Speltz Anti Cables

Bradz: I can't give you any type of "set in stone" statements as to what to expect with the "Anti-Cables" because their physical and electrical characteristics are anything but consistent in nature. While they will surely "work" in your system, i can't say that you ( or anyone else ) will "prefer" these to any other cable in their system. Sean
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Bradz, you use AP Oval 9 so you know the cable. Some say they are affordable reference. They don't have world class extension on top (highs are sweet) but convey more information than anti-cables. They have better bas with good texture(anti-cables' bass is tight and short, not dfferentiated), wider soundstage but about the same depth (in this respect Satori is better). All in all AP are better cables but your ears will be the final judge.
Many are appealed by "clarity" of anti-cables. They don't convey reverbs, venue athmosphere, spatial cues, they are just clear.

Hope this helps
Jan

Experiences obviously differ with these, but in my case the anti-cables did a better job of conveying spatial cues, venue information and instrumental decays. They replaced my Kimber 8tc which are a very decent, well-rounded cable, so for me the anti-cables are a great bargain. The only thing I don't like about them is that they look like coat-hanger wires coming from the back of my speakers.

I will ask the question that at this point is one of the last ones asked in the other thread (waiter! merger here please!)

Have you left the Speltz (or similar) cables to find their own way or have you 'paired' them with ties or something, and what is the audible difference?

I have been experimenting with this very thing. I am running the Speltz cables in a biwire configuration (two spades on the amp end/four on the speaker side). Berning amplification, Meadowlark speakers. The cables were constructed by me, using Luminous solid copper spades, compression crimped and soldered. I initially had the conductors spaced horizontally (+ - + -) about an inch or so apart, running through thin pine boards, which acted to both maintain even spacing, and keep the cables several inches off the carpet. Unfortunately, they had the look of high voltage power lines running from the back of my rack, but that's another story. I thought they sounded very nice, perhaps almost TOO nice. A little laid back and polite, they seemed only adequate in dynamics, and were perhaps a bit rolled off on the frequency extremes. Yet, like most solid conductor cables, they perserved the cohesiveness of music that (IMHO) many stranded designs (particularly hybrid copper/silver cables) ignore. Ultimately, I felt my Goertz MI2 cables were better.

Last night, I removed my pine "spacers". I laid the cables flat onto the floor, not paying particular attention to conductor orientation, and placed four small tie-wraps evenly spaced along the length of the cable. The transformation was quite astonishing. Suddenly, the cables lost their politeness, and the perspective shifted as if I had moved from 3/4 of the way back in the concert hall to within the first ten rows of the stage. While some of the smoothness of the cables was certainly lost, the dynamic range suddenly blossomed, and the cables developed what is commonly termed 'slam'; frequency extension issues previously noted disappeared. Is it all good? I don't think so - some of the cable's ability to retrieve low-level information also disappeared, as well as some subtle spatial cues. However, the cables are neither harsh, nor fatiguing, and perserve the essence of what they do right musically speaking.

My thinking now is that there has to be some compromise between the two geometries that will allow for a best of both worlds scenario. My thinking is that the next configuration will have the cables slowly spiralling around a small diameter core of some sort, where conductor separation will be maintained, but where spacing will be minimized (perhaps only a centimeter apart or so). I am also thinking that the cables are somewhat microphonic, and that some amount of damping is necessary. As to the composition of the core material, I am still developing my thoughts on this. I am working on gathering my construction and application photos of all this, and will hopefull post something someday soon if anyone is interested. Regards,

-Richard