Denon1, how many hours did you use the hidiamond cables? I currently use the D9 interconnects and the D8 speaker cables. My set up sounds quite holographic. Do the KCI and Snake River combo provide 3D imaging for your soundstage? |
Thank you Denon,
That's instructive |
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Lak and BArbapapa, the KCI cables (ICs, power and speakers) are terrific cables for the money. But of course its all system depended.
The KCI silkworm plus ICs are best interconnects I had in my system. They were better than Hidiamond XLR3 (more open and even more natural with better defined midrange) and bested so many others. I have to admit, that (driven by desire to get the best manufacturer offers I upgraded them to KCI silkworm SE version where John (KCI maker) utilizes 22K gold instead of 24k.
They elevated the overall sound to even higher level with more flashed out tones, better air and deeper soundstage.
I stopped looking for ICs after getting KCI silkworm + SE. Btw KCI power cables are also terrific for the price.
I compared them directly to Kubala Sosna emotions, HD power 3 and 4, Shunyata anaconda CX, HZ crown jewel and some others and their owner, John,( in my opinion) one of the few guys (also on this level Eric Love from Fusion audio and Jonny from Snake River) out there that still provide great real ( not a snake oil) cable products and terrific services.
After auditioning Snake river signature speaker cables in my system I sold Hidiamonds HD8. The hidiamonds just did not sound that open and natural in my system as Snake River and KCI.
Now I am buying the Fusuion Audio Ella speaker cables, but they cost 3 time more than Snake river, but do provide with even more air and more midrange without sacrificing any details.
So my opinion for the money Snake river signature cottonmouth speaker cables are best cables I heard under $2500 range. DonÂ’t hesitate to contact any of those guys, they are terrific to deal with and provide you with the demos to audition. You can contact me off the forum for more details. I don'trepresent any of those brands, just another happy customer.
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I'd also be interested in the answer to Barbapapa's question. |
Hello,
I'm on the way for cables. I have HiDiamond D8 speaker cables and naturally thought about D9 interconnect when I read some post about KCI and Snake River. Did you listen to them all and how would you caracterize the sound ?
Best |
Just want to provide with some update. KCI now manufacturing speaker cables that are great sounding cables (bested Gabriel Gold reflections, Hidiamond 8, Stealth Hybrid MLT and some others in my system for less price). If anybody need more details and pictures please send me email. These speaker cables are a great match to silkworm ICs. |
Wow, this thread still lives!! Glad you liked what you heard Denon1, your set is coming along nicely.
Lall,
Great question, thank you. As you know gold pricing is VERY volatile and prices have fallen over the last week or so, but, KCI has held firm on our pricing for years now with the exception of one small price increase, which I think, was back in 08 or 09 time span I believe. We did not increase our prices when gold began to climb, we held steady and hung in there for our customers, so hopefully it continues to fall and reaches a more "normal" price point so we can begin to gain some headway here.
As luck would have it; I was running low on wire so about 8-10 days ago I placed an order for some wire, received it this past Monday morning right about the time gold began to fall rapidly..... Checked the market Monday afternoon and was a little shocked! Oh well, that's the way it goes with precious metals, maybe it will continue to fall so I can make up some ground here....
Thanks,
John |
A Denon1,,I could not have said eany better!,Again, congrats on a awsome cable you have!, cheers! |
Audiolabyrinth, thank you and yes cables do make a big difference, in some cases on a level of the component. |
John
Now that gold prices have plummeted by 30% over past weeks, will this be reflected in the prices of your products?
thanks |
@ Denon1,, Congrats! Awsome! Cables make a very big difference with the right cable! cheers! |
Just to add to this forum, I auditioned the KCI silkworm + in my system between cd player that drives the amplifier directly. After 30 min of playing I heard what I was looking for in the ICs - open, musical but with great transparency, great timbers/texture, balanced throughout the spectrum. I can go on, but as it has been well said previously - magical. In addition John (manufacturer) is a great man to deal with.
