You can contact AudiogoN member J.D. MacRae. His AudiogoN handle is Jadem6, email is jadem6@hotmail.com.
You can e-mail me offline for his phone number.
He usually has ads up on Audiogon, and probably will again in the next couple days.
Cheers,
John |
Jade Audio now has a website, check it out: Jade AudioCheers, John |
Hey, you two keep me posted on the 4 ft vs. the 8 ft results. Hey JD, any chance of you moving to Pennsylvania so that I can be you guinea pig instead of John Fox (the other John)? 8-)
I do find that my tastes run very similar to both of yours, so I'm waiting to 'hear'. I did not realize that John was such a 'clutz' though. Honest JD, if you move to PA I won't break anything. :)
Cheers,
John |
I have been listening to a 1 meter pair of Solid Gold (RCA), and they are simply phenomenal. Their ability to capture the shimmer of brass (cymbals and horns) is unlike anything I've heard before. Vocals just float into space, the soundstage has much more depth. Tonal accuracy and harmonic textures seem so true, just a 'rightness' to the sound.
Very relaxed and natural presentation, yet I don't feel as if any transparency has been lossed.
I'm using it between phono preamp and preamp. I wish I had the scratch to do the whole rig with the Gold, but that will have to wait. In the meantime I've ordered a 1 meter and 2 meter pair of Vermeil Gold (XLR) to run from cd player to preamp, and preamp to amps. I ordered them a week or so ago, so they may be in soon. If they are even close to the Gold's I think I'll be very happy.
FWIW, the Solid Gold replaced a 1 meter run of the excellent Ridge Street Audio Designs Poiema!!!, which had replaced the Nordost Valhalla.
John |
John, thanks for the remarks on the Dream p/c's, I'll have to try some. FWIW, have you heard any Virtual Dynamics Master or Revelation series p/c's? I'm thinking these are the best that I've heard to date. VD also recommends that you cable your whole system with their line. I think that's pretty much a stock manufacturer claim. I'm sure one day JD will be bugging us to buy his speaker cables and power cords. ;^)
I do have isolated grounds on my dedicated circuits. I cannot tell you what the difference would be though, because I had them both installed at the same time. Overall, it was a tremendous improvement, but I couldn't sonically seperate the performance parameters of the two.
John |
I currently own a pair of the Hybrid (RCA) and two balanced pairs of the Vermeil. I also own a pair of the Audio Metallurgy GA-0's (RCA) and a pair of Gabriel Gold Revelation speaker cables, as well as some PAD Dominus speaker cables. I've also had a pair of Gabriel Gold Extreme interconnects on loan recently for a couple of weeks. I've also recently demo'd a pair of the new Vermeil speaker cables. I placed an order. As you can see, I also have fallen for cables that use gold in the conductors.
I concur with all of what Jafox has stated, regarding the Hybrid, The staging is amazing with all of the Jade cables. That is why I prefer them. Though it is difficult for me to compare the Hybrid straight up with the Vermeil because of my system setup. I run the Hybrid from phono stage to preamp. However, I need a two meter balanced run from preamp to amp, so for the sake of cost, I went with the Vermeil cables here. The Gabriel Gold Extreme/Revelation are also very good cables, and to be honest, I could live very happily with them had I not heard the Jade cables. Tonally the Gabriels are very impressive indeed. Possibly even better than the Jade, on certain music. I would say they sound similar tonally, the Gabriel's are slightly quicker, while the Jade's tend to sound slightly richer. They both do brass instruments with incredible natural 'shimmer'. The Jade's win out with the 3-D soundstaging though, IMHO. It's not like the Gabriel's have a faulty soundstage, they just can't match the soundstage of the Jade, but then my PAD Dominus cables cannot match the 3-D stage of the Jade cables either.
The Audio Metallugy GA-0's are very good cables, especially considering their prices. I would have to put the GA-0's in the 'best bang for the buck' category. They are not as refined and rich as the Jade cables, nor quite as clean and crisp as the Gabriels, but they do get you close for a fraction of the price. I currently am using them to run from my DVD player into my preamp.
John |
Audiobuzz, it is hard for me to see if you have some hidden agenda here. Do you have any affiliation with Gabriel cables? You seem to take my comments pretty seriously. I have no affiliation with any manufacturer, and I really do like the Gabriel cable line. So I do not understand your appearant venom towards me.
