Chapter 11: AntiCables
I had been dabbling with an assortment of cables in my system and decided to jump into something new. I ended up with a whole new set of cables from AntiCable. I'm sure most have at least heard of AntiCable, but maybe never "heard" them first hand. Well, I'm absolutely thrilled with them. Here's what I landed on:
Power Cables
Level 3 Reference - CD Player
Level 2 Performance - Integrated Amp & Phono Preamp
Interconnects
Level 3 Reference - CD Player
Level 2 Performance - Phono preamp & Turntable
Speaker Cables
Level 3 Reference w/ copper spades
I absolutely love the power cables - I had a $1,000+ Transparent power cable that came with one of my components when I bought it and I'm MORE than happy with both the Performance and Reference series as a replacement - WOW! The build quality on them is fantastic and I really love the plugs. While I won't say that I was ever really on the power cable merry-go-round, I'm excited to say that I have no reason to ever buy another power cable. And at $230 for the Level 2 Performance Series, I think they're an incredible value.
As for the interconnects, the Level 2 Performance Series is were the magic is at for me - at least on the vinyl side of my setup. I'm running double shielded Level 2's from my turntable to my phono pre and from the phono pre to my integrated amp. They helped clean up the feedback I was getting with the cables that came with my Music Hall MMF-11. They're absolutely perfect - and at $150 they're an absolute bargain. I did, however, decide to "splurge" on the Level 3 Reference Series for my CD Player and they're an improvement over the XLO's I had previously!
Now for the speaker cables - it took me a little bit (maybe 5 minutes) for me to get used to the stiffness of the speaker cables, but once I got them hooked up, it was all over for the custom set of cables I was using before.
I've been enjoying them more and more over the past month or so as they've "burned in" a little. Honestly, I don't know if it is my ears or the cables, but the more in listen to them, the more I like them. Could there be "better" cables out there? I'm sure there could be, but for my system and my ears, the AntiCables are absolutely perfect! The fact that they're relatively easy on the pocket book and are made right here in the USA is a huge bonus to me - in fact, they're made right here in my home state of Minnesota and the owner is a top notch guy!
