I cannot seem to find a place here on Audio Review where I can review the Crystal Clear Cables Master Series of interconnects so I am going to do this here, and I need to do this because these are the best interconnects I have ever had the pleasure of hearing and using, and I have been throwing money into things audio for over 20 years now. So, bear with me because here we go:
This will be short. Buy these. Now. And I repeat. Buy these, now. Today, or tonight depending on when you are reading this. Because once you have these, and once they are broken in, you will kick yourself for not having done the purchase sooner. Gentlemen (and ladies, though you are rare in the world of the high end, but welcome,please!), I have been searching for at least the last 18 years or so for what I thought was the proper preamp to make my whole system complete. I have owned over 17 different preamps and none seem to be getting the job done that I wanted. And I had some darn fine preamps, believe me. Then I started to spend money not on black boxes but on cables. I went for broke and bought some Analysis Plus Big Silver Oval speaker cable. Good start Bob, a very, very good start. I am very happy with the performance of the AP BSO speaker cable so I thought I would try some of their silver interconnects. Fortunately I was able to get a demo pair to try. While good, they are very pricey and strangely, to my ears, they did not seem to compliment the BSO speaker cables as I imagined they would. I went on a search for some silver interconnects that were reasonably priced and that is when I came across the Crystal Clear Cable interconnects, specifically the Master class, or series. I found some interconnects new for sale on Audiogon and for less (a lot less) than the AP stuff or another preamp, I bought them. (And many thanks to Mel, who is a true gentleman and a price of a fellow). The ICs arrived with instructions that they would need about 50 hours of break-in time so to be safe, I gave them 100 hours. People, I have been saved. Saved from having to buy anymore black boxes (or silver ones) in a quest for sonic Nirvana. These interconnects are MARVELOUS! I know that many of you might say, "oh-oh, silver. That stuff is hard sounding and painful to the ears". Yes brothers and sisters, I too once thought that but the CC cables is not like that. At all. It has all of the greatness that silver is known for as well as what is also the benefits of copper. I do not know how they do it, but they did it and did it well. I have never heard an IC of any price or build that sounds this good. I have attended the RMAF on several occasions and I have experienced some pretty expensive cables. To my ears, the Crystal Clear products I have heard beats them all. So, so much for the damnation of silver....
I can hear so much more than I have ever heard before from recordings, and while that is an often over-used cliche, it is so true here. I can hear deep into the recording studios, hear the deep chesty resonance of singers, almost feel the strings on the cello or violin, and see the pianist attacking the keys. I am no writer for $tereophile or the Absolute $ound (dollar signs are intentional) so I lack the requisite vocabulary to make my point any stronger or more vivid. So I have to stress on a much lower level that the Crystal Clear stuff is good, great, excellent, phenomenal, marvelous and just downright jaw-dropping. I have ordered more and I am in the process of selling off so much of the cable I have now in my home in order to get another "fix" of the Crystal Clear (yikes, a "meth reference?).
I hope that my rambling here will convince you that a purchase of the Crystal Clear cables, be it the Master series or any of their other series, is well worth your hard earned cash. I went looking for some on the standard audio websites to see what might be for sale and I saw only one pair for sale that was used. I think that alone speaks volumes to the quality of the cable, both sonically and craftsmanship-wise. Though I have not really dwelled on the build of the cables, suffice it to say that the build of these cables is extraordinary. Go to their website and you will see that they stress that they use only the best of the best in the construction of their cables.
In closing and to sound like the stuck CD track, the Crystal Clear audio cables are brilliant made, marvelous to experience from a sonics perspective and they will have you digging out recording after recording to hear what you have been missing, staying up late to do so, and having your feet keeping time with the music while you sit and soak in the glory of the music while you grin from ear to ear the knowledge that you have found heaven in a pair of interconnects.

Everything

NONE

I need to write a very good review for this cables. I really love them. I consider it the best cables in the world!! I have the whole set on my system setup, no other brand cables. The performance is outstanding!! the sonic difference is way way to better to describe than the other cables I used. The sound is very smooth with the absence of distortion, it has the ability to reproduce percussive instruments with sharp, crisp attacks--for example, castanets, snare drums, classical guitar, piano. Instead of blurring the instruments together as one sound source, the individual instruments are reproduced so their placement can be clearly identified.
Very detailed; well balanced between its ability to reproduce background program information as well as foreground information; capable of reproducing complex program material without sacrificing any part of it.
I will be setting up another one in my room, and will have the CCA cables again.
Thanks so much

Customer Service

Excellent!!

