Transparent cables MM and MM2

I had that choice and I chose cheaper MM2 ICs for my system. The MM2 is supposedly a considerable advance over the MM1 but I never had the chance to directly compare the MM2 Music Link I purchased with a MM1 higher up the chain. However I can say I am well satisfied with the cable I have, paid around $750 for a 10' pair. Undoubtedly the more expensive MM2s are better but beyond my budget.

I recently replaced Ultra XL bi-wire speaker cable with Super MM, and find it much more of an improvement than expected.

Anyone else-looks like the newer MM2s are better than the MM1 even the levels are different.

I can tell you from my personal experience that the MM2 is at the very least, one level higher when comparing the same level in MM1 but it is probably more like two levels. When I made the upgrade from Super MM1 to Ultra MM2, I took home a set of loaner Ultra MM1 IC's and Ultra MM1 biwire speaker cables from my local store that were already broken in so that I could have an idea as to the difference between the two for myself. I listened to those loaner cables for 4 days and nights untill I was able to pick up my new cables at Transparent. After only 3 days of running the new Ultra MM2 in my system they were already ahead of the Ultra MM1 and they were not even broken in yet. I also asked a local rep that works for Transparent when I was at their office the same question and he swore the upgrade was more like a 2 level jump. He also assured me that the Ultra MM2 was better choice than the Ref.MM1. The MM2 technology was taken from the Opus line...If you have seen my system in the Virtual section, you will know that I'm serious about cables. I hope this helps.

HamptonBeach-many thanks for the reply.
I think it might be a smart move to just go w/ the MM2s unless the MM1s are sold at super discounted prices and are 1 or 2 steps higher than the current MM2s.
Thanks so much... these Transparent cables are indeed very nice cables! pricey but worth the $ of admission.
In your opinion is it worth to have a higher level of IC than the speaker cables ? For example, Ultra IC MM2 + Super MM2 speaker cables ? or best the other way around ?

I did some comparisons between Super and Ultra for MM1 cables. I found that mixing cables worked fine. I ended up with Ultra for speakers and pre to amp interconnects and Super for the source to pre-amp interconnects. It seemed like as long as I had enough Ultras, I could mix in Supers without changing the sound much. So I would definitely think about mixing. In my case, the speaker cables seemed to be the most important. As always, it depends on the specific electronics and speakers.

Nolitan, To answer your question, should your IC's be better than the speaker cables... I do not think there is any wrong answer. My personal feeling is that the closer the improvements are to the source end, the better. That was how I built up my current system. I have also experimented with swapping my Ulta MM2 IC's from the front channels with my Super MM1 from the rear channels and running with my Ultra MM2 speaker cables for 2 days. I came up with the conclusion that if you are going to fork out the dough for the MM2 technology then you should try to match the technologies with both IC's and speaker cables. If you believe like I do that we are only as good as the weekest link, then you should pick a side and start from there. There is no right or wrong with this stuff. Any time we substitue a cable, components, tweaks, ect. its affects can be positive or negative, thats what makes this fun, Good Luck!

I have mine in a mixed system, Transparent Reference [MM1] for digital, Music Link [MM2] between pre and amp and Van den Hul First Ultimate for other ICs with Cardas GRs for speaker. No master plan, just got the best I could afford at each upgrade and worked out like this. Not necessarily ideal but sounds good as is.

thanks for response!! i guess nothing would beat an actual home audition.