In December 2011,I wrote that High Fidelity cables led by cable designer Rick Schultz was putting together a new cable.The cable came to market as CT-1.The CT-1 has FINALLY made it into my system!I had obtained a version of the prototype that Rick had been working on.It blew my previous reference Genesis by Virtual Dynamics.I thought I had finally found my end with this cable.This prototype delivered to my ears "Nirvana".Could I be at the end of my quest for the ultimate sound? No. I received two pairs of CT-1 to replace my prototypes.They went into the system this past Friday.Unable to dedicate time until Sunday listening,I stole a few moments,ducking away from company with anticipation.My guest could tell even with the music set for"ambiance"something was intriguing and I was in for a treat! The experience: First off,CT-1 was very user friendly.Installation was simple;the cable is very nice and light.The female RCA fit beautifully unlike any I had found in other cable.It was secure and reliable.It seemed much thought was dedicated to developing a designer fit to an aesthetically stunning RCA connector.Install entailed a few wiggles to ensure what seemed like a compression fit on my RCA. It was 2-3 hrs. for the 1st step of break in to be complete.At that point I had something different!Today,although they only have 10-12 hrs. on them,I can`t put into words how much my system has transformed.Believe me,I loved my prototypes.However....there is simply no comparision. The clarity and sound is so natural. The soundstage is like nothing I ever heard.Resoulution is breathtaking and inner detail is simply hard to believe possible. The sound has transended and now it simply does not seem as thought I have speakers. My system is musicians playing music. I am told with time they will improve and I trust that as it was revealed with the prototypes.I wanted to share my thoughts with you that now. Unequivocally,a testament to High Fidelity,as the name declares. High Fidelity Cables for me,the last word on it,after 12 hours! Truly Amazing
In all fairness, all high end expensive wire makers have a job to do to convince some to buy. They only need a few believers to make money though I would bet. Its a fact that profit margins on wires most people would buy are huge. Accessories like wires have ALWAYS been where audio dealers make the most money. Electronics the least, and speakers somewhere in between. I know this from having worked in multiple shops that were part of larger chains years ago. It was a well documented FACT back then. All items we sold had cost and retail price listings that indicated which items were most profitable and not. I doubt it has changed much over the years, except to have been taken to new extremes in regards to asking price.
When one has a 5 or 6 digit system to start with , it seems to only make sense that some reasonable percentage be spent on the wires, power conditioning, etc. HF offers unique products in that category no doubt. I am happy for those who can afford such systems and enjoy them. The one or two pure intolerant shills on this thread are probably NOT doing the company any favors though.
No wonder audiophiles in general are looked at as ignorant nut jobs. The average Joe with common sense, audio enthusiasts with basic electronics knowledge and of course engineers know the cable "performance" claims written about in this thread are complete nonsense and or shills at work trying to fool the ignorant into buying over priced wires.
Fplanner2000, the only thing I did not evaluate was the HF power cords, so I look foward to what you have to say when you get the other urr HF power cord on your system, I can imagine they take a very long time to burn-in, what is your estimate that they take?
Fplanner2000, yes, I agree with your post too, It is a matter of preference, though Dave D is an internet friend of mine, he claimed that their was no better cables in the industry compaired to what he own's, and that everyone belives what he said, that is the only reason I posted here, enjoy your thread.
Well said Fplanner2000. I had no intention of ever committing the funds for cables that I have but one hfc cable made such a improvement in my system that I had to at least try another ... Then another. If it had been a marginal improvement then the journey would have been over before it had started. Anyway I'm now on the last leg with the conditioner due next month and then some HFC power cables when I can afford them. I'm not a wealthy individual by any stretch of the imagination so this may take a while but it's great to know where I'm heading.
