I have tried and own top end Acoustic Zen ,Kimber and Straight Wire cables and in my system the affordable Siltech G3 balanced cables are fantastic.Very smooth and well balanced cable similar to the Acoustic Zen.I am sure they could be bettered but I find that they are an astounding bargain.I picked up a pair for $100 on Audiogon and they are far superior to the $800 kimbers I was using.

highs

edgy, no midbass, no cohesion from top to bottom, poor micro and macro dynamic.

You are a lazy fool to settle for these cables. Go listen to Acoustic Zen, audioquest, Transparent, Nordost, Harmonic Tech or even ultralink. Bright, edgy, long break in, horrible sonic cohesion from top to bottom. I A/B these cables for 3 months with solid state gear. Do not waste your money. If you bought these you were lazy. Even replaced pairs and spoke to Mr. Wood of the company who offered free burn in. Well Burn in did not work, not even replacements, but yes acoustic zen,nordost, adioquest panther dbs,Harmonic tech magic did work fantastic. Each company above A/B!

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Zen , Harmonic Technologies, Nordost, audioquest, ultralink

Good value for money. A must have.

I don't know.

In this digital era, proper and fast information transfer is considered part of day-to-day life. That's why I was really amazed when I found out how much musical information got lost in an inactive audio component like an interconnect. It was really the enthousiasm of the dealer and the confidence I had in them, that pursuaded me to buy these Siltechs. For those who are as ignorant as I was and who want to upgrade their audio chain, please read the following. It is free of charge and it may help you! First priority is to get sources and speakers that convince you. No problem to try and to use them with standard copper interconnects. If you think they are good with copper and they deliver you a clear, open, musical sound with enough subtility and preciseness, you are ready for the next step: the interconnects. Why do I say this? Perfect interconnects let you benefit most of what you already have: a set of sources, amplifiers and speakers. That's all. There is no magic involved. They do not add something that wasn't there already. They need to be there, but actually they shouldn't. So the best you can do is to buy connections that are as neutral as possible. Copper cables are not, they filter out musical subtilities and dimensional information. Silver is a better material for that job. The impurities in the silver, the oxidation state, the structure of the silver and the isolation and backbone construction of the cable may reduce the ideal neutral behaviour. In this respect there is always a better and a more close to perfect option, but I think what matters most is the choice for silver. The Siltech ST18 fits perfectly well with my source and speakers components. The clarity and preciseness are really astonishing and the music sound very, very natural and obvious. So I invested 10% of the total value of the installation in interconnect cables and I got a 100% enjoyment in return. Really value for money! Can I make it even better with better (and more expensive) interconnects? I don't know. I am afraid the degree of improvement will disappoint me. My intuition says that I will have to upgrade my sources and main speakers first, before I can benefit from even better interconnects. That brings me to a final remark I want to make. If you think this cable is not good, there is a 100% chance that you are listening to imperfections in your source, amplifier or speaker system. The remedy is quite simple though: either update the weakest components or go back to copper interconnects and hide the imperfections again.

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none

Detailed, Smooth

slightly bright, a bit thinner

Yes, I've only had it for a month but I was using the Siltech Paris for 6 months and I have to say these are much clearer and more detailed than the paris wires. I thing I did like in the Paris was the overall depth that I find missing in the St18. It seems that the Paris was a darker sound but the St18 brings so much more spaciousness and air to the sound. I have also tried Audioquest Diamondback, Coral, Viper and Anaconda. With the exception of the Anaconda, the Audioquest wires are not in the same league. The Coral is detailed but way to thin. The Anaconda has everything, details and lush sound but the cheapest I could get it down to was $660 which was a huge bargain from its $1200 price tag but still out of my league. ST18 is not perfect but for the money its a great value.

The sound is clear,nutural and dynamic

Wow.WILL YOU BELIVE IT.NONE AT ALL!!!!!

I had used the flatline for about one year,but after i changed to siltech product just for a week,and now I change all my cables to siltech,now i used paris speaker cable,spx20 power cords and berlin ....GOOD PRODUCT

Similar Products Used:

FLATLINE,QED,MIT,AUDIOQUEST...

Very open, clean, liquid and extremely detailed sound. No grain, no lack of any frequency, reveals everything in a recording and any flaw in your equipment or loudspeakers.

Still a bit unknown in the USA and therefor a great loss for all audiophiles over there.

The ST-18 delivers, in my opinion, the best price-quality performance ever known worldwide for an audio interconnect. However, i managed to make it even cheaper by soldering the cable and connectors myself. Managed to find a store in the Netherlands that sold the cable seperately and bought 1,2 meter of it (that's only $80,- !!!). Then i got on the internet to find a connector that wasn't as expensive as the standard connectors on the ST-18 (WBT's $13,- each and you'll need 4 of them... That's $52,- just for the connectors!). I found some very nice Oelbach connectors, gold-plated, big, strong and good looking for $5,- each and had them delivered at home within a week. Soldered it all together with Siltech silver-solder and tadaah: A home made, brand new Siltech ST-18 for just $100,- !!! NO other manufacturer can beat this interconnect normally and now i even have one for half the price! At that time i had a van den Hul "the second" interconnect and when it was replaced i felt ashame because the van den Hul interconnects are known worldwide; they are also from the Netherlands but perform terribly in comparision to the Siltech, which should have the fame and respect they deserve. There are some little things in life that can make someone really happy... This is absolutely one of them.

