Review: Audience & Shunyata AU24 Speaker cable


Category: Cables

I just finished comparing the Audience AU24 8' single run speaker cables to the Shunyata 10' single run speaker cables. Both cables are excellent. The Shunyata was slightly more forward, had tighter bass, slighly more natural sounding, slightly wider soundstage, with a little more bass impact. I did feel the Shunyata's were more open do to a slight uptilt towards the higher frequencies (for lack of a better description) which may have a fatiguing long term effect, maybe. The Audience on Pat Barbers Cafe Blue had a darker background, so it may sound a little slower, less forward sounding, but I thought that on some of the piano notes, the higher keys sounded excellent with more weight than the Shunyatas (not sure how much these keys should sound) but some of the lower keys got a little muddy sounding, less detail than the Shunyata cables. The Shunyata has slightly more bass emphasis but did not sound boomy in my system because the bass was very detailed. Which is correct, I dunno?

I did have some DIY cables on hand that Marty from Bound for Sound told me to try, and believe it or not, my wife and I preferred them over both of these cables. They had the better characteristics of both cables, a very natural balanced sound, very dynamic, smooth and detailed sound. Just saved myself $1000. BUT, I just brought home the AZ Hologram cables so I will try them out and post my findings in a few weeks. Interestingly, I read a recent article in BFS where Marty said that his DIY cables worked on some equipment better than some other expensive cables he was auditioning. For $.28 per foot, they cannot be beat IMHO.

Associated gear
Sony SCD-777ES, AZ Sil Ref ICs, Pass X-1 preamp, Pass X-250 power amp, B&W matrix 803 speakers, JPS digital AC, JPS power AC, AZ Tsunami power AC.

Similar products
DIY 6 awg speaker wire with gold spades
bigkidz
I also enjoy the Audience AU-24 speaker cable annd I/Cs. They are not as "fast" as the Nordost Red Dawn ll but had a fuller, richer sound. The Straightwire Virtuoso has better mid-bass than the Audience but I prefer the treble of the Audience cable. I have also tried AQ Clear and StraightWire Serenade in my system and the Audience cable is my favorite. I ended up bi-amping my speakes with Audience for the treble and Virtuoso for the bass.
You have me curious to know what DIY cable you are using. There are several available, but I can find very little comparison to the high dollar cables.

I am also interested in your results with the AZ cable.

Regards,
gofaststang
Simple, I got these from Marty at Bound for Sound. Purchased 6 awg multi strand wire from Home Depot (or you can get a Lowes). Run them in opposite directions, negative and positive. Twist together loosely and get some gold spades from Radio Shack or I got mine from the car audio dealer to fit the 1/4 cable wire. Put them in your system and tell me what you hear. Right away I thought that they were very natural sounding with very good overall tonal balance, and originally I thought they were a little bass shy, but not so. Leave in for three weeks and take them out and put in another cable. So far for $.28 per foot, I maybe keeping them.

I will get to the Holograms this Friday. I had them in my system a month ago but did not have the DIY cables then.