If not, don't take my critique too hard. The Gabriel's are some VERY good sounding cables. I had no chance to audition the Revelation interconnects, only the Extremes (thanks Art). I also own a 1 meter pair of the GG Revelation speaker cables. Yes, Steve mentioned that he had no way of knowing how they would sound, as they are shorter than any pair he had made previously. My PAD Dominus pair of speaker cables are 3 feet long, and the pair I ordered from Jade Audio is 4 foot long (no complaints from JD). Some cable manufacturers claim that length is an issue, some do not. Since I run monoblock amps, and run a 2 meter length of interconnect to the amps, I do not see the need to spend extra money on cable I do not need. My speakers are about 2 feet from my amps. So what is your point? Should I buy 8 feet lengths and coil them behind my speakers? I find it hard to believe that this is the answer to better sound. Which manufacturer is right? Who knows? Do they simply recommend longer lengths for greater profits? Or is there really a fact driven reason? I would be happy to listen to an 8 foot pair of the Revelation if Steve would lend me a pair, to see if there is a difference. Also, if you are willing to lend me a pair of the Revelation interconnects, I'm all ears. 8-)
FWIW, I do think the 3 ft pair of PAD Dominus sounds great. It is a tad rolled off in the frequency extremes, something that I have heard about this cable in general. The GG Revelation did cure this problem, but it had other issues that led me to prefer the PAD Dominus.
Also, fwiw, both Steve and JD are great guys to deal with. I also do concur with Audiobuzz's comments about us having some great options from 2 giant killers. If you hear any of these cables, you will be surprised at how much you can save. I've owned many higher priced cables from Nordost, Jena Labs, Audioquest, PAD, etc, and both the Gabriel Gold and Jade Audio cables beat all that I've heard fairly easily. I'm also a fan of the Stealth Dream power cords like Tbg and Jafox.
Cheers,
John |
Hi Audiobuzz, no harm, no foul. No, I haven't heard a longer length of the PAD Dominus in my system. The only speaker cables that I've heard short lengths vs. longer lengths were a pair of Ridge Street Audio Design Poiema!!!, Tara Labs Decade, and Cardas Golden Reference.
To my ears, I could not detect any real difference due to cable length. The basic sonic charateristics remained the same.
While I do realize that some cable manufacturers recommend at least 6 ft lengths, none, including Steve, have ever had a good explaination as to why this would be. I may have a better grasp on this when my Jade Audio speaker cables come in. The demo pair that I tried was an 8 foot length, the pair I ordered was a 4 ft length. JD has made no comment regarding the shorter length, in fact he also mentioned that it didn't make sense to pay for a length more than you require. Why use 2.5 meter interconnects when all you need for your application is 1 meter? Have you noticed sonic differences in different lengths of cables (i/c's, s/c's or p/c's)?
I'm not really going to argue over the longer interconnect/ shorter speaker cable vs. the shorter interconnect/longer speaker cable debate, that debate is endless, IMHO. Just like tubes vs. SS, or digital vs. analog, each side will have it's proponants. All one can do is listen and choose for themselves.
Cheers,
John |
Thanks John, things that make me go hmmmm. I also demo'd the 8 ft burn in pair of Vermeil and was very impressed. I await your further testing after the 4 ft pair is burned in. I'd really hate to go to an 8 foot pair, not just because of cost, but my amps are right next to my speakers, and I'd have to coil the wires (alledgedly a no-no) just to take up all the extra slack. I suppose I could run my right monoblock to my left speaker, and switch i/c leads, though this seems a bit odd too.
Cheers,
John |
Hi John,
Any update yet on the 4 ft. vs. the 8 ft. run of Vermeil speaker cable? Would you say the 4 ft. run is burnt in yet?
One thing I noticed about the Vermeil interconnects was that their sonic character changed more for the better with burn in than any other interconnects I've ever heard (including the Solid Gold and the Hybrid). I've long been a proponant of cable burn in, but I've never heard it change the sound as much as it did with the Vermeil interconnects.
I've never had the opportunity to listen to a short run vs. a longer run of the exact same speaker cable. I do know some cable manufacturers won't sell lengths shorter than 6 ft. However, many manufacturers are only too happy to sell shorter lengths. Who's right?
JD, feel free to chime in here if you wish.
Cheers,
John |
Tpreaves has a stuffed animal phobia? Really, that's interesting, I wonder how Dr. Freud may diagnosis that. Pediozoophobia perhaps???
I am not enamored with stuffed animals, but they do not frighten or disturb me either. Certainly stuffed animals would not prohibit me from buying some of the finest cables availible.
I'm glad to hear that you are still making cables J.D. Have you given up on the Vermeil? (gold plated silver)? I see you mention gold plated copper and silver plated copper. I haven't heard your Reference and your Hybrid is wonderful, but I always thought the Vermeil was a terrific bargain cable.
Here's hoping that you soon receive your heart of gold my friend. |
How do you know so much about adults Tpreaves? What are the points of your adolescent posts? Most adults know that if you can't say something nice, you should simply refrain from speaking. |
