Silent Audio's Apollo Silver Balanced Interconnect
Review:
How does one put together a champagne audio system on a beer budget? --- Very carefully! ----
I have been very involved in audio and audio equipment since I was a child. I even worked my way through dental school managing the best hi-fi store in New Orleans. It was a work of love. Before I left the company, I put together the best audio system available at the time. It remained virtually unchanged for 20 years. I attend the San Francisco symphony regularly as well as other musical venues.
Then about seventeen years ago, I heard a system that showed me that it was time to upgrade. I first upgraded to the small Krell amp and preamp (later upgraded to a couple of the big Krells), and then added a digital unit (upgraded several times and now use an SACD player.) One of my happiest upgrade was my improvement in speakers. I had been using double AR-LST’s (Cello Amati’s). Twelve years ago, I went to the big B&W800’s (now actively bi-amped and driven by Krell.)
One item that has remained unchanged for about the last fourteen years has been my interconnects. It is not that I haven’t tried others, but none in my price range of under $1000, have bettered what I have been using. What is that, you might ask:
Years ago, in Stereophile, a totally new concept in interconnects was released to great reviews. It blew the competition out of the water and was soon used by many reviewers in both Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. It did have one big problem that eventually became its demise; it was brittle and repairs were difficult. The companies name was Lindsey-Geyer. Because reviewers are constantly plugging and unplugging, this was a nightmare, but for me, it caused little trouble and GREAT sound. In fact a few years ago, when I added an active Krell crossover and need two more balanced interconnects, I had custom balanced Lindsey-Geyer’s made for me.
But things are about to change. For the first time ever, I found an interconnect that has proven superior to my beloved L-G’s:
Silent Audio’s new Apollo Silver Balanced Interconnects
I did my listening trials by inserting the new cable between my SACD player and my preamp. I first tried their Venus RCA i did my listening trials nterconnect and was amazed at how well they sounded. They I tried the Silver Apollo RCA version and was amazed at how close to the balanced L-G’s they sounded. Knowing that my Krell’s really prefer to run in the balanced mode, I contacted Silent Audio, to have them make me a set balanced. Heaven arrived!
It took a while for them to get the proper XLR connectors and ship me this new interconnect. I first connected them between my preamp and my crossover and turned on my tuner and turned up the volume on my preamp to let the cable burn in. After a week, I began listening with the Apollo’s between my SACD and preamp. The first thing I noticed was that after I listened with the Apollo’s, the L-G’s soundstage sounded flatter. Also, I also feel that the Apollo was a little more revealing of the inner detail. I do know that sometimes it can seem that there is more detail when there is a loss of fullness, but this doesn’t seem to be the case here. There was no loss in tonal balance, which is so perfect with the big bi-amped B&W’s. Lastly, and maybe of most importance is that there seems to be an overall increase in the excitement of the presentation . Deep bass is present and profound. I don’t know how so much information can be transferred over those threadlike silver strands, but the sound is full and detailed from the top to the deep bass.
The bottom line is that now, I have ordered the Silver Apollo Balanced interconnects for my complete system. This move took 14 years and I can‘t wait for them to arrive!
Richard.
by Drrdiamond
PS> the website is: [url]SilentAudio.com[/url]
How does one put together a champagne audio system on a beer budget? --- Very carefully! ----
I have been very involved in audio and audio equipment since I was a child. I even worked my way through dental school managing the best hi-fi store in New Orleans. It was a work of love. Before I left the company, I put together the best audio system available at the time. It remained virtually unchanged for 20 years. I attend the San Francisco symphony regularly as well as other musical venues.
Then about seventeen years ago, I heard a system that showed me that it was time to upgrade. I first upgraded to the small Krell amp and preamp (later upgraded to a couple of the big Krells), and then added a digital unit (upgraded several times and now use an SACD player.) One of my happiest upgrade was my improvement in speakers. I had been using double AR-LST’s (Cello Amati’s). Twelve years ago, I went to the big B&W800’s (now actively bi-amped and driven by Krell.)
One item that has remained unchanged for about the last fourteen years has been my interconnects. It is not that I haven’t tried others, but none in my price range of under $1000, have bettered what I have been using. What is that, you might ask:
Years ago, in Stereophile, a totally new concept in interconnects was released to great reviews. It blew the competition out of the water and was soon used by many reviewers in both Stereophile and The Absolute Sound. It did have one big problem that eventually became its demise; it was brittle and repairs were difficult. The companies name was Lindsey-Geyer. Because reviewers are constantly plugging and unplugging, this was a nightmare, but for me, it caused little trouble and GREAT sound. In fact a few years ago, when I added an active Krell crossover and need two more balanced interconnects, I had custom balanced Lindsey-Geyer’s made for me.
But things are about to change. For the first time ever, I found an interconnect that has proven superior to my beloved L-G’s:
Silent Audio’s new Apollo Silver Balanced Interconnects
I did my listening trials by inserting the new cable between my SACD player and my preamp. I first tried their Venus RCA i did my listening trials nterconnect and was amazed at how well they sounded. They I tried the Silver Apollo RCA version and was amazed at how close to the balanced L-G’s they sounded. Knowing that my Krell’s really prefer to run in the balanced mode, I contacted Silent Audio, to have them make me a set balanced. Heaven arrived!
It took a while for them to get the proper XLR connectors and ship me this new interconnect. I first connected them between my preamp and my crossover and turned on my tuner and turned up the volume on my preamp to let the cable burn in. After a week, I began listening with the Apollo’s between my SACD and preamp. The first thing I noticed was that after I listened with the Apollo’s, the L-G’s soundstage sounded flatter. Also, I also feel that the Apollo was a little more revealing of the inner detail. I do know that sometimes it can seem that there is more detail when there is a loss of fullness, but this doesn’t seem to be the case here. There was no loss in tonal balance, which is so perfect with the big bi-amped B&W’s. Lastly, and maybe of most importance is that there seems to be an overall increase in the excitement of the presentation . Deep bass is present and profound. I don’t know how so much information can be transferred over those threadlike silver strands, but the sound is full and detailed from the top to the deep bass.
The bottom line is that now, I have ordered the Silver Apollo Balanced interconnects for my complete system. This move took 14 years and I can‘t wait for them to arrive!
Richard.
by Drrdiamond
PS> the website is: [url]SilentAudio.com[/url]
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