Interconnect with great dynamics and bass slam ,

I'm a bit late to the party, but this weekend I just compared 4 interconnects. By far the interconnect that had best dynamics and bass slam was CRL-FIM interconnect. The bass had great articulation and realism. As someone else mentioned OCC copper is the way to go for what you are looking for.

I believe Winston Ma and Paul Weitzel, both well known recording engineers, teamed up to combine their knowledge of creating cables into CRL-FIM (or is it FIM-CRL). Since that time the company has seemed to split/transition several times. The current CRL company is not the same as CRL-FIM, but is related in its ancestery I believe. In any case the cords are not the same.

I happened to invest in a Dude preamp which is also made by Paul Weitzel. Paul of course recommended finding some of his cables. Recently I did find them on Audiogon by someone who use to be a dealer. I bought one pair and the difference in my system was significant. Much more than what I expected. In speaking with the sellar he confirmed they were the most dynamic interconnects he had heard as he has heard many of the top brands. Based on this all of this I actually bought 2 more pair from him.

I have a bit of an unusual system where I have an active x-over that has a channel for the tweeter, midrange and woofer. So when I try out an interconnect I can isolate it to a frequency range. As what many people have stated all cords have there own presentation with there own strengths/weaknesses depending on how sensitve your hearing is and how revealing your system is.

I can say confidently that if you want great dynamics and bass slam with tonal accuracy, but without over emphasizing any frequency or having bass bloat, CRL-FIM fits the bill.

I hope this helps,
Dave

There are plenty of threads on Audiogon about the Dude. It is probably best to direct your questions there.

I will say it was significantly better than the last preamp I owned, which is highly regarded. And that preamp was significantly better than the one before that.

What struck me about the Dude was how natural the sound was and how linear the presentation became. I never knew what linear presentation 'really' meant - what did people mean when they described a piece of equipment or tubes being linear. With the Dude I now understood - a tonal balance with all frequencies. Honestly, it was 'ear' opening and educational for me.

This is only my experience. I have tried very few preamps and done very few side-by-side comparsions.

Audiolabyrinth - yes, Dude is *only* tube based.
Grey9hound - it is not the cables CRL currently sells. It is the older CRL-FIM interconnect that are solid core copper. If CRL-FIM had different interconnect models, I couldn't comment on which I have. They are not made anymore; however try out a well made solid core copper interconnect and judge for yourself. As far as the other interconnects, I'd rather not comment at this time. As already mentioned all cables have there own presentation, not necessarily that one is better or worse than another, it is just what you are looking for. It was just by coincidence that I came upon your post at the same time I just got the CRL-FIM interconnect so I thought I'd give you a heads-up.