Thermionic

A pain to terminate

This, my friends, is a story about self-deception and being fooled by reviews. A long time ago – well, not really so long ago: just six years – I bought some B&W DM 601 loudspeakers. They were awful – bass was overbearing, treble was tinselly bright and they were coloured (what would you expect from thin-walled chipboard boxes?). These were my first hi-fi loudspeakers, and I had them single-wired with some Supra Classic 2.5 – but then I started reading hi-fi magazines; I tried biwiring the speakers with another run of Supra, and lo!, the soundstage opened up, the sound became clearer and gained the ability to fill the room. So naturally I thought – biwiring is the only way to go about it. Then I bought my ProAc Tablette 50’s. Evidently, they were biwired since their first notes. After hearing what biwiring did to my former loudspeakers, how could I have it any other way? I upgraded my cables gradually, and one day I ended up trying the Kimber 8 TC against the Transparent Music Wave. And nice were these: well-built, with those big anti-RF networks, single-wired, and… about 50% more expensive than the Kimbers. Curiously, the latter wiped the floor with the Transparents in terms of speed and imaging! So I bought a 2,5 metre pair of Kimber 8 TC. As I swore by the biwiring dogma, I split the strands – half for the woofer and the other half for the treble. Some years later I decided to split the strands in different configurations: ten for the woofers and six for the tweeters, and even a 4 – 12 configuration. The results were good – an increment in detail was clearly noticeable –, and the latter configuration worked very well indeed, so I went silly and thought the next logical step would be to buy a pair of 4 TC for the treble, leaving all sixteen strands of 8 TC for the woofers. You see, by this time I was reading too many reviews in Audioreview… Anyway, the improvement – if there was any – was very marginal, and really not worth the expenditure. I must say I was a bit disappointed, and began to fear I had spent a lot of money senselessly. About one year after I purchased the 4 TC, I had a «what if…?» moment and decided to put the little rhodium jumper bars back into the Michell terminals on my ProAcs, and connected them with the 8 TC in single-run mode. I was shocked – there seemed to be no audible difference whatsoever between this configuration and the biwiring option. I felt so foolish! Further auditions made me realize the sound was actually better in single-run mode – which didn’t add to my self-esteem… Now I have single runs of 8 TC. Additionally, I cut two ends off the 4 TC and substituted them with the jumper bars on the speaker terminals. Quite simply, I have the best sound from my speakers I have ever had! The 8 TC is a fabulous cable: tonally neutral, very dynamic, with lots and lots of low-level information – just the thing for conjuring a wide and deep soundstage. Bass is full, yet fast and articulate, and treble is sweet and extended (I have a vinyl front-end, so treble glare is seldom an issue). All in all, it is a wonderful cable. I have to recognize that people like John Crabbe and Ivor Humphreys are right when they deny the benefits of biwiring. Good, well-designed loudspeakers – and in my judgement there is no doubt that the ProAcs fall in this category – have quality crossover networks, so biwiring becomes redundant. I reckon ProAc inserted the double terminals for biamping purposes, as my speakers are totally insensitive to biwiring. The bottom line is – beware when buying speaker cable. Trust your ears and don’t get fooled by all that mambo-jambo about biwiring and shotgunning! Self-deception is very easy with all hi-fi components – let alone cables! Also, bear in mind that cables are system-dependent. What works well in a certain context may be disastrous in another! Anyway, you can be sure you won’t go wrong with Kimber 8 TC. It is a terrific cable. Expensive? Maybe, but others are even more so and don’t offer as much all-round quality as the 8 TC.

