables and the Jade Hybrid Gold interconnects.

Welcome back, and happy hunting.

Cheers,
John
Go with the Taralabs, start with anything you can afford, then do not switch cable brands!, move up the cable food chain, the cables are alot better the more you spend, I own two different models Of taras now, complete looms of them, If there is anything I may be of help with, just ask, when it comes to Taralabs, I can answer your questions accurately.
Well, I heard back from the folks at Tara and they recommended the 2. Might have saved me some dough, but oddly enough, after doing some more reading I though the 1 sound like the...well, the one!
Kubala still looks awfully good. The Purist SC's? Hard to say.....
@Chayro-You are likely right on that point (pun intendend). I have brass under my plynths, but only under my AMR CD as footers. The Klyne pre has MIGs and the Plinius has Waipuna myrtlewood. While all those have influence, it pales to cabling....BUT, I did spend a lot of time tuning in those things to another cable set up!
Tim-
I know of Grover Huffman's line and blog, but haven't listened to or read much on either. Any comparison cables you can offer?
Budburma,

I will be selling off most of my second system and the cables are Grover Huffman Zx purchased new by me last summer. I have interconnects and speaker cables. If your interested email me and maybe we can work something out.

Tim
Have you considered taking the brass cones out from under some of your components? Aftermarket footers are not necessarily an improvement. It seems to me people have gotten so conditioned to believing that they must replace the stock footers, which is not always true. If your sound is muddy, brass footers can sometimes lean out the sound, but you seem to have the opposite problem.
Thanks, Alan. I am unfamiliar with them, but will put in some due diligence and see how she rolls
Hi Diamond 8's or Auditorium 23 are both outstanding speaker cables. I also have enjoyed the Grover Huffman cables. They are inexpensive but as good as any cables I have heard
Alan