Pure Audio Project Trio 15 - Silversmith Audio Fidelium internal wiring upgrade

Hi,

I have the PAP Trio 15 Horn1 and had the Fidelium ribbons for trial on the interior wiring. They sounded good, a bit better than the VDH that came with the speaker, however I sent them back because I didn't think they sounded $1600 better. As silly as it sounds I ended up talking to Paul Speltz at Anti-Cable about using his wire for internal wiring, and we came to the decision of trying solid core 12GA wire (3.1) single run. I was blown away at the difference in the sound, clarity, imaging, bass, midrange, treble, you name it, it improved. The soundstage became much larger.  The speakers are much more dynamic, I'm thinking the solid core wire is allowing more data or current to get through, I hear details in pieces of music I never heard before, even with the Fidelium ribbons. It cost me $90 and to my ears they beat the Fideliums. I did see someone use the 4.2 Anti-cables on a PAP Duet pair, but don't know the results.

YMMV..check them out.

Jefferson

Jefferson-

Thanks for this.  I will reach out to Anti-Cable in the am and also see if I can get a loaner set of Fidelium ribbons from PAP.  

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650063017-pure-audio-project-duet-15/images/4878687/

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650063017-pure-audio-project-duet-15/images/4878685/

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650063017-pure-audio-project-duet-15/images/4878687/

Don't know if they'll allow these links of photos, but this is the Duet with the 4.2 Anti-Cable wire.

Jefferson

Since you are looking at alternatives to upgrade your Trios, at some point you might want to experiment with different capacitors in your crossover.  I know a custom builder who makes some quite expensive and nice sounding speakers and amplifiers and he tunes the sound to his and his customer's liking with choice of capacitors in the crossover.  He particularly likes vintage paper in oil caps from the likes of Western Electric and Aerovox, but, he also uses modern film caps from Audio Note.  I've heard the difference and it is quite substantial.  What he really hates is the sound of Mundorf caps--he finds them to be dry, analytical and unpleasant.  He can hear them when they are employed in amplifiers too and does not like the sound.  He also employs different internal wiring for tuning the sound. 

The thing that is missing in most speakers these days that is so critical to getting a speaker tuned--to the taste of the owner, to the room acoustics, and to the other gear in the system--is an L-Pad for adjusting the level of the drivers.  It is crazy, to me, that designers think they have got it just right for every circumstance.  I think adding an L-Pad would be another step in upgrading the speaker.  The Trio I heard sounded really good, but, I bet it could have been made more to  my taste with such control of driver levels.  My speaker came with level controls for the midrange and tweeter, but, because the midrange control only allowed for three setting, I put in an L-Pad instead and it is really useful for tweaking the sound.

Thank you all for the tips: wiring upgrades, different Caps, L-Pads and the like.  Ideally I would like to listen to these upgrades in my system before I commit.  I think step one is ringing PAP to see if I can get a loaner on some of these upgrades.  

Stay tuned.