Anyone try Acoustic Research Pro cables?

I believe that a great audio cable should be transparent/neutral and let everything through and not be a filter, given a natural and neutral sounding system. I have listened with many cables in my (high end) system to find that:

Acoustic Research (AR) Pro Series (PR130/PR131/PR132, depending on length) are good sounding cables, better than Monster Interlink 300, out of the box, and many others. Neutral, but not as smooth as HT130/HT131/HT132.

Also have AR HT130/HT131/HT132 which are smooth and warmer sounding than Pro Series with great harmonics and good bass, not fatiguing ever, but not exactly neutral, and not very lively. Tubey?

Also have AR Master Series MS230/MS232 which are a mixed bag... Not sure if they are better sounding than Pro Series or HT series. Great at decay, not as good on attack (transient) (e.g., piano). Not lively. Tubey? If the rest of your system has colorations, then it depends on your system. Good for an already bright (and aggressive) sounding system.

If your system is bright, go with HT130/HT131/HT132 or MS230/MS231/MS232... Smooth and somewhat filtered. If your system is already warm sounding, not bright, then avoid HT130/HT131/HT132/MS230/MS131/MS132 and try PR130/PR131/PR132. If your system is neutral, then use your personal and music preferences to determine which interconnect cable (PR130/PR131/PR132, HT130/HT131/HT132, or MS230/MS231/MS232) is best with your system.

Have Van den Hul D-102 MkIII (my favorite) wnich are outstanding, neutral enough, better than any AR cables in my system. Tried Kimber Hero and found them to be excellent except for the slight raspiness in vocals (in my system). Tried Analysis Plus and they were excellent overall. Tried Siltech (various models $100 to $300) and found them to be midrange happy (great) and "silvery" sounding, but not great for my system.

My system includes Bryston SP1 Preamp/Processor, Bryston 9BST THX, Infinity Prelude MTS Speakers, McIntosh MCD CD Changer, SAE T102 Tuner, and Kimber 8TC speaker cable. I own and am proud of all the above cables and components.

My criteria, as a musician (piano and sax), are based on musicality and how natural instruments sound.

They claim to be OFC copper. They were recently revamped with new packaging and colors. I needed a couple Y adapters for the HT system. It is hard to find decent ones other than the cheapos at Radio Shack. I was in Sears and found they had the old packaged ones on the clearance rack. They had a couple of the Y adapters for only $2.93 so I got them.

AR cables
I accidentally bid on a pair on e-bay when I did a search on Audio Research - the guy posts them withthe word audio knowing he will catch a few people on that end. He would not retract the bid and I was stuck with them, they were not expensive so it wasn't a big deal

Marginal cables, a little better than the cables commonly "given away" with equipment but you could do much better for a little more money. I have it hooked up to a hifi vcr I rarely use

Compared with what most of us consider decent cables, I agree. For someone wanting something better than the $2 OEM variety, they are fine. That system for my parents; other than the Rotel receiver, is all Onkyo gear and a Dual turntable and some decent Boston Accoustic speakers. For this kind of system whether audio or HT, I would think these are fine. The cheap cables caused a humm, so I got the AR and it went away. So the ground and shield is better.

Sugar, i thought they sounded dull and flat in the system that i installed them in. The owner of these cables found them bright, harsh and glaring. In terms of comparing them to Monster, i would not doubt if Monster actually made these for AR / Recoton.

The design of the cables that i have here is quite "valid" from a technical standpoint. They use twisting and shielding to maximize RFI rejection. I just don't know about the quality of materials used ( insulators and copper ). The connectors are of pretty good quality. The owner was going to throw the cables out but save the connectors, so that should tell you something... Sean
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I bought some for a Rotel receiver, CD, Tape Deck, Phono setup I put together for my parents (they're not audio nuts, they just want sound). For the money they are better than the cheap OEM stuff they give away free with Hifi gear, especially in the higher frequencies. They are not much better than OEM cables for bass. (Probably why Sean found them bright.) They are shielded and grounded properly, so they are better then OEM cables in that department. If the choice was between them and the lower end Monster stuff, I would save the money and get the AR.

One of my buddies sent me his Acoustic Research cables to "burn" for him on my Mobie. He absolutely HATED them. I hooked them up when i got them and found them to be dead, lifeless and lacking any form of spacial or ambience cues. On the other hand, they were bright as could be in his system. Go figure. I've got them on my burner and will be taking them off this weekend. I'll give them another listen then, but i'm not expecting much....

Cables are VERY system and personal taste dependent. As i pointed out, how specific cables sound in System A might have very little correlation to what they do in System B. I had the same results with Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cables. Many people find them to be an incredible bargain. I absolutely hated them. Once again, "go figure".... Sean
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