Grover SX review

[JBryan]

This is a bit off-topic but I somehow stumbled upon the opportunity to audition a a pair of Grover Huffman's SX speaker cables and decided to sort of hijack the thread and share the results.

To preface, I don't exactly know how it happened but while reading about the upcoming IC tour, someone mentioned Grover's speaker cables and suggested a tour of those as well. I have been playing with various gear while putting together a 2nd system and took the opportunity to contact Grover about his cables. I asked if it were feasible to send out the cables with bare ends as my vintage gear has screw terminations and I can't use the standard spades or bananas. Within a day or so, I get an email from Grover saying he is burning in the cables and will send them out soon. A couple of weeks later, I've all but forgotten about the tour when a box shows up at my door. Low and behold, it contains a 6' pair of Grover's SX cables - with bare ends. The tour begins....

I have been putting together a 2nd system over the last 12-18 months. Initially, I went with a Yamamoto A-08s 45 SET amp driving Zu Definition Pros with a Luxman tuner and a 4TB ReadyNAS server playing through a Bolder-modded Slimdevice and a CAL Delta transport for the occasional loose CD. It was a bit overbearing for the room and given that the system was mainly used to NPR in the morning and background music while I worked and entertained, I determined it was overkill. Since then, I have been working towards putting together a 'vintage' system. Currently, I have a Scott 222c integrated and 350B tuner (both fresh from Terry DeWick with a clean bill of health) feeding a pair of Tannoy Windsors with 15" Gold monitors. I'm still using the ReadyNAS but am now listening through a Logitech Transporter and the Delta transport.

One drawback to a vintage setup is those d@#n screw terminations. I have boxes of speaker cables  - Cardas, MIT, Alpha-Core, Zu, Synergistic Research, JPS Labs, etc. but all either have spades or bananas - mostly spades and none fit the Scott nor Tannoys. I did find a few pairs that fit but I consider all in the 'budget' category - Blue Jean, Monster, some DIY braided CAT-5 and solid silver wire. Over a few months, I listened to all of them and found the silver wire best suited to the system and had them installed for about 4 months when Grover's cables arrived. BTW, for those considering Grover's IC's, I have several pairs and aside from sounding excellent, they fit the smaller RCA jacks found on most vintage gear - a definite plus in my book.

Before inserting the SX, I sat down and listened to a selection of music that I use to test new gear. The Test List comprises of: 'Sometimes God Smiles' - a compilation from Robert Fripp and King Crimson's DGM label which figuratively throws the kitchen sink at the system  - solo classical guitar, chamber folk instruments, drum solos, distorted Frippotronics, there's even bagpipes. This album emphasizes tonality, frequency extension, dynamics, transients, detail and clarity.

Sonny Rollins' 'Saxophone Colossus' - a great mono recording that demonstrates among other things, soundstaging, coherence and imaging.

Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense'  - a live album that can fill the room and offers insight into such things as dynamics, attack and decay.

The Mighty Sam McClain's 'Give it up for Love' is an exceptional album for voice, clarity, detail and sheer intimacy.

In between these albums, I listen to selections by the Beatles, Van Morrison, Iggy Pop, Bela Fleck, Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, Yashida Brothers, Miles Davis, Europa String Choir among others. I just wanna listen to different styles and recording qualities to get a better overall impression and besides, I like the music.

Generally, the system with the silver wire sounded fine but I had the bass tone controls boosted a bit to fill in the bottom end. Then I installed Grover's cables.

As a rule, I do not change anything with the new gear so I have a base line to note the differences. After about 4 tunes, I simply had to turn the Scott's bass controls to flat - it was just overwhelming the sound. After that, I was good for the rest of the day, listening to the List as well as whatever suited the moment. Save for imaging and soundstage, the SX thoroughly trounced the silver in every aspect - clarity, detail, coherence, tonality, extension, dynamics...on and on. The image and soundstage were closer though I'm sure I could've optimized the new cables by repositioning the speakers. Night and day is not a phrase I would ever use in audio simply on principal but the differences between the SX and silver was not subtle and it became obvious early on that this was not a fair fight. Still, I had a very pleasant evening listening through the albums and music in general. I spent a few more days with the SX's and decided to try out some of the other wires, just in case. The budget wires were simply out of their league, the braided CAT-5 had some of the characteristics of the SX but sounded thinner and without the level of clarity and tonality. So I reinserted the SX's and happily listened away for the next few days.

With vintage gear and especially the Tannoys (and their original xovers), I didn't have the highest expectations to begin with so when I settled in with the silver wires, I figured I was pretty close to the best I could get out of the system - and I was satisfied. Grover's cables have made me reassess that position and the way they opened up the system and cleaned up the bottom end took away some of the bias' I had against vintage gear in general. Because of Grover's cables, this system is several notches above what I expected it to sound like - its really good!

