homegrown audio vs. kimber

I have owned and used both the Kimber Silver Streak and thought it's a good IC, particularly at the price. Then I tried the HomeGrownAudio line, and switched over. I have the solid silver HGA's, plus two pair of Silver Lace running from preamp to the power amps. Great IC's, especially at the "kit" price. There is no cable in the Kimber line that is a direct match for the HGA Silver Lace, since the Silver Lace has 8 braided wires in its structure. I think the Silver Lace is one of the best IC's on the market today, and a huge bargain compared to the pricier lines from the big names.

for the silver lace i mean soundwise in comparison in the kimber line.

I owned the KCAG with RCA's for 2 years. I liked them very much for everything except the bass response. I now own the Silver Lace (balanced). They are smoother and do not lack in bass response like the KCAG's. Both are good cables. I have compared each to the Transparent Reference with XL technology, and while this cable surpasses any cable I have had in my system, The Silver Lace delivers 90% of what the reference cable does at less than 1 tenth the price. My system; Krell fpb amp, KRC 3 preamp, and Theta CD.

Bwyoung, I am glad that someone with your type of system has weighed in on the Silver Lace. Krell is not what people usually talk about combining with this cable. However, the fact that you report good sound with this match says a lot about Silver Lace. Compared to Silver Streak and KCAG, the HomeGrown Audio cables are superior. I like to think of them as the next logical progression Kimber could have made had they not gone in another direction(Focal and Select lines). They would have been the updated and improved KimberKable products. The HomeGrown Audio cables replace the stranded wire of Kimber for solid core. A good deal of improvements result from this. Most people will talk about skin effect, etc. I can only relay my own sonic impressions. With the HomeGrown Audio cables, the sound is smoother. Less tizzy, sizzly, harsh, bright, and irritating. I see more focus and better soundstaging(height, width, and depth), in addition to the images being more solid, real, and lifelike. Bass is also improved, perhaps from the higher frequencies not drawing undue attention to themselves. Midrange clarity and speed are the greatest assets of the cables, as they are with Kimber. Prices are incredible. Better performance for much less than the Kimber products go for even on the used market. Super Silver is better than KCAG, for the price of PBJ. The only weaknesses I can talk about are the connectors, and the increased stiffness(due to the solid core wire). Kimber is using WBT, while HomeGrown Audio is using connectors along the lines of what Kimber uses for PBJ. However, the WBT like locking RCA's come on Silver Lace, and are available separately. So, if one put the Silver Solution or Super Silver together themselves, they could simply order the better RCAs(at a very affordable price). Or, I am sure that HomeGrown would use these connectors for you as a special request. I am not aware of any Kimber product that parallels Silver Lace. Both companies went in different directions in terms of cable construction. I would like to hear the silver version of Kimber Select interconnects in my system to compare/contrast them to Silver Lace in terms of sound.

I have compared Kimber Silver Streak, HG Silver Lace, HT
ProSilway II, Silver Audio Hyacinth. Kimber SS IMO tilts the tonal balance too much towards upper midrange and treble, producing a lean and subjectively bright sound.
I listen to a lot of mainstream CDs, and this tends to
highlight treble grain/hardness, so I did not keep this cable. The much more expensive Kimber Select series probably is much improved in this respect, but I have not personally heard them.

I was impressed with HT PS II, and feel they were much preferable to Kimber SS, much smoother with less upward
tilt of tonal range, and excellent 3D presentation. The
HG Silver Lace is overall close in performance to PS II at less than 1/2 the cost, so it would be my 1st choice among the silver cables I mentioned because it offers the best sound/cost ratio. Offers sound similar to what I heard with PS II, so I keep one in my cable "collection"

Megasam: How does the Silver Lace compare to the Silver Audio Hyacinth?

I think HG Silver Lace and HT PS II both just "slightly" better overall than SA Hyacinth. The Hyacinth has a much more balanced tonal presention than Kimber SS, and between these two Hyacinth is superior in all respects. Hyacinth is priced between HT PS II and Silver Lace, so decent value, has about 95% performance of other two, so it is a close comparison. Some may actually prefer Hyacinth, it is very good also, I think HT PS II and Silver Lace are slightly
smoother/cleaner sounding.

HT PS II = Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway Mark II