New Zu Mission cable

12-20-10: Jedinite24
With Zu's current deals on the Mission cable line I'm beginning to wonder if I got a deal at all. I participated in the early promotion back in September and yes I have been enjoying the Mission SCs I purchased. I really felt though that I got a good deal all around since I thought I got the cables @ 50% off.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to get the best single-opportunity price on every purchase in your life, or enjoy some great-performing cables at a better price than the competition. I paid on the high end (about $50-70 higher than average) when I won my pair of Libtec SCs last May. Some people got 'em cheaper and then came the Missions.

But still, for under $300 I got some KILLER cables with an excellent warranty, they sound marvelous in my system, elevated the level of resolution significantly, and I'm not going to let $50 one way or another ruin the experience. In the overall scheme of things, the extra $50 doesn't matter a bit.

So now you've got your choice of prices: 50% off new Event, 65% off new Mission, or 75% B-stock on either. JOhnnyb53 has a point, but this bizarre fluctuation in prices and sales over the last few months is confusing to say the least. I can see Jedi's point of view -- with this type of pricing, who will ever buy at retail? What exactly is retail? This type of all over the map promotions, to me, seems to devalue their own cable.

I for one am not that happy, considering the first half-price promo back in September was supposedly 'limited time only', which apparently means 'until your 60 day trial is up and we decide to sell them for 65% off'. There was also no mention of the Event line, which I may have held out for, considering they are now 50% off. But perhaps come February those will be on sale for 65% off.

I think there is a legitimate resaon for us early adopters to gripe, and be wary.

Agree. Feeling a little peeved myself. I thought the 50% off intro offer was something special. That aside Mission is great cable and this might be a good opportunity to add more Mission to the system.

If its any consolation, the B-stock is clearly noted as such so their resale may not be as good as that of you guys who got in early on the A-stock promo.

I agree that the cable pricing is frustrating, although at 75% off I couldn't resit trying an IC.

FWIW a reliable source says get 'em now as 2011 will not have many if any promos.

Just thought that I would add my 2cents. Currently, I have a Rega Saturn as a source to my Rega Elicit feeding a pair of Zu Essence. I received some Mission interconnects along with Zu Libtec speaker cables when I bought the speakers. I also have some Monster M350i interconnects as well as some custom Zebra Cables interconnects and power cords, and some Zu Bok power cords, some Zu Mother power cords, and some Zu Gede interconnects.

As a baseline, the Monster M350i interconnects are an inexpensive cable that does a few things right but is not offensive. It mostly omits.

Zebra interconnects with Vampire 800 connectors offer more detail retrieval, a smoother presentation, better soundstaging. Zebras are a little rolled off on both ends of the frequency spectrum as compared to Monsters, Zu Gedes, and Zu Mission.

Zebra power cords do pretty well stacked up against the Zu Boks. Similar enhancements. More slam, better focus, better bass, better imaging and soundstage when either Boks or Zebra are in the system. Mother power cords are more of the same but better in every regard.

Now for the interesting part, Zebra bi-wire speaker cable connected to the Essence sound nearly as good as the Libtec by taming some of the treble but also lose a little bass slam. Can live with either, but on most recording slightly prefer the Zu Libtec cables. What is interesting is that I do not find the Mission interconnects to be superior to the Gedes in my system. Other may have a different opinion for reasons I will explain in the next paragraph.

When using the Mission or Gede ic's in my system with the Mother power cords and Libtec speaker cords, the sound "snaps" into perspective. The best way I can describe it is to compare the slightly fuzzy commercial digital projector programming at the movie theater to the brighter, better focused image of the movie when it comes on the screen. After significant back to back and days versus days of listening, the Gedes sound a little more real with my electronics and the speakers. There is slighter more intangible space around instruments and more emotion in female vocalists voices, a little more resolution. That said, there is definitely more tone and music portrayed through the Mission interconnects. It's kind of like a color
image that is a little too saturated-- like the cinematography in Moulin Rouge versus a normal movie with excellent cinematography. Also, the Gede is slightly less evenly balanced than the Mission.

Many persons I believe will like the Mission cables better. I love the density of tone on rock music and electronica. I just feel that the Gedes do better with classical, female vocalists, and jazz while doing the tone thing almost as well. Both Gede and Mission are superior to the other interconnects unless I want to listen to a really bright recording where the Zebra interconnects are the better choice in my system.

As always my opinion is for my ears, with my system, in my room. Your opinion may differ. I did not like the sound of the Mission interconnects during break-in. They were flatter and less involving than the Gede's or the Zebra's. Sounded more like the Monster ic's.

PMB