The fabulous Silversmith Fidelium Speaker Cable

Testy Troll

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2015
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If I like a product, I tend to hold onto it for a long time.
Take my stereo gear for instance.
I’ve had my Hales Signature System Two Speakers for almost 30 yrs.
I love the sound, imaging and soundstage they produce and I have no intention of ever letting them go.
The same situation is with my speaker cables; the venerable Straightwire Maestros. But in this case I knew that I would eventually upgrade them.
Both components have always been a tad bright, even with all-tube Amp, Pre Amp and CD Player on the front end.
After many years of constantly tweaking, I hit upon a combination which helped alleviate almost all of the glare.
Namely, a complete front end of ModWright products.

The only “problem” remaining was a time smearing element to the sound.
Fast piano and bass notes were not quite up to snuff in their separation.
Also, if I turned up the volume too much the sound would exhibit a bit of glare and the soundstage would tend to collapse.

I had long been a fan of Magnan products and currently use their interconnects and AC power cables in my system.
I’ve been looking for their speaker cable on the cheap for a while now.
I thought their approach to reducing skin effect signal doubling and phase issues would help in the articulation of fast consecutive notes (or sounds).
Plus I still had that tiny bit of brightness that needed a final taming.

I recently stumbled upon a glowing Sound Advocate review of the Silversmith Fidelium Speaker Cable.
www.thesoundadvocate.com/2020/06/silver ... st-review/
It actually was one of the finest cable reviews I had ever read.
There was great detail coupled with a ton of enthusiasm.
Like the Magnan, it utilized a thin ribbon to reduce skin effect anomalies. Plus, it used no termination products. (a BIG deal as far as I was concerned)
There were separate + and – leads for each speaker.
A “U” notch was cut into each cable end to interface with the Amp and Crossover.
I thought this was novel and highly desirable.
I called the owner, Jeff Smith and we discussed his cable at length.

One important item was that the Hales Speaker uses an external crossover with the capability to bi-wire.
This option was highly desirable to me so I broached this subject with Jeff.
He strongly recommended that I do so. Although not a deal breaker, the fact I would have to buy double the amount of cables was a bit of a concern.
Jeff replied two cable runs were not necessary and had a unique alternative configuration.
Namely, short Fidelium Crossover Jumpers with a simple but effective interconnect device right at the jumper’s midpoint where the long single speaker cable would connect.
His opinion was that this setup was as good as the traditional bi-wire method.
So just a 6’ set of speaker cables and a 1’ set of jumpers would be required.
I ordered the cables and patiently waited for their arrival.

Upon arrival, I was amazed at the light weight of them, which is understandable since the foil is less than 1/1000” thick and 2.25” wide.
The actual securing of the cables to an Amp or crossover binding post was a bit of a challenge, but not too bad.
The cable ends can be bent to fit into tight places, although there possibly are a few binding post configurations where connection would be very difficult.
Jeff told me that in a couple of months there would be finished adaptors available for those with fully plastic encased binding posts. He has been producing these adaptors by hand for those customers who needed them.

I turned on the system. No warm up.
Put my ear close to each driver. Absolute silence.
With no warmup, I slipped a CD into the player and listened.
The resultant sound was certainly very different than I was accustomed to.
Great detail but in a non fatiguing manner.
A beautifully balanced frequency spectrum.
Great Highs which were hash free.
Great tight Bass with accurate pitch and timbre.
Crisp, clear and sweet Mids.
Fast transient response, but not etched.
Very low noise floor. In fact, no noise at all.
I was excited that the Fideliums sounded so good with no system warmup.
With about an hour of warmup, I was ready for some serious listening.
All the attributes I previously heard were present but heightened.
The soundstage was deeper and wider than I had ever experienced.
The imaging was pretty incredible.
Each instrument could be easily localized and followed, without interference from another in the same proximity.
Really spooky!

But there was something else that REALLY set this cable apart from anything I had previously experienced.
The leading edge of each note (or sound) was wonderful, but it turns out the trailing edge and decay reproduction is incredibly super accurate. I mean SOTA!
IMO, this is the most important quality this cable possesses and sets it apart from all other speaker cables designs.
Distortions due to skin effect are vastly minimized.
Because of this, time smear/phase artifacts are virtually eliminated.
Fast piano and bass notes are truly distinct from each other.
Low level signals were readily discernable.
Echoes and decays of instruments was positively other worldly.

Because of these characteristics, I was able to turn the volume up to higher levels.
With my previous cables, the soundstage would collapse and the sound would harden up if I pushed them too hard.
Fideliums showed no such problems.

