Review: Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition GEN. II Interconnect


Category: Cables

Associated Music:

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 Phip Collins Big Band "A Hot Night In Paris"

Many of you might remember that in May of 2003 I wrote a review on the Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect. Since that time, Robert C. Schult, proprietor/designer, has developed a Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.

Since I was thoroughly impressed with the original interconnect and speaker cable, I could not imagine what improvements could have been made. Therefore, out of curiosity, I had to hear the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II.

I recommend you read the original review first (http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1052269499&openusid&zzLak&4&5#Lak) to better understand this current review of the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.

The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II interconnects continue to be extremely smooth, fast, neutral and transparent. They don’t favor one frequency over another and continue to be very coherent, allowing one to hear deep within a recording. The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnects continue to convey the force, speed and robustness of a live music performance (if the rest of your system is capable of handling it).

The improvements I heard, original Midnight Silver Edition vs. the Generation II, are as follows:

1) I hesitate to use the cliche, but the music sounded as if a veil had been lifted. In a very positive respect, the music sounded more forward (but relaxed), as if I had changed my seating at a live concert and moved several rows closer to the stage.

2) The mids and highs were crisper, while the entire spectrum of music was even more dynamic in the area of micro details and resolution.

3) There was more bass slam.

I did notice that while the original Midnight Silver Edition sounded good as soon as I installed them, they continued to improve with two hours of use. The Generation IIs sounded good as soon as they were installed; however, they matured and sounded even better after four hours of use.

When I received the Generation II interconnects, the literature which was included inside of the package stated they were the Generation II. When I compared my original Midnight Silver Edition to the Generation II, they looked identical (although the generation II was an improvement in sound as stated above). I assume in the future there will be some type of permanent marking designating them as Generation II.

Construction of the Midnight Silver Edition interconnects continues to be excellent.

I continue to highly recommend you give the Midnight Silver Edition Original or Generation II a try if you are in the market for interconnects.



Associated gear
Parasound C/BD-2000 Belt Drive Transport
Dodson Audio DA-217 mkII DA converter / Upgrade to 218 software
First Sound Presence Tube preamp / with upgreded power supply
Cary Audio Design CAD-2a3 SE Tube amp
Bel Canto Evo 200.2 Digital Amp
Cain & Cain Abby Speaker with Fostex FE 199 E driver
Fostex T90A Horn Super Tweeter
Velodyne F-1200x Subwoofer
Ridge Street Audio Designs Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and Speaker Cables
i2Digital Interconnect
Bass Euphoria Speaker cable
Purist Audio Proteus Rev.B Power cord (20 amp IEC)
BMI Whale Elite MK II Power cord
BMI Shark Power cord
Absolute Power Cords Cryogenically Treated
#4 VH Audio Flavor Cryo’d power cable
220 Amp Isolation Transformer feeding dedicated sub-panel
Equi=Tech 2Q AC Balanced-filter
Clear Image T-4 power line isolator
DeZorel G2 power line isolator
Sistrum Platform SP-6 Rack
Star Sound Audio Points/Coupling Disc's Tweak
Star Sound SP 004 Sistrum Platforms Tweak
Bybee Quantum Force Filters (IC’s) Tweak
Bybee Quantum Speaker Filters Tweak
Virtual Dynamic Cryo'd # 10 Copper Wire & Breaker Tweak
Hubbell’s 5362 Tweak
Wattgate 381 Outlet Tweak
Furutech Outlet Tweak
Acme Silver Cryo’d Outlet Tweak
Polycrystal Cable Towers Tweak


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Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xlak

Satfrat,

In my current tube system I have one pair of the SME IC’s, one pair of SME Gen.II IC’s, MSE speaker cable and two pair of MSE hook-up wire inside my Abby’s and connecting the Fostex T90A Horn super tweeter to the crossover.

I added each item separately, with at least a week in-between each added piece.

Each time I added an item as described above everything associated with good sounding music improved and the synergy continued to improve overall.

In a week or so, I should receive a second pair of the SME Gen.II IC’s and a set of the SME Gen.II speaker cables. At that time I could provide additional information.

To the best of my knowledge (if I’m incorrect, someone please correct me) the Ridge Street power cords and digital cable are not available yet. I think they would also be interesting to audition in my systems.

Regards,
Pschicanimal, funny you should mention that. I just finished doing some rewiring in another room (took out a wall), which got me thinking about putting in a dedicated line for the stereo. It would be a bit of work and involve removing some drywall for access, but I might be doing that in a couple months anyways. I am a bit ignorant about home wiring, I assume that there already is a 220/110 transformer for the whole house, are you suggesting a separate one for the dedicated lines?
Lak, I`m not sure about the power cord’s availablity but Robert not only made me up a 2 meter digital link, he was kind enough to install a Bybee in each end for me. Sorry for the misunderstanding on the speaker cables as I was under the impression that you hadn`t tried them yet. Regards, Robin
Was wondering if anyone has tried the MSE II in XLR. Maybe I missed it but it looks like everyone is talking about the rca ic's. I understand that RSA makes a TRUE balanced ic. All your posts have peaked my interest in RSA. Thanks in advance, Frank
Hello Frank,
I only use the RCA version. I think a true balanced IC could be purchased from Robert at Ridge Street. I would bet it would sound as good as the RCA. I personally have not heard it and can only speculate.