Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Anti-Cables (and hello!)

Hi there. I'm an Axiom noob, but a long time audio geek. I've been a Paradigm lover for years as I've always found they consistently represent a very good value for the money, and they sound great too. My system currently consists of the following:

. Arcam Alpha 9 integrated
. Cambridge Audio 640C cd player
. Virtual Dynamics Audition interconnect
. Virtual Dynamics Audition Bi-Wire speaker cables
. Virtual Dynamics Power-One power cables
. Paradigm Monitor 7 v.3 speakers.
. Various other tweaks.

Okay, so it's a bit of a mish mash, but I love it. Here's where Axiom comes in.

I recently moved from a loft (12ft ceilings, wide open space, great for a large speaker) to a small bungalow. I built an office that has to double as a listening room as there is a baby on the way. The Monitor 7's are just WAY WAY too big for the room, so I just ordered a pair of M3's. I can't wait! I get to keep the 7's for the forthcoming home theater set-up (I hope; wife approval pending). But I've run into another problem; the speaker cables.

If any of you know Virtual Dynamics you know they make a very impressive cable, in more ways than one. Each 8ft run of these babies weighs in at almost 10 pounds! That's ~40 pounds of speaker wire. Not to mention that they're 9 gauge, solid copper, per wire (if my math is correct, that's 4 wires per side, 4.5ga aggregate per poll, 2.25ga per side!). Yes, they are beasts but they were the first upgrade I had ever made to a system that truely blew me away. Besides the fact that the M3's aren't bi-wireable, they'd also be pulled of any stand or surface by the VD's.

Enter Anti-Cables (www.anticables.com). I received a set last week and so far I'm AMAZED. They easily outclass the VD's that I paid $1200 for, and I should be crying. In fact I'm selling the VD's (anyone want em? I'm letting 'em go cheap!). I'm curios if anyone here has used Anti-Cables in conjunction with Axiom speakers. Has anyone here even heard of them? I'm waiting on delivery of the M3's with baited breath. The Anti-Cables are amazingly transparent, and if the Axiom's are as transparent as everyone says, I think I'll be upgrading my source and amp very soon!

Your thoughts are appreciated. Go Canada!

-spish

Spish, you are a brave man to enter an audio forum with a speaker cable post. Welcome!

Me, I like experimenting and trying new things. So, if it fits into your budget go ahead and give it a try. I've heard good things about the Anti-cables. The best thing I like about them is that they are not horribly expensive--perfect to try out. Plus, they look different and have a "coolness" factor going for them. It's all personal preference, though. If you like what you hear, then that is all that matters. Enjoy!

Oh, and I hope you like those M3s.

Be prepared for an interesting thread, spish.

It seems that the most obvious area of sonic improvement in anyone's system would be the speakers themselves. If you're willing to drop $1200 on cables, why not go for a better speaker to begin with?

Personally, I don't see how anyone would want to spend more on their cables than on the speakers themselves. But that's just me. But it's good to hear you're happy with the (much more reasonably priced) anti-cables.

And don't be surprised if you end up strongly preferring the Axioms over your Paradigms. My brother went from Monitor 9s to Axiom M22s, and the M22s just completely blew the Paradigms away in everything except bass response. I have a pair of M3s and am very happy with em - they're great speakers!

Consider the $1200 cable purchase a lesson learned. I'm sure you can find some other sucker on Ebay or Audiogon.com to buy them back from you for nearly what you paid. After all, they're "burned in" now.

The speaker cable prices from "anti-cables" seemed pretty reasonable, and you get some funky looking cables as a bonus.

Let us know how you like the M3ti's when they arrive!

Spish, hello and welcome to you, too. You're sure to enjoy your M3s when they arrive, but as far as speaker wire, the usual 16ga lampcord supplies everything that they need. Hopefully you were just kidding about those cables, because that isn't the way speaker wires work. For factual information on the point, a study of this explanation by a veteran audio professional is worthwhile.

Please, Please, PLEASE tell me you are just kidding!!!!

The Anticables are not to bad with their prices. I gave more for a set from Axiom than what they want.