Anybody tried 20th Anniversary Purist cables?

Jafox,

I certainly agree with you about the CAT amps and resolution - they are among the finest resolvers of low level detail I have experienced in my system.

However, it looks like we are talking past each other here. Yin and yang in my understanding always have been accepted terms for describing frequency response characteristics (i.e. there is no amibiguity in their meaning, such as with prat - which really is related to transient performance - or with continuousness, which I think relates to dynamic performace across the frequency spectrum). Typically, yang refers to a frequency response that is tilted toward the whiter side of the spectrum. The extreme of yang is clinical (or as you put it, analytical), cold, sterile (in fact, your identification of the CAT Amp and preamp combination is a perfect of example of the yang side). Yin refers to frequncy response that is tilted toward the warmer side of the spectrum - the extreme of yang is referred to as dark, fat, tubey, etc.

Thus, to rephrase my previous comments in more acceptable terms, my system tends to lean more towards the analytical side of the frequency spectrum than yours, which is why I think the Aqueous would work better in my system than yours. Further, your identification of the Aesthetix premps also matches my initial perception - I think anyone would say the Callisto is certainly more towards the yin side of the spectrum than, for example, the preamp in the DCC2.

I also agree that "decay" is important - although decay is also a result of transient performance, low level resolution, and, depending on exactly what one means by decay, microdynamic performance. It is these latter two qualities that are most important for me. If a system cannot provide resolution of low level detail, and does not excel at microdynamics, I become bored with it rather quickly. I thought the Aqueous did an exceptional job with these characteristics without leaning two far to the analytical side of the frequncy spectrum (and hence found it have the best balance of characteristics that are important to me).

As to the Opis, as I think about it, I probably committed the same error I cautioned against - I only gave them about 50-75 hours or so before I gave up on them. Did they change singificantly during break-in as well?

Well, I called Purist Audio today and spoke with Jim Aud (when the receptionist transferred the call he picked up!). Interestingly, he is aware of a long running discussion about the Aqueous going on somewhere on the web; I'm assuming this is the one he heard about.

He did indicate that the AA sounds not too good straight out of the bag, and takes more than about 250 hours or so to begin sounding really good. He admitted he's not sure why this is. His description of the initial sound of the cables was very much like what Cmo indicated in this thread. I asked him if it was okay for me to pass this info along and he said yes. He seems like a pretty nice guy.

BTW, I called Purist about some other stuff, and figured if I had Jim on the phone I may as well ask about this. I made sure I wasn't taking up too much of this time. He was very nice about it.

I have the Aqueous interconnect and liked it from the very beginning. So I figured I would like the speaker cable, so I sold my Purist Audio Venustas here at Audiogon, and had a pair of the Aqueous ordered and even had Purist Audio burn them in for the required time, which took an extra week for delivery. I was all excited when I got them, warmed the system up for several hours, sat down in my chair, and my first impression was, "I don't like these cables". I figured even though they were burned in by Purist, they just needed a few more days. After about four days, I didn't like the sound at all, the sound stage was shrunken, the bass was diminished, just overall not a good presentation compared to my Venustas. After about the fourth day, I contacted the person I ordered the cables from and asked if I could get a refund. Although this went back and forth for several days, I agreed to listen to them for a few more days. I did, and I still didn't like the system at all. I sent my cables back and ended up having to buy a brand new pair of the Venustas, which cost me a lot more than what I sold my cables for. I know better - I need to audition cables before I buy them. But the interconnect fooled me - it sounded so good. I'm not sure why these speaker cables in my system didn't sound good. I really did like the mid-range, but after that, I didn't like anything about the sound of the speaker cables. I definitely give a thumbs up for the interconnect, but a thumbs down for the speaker cables. Just my opinion from my experience.

I found with the Purist Aqueous Anniversary speaker cables the more efficient the speakers the better they work; with lower efficient speakers or systems using high current amps the Venustas seems to work better (the Aqueous Anniversary speaker cable is only 12 ga. while the Venustas is 6 ga.) It would be interesting to try the new contego outer jacket used on the Aqueous Anniversary with the Venustas 6 ga. wires.

Hi i was told the AQUEOUS ANV cable takes more like 300 to 500 hrs to break in because of the CONTEGO Shielding i am using 21ft balanced. Has anybody else found this to be the case. Thanks EBM!!!