Review: Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition 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

I’m an independent audiophile and have no association with any manufacturer whatsoever. I was very content with my interconnects and speaker cables, which I purchased in March of 2002. A friend had purchased a pair of Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and told me I had to hear these, so he brought them over and we put them into my system. Since I need to use two pairs of interconnects in order to make sure my reference interconnects weren’t masking any sounds. I ended up with two pairs of Midnight Silver Edition interconnects and a pair of Midnight Silver Edition speaker cables for review purpose.

Before I begin the review, let me state up front that I believe interconnects and speaker cables can be system-dependent. In addition, I also think audiophiles are capable of liking different products. Just because I prefer item A and you like item B does not mean one of us is wrong. We can agree to disagree over personal choices. My review is based upon listening results from my tube system and my Solid State system.

The Midnight Silver Edition interconnects and speaker cables are fantastic sounding products. If I had not heard them for myself, I never would have believed that they could have sounded better than my reference interconnects and speaker cables that I was very happy with!

The Midnight Silver Edition are extremely fast, neutral and transparent. They don’t favor one frequency band over another, and are very coherent, allowing me to hear deep within a recording. There is a wider and more dimensional soundstage with a deep fast bass, sweeter mids and extended silky highs with a timbre to kill for. There is a very black background that reveals the detail in a very positive manner, even when listening at very quiet levels.

Construction of the Midnight Silver Edition interconnects and speaker cables is excellent.

The Midnight Silver Edition speaker cables bettered my reference speaker cables (no doubt in my mind) by a larger margin. (I heard the same improvements as mentioned above).

The interconnects that I have owned over the past four years were all good. However, the Midnight Silver Edition interconnects and speaker cables are number one to me in my audio systems. I highly recommend you give them a try if you are in the market for interconnects and/or speaker cables.

Associated gear
Tube:
First Sound Presence Audio Linestage I
Wadia Transport #20
Dodson Audio Model DA-217 MK II D
Cary 2A3 Monoblocks that sit upon SP 004 Sistrum Platforms including three direct coupled Audio Points or Bel-Canto EVO 200.2 Amp
Equi=Tech 2Q Power Balancer
Abby Speakers ported, modified Voight pipe with Fostex FE 166 E speakers or Legacy Studio Speakers
Velodyne F-1200X Subwoofer with Bass Euphoria RAC interconnects
Bybee Quantum Force – single ended Interconnect Filters
Bybee Quantum speaker filters
Pure Note Epsilon Reference Speaker Cables
Pure Note Epsilon Reference Interconnects
Purist Proteus Digital Cable
Purist Proteus 20 Amp Power Cord
BMI Whale Elite MK I Power Cord
BMI Whale Elite MK II Power Cords
BMI Shark Power Cords
Absolute Power Cord (cryogenically treated)
Virtual Dynamic Power Three Cryo Power Cord
Audio Points under all componenty
Salamander Archetype 5.0 with Mega-spikes
Dedicated 20 Amp circuits with FIM #880 (cryogenically treated), Wattgate 381 (cryogenically treated), Hubbell 8300’s and 5362 (cryogenically treated) outlets.

Solid State:

Legacy High Current Amplifier 250 watts/ 8 ohms, 400 watts/ 4 ohms
Legacy High Current Preamp
Legacy Signature III Speakers (4 ohms)

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Bear Lab Silver Lighting IC and SC.
Granite Audio # 470 IC
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HMS Topline IC and SC (not the brand new ones they came out with recently).
Pure Note Epsilon Reference IC’s and S/C.
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xlak
Thanks for your kindness. I want to know if the instruments or sometimes even the players in the soundstage have tangible body with depth.
Lak just left my apartment after spending two hours doing a shootout of the cryo'ed Tice, Ridge Street and the Pure Note ICs and my military grade silver plated copper (Teflon insulated, cryo'ed and cooked), the Pure Note and the Ridge Street speaker cables.

We removed my 27" Sony WEGA from between the speakers and placed my Melos SHA-1 hybrid linestage (complete w/ its marble base, Mapleshade Triple Points, Goldmund cones and hockey pucks) on top of the TV stand. The shootout proved to be extremely productive and valuable.

I talked to Deano last night about the shootout we were going to do and the experiments I'm working on with Lak and he gave me some suggestions on this whole matter. I can say that since using the Ridge Street cables and integrating the Elgar medical grade AC regenerator with the rest of my power delivery/noise control equipment I have had a serious paradigm shift. I am looking at audio in a very different way than three or four weeks ago...

The clarity and definition brought by extremely clean, stable power and using these Ridge Street Audio ICs and speaker cable is uncanny. I some ways it is excessive when I want to play my poorly recorded salsa or alternative rock CDs. With really good recordings like the Hugh Masekela album we were using the music is live, fast and extermely realistic with a three dimensional depth that brings a great sense of intimacy and joy. The Mapleshade recordings are even better!

Throughout all this testing my Dan Wright modded Swans M1 mini monitors/ Forté 4 class A amp combo has surpassed all my expectations. They have performed as a very powerful yet graceful, perfectly matched couple: like competition ballroom dancers. Near field is the ticket to intimacy.

With psychic power and primal intensity,