Cable loom for Guarneri Evolution

[Bavarian05]

Originally Posted by mikem

Can I ask what kind of music you prefer ? The reason I ask is that streophile's review of the evos state that they are strong when listening to classical or acoustic music but week when listening to pop or rock music. I was curios to see if you experience with them validates there thoughts. They are beautiful for Shure and I am glad you are enjoying them. Also, I think you used to have some b&w 805d's ,if I am not mistaken and was wondering how much better the evos are by comparison.

Hi Mikem,
My tastes range from Jazz and Classical to Tool and Pantera. Though my main course for my home system is definitely Jazz of all sorts and Classical. I found the Art Dudley review to be pretty much spot on in my experience. They are so balanced and have tone to die for. If you appreciate naturally recorded real instruments, I cannot think of, nor have I heard a more appropriate loudspeaker. If someone's tastes tend to artificial/man made sounds, this likely isn't the best way to spend your money. Pop, Rap, electronic, Daft Punk, etc. is not going to be really well served with the EVOs. The B&W 805 Diamonds are a completely different animal. It's a nice overall speaker, but with a very British monitor sound. Considerably tipped up in tonal balance and the newest 805 Diamonds that I had can tend a little to brightness at least in my room. They need a subwoofer in my opinion to balance them out. The EVOs have a strange balance in that they don't sound bright, nor do they sound rolled off. They have a very impressive balance with incredible pain free detail. I'll point out that I ordered Nordost cabling to add a bit of crispness to transients on the EVOs and with the 805 Diamonds I bought Audioquest cabling to warm up and smooth out the brightness of them. In fact, the 805 Diamonds are not really bright, but they lack the low end to balance out the speaker, so they generally sound imbalanced or tipped up. Hopefully that makes sense...

[Glisse]

I agree with Bavarian's comments on balance and tone.

Art Dudley used low power (too low) tube amps with the Evos, as his reference speakers are much easier loads. Whilst these would have made the most of the superb midrange of the Evos, bass extension and clarity would have suffered, and dynamics softened.

The Evo is a sufficiently neutral and capable speaker that it will reflect the amplifiers driving it. It is transparent, but with a warmth, or perhaps more accurately, a weight to it which extends very evenly over the entire audio band. Which is quite rare. I think it is best served by transparent amplification and cables, rather than anything that thickens the sound too much or adds any hint of tonal correction.

I do listen to some pop, a lot of electronic, and even Daft Punk with my Evos, and they are fantastic. But then I am using 300w SS mono blocks.

If that was the only type of music I listened to, I probably would have got a less expensive speaker as the tonal nuances and low level harmonic decays of real instruments and voices that the Evo excels at wouldn't be realised. No point paying for something you won't use.

In my case, I have gone too far on punchy dynamics, and have lost some of the nuanced performance the Evo can deliver, and will change amps soon to get the sort of balance I am looking for. So am interested in learning from Bavarian's journey

[Bavarian05]

Nordost Heimdall 2 speaker cable, interconnect and jumpers should arrive this afternoon. Getting anxious...

[Bavarian05]

They're here...

So far, pretty impressed with the change. Going to give them some time to settle in before doing any serious listening.
Less bloom and more accurate sound, which is exactly what I was after. Transients are awesome compared to the Audioquest cables.

[AZmcman]

With the Sonus fabers I would go with Yter speaker cables and Atlas Mavros interconnects. I have the SF Amati Anniversarios wired this way. Everything else is McIntosh electronics.

[Bavarian05]

Originally Posted by AZmcman

With the Sonus fabers I would go with Yter speaker cables and Atlas Mavros interconnects. I have the SF Amati Anniversarios wired this way. Everything else is McIntosh electronics.

Thanks. I'm very pleased with the Heimdall 2s at this point.

[Bavarian05]

I see why dealers recommend Nordost cabling with SF Evolutions. I let them run in most of the afternoon/evening yesterday and most of the day today.
I've spent a lot of years trying many different combos of gear and cabling and for the first time, I've found something I believe to be a synergistic match.
I've of course come across combos that I thought were very nice together, though never thought I had found that elusive thing, "synergy". The warmth and overall weight of the Evolutions combined with the realistic sound staging and whip crack transient detail of the Nordost seems to go very, very well together.

[Bavarian05]

Moved things around a bit and lowered the rack by removing one shelf.
Improved imaging considerably.

[Glisse]

Looks to be coming together nicely!

I agree any cables that tend to add warmth aren't the right fit for the Evo. But it does also depend on the amp as which is going to be the best fit.

It seems the newer range of Nordost cables, from your comment and others, are well balanced.

[larevoj]

Hey Glisse, what is the current amplifier and preamplifier you are using?

Originally Posted by Glisse

I agree with Bavarian's comments on balance and tone.

Art Dudley used low power (too low) tube amps with the Evos, as his reference speakers are much easier loads. Whilst these would have made the most of the superb midrange of the Evos, bass extension and clarity would have suffered, and dynamics softened.

The Evo is a sufficiently neutral and capable speaker that it will reflect the amplifiers driving it. It is transparent, but with a warmth, or perhaps more accurately, a weight to it which extends very evenly over the entire audio band. Which is quite rare. I think it is best served by transparent amplification and cables, rather than anything that thickens the sound too much or adds any hint of tonal correction.

I do listen to some pop, a lot of electronic, and even Daft Punk with my Evos, and they are fantastic. But then I am using 300w SS mono blocks.

If that was the only type of music I listened to, I probably would have got a less expensive speaker as the tonal nuances and low level harmonic decays of real instruments and voices that the Evo excels at wouldn't be realised. No point paying for something you won't use.

In my case, I have gone too far on punchy dynamics, and have lost some of the nuanced performance the Evo can deliver, and will change amps soon to get the sort of balance I am looking for. So am interested in learning from Bavarian's journey