The audio poet says:

Don't make a fuss. C'mon, take a ride on the cable bus. There's plenty to choose and nothing to lose. There are plenty of cables around. Each one has its own sound. One may be better, another may be worse. If you're lucky, you may find a silk purse. There's a cable here and a cable there. We can have a cable fair. There's a cable for me and one for thee. One of these cables will set us free, hopefully.

Audioquest has designed cables to which a charge in excess of 20 volts is applied.

This is the first in a series of cable reviews. The subjects of this review include the following products, reviewed as a whole:

1) 1 meter Panther interconnect $600 2) 6 meter Panther interconnect $2100 3) 6 feet Mont Blanc speaker cable $1049 4) 6 feet NRG-2 AC cord $175 5) 10 feet NRG-2 AC cord $235 = Total Retail $4159

Design and Technology

The Panther interconnect uses 3 21-gauge solid core perfect surface copper (PSC) plus conductors. Each is enclosed in a Teflon air tube. Two conductors are attached to ground and the other is connected to the hot terminal. Conductors are twisted (slightly) and a shield runs down the length of the cable. It is connected at one end only and its material is aluminum/Mylar.

The Mont Blanc speaker cable is composed of two sets of 5 solid core conductors. The wires are PSC plus copper. The gauge of each varies from 17 to 21. The insulation material is carbon loaded polyethylene which is partially conductive. The positive group is twisted in a spiral formation and the negative conductors are twisted around the positive group in the opposite direction. A shield is connected at one end only. Its material is aluminum/mylar. The conductors are supported by black PVC rods to maintain the geometry of the conductors. The rods are believed to have a negligible affect on the sound of the cable.

The application of the DC battery is described below:

There are two leads from a 24 volt battery supply. The positive passes through the center of the Panther interconnect. The negative is attached to the shield. With respect to the speaker cable, the positive lead passes through the center of the five positive leads, while the negative is connected to the shield. The implementation of battery technology, according to the company, serves three purposes:

1) Reduce signal loss by minimizing dielectric absorption.

2) Reduce break-in time. The break-in process is facilitated while the cable is charged even though no signal is passing through it.

3) Maintain sonic integrity as long as the cable is charged.

Battery packs are attached during cable assembly. It is believed that by the time a cable is installed in a customer's system, it is at or reaching peak performance. It is also believed that when a cable is not in use it is adapting to its uncharged state and the sound changes, analogous to capacitive dissipation. Maintaining a constant charge prevents capacitive dissipation and ensures that the cable retains its "intrinsic sound".

The AC cords comprise 13 solid core conductors in parallel formation. The configuration is: 5 21-gauge connected to negative -- 3 19-gauge connected to positive -- 5 21-gauge connected to neutral

Each group is 14-gauge and each AC cord has an RF stopper, i.e., ferrite bead assembly at one end only and there is no shield.

The Sound

Although Audioquest does not recommend sending a signal into its DC charged cables in order to reach optimum performance, I noticed changes in tonality as I auditioned the cables over a two week period. I would therefore suggest "running" a continuous signal for about 200 to 300 hours before assessing the merits of these products.

Part 1, Battery Disconnected

I used four CDs to evaluate these cables. The first source was the TEST RECORD #4, OPUS 3 (CD 9200). I selected track 2, Sweet Georgia Brown. I focused on the percussion section--drums and cymbals. The articulation of the drummer was clear and easy to follow, especially the rim hits--wood striking metal, where the differences in timbre were obvious. The cymbal sounded slightly elevated in pitch, creating a steely quality to its sound rather than a brassy sound.

Mapleshade (# 04432) provided the next disc, SOUND ROOTS, featuring the group Next. On track one, at the end of a tenor sax solo, the drummer gently taps a cymbal. Immediately thereafter, a guitar solo begins. The decay of the cymbal was audible up to the beginning of the guitar solo. On track two, there is a roundness to the sound of Ryan Kisor's trumpet. The timbre 'sounded' natural and lifelike. However, the sound changed when the battery was connected (read the next section for a discussion of this issue).

The first of two classical selections, Offenbach's Gaite Parisienne, conducted by Arthur Fiedler, has been released on the JVC label (RCD2 0224). After 50 seconds of track one have elapsed, there is a very short pause, followed by the striking of a wood block. If one listens carefully one can hear musicians turning pages of sheet music. It is very easy to miss this subtle detail unless one has a highly resolved stereo system. After the wood block is struck, the sound of a triangle appears. Note the spacing between the two instruments. In this instance, the wood block wasn't positioned as deep into the orchestra as it was with my reference cable. However, the loss of depth was slight and the spacing between the two instruments would not have been an issue if I didn't have a basis for comparison. As with the Mapleshade selection, a change occurred when the battery was connected. The second classical selection was another JVC CD (XRCD24 0226), in this case a very recent addition, a 24 bit remaster of the music of Sir Benjamin Britten, conducted by the composer. The CD consisted of two compositions, namely, Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Variation on a Theme of Frank Bridge. I chose the Young Person's Guide because of the variety of ensembles presented in a solo mode. Early into track one the percussion section is featured. One hears three strokes on the tympani followed by a cymbal and a triangle. Differences in the pitch of each note of the tympani were easy to follow and timbres and instrumental spacing were realistically rendered.

Part 2, Battery Connected

With respect to the first CD recorded on the OPUS 3 label, the pitch was elevated to a greater degree than was originally noted. The bass was more defined, and the contrast between wood and metal was greater than observed when the battery was disconnected. On track one of the Mapleshade CD, the sound stage widened, there was better center image focus, longer cymbal decay and the horns were further back into the recording studio. On track two, the trumpet had more bite and was further back into the room, the ambience of the recording venue was more noticeable, and the percussion was better articulated. The 'sound' of the Gaite Parisienne improved as well, with a greater sense of space between the wood block and triangle as a result of the perceived placement of the wood block deeper into the orchestra. Soundstage width increased as well. Improvements on the Britten CD included a wider stage, greater depth for the winds and more evident pitch differentiation for the tympani strokes. However, the brass instruments seemed a bit harder sounding.

At this point I decided to add a disc to the mix as a timbre check. A disc which has been my collection for a long time was selected for this purpose, namely TEST RECORD 1, DEPTH OF IMAGE (OPUS 3 CD 7900). Track number 12, Ole Miss, features a clarinet, trombone and trumpet. I noticed a slight lack of lower midrange energy which obscured the sound of the body of the clarinet. The trumpet and trombone 'sounded' relatively accurate, timbrally speaking, and the soundstage was wide, deep and spacious.

Conclusions

The battery operation resulted in better dimensionality and overall resolution with a slight loss of fullness. Whether this means that the battery operation increases overall transparency, revealing possible recording flaws or adds resolution with a subtle change in tonality is a judgment best left to the reader. I would describe the Audioquest cable as grain-free, clean, highly resolving with a slightly 'crisp' tonality as exemplified by its performance in my tube-based stereo system. Resolution was manifested in several instances, namely resolving timbral and pitch differences, displaying subtle detail, a wide and occasionally deep sound stage and believable spacing between instruments. Mild departures from (absolute) neutrality were observed. These occasions were not objectionable to me, partly because of the presence of tubes and partly because I would not characterize these deviations as 'great' enough to indicate leanness or brightness.