Btw, these cables, to my ears, made my system sound to the greater level than other gold based cables and other very popular and expensive names. I placed the order and canÂ’t wait to get my pair. |
I would think that there would be a demand for a GOLD HDMI cable ?????????????? |
Just to poke on this thread. I've had the Silkworm+ in system for a few months now, connecting my VAC pre to VAC 300.1a amp. It is a marvelous interconnect. Agree with comments above about its musical nature, no artifacts, puts meat and timbre on the bone. When I hear people talk about the magic of their Shindo systems, those words are how I feel about this Silkworm+ cable. My comparison is to Cardas Golden Reference, Harmonic Technology Magic Link 2, and Audience au24e xlr, all three of which are also superb cables, especially the HT, but the silkworm brings the magic. I can almost tell what shade of lipstick Nora Jones is wearing, and what cigar the guy in the front row is smoking... |
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... |
Edman,
I spoke to someone a month or so back in reference to the Firefly S.E., was that you?? I cannot for the life of me find the email he sent me and was hoping he was someone posting in this thread, if so please shoot me another email.
Thanks to everyone!
Best,
John |
I have the single ended(rca)Firefly and was wondering has anyone upgraded to the Silkworm.
I do like my Firefly's!! |
I am glad to see this thread back on track. While I do not own any KCI, I know it well and appreciate the designer who has shown passion for the cable and its customers.
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I've been absolutely loving my Silkworm+ interconnects for a few weeks now; the best I've ever had in my system (and that includes quite a few of the big names)! And I echo the sentiments about John; just a pleasure to deal with and soon you feel like you have a new audio friend.
Best in 2010 to John and all the KCI users!
Randy |
Living across the pond in the UK Silkworm is almost unheard of. In my 40 odd years of buying Hi Fi I've been up in the stratosphere of £950 ($1600) interconnects but have never heard anything so beautifully balanced as the Silkworms. There isn't an area of the frequency range that is understated or exaggerated. It is all so natural, clear and enveloping. Great product and John is a top guy to deal with.
System:-
Primaluna Dialogue 2, Astin Trew tubed CDP, Vandersteen 1c's with Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker cable. |
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Great to see this thread back, thanks AudiogoN. |
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Good to see this post is back up and running |
You are most welcome, John. I'm sure that others benefitting from the great enjoyment and fulfillment provided by the Silkworm+ feel pretty much the same. |
Arthur,
Sorry, I missed this for a bit. We are currently working on a few things; one being possibly a gold USB cable. Also working on some more affordable cables using copper, silver etc. I'll keep you posted. Hope you're doing great and the new room looks FANTASTIC, I'm so jealous!!
Opus88,
Wow, thank you for the kind words! I'm thrilled to hear that you are enjoying your cable so much. I have to admit I was a little nervous considering some of the other cables you were putting her up against, guess I can breathe easy now. ;)
Please keep me/us posted on your thoughts as you get even more familar with your Silkworm+. I hope you are doing well, thank you very much and have a great day!!
Sincerely,
John |
Lately, I have been taking advantage of the opportunity to hear the Silkworm+, which I had requested John Prator to equip with Eichmann Copper Bullet plugs. After running the cable in for nearly 350 hours, I would like to share my listening impressions. First, what really "seals the deal" for me with this cable is its ability to render various tonal shades and shifts in timing and manner of expressiveness among instruments and instrumentalists with the sort of beauty and musicality that causes me to shake my head and smile. I also find its presentation avoids any tendency toward the analytical, and simply permits the music to flow with ease, openness and even elegance if it's in the mix. Especially noteworthy is the very significant minimization of unpleasant artifacts(mainly brightness)at macrodynamic levels, so that what I hear brings me that much closer to experiencing a live orchestral concert. Throughout the complete sound spectrum, hi fi-ishness or artificiality has no place with the Silkworm+. The degree of naturalness is ear opening. I detected nothing untoward either with separation and location of instruments, stage depth, width or height, all of which are quite important to me as a listener of mostly orchestral music. Further, I consider top and bottom end performance to be extremely fine. I feel delighted too with the rendering of realistic warmth in the lower strings, and the reproduction of the orchestra's power instruments...All things considered, I have every reason to feel the charms of the Silkworm+ will continue to unfold as things move on. If you haven't done so already, I recommend you invite this marvelous cable into your home. Not only do I consider it a superb instrument, but also feel its creator, John Prator, is an absolute pleasure to deal with. He impresses as a very likeable fellow, with a most engaging sense of humor. I'm confident he'll be very pleased to communicate with you, and I daresay there's a very good chance you'll be quite pleased with what he will offer for your musical enjoyment. |
Anything new for 2010 John? |
I tell you; I love the Phi series amps, great stuff but a friend had the Musicblocs and they sounded great to me. Have you seen the Phi Alpha? Would love a pair of those babies! Anyway, hope you're well, have a good day...
