[rlmacklin]

 
I highly recommend the latest white techflex Grover S ICs.
Mine took ~ 50 hours for complete burn-in and reached maybe 90% after about 20 hours. 
I am using them throughout my entire system (see bottom of post):
 
Compared to earlier Grover S (black or white), I hear new level of previously masked or hidden detail in the music and greater frequency extension in both lows and highs, particularly in the highs.  These are quieter (cleaner, clearer), more detailed, smoother, and more open.
Definitely now at "reference" level in my system to my ears.
The latest white Grover S are now in the "whole nother league."
 
(See posts on Audio Nervosa comparing earlier white Grover S to Stealth Indras and JPS Aluminatas, as well as to Straley Reality ICs, VenHaus Audio Pulsars, Speltz Anti-cables, etc.).

There is a 2nd "group buy" started for these current white Grover S interconnects over on Audio Nervosa forum.  You may join the Audio Nervosa forum and order through their 2nd group buy to get up to a 30% discount over the normal pricing of $150 for a one-meter pair with RCAs. Pricing for other lengths and terminations are posted there.

I e-mailed to my friend George near Atlanta to alert him to get some of these.  I then mailed him a pair of my white Grover S ICs to burn-in and audition.
----------------------------------------
George e-mailed:
Got em friday. I'm going to call you monday if thats ok,,first,,they are beautiful,,my ears are not as good as they used to be but,,,the grovers seem to be more refined,smoother,and the mids and highs are just simply amazing. I'm sold on them already. I'm going to get in on the group buy round two,,Thanks for helping me deplete my savings,,,you were right,,these cables are something else,,thanks again,,I forsee a big cable sale on Club Polk
Regards to all--george
----------------------------------------------
 
System:
 
front l/r: stock Denon 3910 > white Grover S ICs > Modwright SWL 9.0 Signature with Bendix 6900s and cryoed Philips metal base GZ34 NOS 1957 > white Grover S ICs > Odyssey Mono Extreme SE amps with Klaus's "special boards" > Grover S bi-wire speaker cables > Polk Audio SRS-2 speakers (with custom SDA cable made from Grover UR speaker cable)

center: stock Denon 3910 > white Grover S IC > Sunfire Symphonic Reference preamp > white Grover S IC > Odyssey HT-3 power amp with capacitance upgrades > Grover SR speaker cable > Polk Audio Csi-5 speaker

l/r surround: stock Denon 3910 > white Grover S ICs > PS Audio PCA-2 preamp > white Grover S ICs > Odyssey HT-3 power amp with capacitance upgrade > Grover UR speaker cables > Polk Audio Fxi-5 speakers
"
******************************************************************************

[1000a]

been pondering these for a few years, glad they continue to improve.
what RCAs is he using?   

[yo2tup]

been pondering these for a few years, glad they continue to improve.
what RCAs is he using?   

i believe they are silver plated switchcraft connectors.

[Phil]

rlmacklin,

I agree completely.  Your description of Grover Huffman's new S cable is prefect.  It is interesting that you specifically mention the HF improvement.  While the HF spectrum is the most important to me for enjoyment, and I agree that this cable does it right, the lows have grabbed my attention.  Not overblown bass, but realistic, full bass.  Overall, they are completely natural and organic.

It does take 50 hours + to burn in these new cables (unlike the earlier Grovers, which took only about 20).   At the price, these are the biggest bargain I have encountered and own.

Phil

[Big Red Machine]

where's the website link?

[Phil]

There isn't one (unfortunately).  You can contact Grover at:  groverhuffman@hotmail.com

[rlmacklin]

For anyone interested, apparently the Audio Nervosa forum group buy coordinator for the the Grover S ICs is still accepting orders through today:

from page 3 of the "Grover Huffman Cables Group Buy - Round 2" thread in the Group Buy section on Audio Nervosa forum:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
richidoo
Administrator
Obsessively Audiophilic

Offline

Posts: 432

Re: Grover Huffman Cables Group Buy - Round 2
« Reply #33 on: Today at 06:03:54 AM » Quote

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I have finished processing the order. 27 cables so far! I am waiting on a couple questions and a couple more orders that were placed verbally to materialize. Meantime, any other last minute orders are welcome today only. Paypal only.

I will post the spreadsheet sometime today once I get a new login for FTP on the new server.
Thanks everybody who ordered!
Rich

-------------------------------------------------------

[Big Red Machine]

Sent mine back.  Not sure what the hype is all about with these.  It was over in less than 5 minutes for me.

