New silversmith fidelium cable

   cried 5 times    then more

      continuity

Was asked by a member to comment on these cables.  My reply:

I think a quote from my wife this morning says more than I ever could: "Your best audio purchase ever."

Our system brought both of us to tears multiple times last night. That's never happened to either of us before.

The accolades that you see on the web are legitimately earned in my opinion.

I hear ya zenolith and agree, listening last night: Ron Carter, Karen Carpenter, Mark Knopfler, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Melody Gardot, Vivaldi, Celldweller... across the spectrum all sound ethereal..the Fideliums just work in my system. Course you are a lucky man as I had to cry alone since my wife is not quite as passionate about music as I am...haha. 

We talked about this; here’s what we concluded:

While the music we were hearing was unquestionably beautiful, it wasn’t the beauty of the music that caused us to cry, it was the success of our system in convincing our brains that we were in the presence of the performers. It was the shock of being so thoroughly deceived by our system that caused us to cry! Pretty amazing!

Very likely, I think, that we will become accustomed to that magic trick level of suspension of disbelief and not be brought to tears so easily. But I kind of hope not! However, I didn’t turn on the system until late yesterday out of concern that I was not ready emotionally for the experience between my ears and my brain that doing so could cause! Pretty amazing!

Was a tear free night though...glad and sad at the same time :) :(

And yes, I am a lucky man!

This goes to show Cables makes a difference. I am going through a similar experience where my new cables have shown another dimension of my system. When everything snaps together as a ‘whole’ you can’t help feel ecstatic about the choices you’ve have made in your audio journey. It’s all very rewarding! 

@lalitk 

X2 - what a blessing it is.

It was with my ears, my particular components, my records, my preferences and in my room that I recently compared the Fidelium speaker cables with the Cardas Clear - and chose the Fidelium. I had selected Cardas as the comparator because in my stream of things that company's Clear XLR interconnects are everywhere from my phono stage forward. Since "looms" are in vogue now I thought, what the hell? While I love the interconnects, my determination was that the Fidelis teased out a little more timbre from cellos, reproduced the piano scale with a bit more wood in place and at higher volumes held the soundstage together more completely than the Cardas.

Everyone has her or his "definitive" recordings with which to test cables, and mine were Coltrane's "Africa" (I could easily follow Tyner's piano into the maelstrom), Takas Quartet's performance of Bartok's string quartet cycle (high violin never smeared or fatigued, viola was distinct and timing was impeccable), and choral works aplenty (voice placement was wonderful and there was never a sonic halo).

I'm not going to tell anyone to choose as I have and I'm not going to diss anything. In my little opinion, however, I believe anyone with full-range hearing and a passion for that miracle we call music should at least plug a test pair of Fidelium speaker cables into her or his system. If you like them, you have a great and surprisingly affordable speaker cable; if not, then you have a great and surprisingly affordable reference point moving forward.

I am coming up on 7 months with the Silversmith Fidelium. Truly impressive/no hyperbole.  





Room Treats ~ Michael Green & mine
Sony Transport
Snake River Audio Boomslang
Shunyata Z-Alpha Digital Power Cord to DAC
Decware ZDSD DAC/Transformer output stage
Kimber Select KS1030
XLO Pro Power Cord to ZMA
Decware Zen Mystery Amplifier (ZMA)/25th Anniversary Mods
Current tube roll: NOS Upscale Audio Ediswan 6922/inputs-NOS Upscale Audio THE Telefunken's E88CC 6922/inverters-Tung-Sol
quad 7027A/power tubes -NOS 0A3's
Silversmith Audio Fidelium Speaker Cables/6ft
Acoustic Zen Adagio/Modified/Single Capped/ Mundorf MCap Supremes
Kimber PK-10 Palladian Power Cord from wall to PS Audio P3
DAC & ZMA run direct from High Current outlet/P3
Transport regenerated only

Other cables in my stable:
Snake River Audio Cottonmouth Gold RCA IC
Illuminati D-60
High Fidelity Cables Reveal/digital 

I am approaching month 3 of having a set of Fidelium cables.  I don't have any experience with high end cables though (previous speaker cables were Audioquest Rocket 44s), but the increase in detail and bass response over the Rocket 44s is quite significant.  I definitely feel that the Fideliums were a great purchase.

