Well they arrived yesterday afternoon late. What an exciting surprise to finally receive the box after an almost an 11 week wait!
My order was placed through
Eigen Audio/Joe Hakim here in the extended S.F. Bay Area for a pair of Reference "Bi-Wire" Speaker cables 2.5 Meter long. Joe strikes me to be very knowledgeable person who has a deep passion for high-end audio.
He is a very nice and comfortable person to deal with. I am pleased that I was able to do business with Joe, especially as he is the MasterBuilt dealer for my area.
It would seem that MasterBuilt might-be having some supply issues due in part because of the growing demand which Damon mentioned that they were addressing. Hence the extended delivery time frame for which I spoke about. I understand that AVS wants to lower that down to a much more manageable time frame in the not to distant future. A big part of the timeframe issue is that each cable is made to order here in the USA and when you include all the different wire end combinations it can cause times to stretch out.
I was told by Leif at AVS that they wanted to hook the cables up to their cable 'cooker' and run them over the weekend so they would be broken-in at least form AVS's stand point before I received them. Which no doubt added to the longer shipping time.
So lets cut to the chase!
Was it worth the money I spent for the speaker cables?
First my wife thinks I am crazy but that is another story for another time!
Deep down, I know she still love me even with my current Audio peccadillos.
Anyway I could not wait to hook them up and get started in the final 'break-in' procedure. After opening the box, (it felt just like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one) and what with my somewhat understanding wife handing me an adult beverage, it was off to the races......
I unhooked my current wires and then addressed the MB's with an electronic cleaner and conditioner designed for use in the Audio arena.
My ends were all Banana Plugs.
I also did the same procedure to the amp and speaker terminals as well.
The very first thing I noticed 'cold' just out of the box was that the bass was so much better. It was richer, fuller, went deeper and there was so much more presence to the bottom end without ever being over blown..... Wow!!
But the nice thing is that it is not the bloomy, sloppy, tubby kind of bass so many speakers put out.
Just bass that was not there before with the other speaker wires.
By contrast, the mid-range took on a much bigger 3 dimensional picture with a much larger center channel image. I find overall its like that the wires were not there and that I am only listing to the Amp direct without any distortion that other cables produce, its amazing!
Everything seemed to be larger and spaced out between and outside of the speakers. The instruments and the voices had their own space and weren’t blurred into the background. And the big difference is all the inner detail and transparency they give to the sound. Very tube-like is so many ways.
All I can say is that 'one' just needs to experience this for themselves, to fully grasp what these cables are capable of producing.
And remember what I am listening to is my first impressions, 'cold' right out of the box.
All it can do is go up from here!
Let me digress for a moment.
Joe was kind enough to lend me a Reference bi-wire pair from his stock so I could take some personal time to fully listen/evaluate them in my home system. This I know you will agree is the "acid-bath" test.
I had them in my system for a little over 2 weeks and even in that time did not want to give them back!!!
So the next best thing for me not to have withdraw, was to order a pair and go forward from there.
Back to the sound: At the moment the part that still needs to fully cure is the top end. As those who have already gone through what I am now going through, will say the same thing. The top end will start to settle down as I continue to break them in. By contrast, Joe's pair sounded wonderful from top to bottom with only a couple of days to settle in to my system and relax. It is the inherent nature of cables and the electron energy coursing through them for them to come in to full compliance.
So after listening to them for a couple of hours I turned down the volume and let the Aurender play all night and it continues to play right now as I type this article. This morning I increased the volume and even from last night, I have noticed an improvement with the top end. The overall sound is beginning to relax.
I will follow up as things progress, but I am very pleased with the purchase and kudos to Joe and Eigen Audio for pointing me in the right direction. You are the best Joe!
