Equinox 6 IC's in the house

[roberth]

Originally Posted by chessman

Robert, I went from all copper lesser brand to WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6. At first I was afraid the "silver" would be too bright, but then I experienced what I perceived as a softening of the sound. I was real confused. How could silver sound less "allegedly detailed" than copper?

I was basing this on listening to a favorite album (Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die), wherein the "blat" sound of the sax seemed to have become more polite. I did not like that politeness. Upon broader, and further, listening I have reached two conclusions: (1) some of the "blat" sound I had liked was really coloration added by the copper cables (I got there by comparing the overall spectrum on many other CD's and realized the SE6's were much more neutral and detailed than the copper) and (2) the SE6's had not completely opened yet (more time on them brought back some, but not all, of the "blat").

My advice is keep listening longer to be sure they have really settled in to their sonic signature. I did not declare settled until 300 hours when I realized that not much had changed since 200 hours. In other words, 200 hours seemed to be the settled in point. YMMV and your taste may differ.

Okay, thanks Chessman, appreciate the feedback. Seems I'm going through the same process. The bad is that I don't have 200 hours to have them settle in so I'm really hoping tonight at 75 hours through the next day for 100 hours will give 80% of the sound knowing the last bit will just get better.

I'll move on to a variety of CD's tonight like you suggested but will keep it to a number of good tracks since easy to play too many and overwhelm when comparing the copper E's.

I'll keep you posted.

Robert

[roberth]

Originally Posted by chessman

Robert, I went from all copper lesser brand to WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6. At first I was afraid the "silver" would be too bright, but then I experienced what I perceived as a softening of the sound. I was real confused. How could silver sound less "allegedly detailed" than copper?

I was basing this on listening to a favorite album (Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die), wherein the "blat" sound of the sax seemed to have become more polite. I did not like that politeness. Upon broader, and further, listening I have reached two conclusions: (1) some of the "blat" sound I had liked was really coloration added by the copper cables (I got there by comparing the overall spectrum on many other CD's and realized the SE6's were much more neutral and detailed than the copper) and (2) the SE6's had not completely opened yet (more time on them brought back some, but not all, of the "blat").

My advice is keep listening longer to be sure they have really settled in to their sonic signature. I did not declare settled until 300 hours when I realized that not much had changed since 200 hours. In other words, 200 hours seemed to be the settled in point. YMMV and your taste may differ.

Hello Chessman,

I wanted to give you a final update. After starting serious auditioning on Friday night, it didn't take long at all to realize how special the SE's are.

Wow, I was not expecting the same leap in performance from the E's to the SE's that I heard when going from the Equinox to the E's. This totally stripped away any preconceived notion I had about silver in cables typically sounding analytical and slightly hard vs musical. The improvement was profound. I could go on and on with description but you full well already know the outcome. The Equinox provide unbelieveable performance for the money. The Eclipse brings body to all the instruments, clearly making my system anyway sound musical. The Silver Eclipse IC's brings on a level of change that would make me think that someone took my fine Naim CDX CDP out and installed a new one at some mega buck price. I wouldn't have thought it was possible to bring on yet more body and richness to all the instruments and voices while yet not covering up any the details.

I even asked my 15 year old daughter asking her thoughts while I plugged the E's versus the SE's back and forth. It only took a couple swaps while I told her what to listen for. Without knowing all the audiophile lingo, my daughter said the SE's sounded more real along with saying she could hear more and the acoustical resonance off of the guitar strings that she couldn't hear when the E's where in my rig. Through the entire weekedn, I listened more to the SE's. I thought I knew how well a saxophone and flute could sound until I heard through the SE's. Both along with all other instruments and voices took on new life.

Also the front soundstage for video never sounded better. I would have paid the price just for this since truthfully I watch more movies with my family than listening to music since it is a shared system. In the movie Godzilla, it was fun to hear drums playing during all the loud crashes and explosion going on through my L/R speakers.

My wife is a real good sport probably about buying these. Let's not be jaded, this is a lot of money especially for a 3 meter pair. I'm even having a hard time justifying the purchase and it is my hobby since it is just wire right. Well, even though it is just wire, I came to the conclusion pretty easily that the amount of musical improvement to my system easily justifies the purchase. It is that significant. I know hard to put a percent on something like this that is merely subjective but the improvement is significantly more than 10-20%. If it was just that, I would have bought the E's and called it a day.

I did update my dealer on the burn-in amount of time was way more than he indicated. I told him the E's really needed 50 hours and the SE's 75 hours before serious auditioning should start. He was right however with warning me not to listen to the SE's unless I was ready to buy since I won't like hearing the improvement to then stay with the E's. I may have to call the cops if someone shows up at my door with Platinum E's saying I can listen to them with no obligation to buy

Oh, my dealer requested WW ship longer lengths of either the E's or SE's. Besides 1 meter of all three, they just happened to include a 3 meter length of the SE's. Good I have them now, bad I need to burn-in all over again. I didn't feel right about using the 3 meter of the SE's initially over the 1 meter pair figuring I might not buy. Guess looking back I wish I would have used the 3 meter pair.

Now I'm focusing on listening to music and buying CD's. I feel important to disconnect the analytical portion of my brain and learn to enjoy my system's new level of musical performance without entertaining the thought of what's next.

If it helps anyone considering between the Equinox, Eclipse and Silver Eclipse IC's, I feel it would be a mistake not to demo the SE's simply due to price. If like me, you may easily find a reason to double your budget.

Thanks all for the feedback on the IC's regarding musical performance as it relates to each IC or shorter vs longer cable lengths, appreciate the input.

Cheers! Happy Listening.

Robert