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  #81  
Old 12-13-2017, 07:56 AM
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Ricjor1 Ricjor1 is offline
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Has anyone gone from Audioquest Fire to Wild Blue Yonder or Wel's signature? If so, how do you describe the differences? I'm obviously thinking of stepping up to either Wild Blue Yonder or Wel's signature.
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  #82  
Old 12-13-2017, 11:36 AM
rnrmf1971 rnrmf1971 is offline
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Originally Posted by Ricjor1 View Post
Has anyone gone from Audioquest Fire to Wild Blue Yonder or Wel's signature? If so, how do you describe the differences? I'm obviously thinking of stepping up to either Wild Blue Yonder or Wel's signature.
I had a pair of Wild and WEL XLR cables and sold the Wild pair. It was okay but it didn't stand out in any way by comparison to other cables I had at the time which were JPS Aluminata cables and the aforementioned WEL. The WEL easily outperformed it in my system with greater clarity, extension, and weight.
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  #83  
Old 12-13-2017, 05:18 PM
mulveling mulveling is offline
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The Fire and Wild are reasonably close in sonics, and which you prefer will be somewhat system dependent. Based on others' reports, the WEL seems to sonically differentiate itself more from the rest of the line -- so that may be the better play if you're sitting on a Fire and you get curious. I'll know soon whether the Wild to WEL IC is worthwhile in my system.
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  #84  
Old 12-13-2017, 08:05 PM
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Originally Posted by mulveling View Post
The Fire and Wild are reasonably close in sonics, and which you prefer will be somewhat system dependent. Based on others' reports, the WEL seems to sonically differentiate itself more from the rest of the line -- so that may be the better play if you're sitting on a Fire and you get curious. I'll know soon whether the Wild to WEL IC is worthwhile in my system.
Thanks and I'm looking forward to your comments regarding Wild compared to WEL.
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  #85  
Old 01-13-2018, 07:32 PM
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I have long been an AQ fan... I've owned a few of their loudspeaker cables: CV-8, Mont Blanc, Volcano and finally the Everest. I think Volcano is one amazing cable if you're gonna stop at copper cables. If not, try Kilimanjaro (same as Mont Blanc but silver) or Everest (same as Volcano but silver - I'd say it is almost as good as the WEL). The Everest is just phenomenal and definitely my favorite owned audio equipment by far. It'a all about density, texture, tonal richness, resolution, dynamics and bass and highs extension... It's holographic and airy..
I've owned several of their interconnects too: Panther (Colorado/Earth), Cheetah (Niagara/Wind), Sky (last generation), Wild Blue Yonder and I've listened to the WEL for quite some time. Don't buy the Niagara (Wind) pair. While it may sound ok-ish, it's the cheapest silver and for a reason. It's dryer and thiner than it should be. I prefer Colorado/Earth to Niagara for this reason. I believe that Niagara/Wind is the only AQ cable that is not rightly balanced. It might be better than other interconnects but if you put it next to any other silver cable you're gonna see my point. The Sky is one helluva cable. And Fire is probably a tad better but in the same neighborhood. The Wild Blue Yonder is a truly hi-end cable - it's got a lot more resolution, it renders the atmosphere on the recordings very well, it's more tonally rich, it's airier and with superior focus and separation. I could die with a Wild Blue Yonder! Actually no... not anymore. The WEL is from another movie, from another galaxy. Its background is pitch black. Its bass is way more punchy than anything I've ever heard... This cable is rock solid. Incredibly dense with lots of body and grunt. It has way better microdynamics, resolution and is tonally richer than WBY. Find it used and forget about Niagara/Wind and Sky/Fire. At least try to listen to one and the sound will convince you. Good luck with your search!

P.S. I'm looking to replace my WBY with a WEL interconnect. I'm sure you'll reach the same conclusion as I have and do the same!
As for loudspeaker cables go with Volcano or try Oak and Redwood. I'm sure you can't go wrong with any of them. If you can find Everest
this is as good as it gets but they are rare and expensive. I have burned in my cables with Nordost CBID (not your usual burn-in and not DBS related). This device does something else and the differences are evident.
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  #86  
Old 01-21-2018, 08:22 PM
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I've been trying to tell my friend that I prefer Audioquest Fire to Wireworld Platinum in my system for over a month. I explained the improvements I heard regarding soundstaging and details. He has Wireworld Platinum and Silver Eclipse 7 XLR. Finally, today I took my Fire XLRs to his house. Initially he complained about how stiff they were and it was hard to connect them. After he connected them, we listened to the same songs with the Fire. The look on his face was priceless. The change was more significant in his system than in mine: more detail, bass was both deeper and more articulate, and much better spacing. I know cables are system dependent, but what an "ear" opener this was for my friend.
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  #87  
Old 01-21-2018, 09:09 PM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ricjor1 View Post
I've been trying to tell my friend that I prefer Audioquest Fire to Wireworld Platinum in my system for over a month. I explained the improvements I heard regarding soundstaging and details. He has Wireworld Platinum and Silver Eclipse 7 XLR. Finally, today I took my Fire XLRs to his house. Initially he complained about how stiff they were and it was hard to connect them. After he connected them, we listened to the same songs with the Fire. The look on his face was priceless. The change was more significant in his system than in mine: more detail, bass was both deeper and more articulate, and much better spacing. I know cables are system dependent, but what an "ear" opener this was for my friend.
Time to sell my Wind and go for Fire!

Wallet death!
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  #88  
Old 01-21-2018, 09:50 PM
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The biggest difference between me and my friend's systems are speakers and source. He uses a Burmester CD Player and has MBL 101E speakers. I thought the added detail would make his system too forward, but it didn't.
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  #89  
Old 03-02-2018, 02:06 PM
mulveling mulveling is offline
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FINALLY got ahold of my dealer's hand-me-down WEL interconnects; they are the current version and 0.5m longer than I expected. At 2.5m, that's a lot of cable! Gonna get them split to 1.5m and 1.0m in the ensuing weeks. Much more impressive looking in person (and in hand) than the Wild Blue Yonder which they will be replacing.




Joey, moving from Wind to Fire will be a big difference in your system. Just more complete sounding from top to bottom. The Fire is a great cable for the money, and I think that's where the true "high-end" of AQ interconnects starts. On my headphone rig (Stax SR-009 and BHSE) the differences between interconnects is less significant than with speakers, because its highly compacted in-head soundstage suppresses any finely nuanced spatial cues. But even here, it's still quite an audible jump from Wind to Fire (detail, speed, tonal richness). However the difference between Fire and Wild Blue Yonder (older version) is so minor on headphones as to be almost a non-issue - it's more notable (but not huge) on speakers - slightly smoother, slightly warmer/richer, slightly better spatialization.

Last edited by mulveling; 03-02-2018 at 02:16 PM.
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  #90  
Old 03-02-2018, 03:12 PM
joey_v joey_v is offline
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mike!

Good to see

What’s the wel compare to the others??
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