Wire World Cable Technology – Platinum Eclipse ... - DSM Audio

Wire World Cable Technology – Platinum EclipseSeries CablesTruly magical cablesDec, 2012EARLY INTRODUCTIONThroughout my many years of involvement in high-end audio, I have had numerousopportunities to audition a wide variety of products including electronics, analog anddigital playback systems, speakers and different types of accessories. Additionally, I havehad the good fortune to try any number of cables from different manufacturers includinginterconnects, speaker, digital cables and power cords as well.Typically the arrival of most components to my home, such as electronics and/or varioustypes of accessories, are delivered by either my friendly UPS or FedEx delivery agent andI can easily handle these by myself. However, when it comes to speakers, they aretypically delivered by a freight company and requiring lots of muscle (and often skill) tonavigate large, heavy shipping crates or boxes, and the occasional coffin like containers,around to the back of my home to avoid having to navigate stairs to the lower level.So it was with great joy when cables from Wire World arrived in fairly lightweight andmedium sized boxes. In fact, a full suite of the Platinum Eclipse series cables, includinginterconnects, digital and speaker cables. Each set of cables was packaged individuallyand in professional jewelry case-like containers. The cables were very flexible and quiteeasy to work with, especially when it came to installation. Anxious as ever, I could hardly

wait to get everything out of the box and inspected for any possible damage duringtransit. My initial thought was to go full bore and put all cables into my system at once.However, I tempered my enthusiasm and decided to do this in a more orderly manner. Ialso kept in mind comments made by David Salz, head guru/designer at Wire World,when he advised that the benefit of hearing the full sonic signature of his cables wouldbest be served by installing incrementally but also in a relatively short time span.With this in mind, the interconnect cables were first up for installation. With these cablesinstalled and after only about a day of continuous signal processing – there was a definiteand distinct difference from my long-time reference cables. Nothing dramatic but clearlya difference. As such, my initial reaction was very positive and this is just the beginning.Later with the digital cable installed, and some additional break-in time, similardifferences were observed compared to my reference digital cable. With continuedlistening along with putting my reference cables back in for quick comparison– clearlywhat I was hearing impressed me considerably even though fundamentally, I wasn’tanxious nor quite ready to give up on my reference cables. As such - I decided to allowthe Wire World cables additional time for further conditioning before making any finaljudgments on their overall performance – particularly on a comparative basis. Truly myreference cables weren’t chopped liver, are highly regarded in the industry and haveprovided me with hundreds/ thousands of hours of listening enjoyment.With a quick check back to the folks at Wire World, I was assured that there would not bea long drawn out and disruptive break in period required to get these cables performingat their highest level. In fact, I was further assured that these cables would actually startto come into their own in a reasonably short period of time. The only caveat and advicereceived was that once the cables were installed and properly dressed – it would be bestto try and not physically disturb them by either taking them in and out or possiblymoving them around. This was so noted and I basically followed this advice.Later I installed the special bi-wire speaker cables and allowed them time to break inwith music signal running through them. Additionally, I elevated them from my carpetedfloor with cable lifters as well. In a relatively short period of time, these cables were

