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
OK I am reposting here what I just did in the other thread, my conclusions after using these cables for almost 10 years...
I tried all the original CT-1 line up to Ultimate Reference (not balanced IC's). This line has now been replaced by the cheaper Reveal, and the equivalently expensive Helix. I have not tried either.
IMO, this cable technology is spectacular for digital cables and interconnects, and also power cables. But it was hit and miss with speaker cables due to the naturally high inductance (all these magnetic cables are transmission line). Depending on the amp/speaker combo the speakers cables could be fantastic and in other combo's flat and lifeless.
The low end power cables were good, but the CT-1 Ultimate Reference power cable was an end game cable. If you want one power cable to feed your distributor and revolutionize the entire system sound, check out the new replacement equivalent, which seems to be the Helix series.
I also thought the original CT-1E Interconnects were the optimum price/performance point in the original line of interconnects if you were not into spending crazy money. But this could have been due to my own system being about 10k. A more expensive system may have been warranted to fully appreciate the higher models.
I currently use the CT-1 Ultimate Reference IC's and Digital cable and will never sell them, they are essential to getting a purity of sound out of any front end in my system.
Comparing HFC cables to other brands is also tricky, because the HFC cables create a charged magnetic pathway through your sockets and circuits, so when you swap in another cable brand it will benefit from the conduction treatment and sound better than it actually is. But this will wear off after a few days. So its best to listen to HFC cables last in a shootout.
Rick Schultz is a genius inventor and nothing came close to the performance of HFC cables for me. Though I admit it has been a few years and I have been out of the game for a while. But HFC cables were never flavor of the month or marketing driven cables. They have stood the test of time for almost 10 years now, not a lot of new/hyped cable technology ever was so far ahead in performance like this brand.
Very happy with the orchestral line. It’s his best yet. Increased treble extension and bass response. Very transparent. Really good depth and layers very well. Very happy!
However, on this Soulutions 540. The other ones can’t match the High Fidelity Orchestral. It give the Soulutions gear more see through transparency, detail and immediacy compared to the others
I also use clarity cable and atlas mavros speaker cables. My speakers are Gato FM6 and are very good. High fidelity improves transparency and on my jazz gives it a snappy pace and more clarity
Hello calvinj Glad to hear you are enjoying your new cables. What are the other cables in your system interconnects? What cables -interconnect-power cords are not High Fidelity in your system. In my system High Fidelity Cables are all on the power side, along with the power conditioning. Transparent Referenceis MM2 the speaker cable and Transparent Reference XL mm2 xlr handles the interconnects between components. Would like to get some idea where in the High Fidelity line i would need to be at to better the Transparent cables.
High Fidelity Orchestral Helix Cables review. I added a Orchestral Interconnects and a Orchestral Helix power cable to my Soulutions 540 CD/DAC PLAYER. The first thing I heard was increase clarity and detail. It is as clear as a bell. The other thing that got better was the transparency. You heard deeper into the music. It had more depth. These cables also seem to have a quicker pace with my jazz. The bass in the cable is punchy and controlled. Which allows it to keep up with the music. Rick Schultz has once again improved over his last cable line and has another hit on his hand. These cables should do well. They improved my listening experience and I’m extremely happy with these. Now back to my DUKE PEARSON “THE RIGHT TOUCH” cd. Back to my jam session!
Thanks for info/updates guys. I’m using MIT interconnect and speaker cable. But I have a couple of HFC MC.05s at the outlets/walls to nice effect. Tried Cerious and a few other digital cables (just meh in my system). I am currently using Silnote R2Sig2 (something like that) from transport to DAC, which is actually pretty good. For the money... :) Just got a Vault2 and want to experiment/move around/upgrade a little. Also adding a second system for the man cave.
@lak I added the helix orchestral IC to my system last night. So far so good. I’m very impressed. The things that have improved to me is better soundstage, bass response and the main thing I like the most is that there seems to be more air around the instruments and the treble has better decay and is more airy and open than his previous cables. I will be adding the double helix power cable in a couple of days. I’m extremely happy with this orchestral version of his cable. I added it to the s Soulutions 540 CD player and it has found a home!