Similar Products Used:

Kimber Sellect, Nordost, Analysis plus, etc.. I have tried a lot of brand name cables.

Everything

none

Undoubtedly the best cables I have heard. It is definitely the best quality built and sound and excellent value. This is serious cable for the money. I compared many companies products. This is the best sounding cable. If you have doubts, just go and listen for your self. I love these cables

Similar Products Used:

siltech, audioquest, kimber, nordost, monster, straightwire, harmonic technologies

Transients, soundtage, built for tough, images well to equipment.

None

The reference series are undoubtly top-flight interconnect. The reference soundstage, transients and images are larger than any other cables I tried. Tonal balance was completely consistent with the rest of their performance : powerful, bass, clear, soundstage. Physically handcrafted to perform the best interconnect to suit your need. No frills on advertisement unlike other cables.

Similar Products Used:

None

Everyting

None

I have been a long time customer of Mel's PKM AUDIO dealership. Most of my equipment was purchased from him. I love dealing with Mel. I would say the best purchase I made from him was his Crystal Clear Audio Cables. Crystal Clear cables Made my Audio system complete. I am very happy and satisfied with my setup. CCA is handcrafted to perfection. I love the built quality and construction. The cotton sleeves jacket which looks very unique and expensive. Purity of Silver conductor. I foundd all this description true with CCA cables: Frequency response: extended; linear. Discrimination: detailed; well balanced between its ability to reproduce background program information as well as foreground information; capable of reproducing complex program material without sacrificing any part of it. Transients: the ability to reproduce percussive instruments with sharp, crisp attacks--for example, castanets, snare drums, classical guitar, piano. Imaging: instead of blurring the instruments together as one sound source, the individual instruments are reproduced so their placement can be clearly identified. Soundstage: related to the excellence of the imaging, the music seems not to come from a localized speaker source, but to have a breadth and depth outside the box. Smooth: not harsh; absence of ringing and/or distortion; smoothness without sacrificing frequency response, discrimination and transients. Transparency: un-muffled; clear; open; the sense that the veil has parted and that one is not listening to a reproduction but through to the original performance. Signal-to-noise: the music seems to emerge from a dead quiet background.

Similar Products Used:

Most of the expensive cables out there

musical, not cheap but a great value for the money.Amazing resolution of the most subtle nuances and detail.

NONE

I promised Mel a review so I deliver, like Mel delivering the excellence of his cables. Having obtained a remarkable outstanding results in my system steup with the Crystal Clear Audio Powercord, I decided to buy their CCA Studio Reference balanced interconnects. I hooked up the CCA Studio Reference in my system. These ICs have an ability to resolve the most subtle nuances of the music. Music is very detailed, warm and full . Very natural, defined and presence is very noticable. As if I am at a live performance. If you are looking to extract that last bit of performance from your system, look no further than the CCA Studio Reference.

Similar Products Used:

Aucardas neutral reference/golden reference, millersounddioquest Anaconda, Audioquest Python

Involving and engaging

You will be on a software binge.

