Mapleshade vs. Anti-Cables

I use the Mapleshade ribbon ICs and have tried both the Speltz IC and speaker cable. In no way are the interconnects similar and in no way are the cables in the same league.

The Mapleshade interconnect is one of the very best I have ever used and is an amazing bargain. I rate it 4 stars.

The Speltz stuff is very limited dynamically, not particularly transparent and monochromatic tonally. They had some decent qualities, but in my system the Mapleshade smoked them across the board. I would rate either the speaker or ICs half a star.

Naturally YYMV. Some people swear by the Speltz. I find it hard to believe that they would perform in a system capable of displaying tonal vibrancy and large scale dynamics. I have not heard them in other systems.

I have not tried the Mapleshade speaker cable, but think it looks a bit better than the Speltz (the twisting would eliminate a bit of the ringing and perhaps offer better dynamics) and trust their ears and reputation more. A caution about the Mapleshade ICs -- they are very fragile and require great care and set up and burn in to optimize performace. They are not for many people. My ICs have been damaged 3 times and reassembled. Even so, they trounce most everything in comparison. Make sure to burn them in extensively and carefully follow the instructions.

The Clearview and Mapelshade/inSound speaker cables sound very similar to the interconnects, most likely for the same reasons. They are very detailed without adding edge, better than anything I've compared them to and shockingly better than most. As you go up the line in either form, they just get smoother and more effortlessly transparant.