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Matthew Bond Audio speaker cables - observations

I had been using Silversmith Audio Fidelium speaker cable for the past few years. While I was satisfied with the sound, (on a value basis, unequaled in my personal view), I wondered if I could get a bit more. I also had some frustration with the connection to binding posts, and particularly the complications the jumpers added. They’re just difficult to manage behind the speakers - at least for me.

I had auditioned Nordost Valhalla 2s (I’m already well into the Nordost ecosystem) and liked them very much - and was ready to buy from my local dealer. 

About that same time, I saw an add from Matthew Bond Audio (formerly of Tara Labs) and read up on his designs and called Matthew to chat with him about it (nice guy by the way). I decided to purchase a pair of GSC 36 cables with an agreement from Matthew I could return them if they didn’t meet my expectations.

The GSC 36s are more detailed, open, and fully fleshed out than any other speaker cables I’ve tried. Just fun to listen to and without any shortcomings I can identify.

To be fair, while I’ve auditioned near the top end of Audioquest, Transparent, and Nordost, I haven’t auditioned the very top end of those lines (Dragon and Odin 2, etc.), much less the wide variety of top end cables from other manufacturers. . Nevertheless, the GSC 36s are the best I’ve heard and are staying in system. 

For those of you considering like options, these are well worth exploring. Of course, YMMV. For me - end game.  I now have to wonder about his interconnects…

mgrif104
mgrif104 OP
564 posts
 

As the speaker cables have broken in fully, they’re better than ever. So, I pulled the trigger and purchased a pair of Matthew’s Analog Reference interconnects. I’ll share my observations on those after they’ve settled into the system. They’re replacing a pair of Valhalla 2 interconnects which are fantastic - so my expectations are high. If the MBA aren’t better, I’ll either return them or relegate to a 2nd system but i expect they’ll be as good as the speaker cables. Unlike the speaker cables which are very easy to manage, the interconnects are a bit unwieldy, but i shouldn’t need to fiddle with them much.

More to come.

lak's avatar
lak
4,818 posts
 

Thanks for the update :-)

kennyc
2,916 posts
 

I just discovered Matthew Bond is related to the excellent Tara Labs, so I will be checking his cables.  @mgrif104 - thanks for posting 

ozon8r
6 posts
 

mgrif104, any updates or insights on your experience with these cables? 

mgrif104 OP
564 posts
 

@ozon8r 

I have the GSC 36 speaker cables in a new listening space where they are driving Sonus Faber Il Cremonese speakers from Atma-Sphere Class D monos. The cables remain the best I’ve heard. 

A related side story: I have been moving the speakers and REL subs about a lot (probably 50 times) trying to get them dialed in with different configurations. This also required moving my audio rack and components nearly as many times. In the process, I swapped out the GSC 36s with some quite good Analysis Plus speaker cables of the same length as the GSCs to make the rerouting easier (bananas vs spades) and save stress on the cables. While I could live with the AP speaker cables, I clearly lost some tonality and “depth” in the presentation when they were in. Of course, the GSC 36s should be better given the considerable delta in price, but it was validation of their superiority.

The Analog Reference ICs originally replaced some Nordost Valhalla II ICs but are not currently in the system as I needed longer ones to reach the mono blocks. I have some high quality ones in place. While I’d like to get annother set of Matthew’s ICs, it’ll have to wait as I’m way over my budget with the recent purchase of the REL subs.

hope this helps.

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