producing noticeable changes compared to my reference cables and to my ears – theoverall experience was very rewarding. In fact, I was so impressed that I simply forgotabout anything other than allowing myself to enjoy the new and improved sound of mysystem. From there I started pulling out many of my longtime favorite recordings that Ihadn’t listened to in quite some time only to be impressed with the revelation of manysubtle and hidden sonic treasures that I was essentially unaware of during earlierlistening.FURTHER OBSERVATIONS & GENERAL IMPRESSIONSIn the past, I’ve had opportunities to install Wire World cables in my system with theresults always being consistently positive. In fact, despite the many years that havepassed by, I still have very fond memories of their earlier Gold Eclipse Series III+ cableswith their strong presentation through the bass region, as well as providing beautifulmusic through the critical midrange and upper frequencies. But that was then and this isnow. Putting the newer Platinum series cables into my system brought back a flood ofthose positive memories but the really good news is that I was quickly elevated to aneven higher order of critical listening almost instantly and it was clearly evident thatthese newer cables were truly something quite special.I am also well aware of how sometimes initial impressions can be misleading – eitherpositive or negative. Fortunately, with these cables and as the cables fully settled into mysystem, the sound improved and became even better. The dreaded long break-in timerequired with many cables I’ve experienced previously, just wasn’t there. In fact, judgingfrom this experience – Salz was right on target and after reaching a certain level ofperformance, I really didn’t notice any further change in the overall sonic performance ofthese cables. What I was experiencing was very impressive and also quite thrilling.Much of my critical listening with these cables was done with the truly outstanding andsuperbly high resolution YGA Anat Studio speakers in place. The combination of WireWorld interconnects, digital cable and speakers, along with my reference electronics,produced such an enhanced level of clarity and overall resolution that it was instantlyobvious that subtle musical nuances had become clearly more noticeable and in a verymusically involving way. In addition to the heightened sense of resolution – the entiresound field had become quieter, more open with instruments (and vocals) floating inspace and across the stage appropriately positioned. I also want to make the point thatwhat became obvious, to my ears, wasn’t simply a matter of improved detail, clarity andresolution but a noticeable diminishment of smearing. At first it was hard for me to putmy finger on exactly what was happening. However, after repeatedly going back andforth, I became aware that what was happening was the elimination of subtle traces ofveiling and ever so slight masking. This was clearly noticeable especially with theinterconnects but then as I moved to the digital cable and finally the speaker cables – Iknew for sure that the Wire World cables were responsible for thins noticeably improvedsonic performance. At that point - I was hooked. Beyond this, imaging was spot on withsuperb three dimensionality including width, height and depth as well as accurateplacement of all musical sounds on the stage.Bottom line – these cables provided a kind of special magic that I really wasn’t preparedto experience. Without question – these new Wire World Platinum Eclipse cables were atthe heart of these improvements with the overall the sound possessing enhancedrefinement and finesse that helped give reproduced music a more convincing andauthentic sonic character. For some additional workout and auditioning, I also installedthese cables in a completely different audio rig than my reference system. The resultswere not only highly satisfying – the sonic performance level of that particular systemwas enhanced well beyond anything subtle or marginal in terms of sonic improvements.In particular, and similar to the experience in my reference system, the overall level ofmusicality was quite compelling. Once again, overall transparency, cleanliness, clarity,resolution and dynamics rose to heightened levels of improvement and without any

