Green "bundle" of joy.

Originally Posted by Cucumber_Jones

I would love to hear peoples thoughts on the A23's vs other popular cables like WW, Kimber and Transparent.

I havent heard them but is the only speaker cable i read consistently universal praise for, and not just for shindo or leben systems. I am saving up for a bi-wire pair (2 runs).

[sibelius]

My view on this is that Shindo has spent considerable time and energy to tune his amps and preamps to attain a certain signature sound. We as customers have spent hard earned dollars to enjoy that particular sound. Why would you purchase cabling that may potentially alter that sound? Buying approved Shindo/Auditorium cabling guarantees that the voicing stays consistant with wishes of its creator. I'm not saying other cables would not work or work well. But why take that chance if you don't have to? Some of us may never be able to afford complete end to end Shindo systems, but we can try to optimize what we have.

IMO, the Shindo accessories (speaker wire, IC and Mr. T) have a flow to them that is organic, natural and understated. They don't draw attention to themselves. When all is right with the world, I am captive to the emotional content of the music and not worrying about stuff like frequency extention, PRAT,size of soundstage etc. The Shindo accessories are commendable for their ability to vanish.

[f1 fan]

Originally Posted by sibelius

My view on this is that Shindo has spent considerable time and energy to tune his amps and preamps to attain a certain signature sound. We as customers have spent hard earned dollars to enjoy that particular sound. Why would you purchase cabling that may potentially alter that sound? Buying approved Shindo/Auditorium cabling guarantees that the voicing stays consistant with wishes of its creator. I'm not saying other cables would not work or work well. But why take that chance if you don't have to? Some of us may never be able to afford complete end to end Shindo systems, but we can try to optimize what we have.

IMO, the Shindo accessories (speaker wire, IC and Mr. T) have a flow to them that is organic, natural and understated. They don't draw attention to themselves. When all is right with the world, I am captive to the emotional content of the music and not worrying about stuff like frequency extention, PRAT,size of soundstage etc. The Shindo accessories are commendable for their ability to vanish.

Sibelius...well said. It's all about the music.

Dave

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[f1 fan]

Originally Posted by PHC1

Ok, finally settled in to give the A23 cables a listen. The system has been on for the past 5 hours or so with the new cables. Just got through one of my late night favorites, Ken Peplowski and the New York Trio "Stardust" record. I know this one very well.

I don't like to listen to anything too complicated when listening to new stuff because if there is too much stuff going on, it is hard to concentrate and pick out the elements to evaluate. The nice simple jazz trio/quartet or similar works great for me.

I've been using my "go to" standards, the Transparent and my older Zebra cables that seemed to have worked with everything else so far. Nothing too fancy but they are both very musical and get 95% of the job done 100% of the time.

The A23 cables are definitely in another league in terms of synergy with my Shindo gear. While I instantly heard the more spacious soundstage before I could even zero in on the instruments, tonal balance and timbre, I noticed how I was drawn to the bass lines setting the rhythm like never before and immediately noticed an interesting phenomenon. If before, this particular record was very pleasant to listen to, I mean well recorded, good quality pressing, musical content that I enjoy, I don't think I've ever been as drawn in before. The best way I can desribe what I heard this evening is as follows.

Bear with me as this is something new to me and I have not quite experienced this before.... I've obviously heard the same instruments on the same record many, many times before, beyond a slight smoothing effect, softer, more delicate shimmer of the cymbals being brushed lightly, the slightly better articulation of the bass notes, the piano notes that seem to linger and decay just a tiny bit longer as the new ones take their place in the significance, hierarchy and progression of music, the reedy, more colorful and more emotional saxophone or clarinet, there was for once, a much more meaningful and interdependent relationship of all the instruments to each other.

For once I think I got much more of the meaning, emotion and message out of the same tracks of music on the same record! This kind of blows me away as it is not something I have picked up on before while auditioning cables of any kind. If before the instruments typically did not do much more than occupied same space and time in my room as they left the speakers, as impressive as they often were with various gear, they are now intertwined in a much more logical, organized and meaningful way that makes me understand the music much better. WOW, this is heavy stuff for sure!

