Audience cable opinion, anyone? Au24, Maestro....

This is the most musical cable I've heard. More dynamics high and low across the spectrum and musical.As good or better than Valhalla which I previously owned. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face. I love the power cables also.

I have tried several mid-priced cables in my EAD/Bohlender Graebener system, Stealth I/C's, StraightWire Serenade and Virtuoso and AudioQuest Clear. The Audience AU24 is clearly the more musical cable but lacks the mid-bass punch I got when biwiring with the StraightWire Virtuoso to the mid-Bass & the AU24 to the treble. When I used the AU24 on the mid-bass and the Virtuoso on the treble the magic was gone. The AU24 is definitely worth the $$.

I use Audience Au24 interconnects and speaker cables almost exclusively in my systems. The only exceptions are the use of the Maestro speaker cables in my office system and another brand of interconnect when i need a really flexible cable. To me, there is no need to look elsewhere. The Auddience cables are smooth and articulate. With them, I could really hear a difference and justify the cost. I have not compared the Au24 and Maestro speaker cables, but I would say they are very close. The Maestro is a chunkier cable. I use both unbalanced and balanced interconnects. Yes, the balanced cables cost more, but I wanted AU24 wherever i could get it!

Gofaststang, I noticed very little break-in period. This would coincide with Audience's literature on the speaker cables stating an initial 4 hours (I believe) break-in period followed by a complete break-in period of 50 hours.

Perhaps you are experiencing an amplifier/cable synergy issue as I discussed in my first post.

With my first amp with these cables, a McCormack DNA-2 Limited Anniversary Edition, I noticed a tremendous tighening up of the bass regions, kettle drums sounding uncannily dynamic and real, but overall the bass regions sounded somewhat light. I believe because the lack of time smear and because we are accustomed to hearing that time-smear.

However, within weeks, I installed a McCormack DNA-2 Revision A amplifier, (an almost complete rebuild by Steve McCormack with what are supposed to be some of the best aftermarket parts available) and the bass now provides a full, extremely tight, blooming, bass with a viscerally deep and solid punch like I've never heard before.

In other words, whatever bass I perceived disappeared with the Au24 speaker cables with my first amp, came back and in spades with the second amp.

Also, I was bi-wiring with my previous cables. Once I installed the Au24's, I no longer had the desire to bi-wire.

However, at this moment, I am bi-wiring with the Au24's for the bass, and some very highly rated cables for the mids/highs. (I'm burning in these other cables)

I perceive no advantage at this time with this temporary bi-wire config. But it's the only way for me to continue to listen to the excellent bass of the Au24's, while going thru an extended period of time burning in these other cables.

-IMO

For the money, the Au24 is the best speaker cable I am aware of. Not that I've listened to every cable.

Across the spectrum, they eliminate or minimize much time-smear and grain that is found in some to many cables.

In my experience, the Au24 speaker cables can be somewhat amp dependent so it would be best to get a 30 or 60 day audition period. In one amp the bass lost some of it's bloom and fullness and even seemed to deminish the bass regions. In the next amp, the bass has been fantastic. But with both amps, the bass was always more tonally accurate.

For whatever it's worth, some (including a recent Stereophile review) claim the Au24 speaker cables to be better than the Nordost Valhallas. To some people that says a lot.

I'm currently burning in a pair of more expensive cables that come very highly rated (more than the valhallas).

So far, the Au24's are still edging out these other cables. Especially in the bass regions.

The Au24's made such a difference in making the bass much more defined, that afterwards my subwoofer with the time-smear was sounding somewhat disjointed from my full-range speakers.

Audience suggested I try their inexpensive Conductor series ic's for the sub, since all of their cables apply the same technology. I did and the subwoofer's bass rejoined the bass of my full-range speakers.

-IMO

I am currently using two pair of Au24 to bi-wire my Martin Logan Quests.

I began with a single run of Au24 and switched it between the panels and subs. I found that it was vastly superior to my Linn 400 cable. No need going into all the buzz words. Everything was better by a large margin. I bought these used and assume they were broken in.

Based on that experience, I sold that 2m cable and bought two shorter cables for my bi-wire application. The cable on the panels quickly sounded great, but the last time I did a comparison, the subs did not sound as good as I remember with the first cable I tried. This may be a break in issue, and I have not done a serious evaluation in the past couple of months.
So I heartily recommend these cables, but they may need a long break in for bass to sound good. If anyone has experience with breakin, particularly in the bass, I would welcome your comments.

Happy listening.