A- I also heard the best Shunyatas at the same show in another high-end system - exact models escape me. Also very good, but not my preference. Have also heard top power cords from Purist Audio, High Diamond, Synergistic, Stealth, Nordost (Odin was very good) and a handful of others. Nothing wrong with any of these cables, just not right (with the exception of High Diamond) for my system. For me, its truly not a matter of budget, per se, but of system synergy/matching and the best (IMO) performance I can wring out of my system. AN inexact "science" if ever there was one.
A- I heard the Zero Evolution in a high-end system at the RMAF. They were good, but not in the league of the HF cables I currently use, IMO. Its really not a good, better, best thing, but instead a matter of preference. To each their own, as they say.
Could we please get back to High Fidelity Cables and discussion of how they impact the sound of our music? Sheesh. I am reminded of what it is like in Congress, heaven forbid. Is there an emoticon that shows one's eyes rolling?
somebody has to say something that knows better!, can any of you make the same statement?, I recently had Tara's best here, HF's best etc.., no!, I cannot afford Tara's best, sadly, I sent them back, they knew that I had to, but to listen to such cable, and yes, all of these are cables, regarless of what you want to say!, The Tara's were far and away an exsperience I will never forget!
To deem this brand best available is really out right cXXXXX!, till you get the Tara Labs Zero Evolution or Grandmaster Evolution, Zero Gold-Omega Gold, this entire thread is nothing, I have had the HF cables here, good for what they are, the real revalation is what none of you can afford!
Mapman, thanks for the funny posts. Nonsensical swirling mass of childish gibberish that makes you look sillier each day. Not everyone would have the courage to look so inane just to make us laugh, roll our eyes and poke fun at. I especially like recent statements like "All opinions are relevant that are offered in good faith and in consideration of all the facts" so funny how it points out the complete opposite of what you do here. Hilarious!! Were you the fat kid in grade school? Maybe the best self statement of yours lately is "words mean very little" So true Map but here you are bravely tilting at windmills. I can't wait until I have extra time again for irrelevance like yours. laughing-Thanks-D
" We are all pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things I would say."
Actually I can only speak for myself in this regard, not others. All opinions are relevant that are offered in good faith and in consideration of all the facts, not just those that might be most convenient for the argument at hand.
You can continue to smugly dismiss them and I will continue to do my thing. It is what it is.
I usually find yours interesting at least in that you are very open to new things. Except opposing viewpoints that is. Ironically I'm not sure we even have one in this case? Oh well. I suppose you have all the bases covered on your own so who needs any opposing views? Certainly not you it would seem.
How much have you invested in the HF products in your system again? unfortunately there can be no value judgements without a cost factor.
Always happy to discuss such things. We are all pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things I would say.
Mapman, it is always good to achieve excellence at a low cost. It is always bad to assume that cost is closely tied to excellence.
Shilling is often just a pejorative word for raving and is often used by those who want to rave about a competitive product and often, but not always, because they have a stake in that product.
Since there is no measure of excellence, there is nothing more than personally liking or not liking a product. So in reality your interjections on this thread have no benefit or utility. Mine also in posting to you have no benefit either, so have a good day.
No doubt it is "different" in concept and execution. A different approach has potential to yield different results. Reminds me of Walsh drivers in that regard. Or the DNM ICs that I like. OR the Pangea power cords that I use that are less radical in design but seem to do what is advertised ie lower noise levels via shielding and provide excellent value for the results achieved I find in practice.
Many ways to skin these cats. We all hear differences all the time trying different things.
More power to those who are satisfied with their results.
Fplanner obviously has put some good thought into his system overall. That means a lot.
Shilling and raving on a product with no context around it means little. At least to me.
Where's the beef, as they say? FPlanner appears to have some. So one has to take that seriously. Nicely done!
Words alone mean little though especially when stakes are higher which they are with products like these..
Mapman, Obviously, everyone knows the conductivity of nickel is lower than silver and copper, but perhaps other things have more importance, such as the noise on the ac wires that get into your power supplies, or whether "magnetic conduction" is just different. Electrical engineering uses variables that are not perfectly related. They work good enough to make circuits work.
