Ultra High-Resolution "Acoustic Zen" Cables - Jason Diffusion

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creation of an innovative line of analogue and digital interconnects, speaker wire,and power cords. Acoustic Zen's "ultra high-resolution cables" use exotic puregrades of silver and copper wire. Lee calls the material that he is working with "zerocrystal" because each run of copper and silver wire in his new cables is drawn froma continuous metal crystal that reaches more than one hundred and twenty-fivemeters in length. Lee has found that the inherent structural integrity of suchmaterials, free of impurities, creates maximum signal coherence with the fewestdispersion artifacts.I have had several engaging conversations with Robert Lee about cable design overthe course of the past two years. When Lee designed and directed the emergence ofHarmonic Technology's line of cables, I reviewed his design work. Lee'sunderstanding of the behavior of transmitted musical signals is based upon literallythousands of hours of critical listening and several hundred signal deliveryconfigurations.Lee has created Acoustic Zen cables so that they can be refined to maximizeperformance in individual sound systems. Lee calls this feature of his new line ofcables "precise fine tuning." He explains that his soon to be published "Acoustic ZenDesign Philosophy" document will describe this additional feature.When I reviewed Harmonic Tech cables in 1998, I found them to be a good value.Their power cords are fine performers, too, almost up to the level of dynamicintegrity as the remarkable (and still little known) Silverline power cords. I am nowawaiting delivery of Harmonic's new power cord, brought forth after Lee's departurefrom that company, since I will soon look closely at the current state of powercords, including Robert Lee's new design for Acoustic Zen and cords from VansEvers, Kimber, Shunyata, Stealth, and ESP, among others.Robert Lee's work with Harmonic Tech brought superior cables into the market at areal-world price point. After I read Lee's 1998 "white paper" outlining his cabledesign philosophy, I asked him about the possibilities of "stretching the sonicenvelope of cable design" further yet -- beyond anything available on the market.Lee's characteristic humor and modesty serve him well, but I had to push a bit toget a detailed response. He suggested, somewhat obliquely, that "research canalways advance our knowledge in every field of sound delivery." Pressed further, hisaffable good humor came to the fore. A cable designer's mind, he told me, "isrestless day and night. I never stop trying new things. I want all the sound [that]we hear at live concerts to be caught by microphones when you record. In addition,I want all that sound in its whole power to be reproduced through my cables. I don'twant any compromise."Lee laughs as he tells you things such as this. He was, on that occasion, teasingsomeone he knew to be devoted to live recording work. But he was kidding on thesquare. I was pleased, therefore, when he called to tell me of his new company. Iasked if I could review his new cables and he delivered several pairs of Acoustic Zenzero crystal "Silver Reference" cables, two pairs of "Matrix Reference," one of hisbig, new power cords, and a one meter digital cable. Two more power cords arrivedlater. I began the long work of critical listening.There is nothing that immediately meets the eye to distinguish Acoustic Zen cablesfrom many others on the market. They are handsome and serious looking pieces ofequipment. One feels the bulk of material and the care with which they have beencrafted. But their telling difference emerges after visual inspection -- in the sound."When the first two pairs of Acoustic Zen cables went into my system(displacing, for this listening, a pair of Magnan and a pair of Harmonic Techcables), the soundstage both deepened and grew wider. It more fullyresembled the actual physical location where the music that I recorded wascaptured live-to-two-tracks."Immediately -- and I mean RIGHT AWAY upon installation -- the first pair ofAcoustic Zen zero crystal "Silver Reference" interconnects changed, for the better,
the sonic envelope of my initial listening area. This occurred despite the fact thatthe cables, Lee told me, had not been broken in. He suggested that thirty hours ofpink noise would allow the wire to settle into its best sonic qualities.I followed Lee's advice and began to take notes after his wire had been burned infully. I kept in place the four-foot run of Magnan Vi single-ended cables that linked aConrad-Johnson "Premier Eleven" tube-amplifier to a custom-built cross-over for myCabasse Baltic-Stromboli speakers. Magnan wire has been a near-fixture in thatsystem for almost nine months of continuous critical listening in preparation for areview of the glorious C-J amp [to follow]. With the inclusion of the Acoustic Zencables, I not only heard more information from that large, stunning amplifier. Iheard how the cables handled musical signals. My long time listening and takingnotes on the C-J tube amp allowed me an unconfused view of what the new cablesbrought to the system.A significant difference was discernible right away at the top of the spectrum. TheAcoustic Zen "Silver Reference" cables gave a greater sense of ease in the higherfrequencies (above 12 kHz) where a sense of "air" and room ambience are largelyconcentrated. This was particularly apparent with the exquisite cymbal work thatChico Hamilton executed on late-'50s recordings with his quintet (Pacific Jazzrecordings now re-issued on Mosaic Records). Acoustic Zen's upper end resolutionwas vivid, as well, in the reproduction of snare drum textures when Hamilton usedsoft mallets. The instrument's size and mass became fuller, more delicatelypercussive.Next, I replaced a one-meter single-ended pair of Harmonic Technology cables witha one-meter pair of Lee's zero crystal "Matrix Reference" interconnects. The AcousticZen wire then linked the output of my hand made Cabasse cross-over to a modifiedAudio Research LS-2a (tube) pre-amp. Everything that the Cabasse satellites andsub-woofers received, therefore, was now delivered from the new Acoustic Zencables.WHAM! Images that had already been holographically dead-on (a characteristic ofDave Magnan's Vi and Signature interconnects), images texturally-complex withmusical nuances, expanded and locked into even more vivid three-dimensionalresolution.The first track I played with two pairs of Acoustic Zen cables in the system was "IConcentrate On You," a gorgeous rendering by San Francisco vocalist Jackie Ryan,with Mike Wofford's trio, from an album soon to be released. This is a track that Iknow very well. I recorded it live-to-two-tracks at 24-bits using several tubemicrophone pre-amps. In addition, my colleague Steve McCormack and I workeddozens of late night hours to master it and eleven other songs on the album "ForHeaven's Sake," BluePort, [BP-J004].Nothing about the sound of this recording is foreign or mysterious to me. I had,literally, heard the music as it was being created, while it was recorded. After thosefleeting moments on two evenings of live performance, I had listened to this songat least eighty times during various stages of the selection, editing, and masteringprocess. Parts of the material had been inspected even more than that. I had, inaddition, heard the track on more than thirty high-end sound systems during theweeks that Steve and I were mastering it. I am aware of our exuberance and longhours. This is our work and our passion.I was somewhat startled by what I heard on my Cabasse system when the first pairof Acoustic Zen cables went into the network. I am understating the case. I wasmore than surprised by what I heard -- and surprised not only because individualsonic details previously blurred or buried stood forth with their own integrity.I was surprised, to the point of genuine amazement, hearing subtle musicalelements that had been obscured or absent … details that had never beforeemerged from this material on this system.The truth of the sonic change was larger than this statement suggests. The simplest
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Ultra High-Resolution "Acoustic Zen" Cables - Jason Diffusion

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