ANTI-CABLES by Paul Speltz: Anyone Using Them?

i'm still at a loss as to why people are paying $10 per foot for 12 guage magnet wire that retails for about $3-4 per pound. a 10 foot pair costing $200 is about 10x what you would pay for an entire spool of this stuff, which has 100 feet or better. there's no magic here, it's just magnet wire. sure it works and sounds great, but people need to do their homework and save some serious money. those isoblocks sold for $25 to $50 for a set are the same ones you can get at a furniture store or appliance store for about $1 each or less. and no, they are not "specially tuned" or formulated in any way by the resellers.

Hi!

I received Paul Speltz Anti-Cables (speaker cables) the other day. I have listened to them for about 20-25 hours now and I must say as I've seen a reviewer say: Wow! And wow again!

I do not have much experience of speaker cables, specially not expensive ones such as Audience, Crystal etc., not even standard audiophile cables as Kimber, Van den Hul or JPS. My speaker cable experience is the following: Linn K20, Linn K400, DIY CAT6 (TNT Twisted Twins), Supra Ply, and that's all. Of the above the Supras were my favourite. I would have preferred the Twisted Twins had they not been so slow...

Now, if someone asked me how the Anti-Cables compare to any of the above I would frankly say, they don't. It's something completely different. I won't write a review, a couple of words sums it up: openess and transparency, natural dynamics, and most of all palpable presence (who turned my unmoddified T-Amp into a tube amp? :o) ). The clichés such as opening a window to the music etc. are true with these cables, at least to my ears. Break-in time is said to be 50 hours but they sound good already now after 20-25 hours (still opening up and settling in, though)

If you're after new cables, I strongly recommend you try these out. For people who are used to pay thousands of dollars a meter they're a bargain at about 30 USD/pair/meter. Before I tested them I considered the price as reasonable. Now, after having heard them I am extremly glad to have found something this good at this price.

Next on my list are the Anti-ICs.

Cheers!
Jolojl

Stvncar, it's $10 per foot PAIR, so half of what you imagine. For many of us, it's a reasonable premium to pay to have the wire cut to size and terminated.

drubin,
sorry, i did miss that fact in my post. a reasonable premium, perhaps, but crimp on spades will set you back less than $10 for 4, and the wire and heat shrink are dirt cheap as well. for about 15 minutes of effort you can still save a bundle. same goes with "cable lifters", the primary pin insulators that sell for $3.50 each and are on most telephone poles. these regularly sell for $160 for a set of 8. amazing what clever marketing hype will do. i don't begrudge anyone for making a living, but some of the markup on common items that are being sold as high end tweaks is just ridiculous and needs to be exposed.

I am using Ayre K1xe preamp, C1xe Universal player, V1xe amp, and Vandersteen 5A speakers - Anti cable interconnects throughout, and speaker cables bi-wired. I originally braided the spk cables and they sounded great. I had them in the system for months - satisfied. I read something on the internet that unbraided wire is much better (Nordost, etc). I unbraided the Anti-Cable spkr wire, and BOY was that a change for the better. Much more solid and difined lows, bigger picture, Much greater definition in the mids, sparkling highs. There was just a very slight "hardness" that went away after the unbraiding - it took a few days. The amp sounds much more powerful too. Recommendation is Do Not Braid.