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Loads of 'em

EASY TO WORK WITH SECURE CONNECTION (WBT)

TOUGH TO AUDITION AGAINST OTHER CABLES, DUE TO BREAK IN TIME

I purchased 2 pairs of the Hero interconnects and a pair of the 8TC speaker cables with midline WBT connectors about 4 months ago and have been very happy with them. They replaced some Monster interconnects and speaker wire (no terminations) and the differences are huge! The soundstage is much more focused. Details are there that I had not heard before. Mind you, I don't sit just listening for these things. I typically will be reading when listening to music and these details just jumped out. I would sit up and take notice of all this extra information being communicated to me and say, "WOW, I never heard that before!" I now seem to have much low frequency info happening than before. I could certainly use a subwoofer for the lowest octaves, but for the music i listen to, I have plenty. I have always enjoyed listening to music (rock, pop, jazz, lots of female performers) but it seems as if my system, since the addition of the Kimber cables, has more to offer. The best thing is when I sit up and take notice of sounds I have not heard before. I cannot say if this combination is for everyone, but in my case, it works well. I truly look forward to listening to my music and "hearing" more of it. Check these cables out! ROTEL RC1070 PREAMP ROTEL RB1080 AMP MIRAGE OM10 LOUDSPEAKERS

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MONSTER CABLE

Solid and punchy sound; not bright like 4TCs

Can't think of any

Bought a pair of these secondhand with a pair of 4TC cables for biwiring: 8TC for bass, 4TC for treble. Price was for 2.5-metre pair with spades. The 8TCs are my first "high-end" speaker cables and they are quite a revelation. On their own the 8TCs provide a solid soundscape with more detail but not overly forward like the 4TCs. I like the overall balance which is solid and meaty; they make music more exciting to listen to. I'm not sure if they are the best cables for the money, although the reviews I have come across are generally favourable (if not gushing). But for the amount I paid for them they've improved my system that it makes me listen to my CD collection in a new light.

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Kimber 4TC Ecosse CS2.5 Audioquest Type 4 and F14 Naim NACA5

cleaner than the average

cost too much, never breaks in fully

After listening to many cables in my system after I bought Kimber 8TC I finally figured out what it was that was making me look for another cable. Kimber cables do offer an improvement over lesser cables, the Monsters of the world. The sound is clear and the highs are high the lows are low but there is always something not quite right...ahh the break in thats was IT. Kimber cables never actually fully break in, I thought it was my gear warming up making a difference because usually the sound is quirky, not consistant from day to day or even from start to finish. I would listen and the first 15min to an hour would sound not so good, so I would leave the room and come back and the harsh highs and conjested soundstage would be better but not perfect.

REVEALING, and straght forward, open soundstage, detailed and accurate sounding, very fast, great bass control, warmth....perhaps thats just the components being able to shine through.

Not much really, but it will not hesitate to show you where your faults lie in your components, not forgiving anything bad sounding. IE....Does not mask at all allowing all signal to come through, (good and bad to a degree). This will make you want to go spend more money, in my experience, on better gear/cables.

Compared this cable to the Monster Z2 bi-wire and it won head over heels. Monster was big, but detail was a bit masked. Better for home theatre. I was upgrading from Monster mcx-1s biwire, wich wasn't bad, and certainly an upgrade from stock wire. BUT, I couldn't believe what I was missing in the details. My system leaped in performance many times over and I am loving a wide open soundstage, clarity in imagery, and detail IN BETWEEN instruments and sounds. It is really a very very honest and transparent cable, that in the end, reveal EVERYTHING> GOOD AND BAD. That said, as much as is sounds amazing, musical and accurate, it really is revealing the short comings in my electronics, or perhaps my speakers. Finding the sibilance of digital in recordings and components to some degree, where before these tonalities were masked by inferior cables. So now, as much as I've certainly improved my system drastically, I now am in hunt for improving elsewhere knowing there is something needed in the componentry/interconnects/speakers. only 4 stars due to cost. My gear: arcam cd72, with tranparent Music Link interconnect Arcam avr 200, with Canare/Bryston coax interconnect, to a Anthem mca 20, amp. with B&W DM602s3

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Monster mcx-1s, monster Z2. would have tried more but reviews everywhere have shown this cable to be tops in most opinions, so I just bought it. And loving it!

Everything.

None.