I have to do much more listening obviously but I can tell you this already, don't buy these cables if you are looking to impress yourself with a new found level of some HIFI trickery, buy them if you want to hear your records for the first time like never before and want to lose yourself in your favorite music completely, because that's exactly what's happening to me right now! I have no idea how they work with other gear but there is some serious, serious synergy going on with my Shindo gear.

I seriously doubt that the cables themselves are responsible, no, I think Keith Aschenbrenner of Auditorium 23 simply came across the perfect balance or combination of materials that allow the Shindo gear to show it's true colors. I've already noticed how much of a difference the Shindo ICs made before, I've noticed how the RGPC power conditioner simply did not gel well with Shindo, they were much better straight into the wall for whatever reason. There is obviously something going on with Ken Shindo's products that is very different from the norm and I am not going to question it as I am beyond impressed and happy.

Back to listening! This is going to be one of those really late nights again!

Serge...glad you like the speaker cables. I'm looking forward to reading your impressions when the new stand and preamp arrive. Don't forget the Mr. T

Dave

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[MisterBritt]

I recently received a 5 meter pair of the Auditorium 23 speaker cables. Thanks to Jonathan and Matt for making this happen! My cables are identical in appearance to the ones originally posted in this thread, save for the Buddha cable lifter. My little non Shindo zendo is happening all the same.

Some questions had been raised about the A23's performance against other cables and with non Shindo equipment. I would be poorly equipped to answer those questions. But I was curious to see what the A23s might do with a high power vacuum tube amp and relatively efficient (90 db/m) speakers none-the-less. I wasn't really taking hard notes, just some mental notes, so I thought I might share them as these fleeting thoughts can vanish -- especially first impressions, like the first spring snow in the high desert of New Mexico. (Any Yukio Mishima followers out there? ;-)

I had apparently left a Rolling Stones "Some Girls" japan mini LP cd in the player a couple nights previous to replacing the cables. Not something I would consider test fodder for the new cables, the tune "Miss You" began to waft up into the sonic void as the tube amps got their footing. Keith Richards' guitar was positively snarling into the room. All of about two to three seconds in and I was blown away! I began wondering what a little Black Sabbath might do.

Instead, I put on "Also Sprach Zarthustra," Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Karajan, from circa 1960 and just about died and went to heaven. I have seen these cables described as smooth, silky. Okay, but when there are some major guts involved -- whether it is R. Strauss or K. Richards -- maybe gossamer would better describe the way the air is charged. It tickles my ears. There is a section where, come to discover it, the strings create an effect like streamers twisted from the ceiling, forming double-helixes of sound. Before it was just some interesting trills; with the A23s it was downright psychedelic. Sir Colin Davis, by the way, is conducting Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" as I type this, and it is blowing my mind.

I might say I had something like low to no expectations. This is speaker wire making the changes in sound? The A23 cables replaced some Tara Labs Prism Helix 8 cables -- maybe a mid to low line from Tara Labs. Plus, I've been following the Shindo Labs threads and totally get that the Shindo philosophy is system-based, with a goal of achieving "inner peace" with a complete and balanced Shindo system. It seems like the first step in the journey is more typically a fine Shindo preamp. And the A23 are either voiced specifically for Shindo gear or more broadly for efficient speakers and vacuum tube amps. I curled up into that grey area, the penumbra, and stepped ahead. So there's your grain of salt. I don't have any Shindo gear in my listening zendo, but I wanted a taste of something. And I bought the A23 speaker cables as a stake in the ground, a trail marker; a commitment of my burgeoning intent. A baby step up that slippery green slope.

Honestly, I cannot turn the music off at night. I have been working two and three jobs a day this past week (I'm a working musician) and keeping pretty strange hours. I wondered if I was getting that 3 am in the morning listening effect because I was listening at 3 am. Later than that even! But I will try and make some concrete observations.