But...being unable to leave well enough alone, I wondered how his cables would perform with more modern gear. I have a Melody i2A3 integrated amp I had at one point, used with the Tannoys that I've recently hooked up but this write-up has gone on too long already so that review will have to wait for another day...

Incidentally, in case some of you are wringing your hands to sign up for this tour, its not happening...yet.  According to the rules set up for the IC tour, I figured I had 2 weeks to play with the cables so the other day, I asked Grover who's next in line. That was when he informed me that because I had requested bare ends which are more susceptible to damage than spades or bananas and because he felt too few people could use 6' runs, he decided to whip these up solely for me. You can only imagine my surprise to hear that and you bet I felt special! I simply can't fathom someone going to that much trouble just so I could audition a pair of speaker cables. Did I mention how special I feel?! I just want to publicly thank Grover for his time and effort  - his gesture is really above and beyond my loftiest expectations.

For those feeling left out or somewhat less special, fear not as he did suggest that he could indeed put together a tour of his speaker cable but would send a more common termination and a longer run when the time comes. Kudos!

Back to the Music...

[grover]

Thank you JBryan for your careful impressions. It's been a pleasure. My speaker cable like my IC's have been though a long refining process. I love the new thermoplastic dielectric, it absorbs vibration and maintains a nice shape allowing the ribbons to float suspended in air. Regarding a speaker cable tour, would a 8 ft pair give most AN guys enough length?

[BobM]

8Ft is perfect for me.

[Carlman]

Great info and review, Jbryan! It is greatly appreciated.

Since this is a review mainly, I moved it to the cable ward and renamed the thread.

Grover's tour thread needs to stay on topic at this point since the interconnect cables are on tour. 

Grover, if you are doing a tour of your speaker cables separately, feel free to post a tour thread for them. 

[JBryan]

WELL, I NEVER!! Who do you think you are?!..Oh, yeah....right...er, nevermind.

I was wondering whether I should start a new thread but figured it was a 'Grover (micro) tour' in a sense and besides, I'd have to come up with a title, find the right forum and check my grammar... way too much work.

Thanks for the assist Carlman.

[rollo]

WELL, I NEVER!! Who do you think you are?!..Oh, yeah....right...er, nevermind.

I was wondering whether I should start a new thread but figured it was a 'Grover (micro) tour' in a sense and besides, I'd have to come up with a title, find the right forum and check my grammar... way too much work.

Thanks for the assist Carlman.

 Goooooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!!!!


charles
SMA

[mboldda1]

HAVE THE REVIEWS BEEN MARKED BY THE CIA?  what gives??

[shep]

I thought it would be instructive to do a little comparison between my Grover SX version and the love of my life, my "new" Sablon Panatela RCA's. Before I do, I want to be clear that I will not be drawn into a futile discussion about which version I have. At the time it was the last and best, which is about 4 months ago. I tried an even later version and found the improvement almost impossible to detect (except for the treble which was slightly more extended).
Having listened to these for a good week, then switching to the Panatela's (which cost 4X more) I was pleasantly surprised at how good Grover's are. The differences were not huge, and more lateral than vertical (if you get me...in terms of some hierarchy of value per sound). I would go so far to say that the SX is ever so slightly more precise in image placement and focus but give up a lot in terms of emotional content (which could be equated to warmth and a sense of organic). Precision verses a more meaty, tactile, relaxed presentation. I wouldn't go on adding words that only really apply to my system...which is sufficiently revealing to make this comparison valid. I am no doubt the oldest one here, but my ears are still very good and honed by years of listening to all kinds of gear. So to conclude: for the money I doubt you can get a better cable assuming your system resembles mine somewhat. Is it worth spending a lot more?
That depends on your budget and level of Nervosa. For me the answer is "yes", without a doubt. I would most certainly not spend more than my Panatel's cost, even if I could (famous last words!) and if I were into "reasonable" cost for good system, I would look no further than Grover's work. My only reservation is that I find his endless tinkering and tweaking very annoying and it leaves the customer in a constant state of doubt about which version and if having gotten a set, how soon it will be outdated.
I'm sure Grover will disagree but I stand by my comments.

[grover]

Always great to see you here Shep. Yes I do tinker, and am always improving my cables. The new Zx leaves the Sx you have in the dust. It always pleases me to make better cables and offer them at 1/4 the price. My mission is to make the finest cables available and keep them affordable.

[Barry (NJ)]

I'm confused... There are comments about both Speaker cables and interconnects in this thread...

Is there a speaker cable tour too?

[JBryan]

So...I've moved the SX cables around a few times and heard them with several amps in 2 systems so its time for an update of sorts. I've put over 100hrs on them and am not sensing any further break-in (note that Grover said he had pre-burned them a bit as well).

