Mapleshade and others



Hello Folks:

Would appreciate any views on comparing the sound of their entire line with the following alternate choices:

Kimber Silver Steak
Harmonic Tech (Pro 11 plus or Magic)
Harmonic Tech (Pro Silway)
Cardas (Neutral or Golden Reference)
Kubala Sosna (anything)

My system will be tube based with the MB 450 by VTL and a tube preamp more than likely by CJ, ARC or Lamm. Speakers are Thiel.

My thanks.

D.H.
danhirsh
Mapleshade, if you dont like them you have a 30 day trial period. Pierre swears by them! Call them and ask for advise. Real good people
The Mapelshade will blow away anything you put against them, IMO. They open the window wide by comparison with the Cardas being warm, rich and hugely lacking in detail by comparison and the HT being the closest but still far behind, with the Kimber in the middle. I haven't heard the Kubala. The further up the line you go, the smoother and more effortlessly transparant they get.
I agree with Piedpiper. I use the Mapleshade Planar V speaker wires and Ebony interconnects. I havn't hered anything that even comes close by a very wide margin! I'm moving up to the Ebnoy speaker wires now.
Kwkwsr1000,
Please list all of the interconnects and speaker cables that you've compared to Mapleshade in your system.

Any cables heard outside of your system cannot be compared to Mapleshade as you know.

So, list away.
Perhaps I should have said IME instead of IMO. I've compared all the levels of Mapleshade passive models with Acoustic Zen, Harmonic Tech, Nordost, Kimber, Audioquest, Cardas, Straightwire, Siltech, Aperture, Synergistic Research, Tara Labs and others and the difference is often not particularly funny. Without getting exhaustive, my experience is that Mapleshade is onto something with their prioritizing minimal dieltric and conductor thickness as well as maximizing dielectric and conductor quality. Most other cables are designed for, among other things, bulletproofness despite the effect on the sonics. This leaves the Mapleshade wire sounding remarkably open and refined by comparison to the opaque, muddy, edgey or simply not quite as open or refined results of the others IME. Obviously I have not scrutinized all the cables out there. I am simply offering what experiences I have had, such as it is. I welcome all well intentioned input. I have no interest in defending undue loyalty issues.

dealer disclosure.
Sorry piper, I think thread posts are limited to 300 or 400 lines.

There simply is not enough space to list the details of my experience.

However, I see you covered your experience with an appropriate amount of brevity.

I think you forgot prices and a link though.
just trying to offer and solicit useful info. In retrospect, my use of the phrase, "blow away anything you put against them", was ill advised, regardless of my experience.

If I understand you correctly, you have extensive experience with the entire Mapleshade line of cables in comparison with others that you feel put them to shame but that you believe it is unethical for dealers such as us to discuss the specifics of these experiences on this forum. Fair enough.
FWIW, I've enjoyed the sound of ss c-j, Thiel and Alpha-Core Goertz speaker cables.