Yeah you're really going to get a good pair of speaker cables for 129 bucks LOL LOL must be for a pretty cheap stereo system

Glory you're an idiot these things went up against 29,000 speaker wire and they were better and think about that for a minute anybody that's stupid enough to pay $29,000 or $15,000 or $17,000 for a piece of wire is a sucker and like they say, there's a sucker born everyday lol

Ketchup they're not the same thing, Gertz and nordost use silver copper, fidelium is an alloy that has 33 times less skin effect than either of those metals. And you're getting ripped off by both of those companies in the cost of their cables think about that for a second what can you do to a wire to make it worth $29,000 or 15,000 give your head a shake.

doogiehowser          ""most audiophiles seem to believe almost anything and don’t possess the understanding to reject unsound ideas"
This is a claim that has no basis in fact, truth, or reality you probably do not know anything at all about "most audiophiles' and have certainly presented no evidence, documentation, or reference that would lend any credence, value, or legitimacy to you're claim which is an obvious insult but it probably helps you feel smarter, superior, and may be even better looking than the rest of us!
 

eichlerera70 posts11-27-2020 8:01amI don't believe you auditioned this cable..... 


I owned them not auditioned them.

Havoc,

They are great beginner SC’s. @ $800 is a steal.

The $4900 Hemingway Alpha will outrun many high $$$ SC’s.

Name calling is not a sign of maturity .

OK Glory1,
I'll correct myself.
I don't believe you auditioned OR owned the Fidelium cable....

On the what's best forum, glory said he did not try them and then he did try them? 

Anyway, they ain't beginner cables. Some don't have the system resolution, hearing or experience to get it... .

Hey eich, besides the Fidelium IC'S pending.....Mr. Smith is working on additional speaker cables. Curiosity, will have them in my Listening Room. Yes, at a price. Jeff's, past cable designs + metallurgy; ...him bringing these in at $1795 to $2295 for 6ft. would be cool. Obviously, bold speculation on price from me, humbly.

eichlerera70 posts11-27-2020 8:01amI don't believe you auditioned this cable..... 


@Glory “I owned them not auditioned them.”

Liar... Liar....Pants on Fire !!!

I can understand, ozzy. It's in how your Amp communicates with your Speakers.

I gutted my Adagio's x-over's 7 years ago and single capped/crossed at 4500. Absolutely devine and getting tuneful bass through the Transmission Lines. 

I'm very happy with the Fideliums. However, to say I won't have in Silversmiths new IC and next Speaker Cable creation would be a lie. Furthermore, I will revisit my loved KS6063 in time and have in for demo/Audience FrontRow Speaker Cables this Fall. 

Always a journey and enjoying my Music along the way.

Looking at the pictures on web page I would think these cables would be a complete pain-in-the-rear when trying to attach them to binding posts.

I doubt I’ll get them to fit the binding posts on my amps given how close the binding posts are to one another and how close they are to the input.

Pauly,

I think the majority of Amps can accommodate this cable with a little effort.
They do have adaptors for those hard to fit Amp outputs.
Why don't you post a picture of your Amp's outputs to get our suggestions.

Or in the case of this website, a link.... (if possible)

Scratch built amps, no websites.

Post to post the binding post are 7/8" apart. Then I have my RCA input about 1 1/8" to the left of the binding posts. On the other side I have a grounding post and the gap there is about 1 1/4". No obstruction above or below.

Are these two mono Amps you're talking about?
If so, I think there's plenty of room to hook up the Fidelium Cables.
They are bendable across their 2" dimension.

The silversmith fidelium cable is 33% more conductive than any copper or silver foil out there.

@ozzy....I find myself  somewhat at a loss to understand the dramatic degradation in your system that you report when running these SC’s
For the order of magnitude you are stating the cables would have to exhibit extraordinary LCR measurement characteristics , particular Capacitance?!?!

Might you advise us of the details of your amplification , speakers and your previous incumbent SC’s which may give use something to work with.

Something particularly odd is afoot here.

2:46pmFunny, I must be in the minority on this one. I tried the Fidelium’s speaker cables and was not impressed. It had compressed dynamics, limited frequency extremes and a overall dullness to the sound. In addition, I had to raise the volume level.
I am using tube mono blocks so that may have been the difference. I dunno know.

ozzy

I installed my friends SS F with jumpers vs my Enklien David SC. It’s a $800.00 SC 🎪🤹🎶🎼🎵 and sounds like it. Couldn’t remove it fast enough. It’s a great starter Cable for the $$$.

Hey T1,

what’s the matter for you?

