Originally Posted by
rusty jefferson
I have 2 audio interested friends (not members here) who heard the cable switch here. They each then borrowed my wires and demoed them in their systems, and they both switched to the Omega Mikro/Mapleshade wire. One of them replaced standard ICs and zip cord wires. The other replaced Groneberg "audiophile" wire, and ended up a couple hundred dollars ahead after selling it.
Of the 4 Lansing members to visit so far, I think just Heather has purchased the wires to try in her system. I don't want to put words in her mouth, but I believe she and her partner felt there was a reasonable improvement in performance, but ultimately they were concerned with how fragile the wire and connectors are, and returned them. Same, I believe with the magnet wire (not what Mapleshade uses) also. The solid core wire and thin insulation can easily be damaged and is quite unruly.
I think Wilfredo was concerned about the wire fragility from the get-go and purchased (I believe) a set of Anticables. They are philosophically similar to OM/Mapleshade in that they use thin dielectrics and solid core wire. Last we spoke about it, he was happy with the improvement.
Steve and Tom have not mentioned experimenting with it.
I know the OM/Mapleshade philosophy is unusual. I've come to look at it analogous to religion. Some folks buy in a little, some buy in a lot. You get out of it what works for you. This concept of "vibration reduction" has nothing to do with isolating gear from room vibrations (footfalls, or woofers), it's about "draining" electromechanical energy out of electronics, and motional energy out of speakers, by "coupling" it to a substrate. Some say wood is best, others say Delrin or some other material.
I've noticed recently that members here, including Greg Timbers, are promoting the importance of "coupling" speakers via "footers" to the floor to obtain the best performance. Just a few years ago, few if anyone here would have bought into this. Mapleshade has been promoting this for 20+ years.
I have met both Pierre Sprey and Ron Bauman, and have recently had the opportunity to visit their demo system. If you read their sales materials or speak with them on the phone, you'll see their emphasis/goal is to recreate a musical performance recorded in a live acoustic space. In my opinion, they've succeeded in that goal better than any system I've heard. That doesn't mean it's the best system I've heard, for my taste. It has limitations as do all systems, but it is spectacular at putting you "there" at the live event like nothing else I've heard. It's experiential. I have to conclude their wire, and coupling techniques have something to do with it, or all systems would create a similar experience.