Does anyone have any experience with Anticables products? I spent over $600 on a pair of honestly cheap-looking ICs from them and after 400 or so hours burning them in I'm hard-pressed to tell the difference between them and an old set of no name ICs built from pro cable stock and heavy metal RCA connectors.
For all I know they are made out of regular bulk copper spools in a plastic sheath and wrapped in a Slinky.
To question if a company that offers a legitimate 30 day money-back guarantee is scamming is quite sad actually. Personally I enjoyed AC speaker cables for many years. The AC power cords were not to my liking, and therefore I returned them and received a complete refund as the guarantee outlines. I wish all audio companies would scam like this. Many of us would have a clearer path to system synergy.
not so absurd. When you see the claims made on cables, they are about as dishonest as madoff's returns promesses. Plus, some well-known old timer honest and highly respected cable makers will tell you that you hit zero sonic improvement very soon after the base model. Just search the web before investing $500+ on a pair of interconnects, you might save yourself enough money for a nice something you or your loved one would like to have. Let's believe and accept science, shall we?
Let's keep it real. The audio cable makers sell their product like bernie madoff sold his investment securities
That's absurd. Madoff admitted to the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, and destroyed the lives of many innocent people. He has nothing in common with the audio cable industry.
The first DIY power cord I made was three braided strands of this cable, each with its own twisted pair of 16 awg wire, so 13 awg per pole. Marinco plug and iec. This cord actually sounded pretty good.
Regarding ANTICABLES , they use simple, solid-core, magnet-type wire, but with a higher quality of copper that is reportedly, "long drawn highly annealed continuously cast oxygen free copper with impurities reduced down to only 5 parts per million." The initial designs were basic and many liked the sound, particularly for the price. I am not surprised, since the absence of a thick dielectric gave their cables an open, direct sound that many enjoyed, compared to other lower-priced cables. Nothing wrong with that. There are several well-regarded cable-makers out there making their living selling reasonably priced cables made from easily-obtained wire to audiophiles who are not comfortable making the cables themselves.
Over time, ANTICABLES has come up with new designs and now use more exotic wire to make cables at higher price points, while staying true to their beginnings by continuing to offer their lower-priced options. You can still get an 8-foot long pair of their Level 2, 12 awg speaker cables for under $100!
To call, or even imply, that ANTICABLES are a scam in a public forum is simply irresponsible. A "scam" is defined as, "a dishonest way to make money by deceiving people." If you read the ANTICABLES website, they are completely open about what each product consists of. They have a FAQ section on the website and if a buyer has questions they can ask up-front, before buying. For the OP to say the cables are "cheap-looking" (as if it is a surprise) is amazing since it should have been clear what the cables looked like based on the pictures provided on the website. If the performance of the cable doesn’t meet a buyer’s expectations, that is not unusual for audio products but to call it a scam is total BS.
I’m sure Belden and Alfa cables are made well but they don’t sound quite as good as some high end cables . Maybe if you cryod them they'd have a better chance. Another inexpensive wire is mil spec US Navy wire, silver Teflon copper, available all over eBay in just about any gauge you want.
MIT audience or synergistic may not be good enough for a comparison against anticable. A belden speaker cable should be used as a benchmark. If there's one company that knows about conductivity without a doubt it's belden.
I will say that the Anticables Silver/gold speaker cables are superb. I'm keeping mine and I've had some very nice cables - MIT Magnum MA, Audience Au24E and Synergistic Tungsten. And I will be trying out the Anticables ICs soon. No scam here, I can affirm. I feel it must be your preferences and perhaps your set up. Paul does have a 30-day return policy. If you bought them from him you should be able to return them. If not, as someone else noted you might have been scammed by your seller.
Never forget that Radio Shack’s 18 gauge speaker wire gets an honorable mention in every Stereophile's annual Reccomended Components. You don’t get much for a few hundred unless there is some silver or custom terminations.
Enough. Are you aware of the thousands of young people right here in America listening to 64K mp3's on Beats earbuds! Stop your $600 interconnect bickering and let's work to eradicate audio poverty :)
My first participation on this forum. Interesting to read you guys.
Some of you may not agree with the use of the word scam by the OP. I am not here to judge but I think that he used it to put in evidence the gap between the expected performance ( praised by numerous reviewers, magazines and testimonials ... ) and the "in situ" performance he got.