Wow! As a former cabling skeptic, I am now a complete convert. My local stereo store priced an 8ft. pair of biwired 8tc wire, with terminations, at $800. I got mine for $270 (including shipping) on Ebay, already broken in! An amazing deal. My system has come ALIVE! Once these were plugged in the bass got deeper, tighter, more punchy and dynamic. Where the bass previously was muddy and lagging, it became engaging. The soundstage increased. The highs became detailed and as accurate as I've ever heard, with high-hat and cymbols sounds full-bodied, brassy and shimmering. The vocals jump out of space, sounding like you're in the front row at a concert. The entire sound, from top to bottom, appears as though as imaginary blanket has been removed--everything sounds much better. I highly reccomend these cables, whether you pay retail or get an insane deal like I did. I also have these paired up with the Kimber KCAG interconnects, and this, to steal Stereophile's phrase, is truly "astonishingly transparent," and sounds amazing paired with the 8tc. I have died and gone to audiophile heaven.

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Monster, Synergistic research

Never harsh and tonally true, fat bottom end that still tight and gorgeous mids. Maintains good separation during busy passages.

Not the most revealing cable, but this is only a minor offense as there are many out there who are less reavaling than Kimber.

Though I cannot speak for "audiophiles" across the nation I can speak from the point of view as a musician and recording artist (something Ive been doing for almost two decades). Many people who lock themselves into a closet never having actually heard to a REAL music instrument offer all kinds of advice as to how music should sound, which IMHO has no real reference point to begin with. If you are looking for a cable that doesnt rob the tone of an instrument and sounds like youre actually standing next to the real thing then try these cables! Sure there are cables out there that are more revealing (In both high end and the bottom for that matter) but I havent heard one yet that comes close to the sound stage presentation and sheer lack of tonality (this is a good thing) at this price point. There are several here which give rather bad reviews of this cable which make me wonder what kind of equipment its was hooked up to. Just remember you cant hook up these cables to a pair of speakers and a reciever that you bought from some ubiquitious electronic store thinking they will improve sound. As they say in the recording business garbage in - garbage out.

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Audioquest, Monster, DNM reson, Van den Hul, and others...

Nice midrange and clean highs.

Price, lifeless, too clean, NO LOWs

I "upgraded" from MIT Tmax cables to KimberKable 8TC (without termination, $12/foot, bought 2002). After replacing the MIT's with 8TC I immidiately experienced a loss of the low range. My hope was after burning in the 8TC would get back to life. So I waited for 3 months, played everything from rock to pop for approx. 3h a day. No improvement in the low range. I used the CARA audio test CD to confirm the loss of the low range. Below 84Hz the signal was very week, confirming my suspicion that this cable does not like low frequencies. Finally I got fed up and put simple Monster Cables as an intermediate solution after removing the 8TC. What a difference: I can hear base, the music which got lifeless with the 8TC's was full and room filling. Honestly, I do not miss the 8TC's. I guess these cables are good for people who listen mostly to chamber music or classical music. But do not use them with pop and rock.

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MIT, Monster Cable, QED

Everything from 20HZ to 20KHZ !! Very Flexable, and nice looking. Easy to terminate your self.

NONE

Why would anyone need to spend more money on a cable ? Thank god for Kimber 8TC. Worth every penny spent. No need to ever upgrade. There is enough technology in this cable to provide every nuance one could desire to hear or feel in music. As for break in time ? Give me a break ! This cable was and is as good from the moment I hooked it up. Give any cable about 24 hours at best to break in. Those who believe that it takes hundreds of hours to break in a cable are fooling themselves. I must meantion that a big plus was that I bi-wired/terminated this cable my self and it was a piece of cake. Save your self some money and do it your self. Enjoy....Peace...God Bless Music...

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Kimber 4TC, Tara Labs, MIT...

Nice presentation without loosing details, detail high and tunefull bass as compare to t-14

A touch color in midrange when listening to Piano solo.

Recently, I upgrade two components VA Mozart speakers and Kimber 8TC in my system, and they are the best upgrade that I ever had. I was using DH-Lab T14, which is a great cable for the money, however, once I have the VA speakers, the T-14 just overly smooth out the high. Therefore, the search for a new speaker cables journey begins. I read all the reviews regarding the 4TC and the 8TC, especially the 8TC and I think, the end result come down to system matching and subjective to music preference. In my opinion, the 8TC gives neutral presentation, excelent cable for soft, orchestra, and mid upbeat tempo music. It is not a perfect cable, but for me, it is more satisfied my listening pleasure. -Tan

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DH-lab (great value for mid-fi system), 4VS, MIT T2-3-4