Don’t call members here liars. I’ve owned them, sold them, borrowed my friends for a 2nd hear and Mike at tweak geek sent me a 8’ pair to demo long term.
If you like them so be it but don’t call me a liar.

tsushima1,
You can check out my system in my systems page.

ozzy

ab989
“On the what's best forum, glory said he did not try them and then he did try them? ”

HI,

I have to sort of concur with Ozzy.  I also purchased the Fideliums and had them in my system for two months.  I read all the great reviews and was really looking forward to a possible upgrade from my previous speaker cables. 

In my system I also had to increase the volume on my integrated to match the sound level with my other two speaker cables which was odd.  I also noticed they lacked some dynamics compared to my other cables and lacked a bit of bass as well.  They were very revealing but in the end a bit too smooth and lacking a bit of dynamics so I sold them recently for a good price as they are very good cables.

My system consists of the Pathos Twin towers integrated, Metrum acoustics upgraded Onyx DAC and Metrum ambre streamer.  My speakers are the Spatial audio X 5 open baffles 97 db efficient.

Again I believe cables are all about synergy and in my system my Ridge street audio poiemas III and Ven haus Chela speaker cables sounded better to me.  I've had both for over ten years and they are keepers.

Ts,

Why is so hard to take that they are beginner cables?

gary.anderson9@icloud.com 

You folks who think I am pulling your leg then email me and I will take a pic of the cables and send the pic to you. 🤹🎪

Look on my system pics. Only one pic for T1.

It’s the SilverSmith F SC’s 

Stereo 5, you must have a real expensive stereo system if you're using speaker cables for $129. LOL

Performance of speaker cables are all system dependent. When someone compares 27K cables to 800 dollars SC and don't like SS, it is OK. We have to be mature enough to move past and be happy with our results, rather than pushing it to others. If there was one universal speaker cable every one likes, then there will not be so many brands. I am happy with SS fideliums and at some point would like to change, just to get different flavor. 

What's the capacitance of these SCs? Lots of numbers touted on their website and yet, no capacitance mentioned. It wouldn't betray any trade secrets if they did. People here on these forums are always complaining about lack of candor from vendors.

All the best,
Nonoise

Don’t waste your money on Hemingway. A company that offers 10’ speaker cable as only choice. They claim that their magic doesn’t work in a shorter length. What crap is that. Lean sounding overall. Over priced. They don’t win any awards and no one talks about them. Never got as much conversation as silversmith. Just enjoy your system. Spend your time listening and enjoying music. Isn’t it cool someone makes a product that blows away the competitors overpriced hyped goods. Smart design and innovative. Way to go Jeff!!!!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Good Post ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The performance of these shocked me. In an A/B comparison that I had the pleasure of experiencing, care of Jeff Smith, the owner of Silversmith, there were immediate improvements in dynamics, a smoother overall response, much more coherent wave front, fine detail in instrument decay and room tone. Overall just a great product. I will be ordering a pair as soon as Jeff gets back home after the audition we had here in Redmond, Wa over the weekend. Also looking forward to the interconnects that are in development. 

Thanks. We had them here and the difference was as you describe. This is not to knock them. They are very fast and articulate, clean and clear, virtually as free of glare and tonal coloration as F1. They just fall a little short in terms of body, bass, dynamics and overall realness- exactly what you said. But a fast articulate sound almost always impresses listeners short term- and some actually like that. It is not a huge difference and it could also be these were all very brief auditions (only a few songs per component) and it may be they fill out and warm up when used longer. In any case they do cost less and so are certainly worth considering for anyone not able to afford F1.

To me one of big advantages is how well they fit under the carpet.  Jeff didn't much care for that observation and felt they needed to be elevated depending upon your floor material.

The other option I guess  if you had wooden floors is to cut holes and hang them under the floor.

For Ozzy and others who found the Fidelium's did not work, have you tried other copper foil cables and had the same results? 

It could be a tube/amp/speaker mismatch problem. Large thin foils have an electrical characteristic (either high/low capacitance/inductance, I forget which) that just does not play well with some amps and speaker crossovers. 

I do remember many years ago having custom 2" wide mundorf copper foils, some of the best sounding SC’s I ever had.

But the positive and negative were sandwiched together with a thin layer of teflon double sided tape - the only thing keeping them from shorting out.

Those cables, and the Geortz, and the Townshend F1, they all sandwich the positive and negative close together.

Other like this Fidelium, the Lenehan foils e.t.c do the opposite and have them separated.

I wonder what effect this will have an system matching, because one will suit your amp/speaker combo better than the other.