In the editors comments from the Sound Advocate review, it was mentioned how accurately this speaker reproduced the sound of a piano. I can vouch for that. In spades.
The depth and power of the bass notes are just plain ridiculous.
And the highest treble notes have a real body to them, not thin and tinkly.
I would like to add brass, drums and percussion to the list of “scary real”.
And again, that decay...

In closing, the sound you’ll experience from the Fidelium will be totally different than you’re accustomed to. It’s kind of unnerving until you live with it a while. Nothing stands out. Everything is in perfect balance. It’s KILLER!

If you click on the Silversmith website there are numerous testimonials from other satisfied customers.
As you can deduce, I’m 100% sold on this product.
I cannot recommend Silversmith Fidelium Speaker Cables highly enough.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2012
26
12
908
Purchased them. Agree with your assessment 100%. An incredible value as well.
 

CKKeung

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2011
3,053
3,172
1,410
Hong Kong
Will there be a Fidelium Series interconnect cable soon?
:D
 

RaChiK

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2020
167
116
115
43
I have to agree. I tried the fidelium and bought it. Amazing cables for the price. Just awesome. Will wait for interconnects.
 

RaChiK

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2020
167
116
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Yes, they sound extremely good. I was looking to buy Kubala-Sosna Elation or Tellurium Q silver diamonds or Tara Labs 0.8 speaker cables. But having fidelium now and enjoying them, I am going to use the money saved to buy Melco S-100.
I have aerial acoustics 7T with Luxman 590axii, 2 REL S5/SHO: Currently using Lumin T2 with antipodes CX: Waiting on Luxman D-10x and Antipodes EX to arrive in next 2 weeks. Have AQ hurricane power cords and TQ black diamond interconnects.
 

Testy Troll

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2015
76
42
123
Yes, they sound extremely good. I was looking to buy Kubala-Sosna Elation or Tellurium Q silver diamonds or Tara Labs 0.8 speaker cables. But having fidelium now and enjoying them, I am going to use the money saved to buy Melco S-100.
I have aerial acoustics 7T with Luxman 590axii, 2 REL S5/SHO: Currently using Lumin T2 with antipodes CX: Waiting on Luxman D-10x and Antipodes EX to arrive in next 2 weeks. Have AQ hurricane power cords and TQ black diamond interconnects.

Nice gear mate!
 
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ozzzy

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2019
297
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Is Silversmith still in business? I have left numerous emails and phone messages and have not received a reply.

ozzy
 

RaChiK

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2020
167
116
115
43
I am not sure if I can share his email, but I contacted him through audiogon discussion form. Search for the silversmith fidelium speaker on audiogon discussion forum and you see him commenting. Then just message him directly.
 

wcheng

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2012
13
5
908
San Diego
Jeff told me that h
Is Silversmith still in business? I have left numerous emails and phone messages and have not received a reply.

ozzy
That's unusual, Jeff has always responded to my inquiries very quickly. He did recently mention to me that he is in the process of relocating to another state.
 

gipe

Member
Oct 15, 2019
25
6
8
France
Hello,

I'm surprised because I've been in contact with him without any problem since I bought my cables.

Maybe it's the move he mentioned ?

Personally, I contacted him on October 4th and he answered me within 24 hours as usual due to the time difference.
 

ozzzy

Well-Known Member
Feb 21, 2019
297
144
135
71
I did finally get a hold of him via phone. He said he responded previously via email but I didn't get it, even checked my junk folder.
Anyway, I went ahead and ordered a pair of the Fideliums. I'm hoping they will not be too hard to connect up to my speakers (Focal Sopra 2) and tubes amps (Carver M-350).

ozzy
 

Testy Troll

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2015
76
42
123
Got around 80 hrs on the Fideliums and they have improved a tad bit.
The Bass is a little tighter and the Mids are a little sweeter.
I'm lovin' these cables!

I've never been a big proponent of significant cable improvement over time.
I thought perhaps that the Cable/Amp & Cable /Speaker metal interfaces became more "intimate" with each other over time (at a molecular level).

At any rate, there was a subtle, but decided improvement.....
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Oct 23, 2012
26
12
908
Great review. i do believe this is a groundbreaking product that competes with or bests products several multiples of its cost.
 

Narayan

Well-Known Member
Oct 6, 2015
126
50
258
Greg Weaver seems smitten by these cables, that has to be one of the most glowing reviews I´ve read in a long time, to the point a "product of the decade" award will be bestowed upon the Fidelium, what left me scratching my head was the end sentence: "And Jeff says not only are the matching interconnects coming soon, but he has another speaker cable offering in development that will offer three times better performance than that of the Fidelium" let´s see if it turns out to be true.
 
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RaChiK

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2020
167
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I am not surprised with the review as my expression was the same. Wow, right from the beginning. I am waiting on the interconnects. I hope he makes power cables too..
 

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