John - where can we find information on KCI? Thanks much for your reply in this thread, almost always helpful when the manufacturers will weigh in....Art |
Thanks Rumadian.....my bad, sorry... |
I knew these cables were something special! Great review John!Its rare to get all reviewers to chime in and do a full review of a product- even more special that they were all blown away!!
Stivervii
I was one of the reviewers and I ended up buying 2 pairs of Silkworms and a pair of Mandarina for my phono...couldn't agree more Stivervii, these cables are exquisite...they just plain make beautiful music. |
Talk to John at KCI
www.koolcables.com |
I just got my Silkworm Phono Cable and it is incredible! |
Hi Jim, the Firefly is a faster more analytical cable in my experience with it, but not overly aggressive as silver can be if done implemented differently. The Silkworm has terrific PRAT and detail as well, the Silkworm is just plain flat out musical and preferred in my system...
Agree, call John, he'll let you hear for yourself.... |
I have someone coming by this weekend with a Benchmark DAC and John was kind enough to send us one of the Silkworm digitals to listen to, I'll report back on what we hear but won't have a basis for comparison recently as I'm typically running a one-box solution.... |
Jim - did you ever get your Firefly? Curious as to your thoughts.... |
Not every component works in everyone's system, nothing more nothing less in Don's post to me than that....my experience with the Silkworm's was different....to each their own.... |
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In my case it's Rapidly Aging VAC Enthusiast.... |
It's nice to be able to customize ot "tune" the base Silkworms a bit, in my case John made me a pair with some connectors I wanted on them. Not many companies offer that kind of customer flexibility without the expense of upgrading to more expensive lines, but KCI is great in that regard. DCCA is another company that is very flexible to some customization based on your sonic or physical preferences. |
Great to hear this went the direction it did Jim, congrats and best to both TMH and KCI....
John, what else new is on the horizon for KCI in 2008? |
Cool John, can't wait to hear your new offerings... |
Still running them in John, early listening sounds good though! |
There's a nice review of John's Silkworm, Mandarina, and Firefly IC's in the May issue at affordableaudio.com |
Just as a teaser, John's protoype SC's are eerily similar sonically to Acoustic Zen Hologram's at what I suspect will be a much better price point.
Definitely a product release to watch for! |
Silkworm's only here buddy.... |
If all goes well I will take delivery of my special edition Silkworm's this Friday. I'm making the jump from 26 gauge to 22 gauge cable and all of the design improvements John has made to date...I'm pretty excited and will report back as soon as I have them burned in a bit... |
Thanks Eldulcesol! Did you have the 26awg before the 22awg? |
Well, to be brief...the 22awg are keepers, just more of everything and not a subtle difference at all, it's very pronounced....what a nice step up! If you love the 26awg Silkworm's, start saving up, it's definitely worth it! |
Highly recommended Psjulian, save up!
I'm going to give John's new SC's and PC a try in the near future, interested to hear what he's done there.... |
I invented the internet, but kept it under wraps so Al Gore could get credit.... :-) |
Just kidding around....
I wasn't actually going for any thunder, so there's none to steal...I was just sharing that I was trying a different version of the Silkworm's and Elducesol chimed in with his experience at heavier gauge, which mine and yours confirms...
Let's keep John's thread free of this, my bad I shouldn't have been such a smart aleck... |
John told me he thinks 22awg is the point of diminishing return based on his work/experiments with different gauges...maybe he'll chime in here and comment...not sure on how much you gain between 24 and 22, but 26 to 22 was a pretty nice step up for me... |
I would however dispute the super nice guy part! :-) |
Snopro and Jb, do keep us posted on your thoughts as your SE's get some time on them and settle in. I have to say I'm pretty ecstatic with mine after a month of playing time.
I just got the new speaker cables and power cords to demo, I'll post some thoughts in a couple weeks after they play in some... |
I've been on the road quite a bit so I haven't been able to spend tons of time with them, but let me say these do not sound like a silver cable in the traditional sense most of us think of when it comes to silver cables. They have very nice speed and detail, but also keep a very smooth sound at the same time, no shrillness or harshness at all. I am not typically a fan of silver cables, so needless to say I have found these very surprising so far. I still have some breaking them in to do and will post more after a couple weeks of listening. I really don't have much skinny on their construction beyond they are separate runs for + and - on each speaker and use copper spades, maybe John will chime in with more. |
How did this thread die out? Any KCI product updates from new or existing users? John, can you give us an update on the product line and all your current offerings? |
Anything new brewing you'd like to share with us John? :-) |
I am running the new VAC monoblock's and have the Silkworm SE on them. I'll be very interested to hear more about a much improved version of the Silkworm, can you ahsre more with us?
You have mail about power cord.... |
Great to see this thread back, thanks AudiogoN. |
I have had some prototype Silkworm + with Xhadow Connectors for a few days now and wanted to give some quick, early impressions for those following this thread and wondering about the next gen cables from John. The + has all the qualities of the original Silkworm, but adds decided amount more flesh on the bone in terms of fullness/richness, and is a subtle level smoother on the top end without compromising the detail of the original. There also seems to be a bit more three dimensionality in the soundstage and image. The + is most definitely a nice step forward over the original, which was already a terrific cable.
I'll post some further thoughts as I get a few more days on them, but believe at this point it will be worth the cost and effort to get my originals upgraded to the new + model. Nice work John, I know it was a lengthy process to arrive on these improvements, but it has paid off based on my early listening to the +.
Of course, these are my opinions, based on my ears and preferences in my system, YMMV as always. |
Well, to put it simply the new + and my upgraded SE with Xhadow connectors are broken in and a very very nice upgrade on the original Silkworm. They continued to open up and flesh out a bit and now are simply glorious. Extended and polished without any graininess at all. They have an even richer glow to the sound but still deliver the goods in terms of detail. As I said befor they also have more meat to their sound now, more punch. I didn't think John could improve on the Silkworm I loved so much, but darned if he didn't go and blow them up. You guys waiting to get your upgraded cables back are in for a definite treat. Enjoy! |
Anything new for 2010 John? |
Edman - I have heard both and the Silkworm were the way to go in my system....as nice as the Firefly's are I just found the Silkworm + to have more of everything! YMMV of course, but worth an audition if John can work it out for you... |
