HG Silver Lace Revisited

I would agree that the price performance ratio is outstanding. Excellent detail retrieval, open and focused soundstage, impactful and deep bass, and a nice balanced presentation. Just a tad on the cool side of neutral, but the SLs let the music flow, and have an engaging character. I have both RCA and XLR versions. I've had the XLR version since Feb. and use it as a substitute ic when selling and trading my main ics. It took a long time for the XLR version to break in, about a month before it fully smoothed out. I recently replaced the Transparent Audio Supers in my HT with Silver Lace. The RCA version is breaking in much more quickly then the XLR version did. I haven't tried it in my main system yet, but I think the RCA version sounds better then the XLR version. Kevin agrees.

Sam, thanks for sharing your opinions of this cable with us all. You are certainly one of the cable gurus of this site. The more people who are able to submit a review on a product, the better able we on this site are to form a concensus for that product. When and where it will work well, and vice versa. Your opinions seem to agree with anyone fortunate enough to try this cable in their system. The sound of silver has a lot of myths attached to it, foremost that it is bright. While it is true that silver is open and honest, a good silver cable should not be bright. Some people say that silver is just a microscope, drawing attention to whatever is "wrong" with one's silver. I take more of a middle of the road approach. Feeling that there surely are silver cables which are bright, harsh, or irritating. But, also saying that silver should be used in a complimentary system. My whole point in a nutshell is system synergy. Components must match and/or balance other components. Otherwise, the most expensive system in the world will not yield anything beyond bad sound. Conversely, a very satisfying system can be inexpensive. It just takes a little effort. Products which offer true world class sound at real world prices are abundant in this industry. Despite others telling us we are required to equate better with more expensive. HomeGrown Audio Silver Lace certainly is the best interconnect I have come across in my system. It is not a great budget cable, but a reference quality cable that happens to offer a price lower than other reference quality cables. I would never stand up, as so many do, and say it is the best interconnect. No cable is the best for any and all systems. Anyone who argues this point is either misinformed or a liar. As has been stated above, in a system voiced warmly, this is a product that should be auditioned. People with tubes and speakers which are not so forward are good candidates for Silver Lace. People with more upfront solid state and forward or bright speakers would probably be wise to look elsewhere. I can say that at its best, Silver Lace offers an open, detailed, punchy, extended(at both frequency extremes), yet liquid, full, and grainless sound.

Silver Lace is all that. BUT, since I replaced Silver Solution with it, the soundstage is impossible to dial in. On most recordings, no matter where I position the speakers, the image has moved back in plane with them and some defining instrument or sound is coming directly from them. One good example is the cymbals on Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue. All the rest of the drum kit is well back and between but those cymbals are localised to the speakers, one cymbal left and the other right. Is this the recording?
I also find that piano is problematic with the image shifting toward left or right in an unnatural way as the notes go from bass to treble.
Kestrels are supposed to be easy to position, and were. I've tried the formulas but the room is L.R.-D.R., 12X26 and I can't put the listening position in the D.R.
Anyone have a suggestion?

Kitch29, I don't know how long you have had your SL. I found the treble to take a long time to develop that airy quality that allows cymbals to shimmer and float free of the speakers. The soundstage also becomes less recessed, and all frequencies become more proportionate to one another. Initially I thought the treble might be slightly shelved. There was also a glare in the upper mids and lower treble that took time to smooth out.

It seems one of your cables is out of fase.

There are some speaker placement threads and I'm going to take it over there, but I checked phase, the SG's are used and played here > 2 weeks. I took out the vibrapods under the Cambridge CDP, worse, put'm back with 1 book and then 2 on top, getting better. BTW, Tom Clancy sounds better than the Collin's Edition of Shakespeare.