Gold Eclipse to Platinum Eclipse
 

In my Cape 2-Channel room, I have everything wired with Gold Eclipse IC's and Platinum Eclipse speaker cables.

I thought I would try an upgrade from the main outputs of the C1000C to the MC2301's via XLR. I also upgraded the output from the MCD1100 to the C1000C from Gold to Platinum XLR's.

Preface:

This room already has me completely satisfied, in fact I'm really blown away. This was more or less a "let's see if there's anything left to gain" exercise since I was just plain curious.

It wouldn't make any sense to upgrade all of my cables from Gold to Platinum due to the vastness of cables involved. But I did think it was worthy to upgrade the main outs from Pre to Amp, and my best DAC out to the Pre.

First Impressions:

This was a successful upgrade; I am enjoying the following gains.

I have a noticeable improvement in detail, and sound stage. Nothing huge, but I can hear a bit greater depth in a variety of musical tracks. Complex tracks such as "Peter White's - Ramon's Revenge" which is a very demanding and fast paced track are reproduced with even more ease. Since analogies are useful, it sounds as if I went to a much larger gauge cable, which of course I didn't.

There isn't a hint of harshness, or increased brightness, which I was concerned about. Instead the music just seems to flow with less effort, and more relaxed while at the same time more intense; as in emotional involvement.

More subdued tracks such as "Jennifer Warnes - The Ballad of the Runaway Horse" sound downright scary clean. I would best describe Jennifer's voice as now projecting more forward, and 3 dimensional moving from front center past my listening position to the rear of the room.

I attribute the greatest gain mentioned above from the Platinum run from the C1000 to the 2301's since this is a critical (3.0m) run. I am choosing to leave my Gold Eclipse cables intact (for now) as I can rather easilly A/B the diference by simply going into my gear room, and make the switch back again.

I am sure the cables will settle in, and further up the ante' but they are definitely staying in the System. :thumbsup:

Ivan, I trust your ears, but having heard the "before" I hope you will forgive me for wondering how in the world it could get better. :)

Randy... That is quite a compliment, and appreciated. :o

Can I assume the Platinum hasn't run in properly yet? It will only get better!

Correct Tommy, they only have a few hours on them. :)

I have to agree - the 2-channel room is the best I have heard and it is hard to imagine it being improved upon. :music:

I would expect the cable upgrade to have a cumulative effect vs. a significant effect.

Leave it to Ivan to find a way!...:banana:

This weekend I plan on putting in about half a dozen more Platinum cables. I'm going for that last 5% of improvement.

What a great track Ramon's Revenge is...that was my favorite demo track of yours! :yes: Glad to hear you're getting even further satisfaction out of your change...enjoy everything they offer you!! :thumbsup:

Here we go...

http://www.audioaficionado.org/attac...2&d=1322920032