Kimber or Cardas for Dynaudio 1.3se

Hi Drubin, I've never spent much personal time with Harmonic Technology's analog cables. I did own HT Platinum Digital for a day but, that's it - not enough to make a fair comment.

A local dealer has these and I've NEVER been impressed with anything in that shop - they sell good gear but it never sounds too good. I attribute that to bad rooms mostly but I have often wondered about the cables.

Bwhite, that you for that! An heroic effort (small pun intended) to convey what Kimber sounds like in a way I can grasp. NBS is another brand I'm not familiar with, but I do know Cardas. Where would you put Harmonic Tech on the bouncing ball spectrum?

Where do people think the "value" is in the Kimber line, if I wanted to pick up something used to try out?

Marakenetz, I'm not sure I agree with you on the pro wire equalling the kimber. But it does seem appealing to me. Are you talking about speaker wire as used in pro-audio applications? Which brand, if any? What gauge?

Kimber XL --power and control, finesse, accurate, tonally realistic and holographic stage. A fine, fine speaker wire.

peter jasz

Drubin, You got me there.....this will be tough. Describing the house sound or character of any product is difficult. But I will try - and then think more after I post so I can describe it better if need be. I am not going to give you the standard audiophile terms of "air, transparency, detail, etc...." because I think that will be confusing.

One thing that really stands out with Kimber's products seems to be a certain unique way of defining the leading and ending edge of each note and the space between them. Kimber's products do this in a way that progressively gets smoother as you go up the line where as the lower end cables tend to have more dramatic (not exactly harsh) edges and the high end less dramatic and somewhat smoother. Low or high, the sound or definition created by this characteristic is unique to Kimber.

This quality gives a pace and a feel to the music which can be perceived as detail throughout the frequency spectrum because all notes (not just highs and lows) are somehow defined and split apart such that they become more visible.

This is similar to NBS in that there seems to be a blackness between notes because of the not-so-subtle beginning and end to each note but each note of Kimber is less abrupt and more rounded than even NBS's finest cables.

Climbing the ladder at Kimber gives you more organic sound. Lower end Kimber is stripped harmonically but higher end stuff - while still a little stripped of richness, sounds more organic, more natural more "skin-like". In fact the 3035 is THE most "skin-like" sounding cable I've ever heard through the mid-band.

To think of Kimber visually maybe you can picture a ball bouncing across a table... the ball represents each note in music...each bounce is between 1 and three inches high. The ball goes up in semi-steep round curves indicating it has energy as it comes off the table. Likewise the ball heads back to the table in the same curve.

Cardas "bounce" would be less severe... flatter, showing less energy coming off the table

NBS bounce would be more severe, coming off the table almost straight into the air curving slightly at the very top and then coming straight down again.

Kimber cable(almost any in the line) can be easily replaced by high quality pro speaker wire terminated with WBT or Cardas.
Cardas Newtral Referance is the cable that you won't ever hear or feel its presence with minimal ever signal colouration.

Hi I had all Golden Cross Interconnects and speaker cables biwire hooked up to a Pass X250 amp and it was way to warm for my taste. I changed the Golden Cross IC with a Audioquest Anaconda XLR IC which made a big difference in the highs being more open. I then changed the Golden Cross speaker cable to Cardas Netrual Ref and loved how the whole system opened up for me. As much as I like the Golden cross it was just way to warm for my system. I will be trying the the AudioQuest Volcano Speaker cable next just to see how it changes, but I am really happy with the Caradas Neutral Ref you might want to give that a consideration to it can be picked up here at Audiogon for a real good price. By they way my Cd player is a wadia 850 and speakers are Martin Logan Ascent. Hope this helps some.

Bwhite, how would you characterize the Kimber house sound? It is one of a few leading cable brands I have no experience with, but I'm starting to get interested.

I don't want to confuse you, and I haven't had any of these speaker cables in my system, but since you have described the cardas and the kimber so well, we may have the same taste.
The kimber select ic's has, for me, been the only one to equal the bass performance of the cardas ic's that you mentioned. If you were to go as far, you might consider them as you consider these speaker cables.

Hi Vikvilkhu. I would second your concerns about the Cardas GC adding too much warmth and body to your system. It is possible to get too much of a good thing. The Cardas Golden Reference is similar in smoothness to the GC but has a better tonal balance. To me, GC seems excessively rolled off at the top end and awesome in the low end. GR is a little less awesome in the low end and has better highs. :)

A nice cable setups I had with solid state gear was Nordost Quattro Fil from CD to preamp, Cardas Golden Cross from preamp to amp and Kimber Select 3035 for my speakers. This was a nice balance, however - I ultimately found the GC a bit too dark...

For speaker cables, you might want to try the Monocle XL which has more conductors than the X. This serves to give you better tighter, more extended bass while maintaining a great deal of the Kimber house sound. The difference between X and XL is worth the extra cash.