Similar Products Used:

Kimber cable, van den Hul, Oelbach, Qed, Monstercable, MIT, Nordost

Transparency, Detail, Focus, Soundstage, Presence, Air, Palpability, Dynamics, Speed, accuracy of timbre, tightness of bass, affordable (especially 2nd hand)

want more of what they do...

I picked up a Siltech brochure at a Hi-End audio store near me after being advised to try out their interconnects from a guy I bought 2 pairs of Siltech speaker cables from. I originally thought what the heck kind of improvement in sound will this skinny little two wire ST-18 G3 give me? I figured I''d have to go with something like the SQ-80 or 88 to really hear a difference worth making any noise about, but price being a consideration, I finally decided to try the ST-18''s and see if there was any merit to Siltech''s claims. I found a 2nd hand pair from a fellow in France for $175 and had him ship them over. I wasn''t expecting too great an improvement in the sound when I first put them on, to be honest, but the very first piece I put on (Jessie Colin Young - Song for Juli)had me doing double takes to make sure the guitarist wasn''t actually in the room with me... the sound of his fingers striking the metallic strings,the presence and tonal accuracy were startling in their realism and micro dynamics... the bass which had been a bit soft and woofy previously (for lack of a better description) became much more solid, noticably tighter, and considerably more accurate. There was a sense of transparency to the sound that made it appear that the speakers weren''t even on and the musicians were actually on the stage performing before me.... When I put on the remastered version of Led Zeplins Stairway to Heaven, not only were the opening acoustic guitar and recorders stunningly present in the room with me, but when Robert Plant began singing it took no imagination at all to sense him standing before me, approximately 6 feet tall or so, singing a redition that was so much better than what had ever been recorded, and I had to remind myself that it actually was what was recorded, I just hadn''t been hearing all the detail that was there... I could go on, but no need... get these... you will be impressed... Next, I''ll be trying a pair of SQ-28''s I just ordered up in a few days...

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DH Labs BL-1 SERIES II;Goertz Alpha-Core Silver Micro Purl;

Well Balanced, detailed, musical.

Brings out any weakness in your hardware. (This is a compliment)

Picked up two 0.75 Meter Pairs of the ST-18 G3.
First I compared it head to head with the Nordost SPM Reference in my Preamp / Power Amp Link. Well the Nordost was better, but since they list for three times as much they should be. The Siltech did come pretty close. They were slightly dry in comparison. The SPM are sweeter and better overall balanced sound between highs and lows. But the SPM did not blow them away, so the Siltech are a definite winner.
Next I compared them with the Nordost Red Dawn which link my CD Player with the Preamp.
The Siltech had deeper bass extension and lower frequency detail. Midrange was slightly better. The Nordost did slightly better with the high frequency but not enough to beat the Siltech's overall improvement in the presentation.
So the Red Dawn have been replaced by the Siltech.
A steal considering the Red Dawn list for about $80 to $100 more per pair.
My system at the present:
Rotel RCD-990 CD Player
Conrad Johnson Motif MC-8 Preamp
Conrad Johnson MF2100 Power Amp
Onkyo Integra Tuner (The other Siltech pair went here)
Rotel RP855 Turntable with Sumiko Blue Point MC Cartridge
B&W P5 Speakers with MIT T2 BiWire Cables
Vansevers Reference Power Conditioner

Similar Products Used:

Lots of different brands, these are first Siltech

it's the best cheap cable that i ve ever heard. it works perfectly with the valve things. i put it between the buffer( musical-fidelity x10d) and amp( sphinx myth3 ) without high expectation of the higher performance than my Solarwind. actually it did a lot better job than the Nordost maybe decause of the high purity of the silver and advanced hybrid tech( employing gold atoms into the silver crystal structure ) adding with great earthing what make him a real rival to any cable in the price range.
what i can only say is it's perfect

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Nordost SolarWind

Very sweet, musical sound. This cable makes you listen to the music instead of your hifi gear.

None that I have encountered yet.

Having heard a lot of good things about Siltech cables, I one day decided to try out the Siltech ST18 G3 as the link between my new pre- and power amplifier.
I had to wait a couple of days before my dealer received the cable and in those days I was trying to imagine how the cables would like like, and more importantly how they would sound.
They arrived in a beautiful box so that was the first point they scored. But when I opened it I was at first a bit disappointed: the Siltech cables seemed so relatively thin! They were not at all like the excellent IXOS 102 interconnects which I also have and which look like you can tow a truck with them.
Since I didn't buy them to look at them but to listem at them, I quickly placed them between my pre- and power amplifier.

Wow! After a week of so of burning in their sonic characteristics slowly begin to show themselves. These cables are neutral and honest but they do so without sounding overly analytical or dry.
The Siltech will show you what the quality of your hardware is in no uncertain terms but they fortunately do not do so in a ruthless and unforgiving way.
No instead they produce a very musical, involving and sweet sound which only gets better and better the moment the quality of your system improves.
Everything is there: from deep bass to clear midrange to extended but sweet highs. This cable has got it all.
In it's price range it really is one of the top contenders and I can heartily recommend it to all of you.

Similar Products Used:

VLS Ultra tripple shielded OFC interconnects and IXOS 102 interconnects (they are outstanding value as well)