Lettuce start with my experience with AC speaker wires Level 3:
In that regard I would say that they do not perform as well as what I have read.
First. It took a very long time to burn, no surprise here but during this time, I found the sound harsh, aggressive and thin, lacking of nuances, timbres and "musicality" ...
I even gave up burning them and switched back to my old cables, then after burned them in some of my friends sound system ( we are still friends though ! ;:0p but they will not buy AC ) because I could not stand listening music with these cables during that burning process...
Second. After 600+ hours of burning, they are far less harsh and aggressive ( I can now stand listening at them ) but the soundstage remains thin, almost two dimensional, the overall sounding, while crisp, is too analytical thus lacking nuances, rich tonal palette, timbre, warmness, iow flesh or giving us the sense of real incarnated music. The sound appears to be kind of crystalized: crisp, clear and concentrated but with less decay and irradiation ...
It does not sound like real music. I have significantly less pleasure listening to music with them ...
I did not pay a lot for them because I bought them online at big discount from AC.
Now these cables serve as back up.
They are absolutely no match against my Van den Hul Revelation and moreover, in my little sound system, I prefer the old stranded copper wire speaker cable* purchased in a Montréal hifi boutique for 20$ many decades ago ...
For my taste, the AC Level 3 speaker cables are not warm enough, they do not give me what I am looking for in terms of sounstage, richness, warmness and musicality.
They are not as great performer as what it is suggested by many reviewers and testimonials, but is it a scam?
The marketing of AC is well done. The real question is:
Can we blame AC to use the praise they got if they got it in a legitimate manner?
We could ask ourselves another question:
What do they claim?
An affordable and honestly performing product or a revolutionary phenomenal performer at a bargain price humbling reference overpriced cables?
My advice,
as some people said, in hifi, everything is system related,
so let our final decision be based on what we hear at home with our components and acoustic ...
Before someone asks me how I tested my AC speaker cables:
My little "cheap" system ( third ):
Magnepan smg a Quad L ite subwoofer Denon AV1610 ( surprisingly good for a 200$ integrated !!! ) Shanling CD T100 with upgraded tubes Van den Hul The Second •old stranded copper wire speaker cable @20$
( this little system sounds amazing in a little room but at a sound level that is a bit too low for my taste ... Everytime I try to indulge me, the amplifier protection circuit interrupts my pleasure !!! )
My second system:
Magnepan Tympani IV 2 Classé Audio DR-9 in monoblock Shanling CD T100 ( same cd player ) Van den Hul Revelation Van den Hul The Second
My first system:
Magnepan Tympani IVa 2 Classé Audio DR-3 VHC in monoblock Classé Audio DR-6 Oracle Delphi Mk III Shanling CD T100 ( same player ) Van den Hul Revelation ( amp to XO and XO to speakers ) Van den Hul The Second
( liquid sound, illusion of real music performing live in front of you ... )
chrisr Me too, i have had a very hard time when i heard someone affirmed for the first time that santa clause was only real in children’s imagination.
One imagines you were probably in your 30s. What tipped you off? The Santa Clause - do you mean the one buried at the bottom of the page in small print that no one ever reads.
"The lesson for me was that when you introduce an excellent component into a stereo system, it will expose or clarify shortcomings in your other gear or setup."
I have had the ANTICABLES Level 5 speaker cables in my system for a little over a month and they are phenomenal. One of my audiophile buddies who has speaker cables listing for $15k had many compliments about the L5 cables and his final statement was "...your system is set..."
I use the ANTICABLES Level 6.2 Reference ICs, Level 3 Power cords, and Level 5 Reference speaker cables which replaced items that were from 2X to 5X the cost of each of the ANTICABLES products. I am extremely satisfied with ANTICABLES products and highly impressed with the professional service received. I have conversed with Paul Speltz on several occasions and received great advice on various audiophile topics. In the next 3 months, I plan to purchase 2 more Level 3 power cords. Per my wife the sound of my system is clear and crisp - like being in the audience. I highly recommend ANTICABLES products if you like clarity, a wide soundstage, extreme detail, and deep and tight base. In terms of my system it has a recommended Absolute Sound class A preamplifier, class D amplifier, DAC, and electrostatic speakers.
