Well, I thought I'd pass along a nice audio marriage I just happened upon. I've bought a number of products from Chris VenHaus at VHAudio (Flavor pc, some Auric Illuminator, etc.) and have been pleased with each one, and most especially with Chris's customer focus. After reading about the Pulsar ic's and their impact and musicality in some systems I thought I'd finally give my Modwright Platinum 999ES a rightfully good set of ic's. I went with the cryo'd pair of Pulsars (1m) with silver bullet plugs, around $220. They replace a set of Outlaw PCA ic's that I'd had for quite awhile. The Outlaws had performed very admirably in my system, but just had a hunch that they didn't synch up well with the Modwright and my Ray Samuels tubed preamp. That's a lie; it was no hunch. When I auditoned a number of cables about 3 months ago several beat the Outlaws in many areas, but the Outlaws stayed in my system because they sounded good enough to last me until I made the changes to the room acoustics, etc that I've finally begun. Chris has a great refund policy and I thought I'd go for the Pulsars with that caveat to back me up.
The Pulsars are going nowhere; they are staying right here! The thick 3 inch veil they lifted off the soundstage, and the remarkable sense of timing and impact/punch they give my system (without the associated bloating or mid-bass paunchiness) is nothing short of amazing. The Platiinum's best traits are it's abilities to see deep within the recording (microdynamics) and to render the most digitally harsh recordings with a sense of analog ease. Both of these traits are nicely augmented by the Pulsars. The low level details and dynamics are now much more solid and there is a better sense of attack and decay. As far as the analog-ness of digital recordings, the biggest change in the sound is the sense of ease with things like louder female vocals. Norah Jones' voice is much more listenable when she goes aggressive (the most annoying artifact on Come Away With Me), and Cassandra Wilson's sultry voice in Rendezvous (her great colloboration with Jacky Terrasson) sounds like she's in the room with you, yet it now sounds like she's slightly further from the mic than before. Balance is well done; bass sounds louder, and tighter, not boomy, mids are analog-clear (i.e full, yet uncolored), and the highs are beautifully rendered, with only a slightest sense of attenuation, something that is quite natural since I'm used to hearing these pieces with an aggressive top end previously. Oh, and the cables aren't burned in yet...only about 40 hours so far.
So, in summary, these cables work very well with the Modwright 999ES, are a steal at $220 and will not be leaving my music room. Thanks to George (zybar) and others for recommending the cryo'd versions, although I didn't spring for the Nextgen plugs (another $150 per pair of IC's).
Ted_B
