Ron’s New System

[Ron Resnick]

Cardas Clear Reflection Interconnect #highendaudio #cables #music

youtube.com

 

[morricab]

At least in my experience the Clear Beyond RCA cables I have need about 2 1/2 days on the cooker to sound right.

Out of the box they were totally unlistenable ... When I first trialed them -- I was given a brand new in a box pair. I could not imagine using them and I returned them.

Sometime later my dealer said they were broken in and after about a day in my set up they were a revelation.

The Clear Beyond is the only Cardas interconnect that I like-- I have 3 pairs in my system. I keep some Nordost Valhallas as well for check points and tests. I can recommend the Inakustik cables as well as some of the models I have had here are quite good ---neutral.

I use Inakustik silver air reference and they are very good, neutral open and resolution

 

[Kcin]

In what sonic ways did you find them unlistenable?


All interconnects in the front-end of the system still are Clear Beyond.

Did you ever happen to try Clear Reflection?

Unlistenable in the sense of dynamic compression and muted frequency response at the high frequencies

Ron, I have not tried clear reflection in this current configuration. Anxious to hear more as your cables break in.

 

[morricab]

Unlistenable in the sense of dynamic compression and muted frequency response at the high frequencies

Ron, I have not tried clear reflection in this current configuration. Anxious to hear more as your cables break in.

Return of the sibilance??

 

[cal3713]

I use Inakustik silver air reference and they are very good, neutral open and resolution

I am 100% a believer in silver. It just sounds more natural to me... at least in my limited experience/comparisons. Tempo electric and VH Audio for those of us with modest budgets. I went silver from amp output to speaker drivers (and all internal signal wire/interconnects upstream) and loved every change. Never heard any of the negatives that some people like to mention.

 

[morricab]

I am 100% a believer in silver. It just sounds more natural to me... at least in my limited experience/comparisons. Tempo electric and VH Audio for those of us with modest budgets. I went silver from amp output to speaker drivers (and all internal signal wire/interconnects upstream) and loved every change. Never heard any of the negatives that some people like to mention.

I never had silver speaker cables...mostly due to cost but I have been using all silver interconnects for close to 20 years now. Everytime I try a copper cable, I feel that too much gets lost and go back happily to silver. I also use Goertz Silver Sapphire foil interconnects, Goertz TQ2 silver, Element Cable solid core silver (very thin for my phonostage to amp) and VacuumState silver foil in my two systems.

 

[morricab]

I am 100% a believer in silver. It just sounds more natural to me... at least in my limited experience/comparisons. Tempo electric and VH Audio for those of us with modest budgets. I went silver from amp output to speaker drivers (and all internal signal wire/interconnects upstream) and loved every change. Never heard any of the negatives that some people like to mention.

Have you considered the Audio Mirror amps?

 

[cal3713]

Have you considered the Audio Mirror amps?

I have not, although I do like the company and have enjoyed Ralph's dac. I'm sure they're great. Unfortunately quit my job and moved to Panama, so the time of sampling amplifiers has come to a close. Pretty happy with my simple two stage hybrid amplification path though (single tube DHT pre doing all voltage gain and first watt F4 monoblocks with hugely overbuilt power supplies doing all current gain, pure silver wire throughout inside and out).

 

[cal3713]

I never had silver speaker cables...mostly due to cost but I have been using all silver interconnects for close to 20 years now. Everytime I try a copper cable, I feel that too much gets lost and go back happily to silver. I also use Goertz Silver Sapphire foil interconnects, Goertz TQ2 silver, Element Cable solid core silver (very thin for my phonostage to amp) and VacuumState silver foil in my two systems.

Tempo electric is a very reasonable place to start if you get the itch... https://www.tempoelectric.com/cables_speaker-cables.htm

As I mentioned above, I replaced the internal wire in my Coincident PREs and the solid silver Tempo Electric was much better than the high quality braided copper they had before. Although installing solid wire in speaker enclosers was not my favorite task.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Red Hot Ray Brown Trio "That's All"

Anette Askvik "Liberty"

Thelma Houston "I've Got the Music in Me"

Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna

Sarah McLachlan "Good Enough" "Hold On"

Meatloaf "Bat Out of Hell" "For Crying Out Loud"

London Grammar "Hey Now"

Lou Reed "Walk on the Wild Side"

Amanda McBroom "The Rose"

I like this the best I have heard this system.

