Canuck Audio Mart

Hi,

Earlier this week i got my order, containing 8 feet of Unity Monster Link biwire speaker cables, 2 feet of Unity Hybrid Link interconnect, and 4 feet of Unity Audio's Basic Link power cable. HereÂ’s my review.

**Qualifier: Just got in this hobby one and half years ago, so I donÂ’t attempt to pose that I have golden ears.

My system:
• Apogee Stage ribbon speakers
• Krell 400xi Integrated amplifier
• Musical Fidelity A3.24 DAC which is fed the bits through my pc via a RME Digi96 soundcard playing wma lossless music from an inaudible pc.
• Monster PC1000 power filter.

Cables on system prior to unity:
• For each speaker, biwired via 2 runs of 12 guage Monster speaker cable 25 feet long each. So four 25 foot cables, 2 for each speaker.
• Interconnect: Radioshack Evolution 3, also borrowing Vecteur copper interconnects from a friend.
• Glass Optical cable for the soundcard to the dac.
• Stock power cables.

Sample Music: • Spanish Harlem by Rebecca Pidgeon from the The Ultimate Demonstration Disc, Chesky Records.
• Train, by Holly Cole.
*Music chosen for itÂ’s excellent recording.

Unity Monster Link biwire speaker cables:
First thing I tried. I honestly wasnÂ’t honestly expecting to hear any difference since the Unity is basically 2 12awg cables, and thatÂ’s what my previous cables were. Just got them since they looked nicer and were shorter. After I put them on I heard a huge difference!!!! Voice more to the forefront, bass was louder, more defined, more articulate. This was not subtle by any means. RebeccaÂ’s suddenly voice in Spanish Harlem resonated and I could feel it down to my feet. Bass was so much more detailed. On the Train song, the bass was so seductive, if felt organic. Amazing! After, started listening to samples of the rest of my music, heard things I never heard before. Love it! Now IÂ’m wondering what the Girth would sound like. Thinking of buying another pair of Unity Monsters to combine them to make my own Girth.


Unity Hybrid Link interconnect:
*Used both my new speaker cables and my old ones.

Radioshacks: thereÂ’s less separation of the voice and strings. Everything is more blended together.

UnityÂ’s: Better separation, can hear more subtle effects. Very nice. Much better than Radio Shacks.

Vecteurs: Best separation. Voice and strings stand out way more. IÂ’m more seduced by the vocals.

I think my mistake was in getting the hybridÂ’s, which are half silver half copper. Think my system is more suited to copper cables. As someone wrote in the Apogee forums:

“If your electronics are neutral, copper sounds better in my experience. If your system sounds somewhat dark silver can push up the highs providing more detail and air. Silver can sound bright but it can also be creamy smooth. But if your electronics are more neutral you'll usually hear the silver mess up the tonal balance and "bleach" the sound.
I agree that silver often sounds smoother and more extended in the highs than copper. However, this emphasis on the highs usually means that the tonal balance is changed, resulting in a thinning and “whitening” of the midrange. This applies to interconnects, speaker and power cables.
In certain systems that are full in the midrange and rolled-off in the highs, like many tubes, silver may complement the sound and make it more “neutral”. But you are effectively countering one coloration with another.”

Unity Audio's Basic Link power cable:
Tried on both the DAC and the amp. After repeated A/B comparisons I think I hear a lower noise floor, but doesnÂ’t stand out as much. CanÂ’t really be sure if I really hear a difference or if itÂ’s my imagination honestly. Might be because my power filter is already cleaning up much of the power. Maybe would benefit more from a lower gauge cable. Will need more testing to further comment.


Next up:
bringing my cables to my friends place to compare against his stuff. Not sure what his cables are, but I do know his speaker cables retail for $8000 USD. Will report back later.

ciao

Thanks very much for sharing your impressions!
Eagerly looking forward to a follow up.

Can you comment in the stands in the speaker cables, i.e. are they larger or very fine stands?

Could you define what you mean by the bass feeling organic? I've never seen it expressed like this before. Did you mean it was more natural or did youi mean it was so much better that it felt orgasmic?;-)

Organic, orgasmic? What's the connection? ... inquiring minds wanna know!

