Kimber KS 1036 Silver RCA Cable Review

[sonitus mirus]

This outcome was so obvious it was not worth the shipping cost, even if an old man hauled it over in a wheelbarrow.

 

[Chrispy]

This outcome was so obvious it was not worth the shipping cost, even if an old man hauled it over in a wheelbarrow.

That phrase I think I saw earlier in the thread but have not heard it in any way before.....and the reference is.....odd.

 

[Endibol]

Either that or just a loose, intermittent connection.

Good connections are very important indeed. I noticed it once when I had a poorly fitting speaker cable. Low base disappeared...
The poor contact caused a small increase in the resistance; small enough to cause a significant voltage drop during the high current base notes.

 

[solderdude]

@amirm Would be fun to know some basic values of this cable compared to the BJ.

Such as capacitance/meter, inductance/meter (for inner and outer wire), DC resistance/meter for screen and inner conductor.
Kimber does not list any of these numbers (probably for good reason).

These cables were measured with low source resistance and high load resistance I presume (was not found in the review).

 

[ScienceMajorSellout]

These are similar in cost to my pure single-crystal silver AQ speaker cables. Has silver speaker wire been tested yet? I'd be the most curious about old silver vs old copper speaker wire given the differences in the conductivity of the oxide layers. I make my homemade cable with silver tinned zip cord for that reason.

But regarding my Meteor speaker wires, I'd love to see how the sterling sparkle of crystalline highs, the gilded lustre of argentine mids, and the surprisingly agile weight from bullioned lows reveal themselves within Amir's measurements.

I didn't see any proper reviews of copper speaker cable. We should keep it that way. The golden mind does not stoop to shows of dross.

 

[RetroStereo]

These are similar in cost to my pure single-crystal silver AQ speaker cables. Has silver speaker wire been tested yet? I'd be the most curious about old silver vs old copper speaker wire given the differences in the conductivity of the oxide layers. I make my homemade cable with silver tinned zip cord for that reason.

But regarding my Meteor speaker wires, I'd love to see how the sterling sparkle of crystalline highs, the gilded lustre of argentine mids, and the surprisingly agile weight from bullioned lows reveal themselves within Amir's measurements.

I didn't see any proper reviews of copper speaker cable. We should keep it that way. The golden mind does not stoop to shows of dross.

Single crystal silver??? You're kidding!!! Silver tarnishes. You don't want your music smelling of rotten egg. I plan to order custom platinum cables drawn through diamond dies and with carbon nanotube insulation. No possibility of tarnish. [/snark]

 

[voodooless]

I plan to order custom platinum cables drawn through diamond dies and with carbon nanotube insulation

Your insulation would have lower resistance than the core wire

 

[egellings]

Single crystal silver??? You're kidding!!! Silver tarnishes. You don't want your music smelling of rotten egg. I plan to order custom platinum cables drawn through diamond dies and with carbon nanotube insulation. No possibility of tarnish. [/snark]

You need to add something using 'quantum' to that cable specification to really spiff it up.

 

[RigorDude]

I was waiting for an advocate for the product being reviewed to appear and challenge the measurements... Never disappoints.


What does that have to do with anything? Is the information incorrect, though?

You are flat wrong. I’m not an advocate for either cable —neither the Kimber, which is immorally expensive, nor the Amazon, which is probably tat that will fall apart in six months. What on Earth did I say that could be mistaken for advocacy?

In short, you have painted me in a way that is basically defamatory. But let’s leave that aside. Really you’re just too quick to assume. As a work colleague of mine liked to say, assuming makes an ass out of u and me. Sorry to disappoint you though.

I have two setups for playing music, with about a dozen interconnects. Of these, the majority are Mogami and cost less than $100. They are inexpensive, easy to handle, and —being made in Japan— won’t fail in six months. I also own a couple of Kimbers from the lower part of their range, as well as a basic Audioquest phono cable that has the necessary five-pin connector. Nothing at all that one could call snake oil.

They sound “okay” to me, but occasionally I do wonder whether something else might be “better.” And so, when hard-line engineers here at ASR and elsewhere insist that nothing can possibly sound better than lamp cord (I exaggerate, but only a little), it engages my skeptical reflex. Only DC resistance is relevant —how so? Isn’t it standard practice over at Audioholics to at least look at LCR? Why even measure harmonic distortion in a cable, as @amirm has done? Is there a scenario in which a cable can produce harmonic distortion? More to the point, the measurements here look like an exercise designed to reach a desired conclusion.