I have to stop! I'm hungry!

I don't think it sounds like a 2023 contemporary system. I think Chuck would hate it!

 

[sc53]

Red Hot Ray Brown Trio "That's All"

Anette Askvik "Liberty"

Thelma Houston "I've Got the Music in Me"

Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna

Sarah McLachlan "Good Enough" "Hold On"

Meatloaf "Bat Out of Hell" "For Crying Out Loud"

London Grammar "Hey Now"

Lou Reed "Walk on the Wild Side"

Amanda McBroom "The Rose"

I like this the best I have heard this system.

I have to stop! I'm hungry!

I don't think it sounds like a 2023 contemporary system. I think Chuck would hate it!

I’ve lost track—what amps.are you using now? Jadis 100 with EL34s? That’s the last update I remember!! And what does a “contemporary 2023 system” sound like? I’m sure mine doesn’t sound like one either.

 

[Al M.]

I’ve lost track—what amps.are you using now? Jadis 100 with EL34s? That’s the last update I remember!! And what does a “contemporary 2023 system” sound like? I’m sure mine doesn’t sound like one either.

Nor does mine!!

Phew.

 

[bonzo75]

I don't think it sounds like a 2023 contemporary system. I think Chuck would hate it!

Chuck who?

When Chuck Norris switches on his system, musicians leave what they are doing and come to the room

Chuck Norris only streams, because his dac dare not jitter.

 

[bonzo75]

Chuck who?

When Chuck Norris switches on his system, musicians leave what they are doing and come to the room

Chuck Norris only streams, because his dac dare not jitter.

Chuck Norris never replaces his tubes – they play on for dear life

I buy all my used LPs from Chuck Norris – they are Mint! Schubert’s 8th was even finished!

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...fyi Bonzo

 

[bonzo75]

Chuck Norris never replaces his tubes – they play on for dear life

I buy all my used LPs from Chuck Norris – they are Mint! Schubert’s 8th was even finished!

When Chuck Norris went to the BSO, they changed their sound to play like his system

 

[Ron Resnick]

I’ve lost track—what amps.are you using now? Jadis 100 with EL34s? That’s the last update I remember!! And what does a “contemporary 2023 system” sound like? I’m sure mine doesn’t sound like one either.

JA100s with Ei KT90s

The original plan was to experiment with EL34s but it turns out cathode resistors need to be replaced for that swap.

I am not hearing my upper bass to lower midrange leanness anymore. I wanted to experiment with EL34s to further fill out the upper bass to lower midrange and to add some "midrange magic." But now I think the more direct path to that experiment would be high power SET (Wavac 833 or trafomatic Elysium) or parallel SET (MastersounD PF100) rather than JA200s.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Overall I feel like I'm on the higher indifference curve I wanted to be on. Could I get to a higher one? Probably with high power SET.

But for now I'm totally happy, and I'm not even inclined to explore different points on this present indifference curve.

Last night I think I had one of the best listening sessions ever. I absolutely did not want to stop. I heard the best renditions I've ever heard in one of my systems of several things I've listened to zillions of times. I had very satisfying emotional engagement.

Is everything sounding too good? Very possibly if I'm being honest. I don't think I care.

 

[Ron Resnick]

And what does a “contemporary 2023 system” sound like?

This was a pejorative quip so I apologize.

By that I meant a digital source with all solid-state electronics driving multi-way box loudspeakers with complex cross-overs with the sonic objectives of black backgrounds and extremely extended frequency response and low noise floor and pinpoint imaging and maximization of detail and maximization of dynamics.

 

[PeterA]

Red Hot Ray Brown Trio "That's All"

Anette Askvik "Liberty"

Thelma Houston "I've Got the Music in Me"

Sinead O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Stevie Nicks Bella Donna

Sarah McLachlan "Good Enough" "Hold On"

Meatloaf "Bat Out of Hell" "For Crying Out Loud"

London Grammar "Hey Now"

Lou Reed "Walk on the Wild Side"

Amanda McBroom "The Rose"

I like this the best I have heard this system.

I have to stop! I'm hungry!

I don't think it sounds like a 2023 contemporary system. I think Chuck would hate it!

Ron, is this a streaming playlist? Or do you listen to one song on a record and then switch to another record? Is this a typical listening session?