The soundstage does indeed melt away. But the main thing that captures my fancy is how the images just float in the blackness. So now I'm talking about imaging and soundstage and all those sort of descriptors that the Shindo aficionados disdain, reminding us that it is just about the music. Okay, fair enough. But again, without a even a single Shindo component in my system, I am allowing myself some free reign to share my impressions on the A23 speaker cables. I'm in a unique position to exploit the opportunity to isolate just the effect of installing the A23s.

There are a couple of observations I wish to share:

The most salient improvement, which is part and parcel of the above referenced imaging, is their ability to isolate each instrument from one another. The placement of the instruments on the soundstage is rock solid. I am a fool for holographic imaging, my McIntosh 2301 tube amps being most conducive to achieving this goal with great aplomb, and the A23s take this effect to a whole new level of satisfaction. I say rock solid, but the impression of, say, a breeze ruffling leaves or buffalo grass on an open llano might as easily come to mind.

And on a more prosaic level, just to convince myself I have not lost my mind, I will state emphatically that I am comprehending lyrics that were previously incomprehensible to me. This includes studio chatter and such that I could previously acknowledge or hear but which was not comprehensible to me. I don't know that there is any great benefit in that (I could glance at a lyrics sheet) but it simply reinforces to me that the improvement is palpable. I was listening last night to some Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix, whose Electric Ladyland was almost unlistenable to me before, and am simply blown away by the marked improvement in the whole listening experience. Again, not exactly the best fodder for auditioning equipment, but hey, it's what I felt like listening to at the time. Everything simply falls into focus with such depth and clarity. Yes, the A23 speaker cables alone improved the emotional connection by letting me hear in another way content that was unavailable to me before installing them.

I'm trying to convey my emotional response without using typical cliches. Let's try this. It is the difference between biting a chocolate flavored cracker and biting into a fresh, warm chocolate cookie. Something like that. There is just so much more flavor with the A23 speaker cables. The music's true flavor, it's texture, it's depth of nuance being revealed.

It seems to me, and some of what I had read about these cables confirms this, that the soundstage is recessed a bit. Not in your face. I would agree with that wholeheartedly. That's one of the things I especially enjoyed moving from the McIntosh MC501s to the MC2301s. These cables are a nice choice for MC2301 owners, or maybe it's the tubes or whatever that give that additional bigger, deeper, cavernous presentation. I couldn't say for sure. But the A23s augment that effect and I love it. Perfect.

Initially, I will say that I thought the bass region was a little too polite for me, on my system, in my zendo, etc. But listening to, say, Miles Davis "Cookin'" (SHM-SACD), which was recommended in one of the articles I reviewed, I was hearing articulations on the neck of the stand-up bass that I had never heard before. Even so, I took a few minutes to re-calibrate by room correction system and the fullness in the lower octaves returned. I had read that the A23s were a solution against "one-note bass," but I really didn't experience it that way and the room correction system did what it needed to do. I've got some room treatments ordered and I think they should do the trick.

To say I am impressed is wildly understated. I caught myself breaking into a grin a few times. And this is from a speaker cable? On the proverbial scale of 1-10, (yeah, I know that's quantitative and this is really a qualitative endeavor) I would give them a solid fifteen! To those wondering if the A23s are appropriate for non Shindo-based systems, I can only say they are satisfying me to no end. I am absolutely floored with them. I am delighted.

[Stercom]

Thanks for the review! Very well written. (By the way, I was in Santa Fe this summer. Checked out the art shops, heard some decent music in the square, had a burger and beer at the Cowgirl.)

[Cucumber_Jones]

I got my pair last week. I agree with the guys who have reviewed them in this thread. They are worth every penny.

[JohnThomas]

Are these speaker cables directional? Also are they shielded?

John

[Cucumber_Jones]

Originally Posted by JohnThomas

Are these speaker cables directional? Also are they shielded?

John

Directional yes.

[JohnThomas]

Originally Posted by Cucumber_Jones

Directional yes.

Thanks for the info.