The narrow minded quits reading after the 1st paragraph, shutting down as soon as he/she reads a statement that contradicts his/her unshakeable belief. The open minded reads through the entire article and challenge the proposition. Me too, i have had a very hard time when i heard someone affirmed for the first time that santa clause was only real in children's imagination.
Around 2 years ago I bought an 8 foot pair of AntiCables speaker cables. They made a profound and immediate positive effect in my system. Initially they connected a Rogue Audio "Cronus Magnum" KT88-based tube amp to a pair of Avalon Acoustics "Eidolon" speakers. Sounded better than previous MOR cables, but the AntiCables and the speakers exposed audiophile shortcomings in the amp. Replaced the amp with a very nice Ayon Audio "Triton III" KT120-based tube amp. Wow. Wow. Wow. Then last Summer, I purchased a wonderful sounding Raven Audio "Blackhawk LE" 6L6-based tube amp", again wow wow wow.
The lesson for me was that when you introduce an excellent component into a stereo system, it will expose or clarify shortcomings in your other gear or setup.
Paul makes a wonderful speaker cable (I have not tried his ICs) for a remarkably low price. After doing a good deal of research on the topic of cables in high-end systems I have come to the conclusion that I will never spend multiple thousands of dollars on any cable, but I may get close to that point if I DIY silver speaker cables per Tempo Electric’s recipe/instructions.
BTW, maligning someone (the OP used the term "SCM") is essentially unfair, especially when your system is just crying out for better components that have been exposed as slacker gear. Pfffttt! ;-)
"I pretty much pre-cogged the rest of Roger Russell's encyclopedia."
Def: Precog -
"Knowledge of something in advance of its occurrence, especially by extrasensory perception or clairvoyance"
Shocker alert....Precog skills are pretty much as-expected from the creator of the Teleportation Tweak, Clever Little Clock, Flying Saucers, and other
mind-matter interaction gizmos. Geoff, you could teach Jedi a thing or two about mind-tricks.
Re Roger Russell’s encyclopedia of wire and cables, I got as far as the beginning of the second paragraph, to whit,
"Resistance in the speaker circuit is the key factor that determines loudspeaker performance. The loudspeaker circuit includes the connecting wire between the amplifier terminals and the speaker terminals, the amplifier internal impedance and the impedance of the speaker system."
Once I ran into that exceedingly narrow view of things I pretty much pre-cogged the rest of Roger Russell's encyclopedia. So, for that reason I’m out.
The
problem in audiophile circles is that people tend to believe that the human
hearing mechanism is the same across the board from one enthusiast to another.
Not so at all. Just as some people see much better than others,so too can some
people hear much better than others.
When
I first got into this hobby I could not hear the differences that reviewers were
talking about in the tons of reviews I read. After a lot of time honing my
listening skills, the process of discernment became much easier to pick up on [think... needing to use glasses... to improve your eyesight]... In my humble
opinion,all audio equipment has a particular sound in and of itself. Its up to
the listener to exercise his senses to the point of being able to make sense out
of what he/she is hearing.
Before making a blanket statement about any particular product being scrutinized,make clear to yourself that you are capable of giving fair criticism to the product in question. In the end,your opinion will hold more validity to those reading it.
I agree that anticables produce quality products. No one argues against the quality. In terms of electrical performance, they are probably coming close to a $1 a foot belden or canare, and they are a very nice touch on equipment. The high value is in cosmetics, not electrical performance. I wouldn't criticise the business if they were sold like jewelry, a better looking product.
Don't take this the wrong way but with the level of your current equipment and even your upcoming Emotiva amp I'd be surprised that you'd hear an improvement with any high-end cable. That's like saying I use the same grade of gas in my VW, but it doesn't perform like a Porsche.
Not fair for you to use the SCAM word if you or your equipment aren't qualified to render a fair evaluation.
markmendenhall said, "While not qualifying as a 'scam', manufacturers who make ICs, power cables, and speaker wire costing thousands and thousands of dollars per are more deserving of your scorn than AC."
I'm using the level 3 bi-wire speaker cables and level 2 ICs in an Oppo/Krell/Vandersteen system in a dedicated room with a dedicated AC line. It took longer that 400 hours, (600), for them to settle in, open up, and sound crystal clear, but once they did I can report that I'm very happy with them. And Paul is a great guy to deal with... Also, keep them off the floor, away from power cords and each other, away from all synthetic materials, and keep their lengths to the minimum needed.