[guest1632]

Sent mine back.  Not sure what the hype is all about with these.  It was over in less than 5 minutes for me.

you know what's funny about these cables is when you first get them hook them up, they aren't anything real special. Ah, but leave them in your system and about 50 hours or so later, magic will come out of your speakers. These cables seem to just bring your system alive. So your haste was not to good. I've never heard a pair of cables do what these do.

Ray

[lonewolfny42]

Sent mine back.  Not sure what the hype is all about with these.  It was over in less than 5 minutes for me.

you know what's funny about these cables is when you first get them hook them up, they aren't anything real special. Ah, but leave them in your system and about 50 hours or so later, magic will come out of your speakers. These cables seem to just bring your system alive. So your haste was not to good. I've never heard a pair of cables do what these do.

Ray

Big Red has said this in another thread......

"I'm amazed at the number of educated fellows who refuse to believe their ears.  It takes meonly seconds to note adiffeence in sound in a cable and then after a few minutes I can determine exactly what it is I am hearing based on response in the low-mid-high, soundstage details, etc."

[denjo]

Gosh, white the latest iteration? I have a pair of Grover S (black) and they sound great but needed quite a bit of breaking in. Grover does make some very $$$ affordable cables that can compete with more expensive cables.

[Carlman]

I like Grover's cables and for $150 it's tough to beat them.  They are fairly neutral and don't really 'color' the sound at all.  If you want to mask system problems, these aren't the cables for you.  I can understand why someone wouldn't like them but I can't understand how someone could dismiss them instantly given their cost. 

It didn't take me long to realize these cables were a great value.  I've heard a lot of cables and these are the first I'd recommend for anyone looking for sub-$200 IC's.

-Carl

[Big Red Machine]

A good cable and Grover is a gentleman all the way. 

I had a similar experience with Anti IC's last week.  They went in and came right out.  Exceptional midrange detail but the rest of the ranges, top and bottom, were missing.  I love their SC's and only just recently switched to Reality SC's.  Another good company and exceptional value, but just did not work out for me.

[Double Ugly]

A good cable and Grover is a gentleman all the way. 

I would beg to differ (a LOT!) with the latter part of your comment, but the first part is an understatement IMO.  I agree with those who say you should've given them more time.

My initial impression of the ICs was similar to yours, but they improved significantly after a week or so of burn-in.  In some aspects it was difficult to tell them apart from my 'standard' IC (Stealth Cables Indra) during a second week A/B session, and that's more than a little impressive.

If you don't believe in burn-in, settling or whatever you want to call it, that's fine.  After all, it's your money and your system, and I have nothing at stake either way.  But if your approach is to make a decision after listening 5 minutes or less, you're going to miss out on some awfully good deals.

-Jim

[Big Red Machine]

If you don't believe in burn-in, settling or whatever you want to call it, that's fine.  After all, it's your money and your system, and I have nothing at stake either way.  But if your approach is to make a decision after listening 5 minutes or less, you're going to miss out on some awfully good deals.

-Jim

Here's my logic: if I have a cable in the system that I have come to like and the sound is ingrained in my brain for a few weeks now, then I can notice changes fairly well.  Small changes are hard because you psych yourself into thinking you heard a difference.  If I change out a cable and the difference is very obvious, let's say poorer performance, why in the world would I want to let it run for more time hoping it would improve?  Makes no sense to me.  If a cable sounds good right out of the box, then in the "theory" that cables "burn in" it can only get better from there, correct?  There's no cable in my system right now that has more than 10 hours on it except the power cords.  So in my mind all cables are on equal footing and no one cable has to catch up assuming there really is a thing called burn in.

Trust me, I'm not looking to send more than I need to, but I am finding there are some sweet designs out there that are definitely worth spending a little more on because my system deserves it.

I have made more progress in improving my sound in the last 2 weeks through tube rolling and now cable evaluations than any single component change could make.  I'm very close to getting it right and a cable that needs time to come up to speed is not in the equation.

Maybe someday I'll purchase a new duplicate cable and compare it to the "burned in" cable to see if I hear a delta.  That will be an experiment to do once I get bored with my upgraditis.

And there are several cables that have sounded beautiful right out of the box.  I still have those, but I'm still looking as well because I know there is a little more I can get.  And I hate this new keyboard, have to type everything twice!

[richidoo]

I agree that Grover has been a gentleman in all my dealings with him. I'm glad to hear you got good service even with your refund, big red. BTW, I like your pic, I used to build RC boats, probably half of Dumas' kits back in their all-wood days. That was my first expensive hobby! I thought an $80 kit was the end of the world! Now it's 50k speakers.   I think my brain is still half saturated with epoxy fumes from back then. hehe

I used copper anticables for a year, and both Paul Speltz and his wife are angels. I own every product they sell except silver ICs and they all work as described. Service is superior. Best value in speaker wire under $100. But there is a big world out there above $100 and a big marketplace under $100 - I wish them all the continued success in the world.

