Review: Argent Room Lens - Ric Cummins Cables Speaker cable


Category: Cables

I've used many well known and moderately priced speaker cables before, but none that matched the the performance of Ric Cummins' silver speaker cables from Argent Audio (www.roomlens.com). My hat's off to Ric for designing speaker cables that are musical, pure, neutral, and very revealing. All the attributes that I look for and expect in high quality cables.

The wonderful thing is these cables are moderately priced and it doesn't cost an "arm and a leg." The myth that silver cables are harsh is just that, a myth after hearing Ric's cables. These cables are very smooth and balanced. Many cables cannot handle dynamics properly, especially with voice. Well, with Ric's cables, voices are so natural and instruments are tonally correct.

I wanted to share my excitement and discovery with others. Ric's cables have been in my system for two weeks and replaced the Coincident TRS speaker cables. I did get the chance to try Ric's cables in another system (a good of mines) who is using the same Coincident TRS speaker cables as I. Ric's cables were more resolving and neutral and once again, prevailed over the Coincident TRS cables. My friend is using the BAT 75SE amp, 51SE pre-amp, and SAP speakers.

For the record, my musical taste is Jazz and these cd recordings were used for testing ......Jennifer Warnes (The Well), Jennifer Warnes (The Hunter), Benny Green (Testifying), Eva Cassidy (Live at Blues Alley), Count Basie (Jazz Party), Count Basie (Basie Big band), Janis Ian (Breaking Silence), Thad Jones, Jazz at the Pawnshop, Martin Deny (Primitiva and Forbidden Island), Paul Desmond, and Bill Evans.

Listed below are speaker cables that I have used in the past (Similar Products).

Associated gear
Electrocompaniet EMC-1 CDP with MAC Delta 1 Power Cord
David Berning ZH-270 Amplifier (volume control) with David Elrod EPS-2s Power Cord
Rosinante Dulcinea Speakers
Power Purifier Bybee Conditioner
Sound Applications Wall Outlet

Similar products
Acoustic Zen Satori Speaker Cables
Coincident TRS Speaker Cables
Siltech Speaker Cables
Totem Art Speaker cables
hawaiikid

Showing 1 response by volker

I ordered new speaker cables from Ric several month ago together with a set of interconnects. I installed the new speaker cables in my system first and right out of the box I heard a significant improvement over my previous loudspeaker cables, which are FAST AUDIO Compact 6M terminated with WBT copper spades. The Compact 6M are rated "best buy" in a German audio magazines and compare favorable to much more expensive cables.
My first impression was an increase in soundstage. The soundstage increased in a sense that the listener moved much closer to the artists and also images appeared more real. The images of instruments and singers are rendered with their realistic sizes in space and you could easily tell if a singer was sitting or standing on stage. Furthermore there is clear separation of instruments and voices and with the right CD's such as Eric Clapton's "unplugged" I had Eric sitting in my room singing the blues.

My previous interconnects are FADEL ART Aerolink, highly regarded in German audio magazines as a best buy (about $330) and classified as neutral. Ric's interconnects clearly proved that the FADEL ART Aerolink are rather warm sounding cables emphasizing the bottom frequencies, in a sense that they even overshadowed the midrange which results in a lack of transparency. Ric's interconnects in comparison were neutral and transparent with no emphasis to any frequency range but not rolled off at the bottom or top end of the frequency spectrum either.
Comparing the interconnects it made a big difference which speaker cable was involved. With Ric's speaker cable the differences between the interconnects were much more pronounced than with my old speaker cable. The Aerolink sounded definitely worse with Ric's speaker cable but also Ric's interconnects improved significantly in combination with his speaker cable. There is a clear synergy using Ric's cable throughout my system.

If you are looking for cables that are supposed to act as tone control to correct frequency issues of your system look some place else but if you are looking for cables that are true to the signal that are not warm or analytic but are transparent and musical and will give you goose bumps because of the realistic images they are able to throw in your listening room then look no further. Now, take the very modest price into account and these cables are a steal.

My system consists of Arcurus ACD11 CD transport, Perpetual Technology P-1A digital correction engine and P-3A (incl ModWright update) DAC and P3 Perpetual Power Plant, Acurus DIA 100 Mk2 amplifier and Martin Logan SL3 speakers. My analog front end is Acoustic Signature Final Tool turntable with Rega RB-300 tonearm, AT OC9 cartridge and Lehmann Black Cube phone pre-amp.