Review: Ridge Street Audio Designs Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II


Category: Cables

Associated Music:

CDs

Patricia Barber Companion
Count Basie 88 Basie Street
Tracy Chapman New Beginning
Golden String Audio Repertory Top 12 In Gold
Norah Jones Come Away With Me
Luther Kent Luther Kent & Trick Bag Live
Diana Krall Live In Paris
Hugh Masekela Hope
Buddy Rich Keep the Customer Satisfied
Sonny Rollins This Is What I Do
Santana Supernatural
Keb Mo
The Phil Collins Big Band "A Hot Night In Paris"

LPs

Count Basie...Chairman Of The Board
Dave Brubeck’s Greatest Hits
Gato Barbieri
Rafael Mendez and his orchestra

I first heard and wrote a review about the Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and Speaker Cables in May of 2003. This was followed up by a review of the Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II Interconnects in August 2003. Now I’d like to share my impression of the Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II Speaker Cables.

As soon as I installed the Gen. II speaker cables and heard the first minute of the opening track of Hugh Masekela’s “Abangoma,” I knew I was in for a treat! Although the Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II Speaker Cables improved over the next week of break-in, they sounded more articulate than the original speaker cable--with better detail, greater microdynamics and a powerful and tightly dynamic bass--as soon as they were installed.

After carefully listening to my dozen or so audition CDs and a few LPs, I was amazed at the improvement within my system. I noted more bass definition (which was crisper with more focus), additional 3-D imaging left to right as well as front to back, and additional extension and detail as if I were at a live performance.

The Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II Speaker Cables are very well engineered and constructed. They are attractive to look at and are very flexible. In addition, they have very easy-to-read, yet non-intrusive, directional arrows and are clearly marked “Midnight Silver Edition Generation II.”

Associated gear
Click to view my Virtual System

Similar products
Cardas Golden Reference IC’s and SC.
Maple Shade Clearview IC’s
Silver Audio Appassionata IC's and Silver Symphony 48 SC.
Bear Lab Silver Lighting IC and SC.
Granite Audio # 470 IC
Audience Au24 IC and SC
HMS Topline IC and SC (not the brand new ones they came out with recently).
Pure Note Epsilon Reference IC’s and S/C
Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xlak
Hello AudiogoNers.

I wanted to thank Lak again for his time and efforts. To me, it's an honor to have an enthusiast such as Lak put our products to the test of his years of experience.

I would add that perhaps another 25 to 75 hours break is required before these cables fully come into their own and Lak seems to bear that out.

"...more articulate than the original speaker cable--with better detail, greater microdynamics and a powerful and tightly dynamic bass..." Ha! That kind of bass is pretty amazing from a 5 watt tube amp, No? In my opinion, too many times, one hasn't totally heard the capabilities of the amp / speaker interface until our cables are partnering the two...SS or Tube. Again, I'm pleased your ears are able to bear that out as well.

Also, to confirm, one of the things MSE Gen.II excel at is being able to portray an illusion "as if I were at a live performance." As many of you know, I loathe listening to equipment for music listening enjoyment. One of primary design goals was to design a cable with reference quality transparency. We think we have achieved that in spades with these cables and if your gear is able to get out of the way like Lak's system can, you are indeed "in for a treat"!

Thank you again Lak for your time and for sharing your impressions. You are indeed an asset to AudiogoN...and the congregation said "Amen!"?

Kind Regards to All,
Robert