I found the Grover ICs to sound superior in my system to the copper anti's. They are a much more advanced design using silver ribbon conductors so one would expect this difference, but nothing's guaranteed in this biz until you hear with your own ears. A more apt comparision would be to anti silvers, but then the price comes in to play and Grover's are cheaper ( I think!    ) I never heard anti silvers, but word is they're very good. Grover's are good enough for me until I can afford to compare them to JPS which has me smitten for now. I do hope to audition Grover speaker wires though... but that's for another thread

Just saw your last post big red, I agree with much of what you said. A great system deserves premium (usually kinda expensive) cables and it can make night and day difference! Not everyone needs that performance, and some can't hear a difference for many possible reasons. Usually cables do need break in, but IME the work is done steeply at first and diminishing over the remaining burn in time. In a couple days of constant play, you should be able to hear the jist of it. Then compare back to the old cable to see if its better swapping back and forth every couple days. The personality of each wire will emerge and you won't be "getting used" to either of them.
Rich

[Double Ugly]

I've had cables that sounded good-to-great out of the gate, but improvement beyond that first impression is usually marginally at best.  In fact, I don't believe I've listened to an impressive out-of-the-gate performer that continued to improve, at least not significantly. 

On the flip side, I've auditioned cables that absolutely sucked for as much as 2 weeks (Sonoran Plateau) that eventually came to sound very good.  And no, I didn't get used to their sound.  They were so bad that I turned the system on when I left for work and turned it off as soon as I returned.  I couldn't stand it; I actually thought something in my system might've broken.  The only reason I gave them that long was a promise I made to the guy who sold 'em to me.  Otherwise they'd have been gone in less than 24 hours.

I don't believe Grover's cables need 2 weeks, but they came a long way from what I heard the first day.  I wish I could give you a time frame, but I can't.  Truth is, I didn't listen to the much the first week or so.  I didn't like what they did when first placed in the system, so I burned them in at night while we were sleeping. 

IN SUMMARY:  (1) Not all cables require extensive burn-in time, but some do, and some of those need a lot of time.  (2) Cables that are good from the start aren't necessarily the best sounding cables; they're just the best sounding cables today.

-Jim

[Double Ugly]

I agree that Grover has been a gentleman in all my dealings with him.

Have you told him you heard something better than his cables yet?

If not, that may have a lot to do with it.

[Phil]

BRM,

You might want to try this method:  Don't replace your existing wires; instead burn in new wires using a spare DVD or CD player.  When you have reached the recommended length of time for burn in, swap in the new wires.  I use this method since I agree with your premise that your ears do adjust over time.  This way you are listening to them "out of the box," so to speak, but broken in.

With the Grovers, which I use (along with his speaker wire), I only broke them in for only 40 hours by mistake.  My wife commented that they didn't sound right.  I agreed and was disappointed.  But I left them in for the weekend.  At one point they sounded weird and that got my attention.  In the past I've noticed power cords and ICs sometimes sound bad before they turn around and sound good (hey, don't ask me how this works, I just report what I hear).  In the middle of a song, they turned musical and transparent.  I asked my wife to check it out and she thought they were sounding very good (and she hates this kind of comparison exercise).  I know this sounds like BS but thems the facts. 

To me, the Grovers allow you to hear into your system.  I hear absolutely heavenly midrange, good bass and some noise in the HF (although HF is still very good).  I'm going to try to find the source of the HF noise now (I already have dedicated outlets and a balanced power unit for my source).  It wouldn't surprise me if suppressing noise also increases the bass definition (I have found bass definition to be a good indicator of noise).  Of course, one could also assume that the noise if actually the "sound of silver" since some think that silver never gets the HF right.  We will see. 


I can understand why some folks go the route of battery powered components.   At least that eliminates one variable...

Phil

[richidoo]

I agree that Grover has been a gentleman in all my dealings with him.

Have you told him you heard something better than his cables yet?

Why would I do that? I would not feel the need to tell him I heard something better. And I don't assume he would care what I thought anyway,    Besides I would be so excited about that kind of find that I would just go listen to more music!

If not, that may have a lot to do with it.

That may have a lot to do with what? Sorry, I guess I am thick. 

I like Grover. We enjoy similar tastes in equipment, music style, and humor. He is a character, as most creative personalities are, but one I am glad to know.
Rich