John |
Hi John,
Yes, my e-mail should be working. I'm using AOL, so there might be an issue. I'll find one of your e-mails and reply. I haven't heard the PHI series, but I'm assuming that they are much better with upgraded parts, etc. The Musicblocs I have are discontined. I have the earlier single-ended only version. At the time, balanced inputs could be included for an additional $500.00, I think. The next generation of Musicblocs came stock with the balanced outputs. |
Hey Sherod,
Sorry I missed this until just now. Is your email working? I've tried emailing and it got kicked back twice....
Have you compared your Musicblocs to the Phi series? Can the Musicblocs run balanced and single ended? Thanks for the info!
John |
Hi John,
I currently have VAC Musicbloc amps, Audio Horizons 2.0n preamp and Reference 3a monitors. |
Pat,
Any updates on your new speakers? Still waiting to hear your thoughts on those babies!
Sherod,
What pre/amp are you currently using in your system? Speakers?
Regards,
John |
Pat,
I only had your cables playing for a short time, maybe 70 hours on the 1.5M and 20 hours on the 1M, so they'll both need some further break-in before they probably sound their best. I initially had only the 1.5M hooked up from my pre to amp so that I could hear what just the one pair sounded like. Keep us posted on how they sound with more time. I'm glad you're liking your new speakers. Ain't this a fun hobby? |
Plugged them in a few days ago, so far, so great.
They sound so real and natural, I don't even pay attention to them anymore, just enjoying the music.
John, you're an EVIL cable genius.
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Rx8man,
Did you receive your cables from Sherod yet? How about those new speakers-any thoughts on them so far? Let us know your thoughts, I for one am VERY curious about your thoughts on the speakers.
John |
After hearing mine, I think he's hooked !
Like your speakys Aggielaw. |
Thanks, Sherod. I hope you are able to get a pair soon!
Best,
Howard |
Your review just came up. Enjoy your new Silkworm+, Howard.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1252193426
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Guys,
With 450 hours on my Silkworm+ cables, I felt it was time to evaluate them and get a review out. The review should be available in a few hours if it isn't already. I hope it is thorough enough to be truly insightful to those interested.
Howard |
Thanks, John, for spilling the beans. (o: |
Art,
Glad to hear you're enjoying them, sorry about "blowing them up". I'm looking forward to attending the "meet" you'll be having this month, I can't wait to see the speakers/amps/CDP I've heard so much about! Thank you for the invite, much appreciated.
Pat & Sherod,
You guys are cracking me up! Pat, I think you're screwed, Sherod seems to like your cables and I think you're going to have a tough time getting them back. Oh well, I'll build you some more-someday..... ;)
Best,
John |
Yes, Pat. I'm fine. It was a false alarm. They went to the wrong house. Silkworms are safe and sound. |
Sherod, are you ok there ? |
Well, Pat. I've only been listening to your newly upgraded Silkworm+ for 24 hours and already I can tell that these interconnects are "off the map" in sound quality. The midranges, especially voices, are totally mesmerizing. Uh, oh! A truck full of tough-looking guys wearing large Sombreros and carrying what look like AK-47 rifles just pulled up to my house. Gotta go. Looks like trouble. Talk with you later. |
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! |
Pat,
I meant to email you this morning as well and got side tracked, sorry about that. As you now know your cables are on the way to the Mexican border, hopefully they survive the dangerous journey. I doubt they'll ever be seen again in Ohio without a ransom of some sort. Just the "Border way" my friend, so sorry. ;)
Dazone,
Thank you for the kind words sir. I couldn't help it, I had to update your cable as I just couldn't have you living with the 1st gen/prototype, just wasn't right. I'm happy to hear that you are enjoying the Pegasus. If you ever have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me anytime. Thank you!
Best,
John |
I offered my impressions earlier here regards KCI John's Pegasus dig cable. He had asked that I sent them back from audition (he already had payment) so he could update them to current production. He replaced the old WBT terminals (mine were first generation cables) and the teflon jacket. He wouldn't take anymore money from me. KCI makes a glorious dig cable and John's service is on the moon. Many thanks, John, you're a fine fellow and I am one happy customer/listener, indeed. |
