Analysis Plus oval 9 New v Old

First off, I am not a fan of Analysis Plus cables. I tried the Solo Crystal 8 speaker cables, and though they were clear sounding, their presenation was much too forward for my tastes.

That said, many times audio companies, speakers, electronics and cables, make changes for the sake of change, simply to stimulate the market. Despite what the audio rags would have you believe, newer is not always better. Many times the differences are not improvements. Many times different is simply different. Maybe better, maybe worse, depending on who is listening and what they want to hear.

I have analysis plus interconnects and analysis plus pro power cord and would opine they are definitely not forward sounding. As my system has improved over the last year and a half the analysis plus stuff has kept right up. I would describe the system as sounding balanced, focused tight and open.

I have the new version of Oval 9's. Never heard the original version, but I know the wire itself is identical. I'm finding this to be a great cable. Not forward at all but note I had been using Nordost.

I also used AP IC's. The Solos are quite good. I seem to own them in cycles- have a full,set of solos for a couple of years, sell them to try something different, go back to Solos, etc, Currently I have no solos but I'm sure that will change,

For then price, I am impressed with AP cables. I also like Audience

I used a pair AP Oval 12 for about 7 years, and they sounded good. However,I have read several times that the Oval 9 was a bit bright, whereas the Oval 12 which had more cooper than silver had a warmer, more natural sound. This model surely was the ticket for the Prelude II tower speakers, (and even Vandersteen IC)I owned at the time.

However, I decided to jump to better cable because I changed speakers to Acoustic Zen Adagios. Have you considered the new Purist Audio Design series called "Luminist"????

I was told by friends who attended one of the summer HI-FI EXPO's that the new "Luminist" series sounded very good to outstanding even some of the lower tier models. Has any one auditioned or listened to the lower models in the new series?? I was recommended the model called "Musaeus"

Jim Aud designed the cable and has made cables for almost 30 years..... A good and honest man

AP Oval 9 is a copper cable-

I cannot speak for the older Oval 9 as I have never owned them. However, I have compared them to some other speaker cables.

I recently purchased a pair of the newer Anaylsis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9 and compared them to my lovely award winning Acoustic Zen Satori cable. The Oval 9 are noticeably warmer, richer, and more organic and fleshed out in the midrange than the Satori. Although the Satori have a little more detail, dynamics, and shimmer in the highs and a lovely midrange, on balance in my system, I prefer the richer sounding midrange of the Oval 9 and do not mind giving up a little extra shimmer offered by the Satori for the richer midrange of the new Black Mesh Oval 9.

As a side note, the Satori are warmer than the fast and great sounding Anti-Cable (which are just magnet wire as near as I can tell).

A system consideration is I have Zu Druid speakers which are slightly brighter and faster than many other speakers out there, and the richer sounding Black Mesh Analysis Plus Oval Nine creates a more balanced net sound (considering the effect of all my components) in my system. I feel that someone with warmer associated components may well choose the Zen Satori speaker cable as the best sounding speaker cable because it brings added detail to help balance out those warmer components.

Perhaps the difference of opinion in the sound of the new Black Mesh Oval 9 to the old Purple Oval 9 cable may relate more to the sonic inclination of associated system components and personal preferences in music. No doubt, those who have some brighter associated components than I have, or those who prefer a more lush and thicker perhaps syrupy sounding midrange, may want an even warmer cable than the Black Mesh Oval Nine (which by my ears is nicely balanced and as warm as I want). In my system, those warmer cables that some advocate would probably sound dead and lifeless to me (like some lower rung MIT cable I once owned).

So, I feel from listening that the Analysis Plus Oval 9 Black is a beautifully balanced speaker cable with a hard to find wonderfully rich, natural, organic midrange, stellar bass, and highs which are open sounding yet delicately detailed with no harshness at all. In my system, they render the sound much more musical than I have heard to date. Therefore, for my preference in sound, and to balance out the net sound of my components, I would not want any speaker cable to sound any warmer than they already do with the Analysis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9 in my system.

For the record, the last thing the Black Mesh Oval 9 are is bright, and all the professional reviews that I have read bear that out. The source of some of the differences of opinion are laid out in my recent post.

Agreed, they are not bright and required very little break in, in my system, to sound excellent. When I first hooked them up they sounded muddled and constricted. Within a day or so, that was done with.