Fplanner2000, I'm glad to hear that good news. I must say, it doesn't surprise me, Rick put some good thought into his products. We just need to keep in mind that this new technology works, but as mentioned before isn't as we currently think and takes a while to break in. Congratulations on your purchase and system ;-)!
@flplanner2000. I understand what you feel about hearing the improvements in your system. One time I got a new high fidelity ultimate and I thought that I didn't like it at first. I played it for some time and then it bloomed. Separation and musicality in spades. Patience is required but greatly rewarded.
Fplanner2000, great post! Thanks! As is the case when hearing only a one side improved, when you do the 2nd side, the effect way more than twice as good. You are in for a real treat when both URR's get to 100 hours!!!The URR's will bring a new reality you did not know was possible. I look forward to hearing how things go! Congrats!!! Enjoy!!!D
Now that several major system upgrades are finally well into their break-in periods, I decided to try the URR power cord in roughly 1/2 my system, namely from the wall to 1 of my 2 P-10 current re-generators. This P-10 has the left side amp as well as transport and DAC plugged into it. I was prepared, from talking with Rick and others, for the sound to be closed-in and to lose some bass in the beginning. That is exactly what happened.
I now have about 15 hours on the new power cord, which I realize is not much at all. The system has just started opening back up again, with the bass from the left speaker noticeably tighter and cleaner than that of the right. What I WASN'T prepared for, this quickly, was the improvement in tonal separation and musicality as well as clarity of the presentation, especially female voices. The difference between left and right speakers is now very noticeable to me, so much so that I have ordered another URR power cord to run from the wall to my other P-10 on the right side of my system. This piece feeds the right side amp as well as my 2 piece VAC preamp.
I am still early in break-in according to Rick, but have already seen very real flashes of what this new power cord can do to my system. I am already hearing nuances I've never heard before as well as bass that just keeps getting deeper and tighter every time I turn the system on (especially on the left side).
Now that I have decided to get the 2nd cord, I am minimizing my listening until it arrives. This will allow me to break both pc's in pretty simultaneously so that I will have more coherence as the process evolves. I am already getting better sound out of the left speaker than I have ever gotten before, which I needed to hear for myself. Now I have and am reacting accordingly.
Although I have other High Fidelity interconnect and speaker cables, my power cables are all HiDiamond P-4, with the exception of a HF UR on my transport. I am quite happy with how my system sounded prior to the introduction of 1 URR HF cable from the wall to my left side P-10. Very happy. The difference I hear this 1 cable making to my system is exciting to me, because as the P-10s get used to the new signal, I'm pretty sure my entire system will continue to get even more resolving, musical and just plain fun to listen to. Thank you Rick. :-)
ME thinks some of ye are trying to use electrical conduction thinking on magnetic conduction. This is the main cause of confusion!! Magnetic conduction operates on a different set of principals. Unfortunately this means that all we have learned over the years will not serve us in understanding a completely new and different methodology. Understanding Magnetic conduction requires starting from scratch and learning something new. Welcome to a new world in audio!!!! D
Mapman, quite to opposite is true. The HF cables have the least amount of induced sonic signature than anything else. The actually make it sound like the entire system has disappeared and only music is left. Do you really think so many would be so wild about these High Fidelity products if they weren't better than all else? If so you really really have no idea who we are or what we are talking about. This is understandable with the advent of radically new technology like magnetic conduction. In my experience, although I have enjoyed each level of HF gear, hearing only the CT-1 or E or U gives us just a glimpse of what the UR and URR can do. The CT-1 was great! a real eye opener to the magnetic conduction's superiority. The Enhanced is noticeably better than the CT-1. The Ultimate is greatly improved over the Enhanced, much much better. The Ultimate Reference is a HUGE Awesome improvement over the Ultimate. There Have been independent studies that show a marked reduction in noise level of magnetic conduction.
FWIW, according to Wikipedia conductivity chart, I read electrical conductivity of Nickel, the main metal element in Mu-MEtal, to be about 1/4 that of copper or silver. The second largest metallic component, Iron, has even lower electrical conductivity.
