EWA 25 speaker cable .
as a follow up to the power chord the gents at EW audio sent me some speaker cables built using the same tech that is utilised in the power cable .
it looks similar in size to previous cables I was using , this should give a clue to my findings on this wire , in any system I have tried them in they just give more than the old cables which, incidentally were more expensive than the EW audio 25 speaker cables .
lets take Richard Hawleys lp , standing at the skys edge . love this record and have listened many times ,the sound is vast but with the new cable came a new set of background sounds waayyyy back in the soundstage , quick swap back to the old cable and even though I was looking for those sounds I couldn't hear them , swap back to the EW audio and boomshanka they are back again .
this wire isn't about finding new though , playing Melody Gardot , worrisome heart on 45rpm vinyl and all the wonderful recording techniques in this lp become more apparent , miss Gardot has a wickedly powerful voice but in this lp you can really hear her working on controlling that power and to awesome effect , the wonderful use of pronunciation of individual words is just sublime , sadly this was missed a bit with my old cables in place like the mic sock has been removed with the new cable, bringing more detail and shape to her voice . her backing band seemingly being able to connect right to her and giving perfect punctuation and counter point to her comforting tones the brushed snare drum now more subtle but more impactful when required than previously.
switching to something a bit more , erm , well , lets just say modern music with DJ Shadow the mountain will fall . as most of the recording is pinched samples I usually expect a certain loss of quality but not this LP , from the opening track it was like a new version I hadn't heard before , all the descending bass lines are so well defined and have real character , not just lows but tuneful "reach right into your core" bass . the layering of the mix is incredible , shadow has a real talent and has become a real master at building sonic landscapes where every little thing in the mix serves a purpose . on the track ,mambo' , there is an acoustic echo that was slightly lost with my old cables .
the use of clever processing to give the sense of a huge and lively acoustic is soooooo much better with the new cable , in fact every record I play now gives more , regardless of system combination this cable brings more than anything else I own from QED , tellurium q , chord , ecosse and black rhodium . I don't mean this new wire brings treble detail or emphasis , as it applies its voodoo across the board . next time someone tells me cables are snake oil I am going to throttle them with EW audio cable so they can at least die with better fidelity .
cables make a difference but this is not just a hook up wire , this cable is the kind of stuff every dealer should have when demoing equipment as it consistently gives you more of the components ability , and that is a huge statement I will stand by .
Tuesday 27 December 2016
Wednesday 2 November 2016
mc-v
so ,, about a fortnight before starting this entry i missed a phone call , number unknown so i will let them call back if its important . morning coffee , a single source Sumatran blend , then a notification on my phone informs me that a good friend has been trying to call . the gent in question is one , Colin Wonfor .
i called back to see what he was up to , (Colin is always up to something good ) ,
after experiencing much of our man Wonfors work i have come to the realisation that his interests in the audio field are not profit driven , they are born out of a desire to use clever implementation of materials and components to form some truly great creations with one true intention, to get the music across to the listener with as much of the 'recorded moment' in tact as possible . this means whenever Colin wants to send something to me to try its usually paradigm shifting , for my music listening paradigm at least ! , i still use some of Colins speaker cables and my trusty old incatech the claymore amp , both of which i will treasure till my last day .
and so we get to the new bit of 3 core mains cable , basic looking but very good quality plugs at either end of a some really plain looking standard heavy gauge 3 core mains flex with a lovely supple insulation that makes for really easy installation . during the discussion about this cable Colin spoke of the composite nature of the insulator used to form this cable , although the discussion soon tailed off into what other awesome stuff Colin has going on his life , given the torrid few years he has had it was absolutely great to hear he was still pushing on and finally, is on the up.
so the cable arrives , i hurriedly plug it in to the first system at hand , pioneer a400 fed by technics 1210mk2 that has just been serviced , all this feeds a pair of wharfedale diamond V with modded crossovers and iso planer tweeters helped out with a BK xls sub bass speaker , left it idling as i had to go up to my workshop to help a customer ,
after the everything was done that day i sat down and popped a record on , star wars the force awakens by John Williams hologram edition .. its not subtle , the effect is immediate in as much as the phono stage on the old a400 has never sounded so quiet , the music burst into the room with more vigour and poise than previously the system could. poise is a perfect word for what this cable brings , every aspect of the sound is better arranged , oboe and bassoon have incredible texture and weight that was a bit lacking and a little lost in the mix when this cable is swapped back out .