An engineer would tell you that the only factors that really matter are resistance and shielding, unless the wire is carrying very small current as those produced by phono carts.
If you can't hear a difference, you might as well return the Anti Cables and save some cash.
I have experience with AntiCables. The design eliminates a distortion that is produced typically by multi stranded cables in signal transfer. There is a fuzzy quality that can be heard on systems that have enough transparency to unmask this effect. I do not understand all the technical factors as an engineer can explain them, but when a signal is being transferred down a typical fine stranded cable all the fine cables that touch one another, suffer with a type of electronic jumping across from one strand to another. Litz wire which has each fine strand insulated from one another eliminates this distortion. AntiCable simply eliminates that particular type of distortion by only offering a single huge strand. But? In doing so, includes another kind of distortion, because a single strand that size has other issues as frequencies travel down the copper. If I am not mistaken, certain frequencies travel closer to the outside surface than other frequencies. Fine strands will not have that kind of distortion.. Anti Cable eliminates definitely one type of distortion, but I found the leading edge of the sound to be blunted a bit. If transparency is not there to begin with? Then one may wonder what the big deal is about.
Well I've been burning the 6.2s in almost non-stop.
I sent back the Teac and replaced it with an Emotiva A300. I know this amp isn't exactly the best amp in the world, but it certainly beats the little Teac. I'll run some comparisons on the speaker setup, and if nothing will hook up the Mjolnir 2 for listening with my Utopias.
Paul and Judy run a reputable business, produce a quality, high value product, and provide outstanding customer service. If it doesn't work in your system so be it. Go another direction or seek more information about why their product isn't producing the result you desire. Slamming a small US manufacturer who's only goal is to supply a quality, lower cost alternative to their ridiculously high priced competitors is irresponsible. While not qualifying as a 'scam', manufacturers who make ICs, power cables, and speaker wire costing thousands and thousands of dollars per are more deserving of your scorn than AC. My #1 system is all Shunyata wire, #2 incorporates several AC products and they perform! I've not hesitated switching cable back and forth with little or no sacrifice in musical enjoyment. Curb your negativity before resorting to slander.
01-17-2017 4:53pm Well I have to agree: my opinion is not scientific fact. really, I had no idea. The new Reduced Dislocation Density (RDD™) Wire provides:
An increased sense of volume More "real" sounding midrange Less grain noise Even smoother highs (like driving on a newly blacktopped road) More bass and better bass articulation More exciting and involving More
bass and less grain noise? How can this happen, they have been able to
reduce resistance? Decrease inductance, or both? How did they find out
there’s more bass? With every upgrades, there’s more bass. And lots of it for the dollar.
haha: Sounds similar to every review of every audio component I have ever seen, heard or read about.... they forgot to add.. "lowers the noise floor" "raises the ceiling" "expands the soundstage" think about it.. how often have you seen a truly "negative" review?? jus' sayin...
You just got copper and a larger gauge. You could have done with less $$$. Now, bypass the fuse on your planar, it's free, and you will get even more impressive improvement.
I’ve had experience with Anticables and think they are a great buy. My first experience was with their speaker jumpers for a pair of Maggie 1.7’s. The difference from the factory steel jumpers was amazing. And let me tell you I have never been a believer in high end cables. But after the jumpers I tried speaker cables (changing out from some Audioquest) and was pleasantly surprised as they really opened up the mid range and some bass. Now the last thing I believe in is the power cables. But Paul Speltz said try them and if you don’t like them just send them back. These were my biggest surprise as the dynamics and bass really came alive after buying one for my source and one for my amp. The one cable I didn’t have a noticeable change with was the IC’S. But everything else from anticables was an immediate and positive change. I’m a believer now.
Your headphone system looks to be of good quality and should have plenty of resolution to hear a sound quality difference in cables, if one exists. If you don't hear a difference, either there is no difference, or you can't hear the difference (or your music source files are crap). Either way you should just return the cables for a refund.
Regarding your Teac/Chane system, I've never heard them. I know they get pretty good reviews, but both (combined) cost much less than the interconnect cable you purchased. Do you expect them to have enough resolution to hear the difference?
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