Over the holidays I had the opportunity to audition the Ridge Street
Midnight Silver Edition cable pack that Robert Schult has been kind
enough to lend out to several members here. I spent the first day
slowly replacing my cables and tying to get a feeling for the changes
that each cable brought to my system. After all the Ridge Street
cables were in place, I took a few days to just listen. Then I picked
up the phone. I had to call Robert to ask one simple question about
his cable set. If you have ever talked to Robert on the phone you know
it can become quite a long conversation so I purposely tried to keep it
brief. "Does it get any better?, I asked. I mean can the Poiema
cables be any better than what I'm hearing right now with the MSE?"
The answer was "Well. yes and no. They are more of the same only
better". Another 20 minutes later I hung up determined to get back to
listening and find where I thought the MSE cables could improve.
In my system the Ridge Streets brought a new level of resolution but
without ever sounding aggressive or hot. In fact, this increase in
detail was accompanied amazingly by a more relaxed nature to the
music. What I mean by relaxed is the music made me feel like I was
slumping in my seat instead of sitting on the very front edge. Just that
nice mellow feeling that can be hard to find from digital reproduction. But
these cables also excelled at dynamics. Piano notes jumped from the
speakers and horns had real bite. Bass had very good extension and
bass resolution was the best I have ever heard IMS. From top to bottom
the MSE cables were very well balanced and presented an exceptionally
coherant soundstage.
But during the 2 week audition the Ridge Street cables were not without
competition. My current cables are Stereovox HDXV, Bolder Cryo'd
Bybeed Silver Bullet Nitros and Zu Cable Ibis. Excellent cables all. What
I found is that while the Ridge Street cables sounded more open and had
a little more detail than my current cables, with ss amps they left me a
tad dry. I missed that bit of body that my current cables provide. But
then my bias is on the warm side. Individually, each cable would have to
be assessed for how it worked in your system, but as a group the MSEs
work very well together.
Towards the end of the audition period I replaced my ss amps with my
tube amp. After reacquainting the ears with my cables in this combo I
swapped in the RSAs. What I heard has haunted me ever since. Simply
the best sound I have ever heard from my system. My one reservation
about the MSE cables was gone, obliterated really. Now I had it all,
resolution, dynamics, soundstage and palpability all in a package that
was presented without edge, grain or glare. For me, the combination of
the tube amp the Ridge Street MSE cables worked magic.
I highly recommend giving the Ridge Street Audio cables a try in your system.
My SystemAndy