this sums up my life for the last couple of weeks , every spare moment has been listening to music and swapping this cable into various duties across the two systems i have in use . in the second system , a garrard 401 with home made arm , usually the claymore but an old denon pma720 which was fully serviced with all new components where needed such as caps and any diodes that were out of tolerance etc is in use just now, speakers are kef q7 with a few gentle tweaks to the cabinet damping and crossover component quality . this system was elevated to a whole new point of weight and speed , the sound is so much more balanced and powerful with this bit of wire connected , the old denon amp went from a bit sluggish and woolly to visceral and grunty with just a change of power cable , instrumental separation in both systems was wholly improved , in fact this cable just made everything better ,
as ever Mr Wonfor has taken another of my preconceptions and smashed it to bits , i have long believed cable can bring a difference to a system which i noticed as a teen when forced to use solid core mains cable for speaker cable but it could never truly bring an improvement , just modest changes at best, then i tried some of his speaker cables and was flummoxed , now i try one of his power cables and ,, well ,,, whatever it is when you are beyond flummoxed , i am that .
try one , especially if you are in an RF noisy environment . the cables that i replaced with this basic looking cable are of the same gauge of conductor but with semi floating screens connected at the mains outlet wall socket so are not standard give away cables , although i did try those too and the screened cables help to reduce noise but this EWA mc-V is way quieter , i will do a few tests with my phone and an app to see what the difference is db at a fixed distance from the speakers as when the standard cheap cables only are used the system does hiss at idle when the volume is high , this hiss drops audibly with the mc-v
the really odd thing is , i was only using the pre amp as a phono stage , this runs into a denon pma 720 from the late eighties , all other sources were running into the denon too , but when i run all sources into the nakamichi and effectively use the denon as a power amp everything improves , previous to this new cable from EW audio being used , the system sounded best with all sources run to the denon !
the next test is to fit an iec socket to the denon to let me try it on that amp alone or perhaps just get a few meters of the non terminated cable and do all the captive power cables ??, this bit of wire has me intrigued to say the least . its just a bit of wire , still connected to the same crappy 6 way distribution block fed from the same crappy ( actually quite good ) mains supply .
i trust the designer of this cable as he can provide info on what this cable is and its function , as i can measure a noise reduction at the speakers with a mobile phone i can testify to it doing something , a useful thing too , but now i want more , i really want to try the whole system wired with it ,
how a bit of mains cable with some odd insulation can have such a noteworthy effect on a systems sound is way beyond my understanding , is that last 3 feet of cable alone doing so much to contaminate the sound ? , just how would a system sound if this EWC cable was used from the fuse box to the system, and all power cables in the system ? i will post a pic of the cable soon , you will see how unassuming and bog standard it looks , no fancy shmantzy colours or plugs dipped in unicorns blood during the vacuum hot forging process of the plugs which are then hand assembled by naked elfin folk under a full moon . just a bit of wire and some good quality plugs with a wee bit of heatshrink with EWA mc-v logo .
strange times people ,, strange times ;-)
more soon
i called back to see what he was up to , (Colin is always up to something good ) ,
after experiencing much of our man Wonfors work i have come to the realisation that his interests in the audio field are not profit driven , they are born out of a desire to use clever implementation of materials and components to form some truly great creations with one true intention, to get the music across to the listener with as much of the 'recorded moment' in tact as possible . this means whenever Colin wants to send something to me to try its usually paradigm shifting , for my music listening paradigm at least ! , i still use some of Colins speaker cables and my trusty old incatech the claymore amp , both of which i will treasure till my last day .