negative sonic attributes.In terms of the performance in the lower frequency range – these cables provide asuperb deep bass response that is wonderfully tuneful, powerful, dynamic, tight and withexcellent articulation. In my system, bass performance was also enhanced by having agreater jump factor in dynamics. Interestingly, this was clearly evident even with theupper module of the YGA speakers which is designed as the midrange/ tweeter section ofthe Anat Studios. Initially I listened to this section along, and without the powered bassmodule. The Wire World bi-wire speaker cables connected to this section helped to createa performance level that was well beyond my expectations. Bass was produced withexcellent clarity, authority, power and dynamics. Additionally, Wire World graciouslysupplied me with long runs of the Platinum Eclipse interconnects for connecting to thepowered bass module of the YGA speakers. Similar results were experienced with animproved integration of powered bass module and the midrange/tweeter module. Thesound was now seamless, coherent and a complete full range sound.Listening to any number of great acoustic bass players, such as Christian McBride, RayBrown, Charlie Haden just to name a few, provided superb rendering of this wonderfulinstrument. Similarly, with hard struck drums – the dynamic impact was powerful, clear,taunt and with solid control. Dropping these cables into an alternate system including theAscendo C8 Renaissance loudspeakers quickly confirmed what I had been hearing withthe YGA speakers. With the Wire World cables in place, the Ascendo’s overallperformance was elevated in such a manner that it was all giggles and grins for thosepresent to witness for themselves. Bass from these smaller speakers was even morecomplete with improved impact and dynamics. And although the bass didn’t necessarilyextend much lower than with other cables, the overall quality through the bass regionwas improved to such an extent that it actually felt like there was not only better bassbut even more to listen to and appreciate.Much the same sort of effect occurred through the critically important midrange andhigher frequencies. Essentially, the sound was more open, clear, extended and withsuperb resolution and detail. Along with this was a more open soundstage providingenhanced layering and solidity of images along with a holographic presentation of theperformers. Vocals in particular were rendered in a truly killer fashion with the ability tovery easily discern the slightest change in how a singer fashioned their mouth for certaintypes of enunciation of words or phrasing. This may seem like overkill but for what Iheard – it simply heightened the illusion and made the performance just that much moreconvincing. A great example of this is Mary Stalling’s sensational singing on her recordingtitled Manhattan Moods. My favorite selection on this CD is “You Go To My Head.” HereStalling’s voice is wonderfully present with luscious shades of organic nuance. Along withher voice, there is an outstanding harmonica performance that adds to the sweetness ofthe sound. Listening with the Wire World cables in place, this particular selection waselevated to a higher level with sensational clarity and clean, clear vocal renderings.Similarly, much the same effect was experienced when listening to Diana Krall’s CDtitled Only Trust Your Heart. On this recording, Krall’s voice has a certain magical tonalquality that even though sounding really good before, with the Wire World cables inplace, it was just that much more thrilling. Switching to a more robust type recordingand something with lots of extraneous sounds added to the mix, I put on theTemptations recording titled Phoenix Rising. This particular recording has nicely donereverb with layers and layers upon layers of sound. Due to the enhanced transparencyand noticeable elimination of smearing with these cables in place, the overall sound wasspooky good. Being able to distinctly here each of the vocalists in the mix was a realtreat and made the music total fun to listen to.Fortunately, with all this apparent enhanced clarity and resolution, at no time did thesound seem thinned out but instead had a solid tactile quality. Needless to say – this is adifficult challenge where sometimes cables can either take away or add to the sound. In

the case of the Wire World Platinum Eclipse series cables – the tonality presented itselfwith a high level of neutrality and coherence across the full audio spectrum. No peaks, novalleys. Sounds at the upper frequencies were highly extended, open, clear and withoutstanding clarity and articulation. Cymbals shimmered and floated along with otherpercussive sounds such as triangles. Overall there was an effortlessness that gave thehigh frequencies a sense of ease along with excellent dynamics.DESIGN APPROACH – TECHNICAL OVERVIEWFirst thing I observed was the noticeably light weight of these cables. Additionally, theywere all quite flexible and very easy to use. In the case of the speaker cables – theirdesign was a basic flat ribbon type configuration. From a weight and size perspective,you quickly realize how easy these cables are to work with. The interconnect and digitalcable were a piece of cake and whether XLR or RCA connectors – their connection tovarious components in my system was a breeze. Due to the design of the speaker cables,they too were very easy to work with. Essentially, I used cable lifters to keep themelevated off of the carpeted floor for the purpose of minimizing potential static build up orother.According to the website, the design construction of the interconnect employs WireWorld’s trademarked DNA Helix Design with conductor materials featuring six nines highpuritysilver (i.e., 99.99997% and Ohno Continuous Cast design). Additionally, theinterconnects are terminated with special molded carbon fiber connectors (i.e., RCA) andfeature tubular silver-clad oxygen free copper contacts utilizing a silicone rubber tensionband to produce the lowest contact resistance available. The XLR connectors also usenickel-free, silver-clad contacts. The speaker cables employ the company’s trademarkedDiagonal DNA Design consisting of flat conductors within the cable’s trapezoidal profile.For full description and greater appreciation of what all goes into the design andconstruction of these cables – I recommend you check out their website for details.CONCLUSIONBased on my time and experience with these superb cables, I believe the PlatinumEclipse series represents Wire World’s finest cable offering to date and is a trulysignificant accomplishment. The virtues of these cables are numerous and clearlyobvious. My highest praise goes to David Salz for his ongoing research and continuedpursuit of developing truly innovative, state-of-the-art cable products. Listening torecorded music with this latest series of cables from Wire World in my system has been awonderful experience and truly an eye (ear)-opener.