I like my Venustas, but they're single run. If you want a real bargain in a bi-wire, however, I'd like to suggest you keep an eye out for a PAD Musaeus. You'll get the same effective AWG (amount of wire) as in a single run of Venustas and therefore the same (or very close to the same) great sonics. |
Satori Shotguns are very good. But why not consider Double Barrel if you want to step up? I think that is Hologram/Satori combo. Give Lee a call an see what he says.
In any case, I beleive it'll be pretty tough to beat the Satori Shotgun. |
I use biwired Venustas in a very high resolution system. They may be too laid back for a tube pre/amp combo. You might want to consider something in the Nordost family, e.g., SPM or Valkyrie, which might be more compatible with your electronics. Just one man's opinion.
My System:
Wyetech Opal Pre - Krell 300cx amp - Dodson 218 DAC - CEC TL-1X trans, RAM modded - Von Schweikert VR5 HSE spkrs. Valhalla, AQ Sky IC's, Stealth Sextet digicable. |
Bander - You are looking at the right church, just in the wrong pew. I would take a hard look at the Purist Anniversary Aqueous speaker cables (bi-wire), which will fit your budget easily as long as the length you need isn't unusually long. Here's a secret - Purist measures the "fat" part of the cable for the length, so if you order a 1.5M cable, you really get a 1.9M cable end-to-end. The PAD AA cabes are better at the frequency extremes than the Venustas and really work well with the VSR's and are also a great choice with any tube amps. Good Luck! |
Jwpstayman: You comment that "The PAD AA cabes are better at the frequency extremes than the Venustas"
What led you to that conclusion? Thanks. |
dont mean to hijack the thread,but i order a 1 meter pad aqueos digital, the total length willl be 1.4 meters ? |
Nsgarch - I have had the opportunity to try all of the PAD cables in the same system here at work and also had the opportunity to try Venustas vs Aqueous Anniversary in particular in my home system (Magnepan 3.6R, Bat Vk200 monos, Vac Renaissance pre, etc) over a two week period. Since nothing else in the system changed during this time, I had a wonderful opportunity to judge the relative strengths and weaknesses of both AA and Venustas in a known system, with the same music, the same acoustics, and the same ears - MINE. While I enjoy listening to the Venustas, the Aq Anniversary is far more detailed at both frequency extremes - it actually comes close to the Dominus in this regard. With the planar/ribbon speakers this is a relatively easy characteristic to judge as long as nothing else in the system changes. Did I double-blind test it?? Nope, but I was making a careful evaluation of a new product (the Aq Anniv) vs a known older product (Venustas) in a known and familiar system. Yes, there are other sonic characteristics that Venustas "scored" better than Anniv AQ, but detail, articulation, and clarity at the high and low frequency extremes were clearly in favor of the AQ Anniversary. I hope this answers the question you had. John |
John, thanks for the report. Now I'm wondering if the AA's might be too detailed for my system (check it, you'll see what I mean) On the other hand, they're only making them for a year I understand, so maybe I should try a pair somewhere. Where would you recommend? |
John, on some of the other threads which discussed the AA interconnects there was the general agreement that they take upwards of several hundred hours to break in. Do you have any thoughts regarding the break in time for the AA speaker cables? |
All of your responses are much appreciated. It looks like I'm going to have an opportunity to audition some Silversmiths. If they wow me then that'll be the end of the search. |
The Purist AA that I tried from the Cable Company were not as good as my Ridgestreet Poimia Speaker Cables.
I dont know, some people really like the Aqueous cables but I was not impressed.
However, I would like to try the Venustus |
Give Gregg Straley's Reality speaker cables a listen. I am currently running these, biwired, and they are smooth and airy, but at the same time detailed without brightness, and my 200+ lb. speakers disappear nicely! He offers a trial period, so you have nothing to risk besides a little shipping cost. If they work for you, you just saved a ton of cash!
http://www.realitycables.com/index.html
BTW, I have owned the Satori and Venustas in the past. |
Second for Gregg Straley's cables!
I just this morning switched out my Hologram II's for the Reality cables and Mark is right on the money with his description, and that's right out of the gate, I expect they will improve over the next few days. |
Thanks Markr and Arthursmuck. I'm intrigued. I may look into it. If there's one Merry-go-round I want off of it's the cable one. My IC search is over with Silversmith. |
Tony, The AQ Anniv sound good right out of the box, but they will take 120-200 hours to reach their absolute best - at least they did in my system. Where the break in is obviously needed is in the depth of the soundstage and the imaging. Once broken in, the soundstage goes well past my back wall and they image extremely well. Balance and ease of listening is decent from the get go - not a lot of sibilance or having the bass be too hazy like with some cables. BTW - I run the bi-wire version which has twice the conductors as the non b/w version. John |