@keithtexas, I have an Ultimate HFC digital cable which sounds very good however I'm not saying that you can't spend less money on a different digital cable that might sound as good. Since my system is almost all HFC (except a few power cords) I went with the UHFC digital.
This thread is 8 years strong because the owners of the cables enjoy them and they believe in the brand. They are mostly happy with what they buy and more importantly what they hear. The evolution of sound continues my review of the orchestral line coming soon
@everyone if you are for another brand on this thread. That is fine but if you work for that company stay in your lane and go post on that thread. This thread has been going for years because we like the product. If the product you like is so good go promote it. But this thread is for those who own the cables or seek information on them. Quit acting like you are an audiophile and not a company troll. Now if you are that person beat it! I love these High Fidelity cables. My new high fidelity orchestral cables will be coming next week I will share the impressions on my new Solutions 540 cd/dac player
Hi Kantx, The Tara Lab's Evolution Grandmaster cable's, they have been compared to Nordost odin 1 and 2, amd Crystal cable, micro mega, Audioquest, siltech, cardas, kimber cable, transparent, mit, wire world, purest audio design, etc.., check out the shoot out on what's best forum.
My HIGH FIDELITY cables (power Cords, MC.05s, Pro Power conditioner) have always sounded great. Never thin a little bottle neck in the break in stages, but once broken in WOW. Very full body and 3 D like.
audiolabyrinth4,532 posts 04-28-2020 11:20amGlad to finally see this thread go away, the cable's sound thin and bottle necked compared to state of the art cable's.************ Which state of the art cable do you suggest ?
I’ve had the 3 x MC1 Pro Helix+ units in the system for about 5 days now. I have them all plugged into one wall outlet with the supplied piggyback cables, right next to the outlet that feeds my SR PowerCell. This seems to be a good place for them.
So far I like them a lot. They do have a very pronounced effect, and my initial impressions seem to be confirmed. They add precision to imaging and soundstage placement. If they are removed, everything is blurred slightly in an audiovisual sense. They add depth, dimension and refinement to image placement. They do not seem to enhance air and bloom in the way I noticed with the MC0.5. Each model has a slightly different strength. MC0.5 for detail, air and value for money, MC1 Pro Helix+ for soundstage precision and refinement. The effects are complementary and additive.
I just received my 3 x MC1 Pro Helix+ units. I have tried one of them, and without any break-in I am impressed. Compared to the MC0.5, there is more "in your face" realism, and bolder revelation of up-front midrange detail. The MC0.5 probably excels in fine-grain depth resolution, comparatively. But this is without any burn-in for the MC1 Pro Helix+. And since these two sonic enhancements are complementary, it’s very promising!
I missed whatever was going on about removed posts but come here to discuss my experience with my second MC Pro Helix + The first one was so good about lifting the sound quality to the next level i wondered what the second one would do... Well, It did it again! Another MC Pro Helix + Improved all aspects of the sound as to bring my sound to another level of reality, WE are vey happy with the MAJOR IMPROVEMENT IN LISTENING PLEASURE!! Isn't that what we're all looking for???
PS takes 10 days or more to sound really excellent.
Tammy -- I read the original post by @maragoo and felt that it was a well written description of a legitimate complaint. While whomever asked for it to be removed may have their reasons it does not serve AudioGon, nor High Fidelity well to appear to be so defensive or attempting to "hush things up"
At minimum if the removal is to stand a positing from HFC saying why they took this step "we're sorry XYZ had a bad experience and we are working to resolve it" would be appropriate -- and if someone else asked for the post to be removed I ask that it be put back as there was nothing in it that in any way contravened any of AudioGons terms
Thought that this forum is for sharing experiences with other audiophiles but unfortunately only positive feedbacks are allowed and no remarks on bad experiences!
Maragoo Wow very sorry to hear this. I have always been treated well by High Fidelity Cables and Rick. I hope this gets worked out for your full satisfaction. Please keep us posted on it.