Well, if you've heard the Train song, it has a very seductive bass. The first time i heard this song was on my friend's NHT 3.3's which have killer bass. It's a very organic bass line in that the way it's played, it's not just a note, you can hear the textures and change of pitch. It's very involving. Sounds alive. Like a creature creeping through the air.

On my previous system which contained B&W 602.3's, i could never hope to hear this, especially since those speakers only go down to around 60hz. WHen i heard this song on my current system with my old speaker cables, i still didn't hear it "creeping". The bass just sounded like a regular bass line. But with the Unity speaker cable, the detail of the bass comes out, and it sounds organic just like on my friend's system. Mind you, if you have this song, i'm not saying you'll automatically hear the bass become organic just with this speaker cable upgrade. I think it's a combination of things. My speakers are very good at replicating detail, and are on stands filled with sand placed on spikes, and my krell is very good with the bass. As well, my speakers placements are very exact in my room. It's a combination of the whole system, just that my old speaker cables were the bottleneck.

Was just having fun there bud. I know how your Stages sound as I have a pair along with three other pairs of Aps.

xxx

Yeah that's what I meant ... thanks for the information.

May I politely inquire what the songs / sections within the songs, were that moved you to this comment:



Andrew D.

Good review Thanks !!

To be exact, 65 strands that are 30awg in size.

For example, Checky's Ultimate listening guide plays an intro then a song. Each intro explains what you should listen to in the song. The second song is supposed to demonstrate depth. THe trumpet is supposed be 10 feet away, and the vocals and guitar is supposed to be warm and fill the air. Prior to the Unity speaker cable i never really heard it. Now i do.

Diana Krall's "look of love". The bass on this song is hard to please. Before, i had a krell 300i, and the bass was just too boomy. After I got the 400xi, the bass was tightened down, but lost it's presence. WIth the new speaker cables the bass seems more "right". It regains it's presence and there's more detail now, but it doesn't take over the sound.

With the new speaker cable the music has much more presence. Midrange is pushed more to the front. More detail, and more dynamic.

Sixty9

I have the same CD so I now know what you are talking about. Kinda' cool CD isn't it! Perhaps a little too much Female Jazz Vocal for my liking, wish there was a lot more classical & solo acoustic in the folk / blues sense.

Andrew D.

Went to my friend's place last night. His system contains Apogee Signature Duetta's, the Sim Audio p5 preamp, and the Sim audio w5 amp. He has tons of cables, including top of the line MIT speaker cables and interconnects, and tons of different power cables (he's been experimenting).

Some quick thoughts:

Unity Hybrid Interconnects
I've reconsidered my opinion about the Unity hybrid interconnects. I hear a big difference b/w them and the vecteur's i was trying, and said i preferred the vecteur's. THe hybrid's actually sounded more like my friend's reference MIT's. Although i was more seduced by the vectuer's, i think the vectuer's act more as tone controls, while the unity's seem to leave the sound more untouched, if the MIT reference interconnects can be a good reference point. I know some people say its about what you like, but i prefer to chase the goal of hifi . For the price, the unity's compared will.

power cable
he had tons of power cables, from lower hundreds ($$) shunyata's to a couple of $4000 cables from different makes.. THey totally dwarfed the unity cable in physical girth. How did they compare sonically? Well the super expensive cable were obviously the best. Big difference: bass was bigger and more detailed, mid range was more expanisve. Definitely more dynamic. I found the difference b/w the shunyata's and the unity's a lot smaller, maybe a little bit more than the difference b/w the unity's and the stock. He's gonna lend me some kimber kable pk10's later so i can try them out at home. WIll let you know about that.

Speaker cable
We didn't have time so i wasn't able to compare my unity monster's to his reference MIT's .

But here's a question i have:

So right now i use biwired monster unity audio speaker cables to connect my Apogee Stage speakers to my Krell 400xi.

I'm considering getting another set to make my own Girth, but i would need something like the Vampire SB connectors (http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/Speak ... or_sb.html) to fit 2 banana plugs into each speaker post, on both the amp side and the speaker side.

I'm worried about the affect on the sound using the Vampire SB connectors, however. Can anyone comment on whether you think the Vampire SB connector would affect the sound detrimentally? Would i just be better sticking to using one set of speaker cables that have a better contact with the binding post than using 2 sets and having to use the adapter? I know that radioshack connector do affect the sound detrimentally.

thanks and ciao