HAs anyone ever measured the electrical properties of the HF wires?
In that it uses a radically different approach using mu metal like conductor and magnets I would expect a unique audible sound signature with HF wires that go directly in the signal path in particular.
Tsushima1: Thanks for your response. I may have an unusual situation with my analog system in which my Manley Steelhead Phono Stage is at the minimum gain (50dB) and my preamp has a maximum of 38 volts of gain. So my preamp volume control is at 9:00 and very small changes in position lead to large gain changes. I know another poster here on the HFC forum who had the same issue and had to buy an outboard phono stage for more gain when he went to HF speaker cables. I am not sure if the HF cables reduce gain or reduce noise as the music seems to come from a blacker background, similar to listening to 2 recordings in which one is recorded at a lower level but has more dynamic range.
Siddh....Thank you for commenting upon your own experiences, that mirrors my own, it would seem that we have both settled on a similar compromise in utilizing Rick's signal cables in concert with another brand of speaker cable.
Rlawry.... Whilst not quite requiring maximum Warp during the time I had the CT-1U's installed, I did find myself cranking up the System by at least a further 10-15 points on the ARC Ref pre in order to equilize previous room pressurisation and soundstaging.
I also noticed a drop in output when I upgraded from CT-1 to CT-1U speaker cables, maybe a couple of dB. This might have been due to lower noise levels, i.e. blacker backgrounds. For me it wasn't an issue as I merely went from 9:00 to 9:30 on my preamp volume control. If you are maxed out on system gain it could possibly be a problem. My system did seem to recover a little of the gain back when I went from CT-1 to CT-1U interconnects, though.
Tsushima1...are you experiencing a drop in output with HFC speaker cables? I did with Avalon/CAT based system; so tried the low resistance cable with little improvement. Shame, since the sc was quite exceptional. So, I stuck with HiDiamond sc and power cords, but have HFC CT-1 UR interconnects and URR power cord feeding power conditioner. If, I had the funds I likely would buy additional HFC power cords. Additional thought...the combination of HFC and HiDiamond , in my set-up, is extremely satisfying. Delineated without being thin or etched; slightly warm, but never bloated or lacking in resolution; beautiful imaging...Avalons just disappear.
Rlawry, I would highly recommend the CT-1E for the phono cable. The CT-1E was initially designed as a turntable phono cable in the first place. It is a big advance in realism over the standard CT-1.
I've been jamming all day too. On my cheap portable cassette player. Tape is a natural medium. It breathes. Look ma, no speaker cables, interconnects, digital cable, or power cords. Are no cables at all better than high end cables?
Has anyone demo' d or purchased from Ricks Latest low resistance versions from his range ? I found that the standard impedance Ultra speaker cables were not a great match for the ML CLX's , I would have sought a demo myself however as the UK distributer seems to be sulking with me this is unlikely to come to pass!
Report on 3rd High Fidelity URR power cord. Now that the break in and placement of the new HF URR power cord is well on it's way, I have some impressions. First my system does all the normal audio descriptions fantastically, so yes, the bass ,mid ,treble, soundstage dynamics, intimacy, detail, naturalness etc. have been off the charts for a while now. And Sure, the 3rd URR made all of that much better. The improvements at this point move into areas most have never experienced. The level of organic involvement is like a vivid surrealistic dream! It's like we are sitting on one side of the speaker plane and the musicians are sitting on the other side to a level that involves all of our being. Mental emotional and spiritual immersion into unbelievable performances far beyond any listening experience. I have never even dreamt of such realness and super 3D an image. Nor could I describe it fully. After listening I wonder how it this possible? During listening, minds are blown grasping for understanding a totally new experience, a reference point from which to compare, a way to relate a miracle. From my vast experience ;-) I believe very few folk have ever heard anything even close. I know I thought I was hearing fantastic music in past years, but I was not.
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