Human nature, being what it is, doesn't allow us to sit still very long. We're always seeking what's over the next rise, around the next corner, or in the case of the never satisfied audiophile, the next piece of equipment that will get him one step closer to the 'magic' system. Along those lines, a colleague alerted me to this strange sounding company, Wasatch (what's a Wasatch, brother of Sasquatch?) and their very interesting cables.

History

The company started in 1999 and has three co-owners, chief designer Ben Ray, his brother Dan and Brian Fitzpatrick. Some of the original designers got their start at Kimber Cable and then moved over to Wasatch and went in a new direction. Ben Ray took this new direction and developed, among others, the Ultama series of cables.

Technology and Construction

The Ultama is a 50/50 blend of copper alloy and silver alloy using two wire technologies developed in house: OGP (Orthorhombic Ground Plane) 4-wire geometry and UPCete (Unified Propagation Containment - electromagnetic transfer engine) 7-wire geometry. I don't know what all this means (I'm not an physicist or an engineer), but I'm reporting this for the technically curious. The benefits of this approach, according to Ben, is that the cables are self-shielding, which eliminates the use of additional layers of metal. Additionally, they use thin strands of wire, which gives the cables their flexibility and light weight. After performing extensive testing and listening, Ben chose to use Teflon tape for the dielectric in lieu of extruded Teflon. He observed that by using the tape instead of Teflon, the resultant sound was softer and more musical. A certain hardness was gone.

Another nice touch, which seems to be catching on in the cable industry, is the use of a wooden, oval shaped puck, with directional arrow, at the point where the leads separate at each end into the speaker and amplifier connections. Some companies use other materials and shapes but the concept is the same. I don't know if the sound quality improves but it appears to be a more substantial method of assuring structural stability and longer life. All cables are produced in-house.

Installation

The first thing you notice when handling these cables is how thin, light weight and flexible they are. After dealing with typical 'garden hose' thick high end cables, this was greatly appreciated. Avoiding wrestling with inflexible cables made this reviewer a lot happier. It also makes for more room behind crowded equipment racks -- changing cables was also much easier. For the purposes of this review, I requested my cables be terminated with banana plugs making switching in and out much quicker and easier. I removed my reference cables (Acoustic Zen's Hologram IIs) and plugged in the Ultama's. Let the games begin..

Listening Impressions

The pair of cables sent to me had been a demo pair and had an unspecified number of hours on them. Nevertheless, I proceeded to add another hundred hours on to them before I seriously evaluating their performance.

First, I want to state the obvious; every designer expresses himself through his designs. Sounds basic. His perceptions and personality comes through as to what we hear. Some are bold and outgoing, while others are more reserved -- their designs reflect these personality traits. In this endeavor of designing equipment, of any kind, designers know that there is no purely objective criteria on the road to successful product design. Most will make their final decisions by careful listening, hopefully on various systems, and then make final tweaks before committing to production. In the final analysis, what we hear is the result, initially, of their engineering expertise and then, finally, their inherent personality and philosophy manifesting itself. Onward.

My first impression was that this was a different kettle of fish -- a different flavor, if you will. It became apparent that a different approach in presenting music had been undertaken in designing these cables than that of my reference. Immediately apparent was the front of the soundstage receding behind the speaker plane, as if one moved from row 'D' to row 'M' in the concert hall.

The Ultama's excelled in recreating the performance environment. The soundstage itself had more apparent depth, width and height, with instruments more clearly separate. The instruments had more air and space around them, too. Depending on what CD was tracking, I felt the volume of the hall andor experienced the "back wall" of the recording space more definitively. The Ultamas edged out my reference in this regard.

Where as my reference, Acoustic Zen Hologram IIs, have a bold, dynamic, lively presentation, with larger images, the Ultama's were more respectful and refined, albeit, slightly laid back, accompanied by wonderful clarity, exceptional imaging and separation of instruments with a little more inner detail. I could, in some ways, almost call it's character, 'respectful' of the musicians and the venue. No negatives here, just commentary used as a point of comparison with the Hologram IIs.

Both cables are excellent in reproducing musical timbres accurately and perhaps the Ultama's might even be a touch smoother. This was a real close call especially when one has to switch cables back and forth and depend on the ever fleeting musical memory. As such, this was by no means definitive.

The Ultama's also exhibited excellent coherence with no area of the frequency spectrum making itself more prominent than another. They performed excellently and smoothly at both extremes of the spectrum, with a stunning midrange, performing beautifully with all forms of music. However, on some hot recordings where the treble is a bit bright, or hard, these cables will not hide that fact. They are not tone controls. They reproduce what's there. In terms of personal preference, on some recordings, such as rock or big band jazz I prefered the more lively presentation I receive from my Hologram IIs.

Currently, two new pieces are making their way into my system, the Classe CDP 100 CD player and the Innersound i Control preamplifier, (reviews forthcoming, of course). From preliminary listenings, the Ultama's make hearing the character of each piece very apparent. They simply don't get in the way of the components in terms of tone accuracy and let the timbral qualities of the components speak for themselves.

In Conclusion

After months of listening and comparisons I can conclude that the Ultama's are up there with the best there is many areas. So much so, that I fell in love with many of their characteristics. I feel that Ben Ray has reached his design goals of timbral accuracy, defining voices and instruments in a performance space, and giving the listener an inviting musical experience. What I said about the designer's personality coming through in his designs is entirely appropriate here. After various conversations with Ben, I got to know him, and he's a dedicated and committed designer who comes across with an understated persona. Where as some in this business are trying to shout from the roof tops proclaiming their greatness, Ben, in his quiet manner, let's his refined designs speak for themselves.

The only nit I have to pick is one relating to purely personal preference. I prefer a slightly more up front, lively presentation to my music as delivered by the Hologram IIs. In most other areas the Ultama's edges ahead, throwing down the gauntlet.

As with every component, system matching, personal preference and financial considerations go into making the final decision as to what we buy. The Ultama's level of refinement doesn't come cheap. If you can afford US$4,000.00US for an 8ft pair of speaker cables you must give them serious consideration. It truly is a pleasure having them in my system.

Keep Listening.

P.S. Robert Lee, of Acoustic Zen, will be sending me his new Absolute speaker cables and they 'only' retail for US$2,900.00US for an 8ft. pair of single wire. The quest continues. Stay tuned.