As for the ChatGPT review that Amir cut and pasted, I’ve seen a number of AI workups of this kind. They are getting better, for sure. AI can be pretty reliable at synthesizing information, even impressive. AI translations a few years ago were riddled with gross errors; that is much less common now. However, where AI’s limitations are exposed, imo, is in close reading —I.e., not munching scores of texts for keywords and phrases but working through one text, accurately. Like we were taught to do in college, back when people still read stuff. If one were to ask ChaptGPT to summarize Twelfth Night, what would it come up with? I doubt it would even describe the plot correctly, beyond paraphrasing CliffsNotes, to say nothing of capturing the meaning of specific scenes. Prove me wrong.

In this case, Hawksford’s article covers a lot of ground, and I felt that it meanders a bit. ChatGPT may well be correct with regard to the accepted principles of EM signal transmission, but there are claims it attributes to Hawksford that I didn’t recognize.

 

[RigorDude]

Audio wavelengths vary from 17m (20Hz) to 1.7cm (20kHz). Not sure where it's getting 15km (0.02Hz)!

He means EM wavelengths in the audio frequency range.

 

[heflys20]

Lol. If you aren't an advocate for speaker cables changing sound, which this product claims to do, what exactly are you arguing? You also keep discrediting the reliability of the info from chatgpt, but don't refute the information it provided.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Lol. If you aren't an advocate for speaker cables changing sound, which this product claims to do, what exactly are you arguing? You also keep discrediting the reliability of the info from chatgpt, but don't refute the information it provided.

He also seemed to miss the beginning of Amir's ChatGPT summary post:

Was going to write a response but figured I ask ChatGPT what it thinks of the summary. That was right on the money so I am going to quote that:

This is a great example of a summary that is partly grounded in real EM theory but drifts into speculation and overreach. I’ll go through it in a grounded, engineering sense.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

nor the Amazon, which is probably tat that will fall apart in six months.

Hyperbole much?

 

[M.C. Logan]

I know what you mean. But I find it terrifying.

Presumably there is no ban on such buyers breeding and voting.

And the gall of such dribble pedlars is astonishing.

I can’t decide if it’s even worse if the shysters believe their own crud or not?

Honestly, who cares? The people wealthy enough to afford this sort of bollocks don't deserve an inch of sympathy, at least like this they keep someone employed somewhere.

 

[M.C. Logan]

I have nothing but contempt for manufacturers of these things (cables and so on)
Their ability to persuade morons to part with tens of thousands of dollars for piece of copper or silver and have them think that their sound is better is nothing short of disgusting.

S.

I rather think it is the system which enables the wilfully ignorant to become wealthy enough to purchase such bling is at fault. How do such people accumulate such wealth?

 

[heflys20]

They're knowledgeable in certain fields. Speakers and such are likely statement pieces; particularly if you're rich enough to afford $20k-60k cables.

 

[ScienceMajorSellout]

If one were to ask ChaptGPT to summarize Twelfth Night, what would it come up with? I doubt it would even describe the plot correctly, beyond paraphrasing CliffsNotes, to say nothing of capturing the meaning of specific scenes. Prove me wrong.

Did you happen to notice the Merchant of Venice reference in my previous reply? The golden mind stoops not to shows of dross. I just love that line even though the Morocco character that delivered it lost bigly for ignoring the duller metal and would 100% have owned a $65,000 Danish power cable if the play was written today.

Here's how I tested my 12AWG eight kilodollar Meteor speaker cables against my homemade 12AWG cables made from $.80/ft silver tinned OFC zip cord and my $.99/ft 11AWG OFC cable made from star braided wires.

And I should add I've actually never seen anybody test speaker cable this way. I believe it is the superior way to determine if there's even a difference in the cables, nevermind one is better than the other.
Process: I plug them both into the bi-amped binding posts (jumped with a winding of said zip cord). Then I plug both into the amp's L output that I have a banana plug accepting splitter off of the red and black post. Then I play music and unplug one of the cables' banana plugs from the amp. Then I put it back in and do the same to the other. And I just do that over and over. If I hear a difference I'll go further. If I don't, I'll use massively longer distance of my homemade cable.

I think this is better than playing mono through two speakers for a few obvious reasons. But I do have a two-in-two-out toggler and a two-in-four-out device with passive volume controls. But I think my initial test will tell you where that extra 7,950 dollars are getting us proud Meteor owners.

