Thanks for your observations and review.
Matthew Bond Audio speaker cables - observations
I had been using Silversmith Audio Fidelium speaker cable for the past few years. While I was satisfied with the sound, (on a value basis, unequaled in my personal view), I wondered if I could get a bit more. I also had some frustration with the connection to binding posts, and particularly the complications the jumpers added. They’re just difficult to manage behind the speakers - at least for me.
I had auditioned Nordost Valhalla 2s (I’m already well into the Nordost ecosystem) and liked them very much - and was ready to buy from my local dealer.
About that same time, I saw an add from Matthew Bond Audio (formerly of Tara Labs) and read up on his designs and called Matthew to chat with him about it (nice guy by the way). I decided to purchase a pair of GSC 36 cables with an agreement from Matthew I could return them if they didn’t meet my expectations.
The GSC 36s are more detailed, open, and fully fleshed out than any other speaker cables I’ve tried. Just fun to listen to and without any shortcomings I can identify.
To be fair, while I’ve auditioned near the top end of Audioquest, Transparent, and Nordost, I haven’t auditioned the very top end of those lines (Dragon and Odin 2, etc.), much less the wide variety of top end cables from other manufacturers. . Nevertheless, the GSC 36s are the best I’ve heard and are staying in system.
For those of you considering like options, these are well worth exploring. Of course, YMMV. For me - end game. I now have to wonder about his interconnects…
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@mclinnguy Yeah. I’m finally getting the hint. I’ll try to get some pictures up in the virtual system in a few weeks when I get back there. While I’m loving the system, I’ve pushed it as far as the room will let it go as it’s our living room - smallish and compromised, particularly relative to some of the system pictures posted here, But, I’ll get some up. |
What is the pricing of these? I see in their website that they ask for you to contact them. Since you compared to Valhalla 2s, I assume that these are closely priced to those Valhalla’s. Good to see that there are competitive products in this price class. I have used TOWNSHEND Audio F1 fractal speaker wires for a while until I went back to pure silver Neotech 9 gauge speaker wires with WBT connections. It appears that you have achieved audio nirvana with your current setup. |
@audioquest4life - the retail price of these is between Valhalla 2s and Odin 2s, but I was able to able to purchase them new for better than that after chatting with Matthew and I’m guessing you could do the same easily enough if you were interested. Best,
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I put a couple of pictures up. You can see the challenge in my setup. Itl sounds quite nice but it would be helpful to get the speakers out another foot or so. I’m still impressed with the Matthew Bond speaker cables. They really are stunningly good - to me at least. Now if I could just clean up the “spaghetti “ behind the cabinet. Best, |
Madison Audio Lab was formed by a group of people with unique backgrounds, from audiophiles to audio professionals and including musicians and electrical engineers. One of the founders is Mr. Matthew Bond of Tara Labs. I have one set of Madison Audiolab Speaker cables on my second system, very high quality cable. Worth the Money. Very detailed, neutral cable. I am not sure if he is still there? |
As the speaker cables have broken in fully, they’re better than ever. So, I pulled the trigger and purchased a pair of Matthew’s Analog Reference interconnects. I’ll share my observations on those after they’ve settled into the system. They’re replacing a pair of Valhalla 2 interconnects which are fantastic - so my expectations are high. If the MBA aren’t better, I’ll either return them or relegate to a 2nd system but i expect they’ll be as good as the speaker cables. Unlike the speaker cables which are very easy to manage, the interconnects are a bit unwieldy, but i shouldn’t need to fiddle with them much. More to come. |
I just discovered Matthew Bond is related to the excellent Tara Labs, so I will be checking his cables. @mgrif104 - thanks for posting |