and so we get to the new bit of 3 core mains cable , basic looking but very good quality plugs at either end of a some really plain looking standard heavy gauge 3 core mains flex with a lovely supple insulation that makes for really easy installation . during the discussion about this cable Colin spoke of the composite nature of the insulator used to form this cable , although the discussion soon tailed off into what other awesome stuff Colin has going on his life , given the torrid few years he has had it was absolutely great to hear he was still pushing on and finally, is on the up.
so the cable arrives , i hurriedly plug it in to the first system at hand , pioneer a400 fed by technics 1210mk2 that has just been serviced , all this feeds a pair of wharfedale diamond V with modded crossovers and iso planer tweeters helped out with a BK xls sub bass speaker , left it idling as i had to go up to my workshop to help a customer ,
after the everything was done that day i sat down and popped a record on , star wars the force awakens by John Williams hologram edition .. its not subtle , the effect is immediate in as much as the phono stage on the old a400 has never sounded so quiet , the music burst into the room with more vigour and poise than previously the system could. poise is a perfect word for what this cable brings , every aspect of the sound is better arranged , oboe and bassoon have incredible texture and weight that was a bit lacking and a little lost in the mix when this cable is swapped back out .
this sums up my life for the last couple of weeks , every spare moment has been listening to music and swapping this cable into various duties across the two systems i have in use . in the second system , a garrard 401 with home made arm , usually the claymore but an old denon pma720 which was fully serviced with all new components where needed such as caps and any diodes that were out of tolerance etc is in use just now, speakers are kef q7 with a few gentle tweaks to the cabinet damping and crossover component quality . this system was elevated to a whole new point of weight and speed , the sound is so much more balanced and powerful with this bit of wire connected , the old denon amp went from a bit sluggish and woolly to visceral and grunty with just a change of power cable , instrumental separation in both systems was wholly improved , in fact this cable just made everything better ,
as ever Mr Wonfor has taken another of my preconceptions and smashed it to bits , i have long believed cable can bring a difference to a system which i noticed as a teen when forced to use solid core mains cable for speaker cable but it could never truly bring an improvement , just modest changes at best, then i tried some of his speaker cables and was flummoxed , now i try one of his power cables and ,, well ,,, whatever it is when you are beyond flummoxed , i am that .
try one , especially if you are in an RF noisy environment . the cables that i replaced with this basic looking cable are of the same gauge of conductor but with semi floating screens connected at the mains outlet wall socket so are not standard give away cables , although i did try those too and the screened cables help to reduce noise but this EWA mc-V is way quieter , i will do a few tests with my phone and an app to see what the difference is db at a fixed distance from the speakers as when the standard cheap cables only are used the system does hiss at idle when the volume is high , this hiss drops audibly with the mc-v
the really odd thing is , i was only using the pre amp as a phono stage , this runs into a denon pma 720 from the late eighties , all other sources were running into the denon too , but when i run all sources into the nakamichi and effectively use the denon as a power amp everything improves , previous to this new cable from EW audio being used , the system sounded best with all sources run to the denon !
the next test is to fit an iec socket to the denon to let me try it on that amp alone or perhaps just get a few meters of the non terminated cable and do all the captive power cables ??, this bit of wire has me intrigued to say the least . its just a bit of wire , still connected to the same crappy 6 way distribution block fed from the same crappy ( actually quite good ) mains supply .
i trust the designer of this cable as he can provide info on what this cable is and its function , as i can measure a noise reduction at the speakers with a mobile phone i can testify to it doing something , a useful thing too , but now i want more , i really want to try the whole system wired with it ,
how a bit of mains cable with some odd insulation can have such a noteworthy effect on a systems sound is way beyond my understanding , is that last 3 feet of cable alone doing so much to contaminate the sound ? , just how would a system sound if this EWC cable was used from the fuse box to the system, and all power cables in the system ? i will post a pic of the cable soon , you will see how unassuming and bog standard it looks , no fancy shmantzy colours or plugs dipped in unicorns blood during the vacuum hot forging process of the plugs which are then hand assembled by naked elfin folk under a full moon . just a bit of wire and some good quality plugs with a wee bit of heatshrink with EWA mc-v logo .
strange times people ,, strange times ;-)
more soon
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