If I had to chose a single characteristic to describe, I'd have to go with 'exacting'. I had been using these cables with Tannoys and moved them to my main system's Oris horns. They replaced a pr of Cardas Hexlink Golden 5C's which had been in place for 10+ years and had always had a very natural sound that appealed to me. Grover's SX cables are considerably shorter (6' vs 15') and while the cables have a great deal in common - detail, intimacy, extension, the SX came across a bit more forward-sounding and a tad analytical by comparison.

At first, I thought the SX was an improvement over the Cardas and to be honest, I probably still have that impression but over time, I decided that I preferred the more laid back, naturalness of the Cardas. Of course, I was a bit biased as I knew this was a temporary set up as well, I had to move equipment to accommodate Grover's 6' cables (PITA factor).

The Oris horns are quite sensitive and accurate so the differences were noticeable though I'd be hard pressed to say if one cable was more or less pleasing than the other. In the end, I just never relaxed into the music with the SX as I did with the 5C so back they went to the 2nd system.

As I mentioned in the previous review, the SX cables were being auditioned with the idea of using them in the vintage set up and there, the SX's improvement over the previous cables (Monster, DIY, silver, etc.) was immediate and obvious - really no comparison. So I settled in for a few weeks of normal listening punctuated with a few special sessions when I actually dedicated an hour or so to critical listening. When I did pay attention, the cables really seemed to shine in this particular system. Their accuracy, spot-on imagining and slightly forward tilt balanced well with the warmness of the Scott 222c and the relaxed presentation of the Tannoys all the while maintaining all the intimacy and detail I had hoped for in this set up. Most noticeable was the extension of the frequency response, as the highs were well-defined and had a crystalline quality and the bass was tight and deep with impact -  qualities I had not expected from a vintage system.

Overall, I am quite pleased with Grover's new cables and given that he had made these specifically to my wants, I decided that it would be a real shame to send them back so, in the words of so many other reviewers... I bought the review sample.

It goes without saying in the audio world that there will always be something better out there and I have no doubt there are better cables than Grovers' but for my needs, in my system and within my budget, I am quite content with my choice and very satisfied with Grover's cables. Further, I feel it would be a difficult task to find another cable remotely close in price, that would match as well with my system and sound nearly as good. On top of that, you can't fault Grover's commitment to making the best-sounding cables, his willingness to put them up against anything else on the market, the degree of service he provides and certainly in this instance, his generosity. I'll take a moment to again thank Grover for all he did to make this mini-tour and easy and enjoyable one for me....Thanks!

[mboldda1]

they have the right idea with their cable tour over on the polk audio site.

"Once you are done, YOU MUST POST A REVIEW IN THIS THREAD WITHIN ONE WEEK, outlining your experience/thoughts of how the cables sound, be it better or not than what you compared them with. It doesn't have to be a professional review, just write something. A list of associated gear would be nice. Failure to post a review will result in the closure of the demo program. Believe it when I say, you do not want that on your shoulders"

[tmazz]

they have the right idea with their cable tour over on the polk audio site.

"Once you are done, YOU MUST POST A REVIEW IN THIS THREAD WITHIN ONE WEEK, outlining your experience/thoughts of how the cables sound, be it better or not than what you compared them with. It doesn't have to be a professional review, just write something. A list of associated gear would be nice. Failure to post a review will result in the closure of the demo program. Believe it when I say, you do not want that on your shoulders"

That's a little heavy handed, but it's a great idea, I guess so people just need that smack in the head with a 2x4 to get the message. 

But I do think it is only fair.The manufacturer is putting out time and money to make the tour happen and I think they at least deserve some feedback in recognition of those efforts.

I am curious as to what kind of cable is on tour over at the Polk site. Those of us who have been around long enough remember that Polk was one of the first companies to sell a premium speaker cable. It was highly touted by Peter Moncrief of International Audio Review (IAR, I wonder what ever became of him?). And then came the Ampzilla debacle. The GAS Ampzillas started failing at a rather fast rate and some people blamed that failure of the use of the Polk wire. I'm not sure if that was ever proven or disproven but the Polk wire kind of faded off into the sunset at that point and I have never heard of them venturing back into the cable business since. It is cable tour on their site a tour of one of Polks own product or are they just discussing cables sold by somebody else?

[mboldda1]

the cables are on loan from mit.
"This demo consists of a 10' pair of speaker cables (1 set, single run) and two pairs of 1 meter locking RCA interconnects (2 sets). The MSRP on these cables is about $3300.00. This is a great way to try out high end cables for very little money"

[Carlman]

Grover is an enthusiast that makes cables... Cables go on tour with very little guidelines, they get changed/updated while on tour, Grover hasn't been particularly communicative in the past, etc... So, my expectations are fairly low.  

If a large brand manufacturer were doing a tour, there would likely be stricter terms, requirements to post, etc.  I leave that to the manufacturer.  I give you the shovel, it's up to you how you want to dig your hole or build your mountain.

-C