MC pro helix + I want to say that i have been enjoying the break in of my MC Pro Helix + very much. As others have mentioned, My system just keeps getting better without me doing anything but listening. Great fun to hear the bass get deeper and more dynamic, the soundstage get more pronounced, the micro dynamics become more refined. Such a huge improvement with a simple plug in device. Lifted my system to a whole other dimension. MC 0.5 Helix several friends and I got to try one or more of the new MC 0.5 Helix plug in power filter and all of us liked the improvement very much. Another winner at a lower price. Enjoy the music Dave
After talking to High Fidelity Cables- they are looking into making some ground cables. But where going to research what makes a good ground cable so it will be down the road before they come out with any.
What about using Rick’s proprietary coaxial wire (the same wire that’s used for all HFC cables) for grounding. Maybe Rick can terminate one with a spade. Just a thought.
Hi Pete I'm glad you are enjoying the Pro Power so much. I'm really liking my new MC helix too. I want more... grounding wire- I believe that the finest gauge copper wire will work well because it will pass high frequency noise well. I believe that highly polished silver wire works well because high frequency noise can pass easily down the surface of this wire. IF the grounding wires pick up vibration or Rf signals or magnetic flux, these are all noise adders and defeating the purpose. I have used 3 pieces of 7 strand of 32 gauge copper wrapped in silk and Braided together and I liked it best so far. A friend says 48 gauge is a tiny bit clearer. really fine copper wire needs to be chemically stripped. I'd forgo the crimp-on parts because you are trying to offer the absolute least resistance to ground noise. just wire and maybe contact enhancer. I'm not personally a fan of silver wire or silver coated wire but folks much more into grounding like it. Must be very highly polished thou. I wonder what Rick thinks? maybe a magnetic flow wire. There is available some mulit stranded copper ground wire the equals 8 gauge. I have some to use on earth grounding to rod because it passes Hi fq better. never tried it on any ground blocks. solid 8 gauge is ok for electrical house grounding but not for audio IMO More ground wire experiments are way down on my list of experiments I'm thinking of running but I have heard some very interesting things using different wires. mostly, I've found that most wire available is not very good for audio signal, audio power or audio grounding. I found one really good wire and nothing else was even in second place. Happy listening Dave
Hi ddraudt I did pick up some .8ga. copper wire from the local hardware store, crimped some very cheap spades on the end. Grounded the Preamp and Disc Player. Had it on for about 2 weeks or so. Pulled it off did not hear any improvement. The wire is very stiff and not as easy to work with. May put it back in to see if I can hear a difference now. Going to look into a silver wire in the very near future and see how it sounds. Do you have any recommendation on silver wire-Ga, single strand, plated, pure silver?? The PRO POWER conditioner is just amazing so far and keeps getting better every week. Base and sound stage is very good.
MC Pro 1 Helix + I had planned to let my Helix break in for a few days before commenting but I am hearing some very interesting improvements after just 6 hours. Even though I have 15 MC-0.5s, and 3 MC Pro 1s in the system already the MC Helix has already revealed much more music. Already more intriguing and engulfing. The instruments blossom becoming fuller and more colorful. I can not only hear the reed and the wood of a clarinet, I can hear the shape of the instrument. There is an increase in natural lifelike reproduction and a further reduction of noise impediments creating a more effortless listing experience. symbols shimmer as I hear their movement when struck. The music floats in the air and reflects of the walls of the record venue revealing the deepest and most well defined soundstage I've ever heard. Truly another level above the MC Pro 1 by a wide margin. In just 6 hours. I want more of them!!! FYI suggested "break in" 16 to 24 DAYS. I will file more reports in time. Cheers D
68pete Hello! Have you tried any component grounding using the Pro Power Conditioner? I have heard and read about many types of grounding cables. Some think highly polished silver wire is best. Some prefer super fine strands of copper wire to ground the very high frequencies where a lot of "noise" reside, others like copper silver combo. then there is super damping and super shielding on some ground wires.
I'm happy to say I just got an MC 1 Pro Helix power conditioner. The plug in device that is the big brother to the MC 1 Pro. I had 4 of the MC Pro 1s when the Helix came out but read a report that the "HELIX" sounds twice as good as the MC PRO one. So now I'm going to get to compare and report in the coming weeks. For clarification... I am talking about the $2699. MC 1 Pro helix power conditioner here. 68 pete is talking about the $50,000. Pro Series Power Conditioner, a very different animal. Enjoy the music Dave
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
