A little food for thought on the Acoustic Zen Hologram II speaker cables, I believe that they are designed for biwire configuration where as the Satori are designed for single wire applications as your Thiels. I am running the Holograms in my system with my Wilson Audio Sophias which are like your Thiels in that they only have single wire hook ups and I love them but have wondered if the move to the Sotori might behoove me, especially since their cables are very reasonably priced. I have had my Hologram IIs for 6 years by the way.
Impression of Acoustic Zen Hologram II 8ft
I know there are a lot of people who are very skeptical of cables,
but AZ Hologram II has completely and fundamentally transformed
the sound on my system.
I've read from some audiogon members and I am surprised that
some have found the cables are warm sounding.
I would characterize it's at least neutral from the upper midrang
to treble. The lower mid and bass is just a touch warm. The
overall sound is bit bold I think. It also has small upper midrange
present making female voice to have a small energy lift. I don't
think it's forward but more like you get closer to the singer, but
if your system is sort of leaning that way, then you have to see
if it will be OK in your system. The good side of that is the vocal is very
expressive, and has a lot of emotional contents.
The treble is very extended and very smooth and has very good
resolution and the overall sound is very energetic.
It's not a sort of warm or relax at all and it makes you stand up
and listen. It's sort of a big hearted kind of sound.
This is the most expensive speaker cables I ever bought so it's
hard to compare to other more expensive but it's definitely at least
an order of magnitude better than the less expensive speaker cables
that I had. My previous set was Blue Jeans, then QED silver revelation.
I guess the more expensive the cables, it becomes more multi dimension.
The Blue Jeans is a good example of an entry level cables. It does
the basic stuffs right: decent soundstage, balance treble and bass, nothing
offensive for the price. The QED takes it a step further. It has better detail,
better soundstage, sweeter treble. The AZ is quite a bit better. I guess
at this level, the sound acquires an extra dimension that better communicates
the heart and emotion of the music. Whereas the Blue Jean is somewhat
indifferent, the QED slightly on the cool side of thing, the AZ is full blooded
on the emotional department.
I haven't heard anything more expensive, but if I could improve on the AZ,
although I think it has a very refine sound and certainly a lot better than the
BJ and QED by a large margin, I wish the AZ sound could be a touch better
integrated. I mention above that the sound is bold and big hearted and really
makes you pay attention, but it's may be odd for me to say this but the
sound could use a bit "brain". Although the sound is definitely more sophisticated
than the lesser cables, it's bold and big hearted slightly outweigh sophistication.
A better balance among those three factors would make me happy.
There is a brand called Crystal Cable Absolute Dream that costs about $7K
per pair? Maybe that could do the trick?
System equipment:
Ayre QB9 DSD
Pass Lab XP10
Simaudio W7 amp
Thiel CS2.4
QED 40 reference silver XLR
but AZ Hologram II has completely and fundamentally transformed
the sound on my system.
I've read from some audiogon members and I am surprised that
some have found the cables are warm sounding.
I would characterize it's at least neutral from the upper midrang
to treble. The lower mid and bass is just a touch warm. The
overall sound is bit bold I think. It also has small upper midrange
present making female voice to have a small energy lift. I don't
think it's forward but more like you get closer to the singer, but
if your system is sort of leaning that way, then you have to see
if it will be OK in your system. The good side of that is the vocal is very
expressive, and has a lot of emotional contents.
The treble is very extended and very smooth and has very good
resolution and the overall sound is very energetic.
It's not a sort of warm or relax at all and it makes you stand up
and listen. It's sort of a big hearted kind of sound.
This is the most expensive speaker cables I ever bought so it's
hard to compare to other more expensive but it's definitely at least
an order of magnitude better than the less expensive speaker cables
that I had. My previous set was Blue Jeans, then QED silver revelation.
I guess the more expensive the cables, it becomes more multi dimension.
The Blue Jeans is a good example of an entry level cables. It does
the basic stuffs right: decent soundstage, balance treble and bass, nothing
offensive for the price. The QED takes it a step further. It has better detail,
better soundstage, sweeter treble. The AZ is quite a bit better. I guess
at this level, the sound acquires an extra dimension that better communicates
the heart and emotion of the music. Whereas the Blue Jean is somewhat
indifferent, the QED slightly on the cool side of thing, the AZ is full blooded
on the emotional department.
I haven't heard anything more expensive, but if I could improve on the AZ,
although I think it has a very refine sound and certainly a lot better than the
BJ and QED by a large margin, I wish the AZ sound could be a touch better
integrated. I mention above that the sound is bold and big hearted and really
makes you pay attention, but it's may be odd for me to say this but the
sound could use a bit "brain". Although the sound is definitely more sophisticated
than the lesser cables, it's bold and big hearted slightly outweigh sophistication.
A better balance among those three factors would make me happy.
There is a brand called Crystal Cable Absolute Dream that costs about $7K
per pair? Maybe that could do the trick?
System equipment:
Ayre QB9 DSD
Pass Lab XP10
Simaudio W7 amp
Thiel CS2.4
QED 40 reference silver XLR
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