Cables are onto the next stop.
The cables caught me in a busy spell... can't complain with that but it did limit my time with them. But I heard some specific differences in 2 of the 3 setups I used. It first replaced an Audioquest budget cable (the red ones sold by AA), notable improvements in the upper bass, mids and highs... the mid range seemed to be pushed forward slightly, and the depth and space around the instruments expanded.
Then I swapped in the other pair for MAC palladium which I had between the source and preamp, to be quite honest I did not expect to hear any difference since I have found these MAC palladium the best in my system to date. Man, was I caught by surprise...with all ICs GroverS, the sound took on another dimension that opened up the sound, cymbals were soooo clean and the after-ring(echo?) just hung there... the sound of the fingers sliding along the guitar strings were sooo real and immediate... at times it made my skin crawl and my teeth resonate...shit, that never happened before.
I was pulling out some of my old favorites just to see/hear what I might have been missing...5 hours later (2:30am), I remembered I had to work the next day. I was listening at a low level since it was so late at night, and was looking forward to some 90-100db the next day.
And sure enough, the next evening...the "magical" sound was still there as I replayed some of what I had played the night before. Then I took the preamp(Tempest) out of the circuit and wanted to hear just the cables, so I used an Axiom passive I had on hand to control the volume...waw, another difference experience, slightly less aggressive upper end but had a wholesome delicate balance, and bigger space...I had to turn the volume all the way up to get almost the same volume as with the Tempest. After swapping back in my old cables and then returning to the Grovers, I was convinced I was not imaging what I heard.
The next day I tried the cables on my 3205 Signature, I have MACs AQ with silver bullet plugs between the Tempest and amp and the Palladium from the CD source to the pre. Well... I was hard pressed to hear any difference. I was tired that evening after a hard day of work, maybe that had something to do with it or maybe not.
I even eliminated the preamp and used the 3205 as an intregrated... I thought I heard a clearer cleaner cymbal sounds, but after swapping in my MAC cables and returning to the Grover, I wasn't so sure...sounded the same to me.
But I was impressed enough so with the all SS system transformation... The CJ Sonographe really was magical with the Grovers.
Source: HK8385 > Tempest/Axiom> CJ Sonographe /Response Audio 3205 Signature > VMPS RM1.
Speaker cables with the CJ was a Homebrew 8-strand SS per leg weave, and on the tube amp, Audioquest GBC.
I am in for the second group buy.