And damn I haven't even mentioned anything about the 72V module on all my AQ cables. But they are only $175 to replace so as a percentage of the cable it's not significant and it would be totally unfair to deploy. True, all I've ever asked for in life is an unfair advantage. But I'm not that greedy. However, 72V into my dielectric for a week? That's just unseemly.

 

[amirm]

nor the Amazon, which is probably tat that will fall apart in six months.

You are full bias. I have had that Amazon Basics cable for years now. It has gotten more use and abuse than a thousand uses in a normal audio system. Yet is as solid and reliable as day one I bought it. I just found it on Amazon and it wasn't $12, but $6.99!!!

Does that looks like cheap junk to you? Thick connector shell that holds tight but not super tight as to pull out the RCA jack. Cable is thick and supple just like "high-end" cables. It has a whopping 35,000 reviews, averaging 4.7!

I have reviewed it a multiple times: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-of-rca-cables-mogami-amazon-monoprice.27871/

Yes, there is junk stuff like that monoprice on the right (usability, not performance). Objectively, the Amazon cable even outperformed the Mogami on noise pick up!

It is really, really good stuff leaving no room to pick anything else.

 

[ScienceMajorSellout]

Single crystal silver??? You're kidding!!! Silver tarnishes. You don't want your music smelling of rotten egg. I plan to order custom platinum cables drawn through diamond dies and with carbon nanotube insulation. No possibility of tarnish. [/snark]

Tarnish? Hardly. The oxide layer of properly patinated silver wire is extremely conductive. Putrid green cupric oxidation is actually a semi-conductor. So think of the skin effect and then think of the chocolatey mids flowing like quicksilver through the open veins of my Meteor® cables. The only question is what do I do about the terrible accumulation on the banana plugs. AQ uses their superior cutting edge technology to allow them to be changed out if you send them in or are fortunate enough to have the acquired through the back channels (or the black market) the bespoke tool that releases this Perfect Surface®™ receptacle.

 

[Chrispy]

You are flat wrong. I’m not an advocate for either cable —neither the Kimber, which is immorally expensive, nor the Amazon, which is probably tat that will fall apart in six months. What on Earth did I say that could be mistaken for advocacy?

In short, you have painted me in a way that is basically defamatory. But let’s leave that aside. Really you’re just too quick to assume. As a work colleague of mine liked to say, assuming makes an ass out of u and me. Sorry to disappoint you though.

I have two setups for playing music, with about a dozen interconnects. Of these, the majority are Mogami and cost less than $100. They are inexpensive, easy to handle, and —being made in Japan— won’t fail in six months. I also own a couple of Kimbers from the lower part of their range, as well as a basic Audioquest phono cable that has the necessary five-pin connector. Nothing at all that one could call snake oil.

They sound “okay” to me, but occasionally I do wonder whether something else might be “better.” And so, when hard-line engineers here at ASR and elsewhere insist that nothing can possibly sound better than lamp cord (I exaggerate, but only a little), it engages my skeptical reflex. Only DC resistance is relevant —how so? Isn’t it standard practice over at Audioholics to at least look at LCR? Why even measure harmonic distortion in a cable, as @amirm has done? Is there a scenario in which a cable can produce harmonic distortion? More to the point, the measurements here look like an exercise designed to reach a desired conclusion.

As for the ChatGPT review that Amir cut and pasted, I’ve seen a number of AI workups of this kind. They are getting better, for sure. AI can be pretty reliable at synthesizing information, even impressive. AI translations a few years ago were riddled with gross errors; that is much less common now. However, where AI’s limitations are exposed, imo, is in close reading —I.e., not munching scores of texts for keywords and phrases but working through one text, accurately. Like we were taught to do in college, back when people still read stuff. If one were to ask ChaptGPT to summarize Twelfth Night, what would it come up with? I doubt it would even describe the plot correctly, beyond paraphrasing CliffsNotes, to say nothing of capturing the meaning of specific scenes. Prove me wrong.

In this case, Hawksford’s article covers a lot of ground, and I felt that it meanders a bit. ChatGPT may well be correct with regard to the accepted principles of EM signal transmission, but there are claims it attributes to Hawksford that I didn’t recognize.

You bought Fraudioquest cabling, why? Lots of cables work. Amazon stuff doesn't just "fall apart". You listen to cable somehow and they're "okay"? Good grief.