OK everybody, I just got off the phone with Tommy Dzurak (pronounced zer-ak) at Aural Symphonics. He has completed the final testing of the EMM Optimism V2 (which will be a 3-cable set). The initial production run is already on its way to Hong Kong, and he says general release in the US will be Dec-Jan, but some US dealers may have a few before then.
Now, to clear up all the technobabble. Tommy says that the ST cables supplied by Meitner are just, and I quote, "garden-variety, wide-bandwidth (one-size-fits-all) fiber optic cables as supplied with Wadia, Theta, Krell, etc. etc. They will work on any equipment, and by the same token, any wide-bandwidth cable will work on a Meitner."
One of the things he did in designing the Optimism series of cables was to narrow their bandwidth, for better data transmission. So far, they work fine with any machine (like Theta and Wadia and most others) which use the standard (wide-bandwidth) AT&T transceiver unit. But Meitner (according to Tommy) uses some type of narrow bandwith transceiver. So if you are going to use a narrow bandwidth cable like the Optimism V2, it's narrow bandwidth has to MATCH the transceiver's narrow bandwidth (or your shit don't work!) So the in the EMM Optimism V2, the bandwidth has been selected to match the Meitner transceiver narrow bandwidth (hope this all made sense.) Anyway, that's why the standard Optimism V2 won't work in the Meitner, and also why, because it had a wider bandwidth, why the older Optimism V1 WILL work, but nowhere near as good, according to Tommy, as his new EMM Optimism V2 set.
He said the sound of 2 channel CD's, but especially SACD surround, is absolutely amazing using his cables with the Meitner, and much better than using either their stock ST cables or coax. I guess, in this instance, a one-component product seems to be good marketing. He said his Hong Kong production run is already sold out!