I've auditioned several silver cables at home and my impression was that silver projects a subtle overiding sense of brightness and leaness. I chanced upon Mel Llave at PKM Audio when I was looking for a component rack. Mel invited me to try his silver cable and since it had a 30 day guarantee, I took his offer. The first thing that struck me about the cable without me actually listening for it is its dynamics, speed and transcient attack. On Radka Tonef's "My Funny Valentine" the transcient attack on the notes of the piano reminds me that the piano IS a percussion intrument. On Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", Mick Fleetwood drum beat seems to be a microsecond ahead of how I previusly remember it to be. The result is that I follow the beat rather than anticipate it. Not only did my toes tap, but my foot stomped and my head rocked. It just reminds me of why I'm in this hobby in the first place. Female vocals was more transparent without any leaness and without subtracting organic body. The combination of dynamics, speed and transparency made me "feel" more of Joni Mitchell's youth and enthusiasm during her earlier recordings. Musical detail was not high on my priority list. But the cable's combination of dynamics, speed, detail and transparency reveal small nuance of a singers inflection, pronounication and just as important, timing as she scales her voice's dynamic range. This results in a more emotional projection of the performance and a more moving musical experience. The cable's details also projects previously side lined auxiliary instruments to prominence making the music more whole or complete as the music arranger intended. Imaging was outstanding. On Pat Metheny's "Going Ahead", I previously thougt there were only two guitars overdubbed. But now I percieved a third guitar between the two. Most music I like are music from my youth recoded commercially and not audiophile approved. I was worried that the cable's transparency would render my collection intolerable to listen to. However, the cable made my CD collection more listenable, they're just clearer not brighter. The speed and pace of the cable made rock music, Rock, as explained before on the Fleetwood Mac CD. The cables convinced me that silver need not be bright and lean. The cables are detailed yet smooth. The Crystal Clear Audio literally transformed my system. It made my ststem more engaging and involving. The best compliment I can render is that I'm now on a software binge.

Extremely musical and highly resolving. Has a natural warmth and fullness in the midrange that serves the music well.

none at this price or for that matter 3 times it's price.

I started out with Mel's Reference XLR interconnect. Right out of the box I was very impressed with the overall presentation of this cable. After it was done breaking in (about 250 hrs), I was blown away. In my system this cable had a very natural, smooth, warm, grain free and musical sound to it. This is not to say it did not possess great detail and dynamics, it did. I had been auditioning some Cardas Golden Reference along with my current XLO Signature's. Of these three interconnects the Crystal Clear Audio was the clear winner. It had a fuller, warmer midrange that the XLO and greater detail than the Cardas, it also resolved more musical imformation than both of them. I have not heard every cable out there, nor do I have the time to do so. But I can tell you this, I don't care because this interconnect has preformed way beyond my expectations and it's damn affordable. I also ended up buying two runs of Mel's Reference speaker cable. Although they took longer to break-in,(about 500 hrs) they are the same giant kilers as the interconnect. With both the interconnect and speaker cable, my system has taken a giant leap forward. Highly recommended!

Similar Products Used:

XLO Signature, Cardas Golden Reference

Truely EXCELLENT performance Gorgeous build quality AMAZING PRICE & value!!

none that I've so far found

12' SOLID SILVER TRI-WIRED SPEAKER CABLES. I have used Mel's products before and had ourstanding results, interconnects, power cables and now speaker cables. My second system is in my garage/workshop and consists of a pair of Spendor SP100's powered by rebuild Counterpoint electronics (hybrid tube/solid state). The problem was that there was far too much bass and the frequency balance was not at all good for chamber music and small acoustic ensembles. The SP100's have triwire capability so I had Mel make a set of cables in silver with triwire spades on one end and single spades to the amplifier end. The cables are BEAUTIFULLY BUILT!! His new casing material is great to look at and very durable. The silver spades are bulletproof! In my experience, although 'breakin' is important for the last bit of 'relaxation' in the sound, one can usually hear the bulk of the benefit/mistake pretty much right away. That was how it happened here. The bass was firm, tight and completely coherent with the rest of the sound. Acoustic instrumental timbre was gloriously detailed and 'airy' but with good weight and presence. There seemed to be better "time alignment" to the whole sound although this may have had more to do with the "triwireing". I suspect that Spendor knows this and that is why the tweeter is available for seperate wiring. The acoustic envirment is far from ideal as all the room surfaces are hard and reflective, this won't change as it's my workshop and I need it as it is. Also the speaker cables are longer than usual to allow repositioning as building projects come and go. Nonetheless, the difference that the speaker cables made was nothing short of astounding and I am very happy with the musicality of the whole system now. The winter's "projects" will be even more fun this year.

Similar Products Used:

Audioquest/AudioTruth silver

Bring out the detail. Very lively and musical!!

NONE

I am very happy with these cables. I was hesistant to Silvers before. I have read some good and bad reviews about it, but now I know Silver from Crystal clear really great. I know I was missing something, I have tried a lot of different type of cables, expensive ones and homebrewed. I recommend Crystal clear cables. You'll be happy!!

Similar Products Used:

Kimber Select, Audioquest, Cardas,Analysis Plus, homemade etc.