Review: Ridge Street Audio Poiema I/C's and S/C's Interconnect

Category: Cables

I've just gone through an upgrade burst and one of the biggies was cables. I ran Acoustic Zen for a few years. Before that it was Analysis Plus, Synergistic Research, Transparent, some I can't remember - right back to good old Monster Cable.

This time round I hooked into a few new names like Luminous Audio, Bogdan and Pure Note. I tried them all and liked them lots. I was particularly taken by the latest Pure Notes, which revealed a clarity and timbral accuracy that was breathtaking.

Then I saw Ridge Street cables being compared favourably to Pure Note. So I contacted Robert.

Now Robert is an interesting chap. I didn't know what to make of him at first. One of the things he wanted to know was whether I wanted a male connector at one end of the balanced cable and a female connector at the other. I thought to myself that if he didn't know what connector went where then things didn't look too promising. But when I queried him about whether he had made a balanced cable before he thought it was a huge joke.

Then he made the mistake of mentioning the Poiema cables. I swooped on it immediately - when were they coming, could I upgrade, how much would the upgrade cost? I think to shut me up (and especially because Robert doesn't know how to write a short email) he said he would make me a set of Poiema by hand.

Well they finally arrived. And I have to say they were (and still are) revelatory. I sent Robert a gushy email and told him that he should have called them 'The Masterpiece', which he also thought was funny because he said that is what 'poiema' means.

Anyway these little babies have hummed and sung and roared and soared their little heads off to the point where I no longer think of them as interconnects and speaker cables but as conduits of the inner reservoirs of the musical experience. They are that good.

Whenever I think I may have found a weak point it always turns out to be something else. Every newly introduced improvement is laid bare and the Poiema's just carry on singing. The Poeima's ain't no limiting factor.

How much better are they than the Midnights? I have no idea. I have never heard the Midnights. All I can say is that the Poiema's are way out in front of everything else I have tried - and that includes some serious contenders.

One other thing - try his speaker cable lifters. They are seriously better than the jobbies than run low to the floor.



Associated gear

Forsell Air Reference Turntable
Crown Jewel Cartridge
American Hybrid Technology Phono Stage
Lindemann SACD Player
Brinkmann Marconi Preamplifier
Brinkmann Mono Amplifiers
Audiophysic Avanti 3 speakers
Omega Mikro Power cords
Pure Note power cords
Walker Velocitor
Finite Elemente stands
Neuance platforms
Cereballs and BDR cones