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Equipment Review

August 2002

Silversmith Audio Silver Interconnects and Speaker Cables

by Jeff Fritz


Silversmith Audio Silver interconnects...

 

Review Summary
Sound Not "thin, tinkly, or bright" but rather "quite full-bodied and weighty"; "the entire bass range was weighty and displayed good drive and energy"; "don’t look for hyper-detail or an up-front sound from the Silversmith cables, but rather a sonic blend of correct tonal color with appropriate clarity."
Features Silver ribbon conductors with no soldering needed for the speaker cables and Eichmann RCA connectors for the interconnects.
Use Jeff found installation problematic, as the RCAs were too tight and the speaker cables could make shorting possible; but there are remedies for both problems.
Value "Strike a mighty fine equilibrium. And this makes the sum of their traits quite valuable in the right system."

Is moderation the key to a long, happy life? I can come up with a good many examples where a really good thing taken to the extreme turns counterproductive. In audio, this concept is as obvious as it is anywhere. Take a look at electronic design, where you can find countless cases of one manufacturer touting his extremely simple circuitry while another is touting his complexly engineered designs. And the products perform the same functions!

Audio designers debate the extremes regularly. Many are chasing an ideal, and this can mean an unconventional approach. This does raise an important question, though: Is it the materials, the design, the measurements and testing, the voicing by ear, or something else altogether that’s most important? Take almost any singular wisdom and you can find an ardent supporter. Sometimes, though, it’s to the exclusion of other important or essential elements.

Taking the moderation theory and applying it to audio design is quite helpful in making sense of it all. There are really talented designers who have succeeded by paying attention to seemingly everything -- and thus taking a holistic approach to creating their products. On the surface, Silversmith Audio seems to be such a company. Their audio cables utilize unique materials that are implemented through a novel approach to design by someone who adheres to solid engineering principles. This seems to cover all the bases.

Cable design

As can be deduced from the company name, Jeffrey Smith, the engineer and brain trust behind Silversmith Audio, believes in silver as an audio conductor -- the cabling system under review here is part of Smith's bread-and-butter line and simply titled Silver. Silversmith Audio does make another series that's similar in design but constructed of palladium alloy, an even better conductor, according to Smith. If the price tag on the Silver series scares you, don’t even look at the Palladium cables.


...and Silver speaker cables

The thick but lightweight Silver speaker cables ($2950 USD per eight-foot pair) consist of a single silver-foil ribbon conductor suspended in a thin Teflon tube. The ribbon just barely touches the casing, yielding a "primarily air dielectric," according to the manufacturer. Picture a wooden ruler inserted into a garden hose, with the ruler only touching the hose on either outer edge, and you’ll get the picture. The silver ribbon protrudes from the Teflon tube through a band of shrink-wrap, and then is shaped into the form of a spade connector. That’s right -- there is no soldering of your favorite connector type. Eliminating four extra solder joints per channel (one on each end of each positive and negative leg), meaning no discontinuity of materials, is a key design element of the line. The Teflon tube is then wrapped in a black mesh-type material.

The interconnect cables ($1400 per three-foot pair) use Keith Eichmann’s Bullet Plug, a proprietary RCA connector of unusual design. These are polymer-cased connectors and unlike anything I’ve seen. Essentially, Eichmann believes that brass fittings create a "bottleneck to electron flow," thereby limiting the effectiveness of the conductor material within the cable. Since Jeffrey Smith prides himself on his silver conductors’ audio properties, this was an unacceptable compromise to him. So the Bullet Plug was pressed into action because of the minimalist/thin-metal design of the contact pins, which follow the design of the cables. Silversmith Audio does specify a silver-plated barrel within the Bullet Plug, as opposed to a plastic one, to reportedly improve upon the connector’s radio-frequency-rejecting properties.

Review system and installation

Linking together my audio rig is fairly straightforward. I was sent a Silver threesome consisting of speaker cables, source-to-preamp interconnects, and preamp-to-amp interconnects. This meant linking a Sony TA-P9000ES multichannel preamp to a Krell FPB-700cx amplifier on one end, and a Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player on the other. The Krell was then tethered to Wilson X-1 Grand SLAMM Series III loudspeakers.

Installation was not quite as smooth as I would have liked. Initially, the RCA interconnects would not fit on the connectors on my preamp. They were simply too tight. I actually thought I would collapse the Sony’s back panel trying to insert them. A quick call to Jeffrey Smith gave me the cure. "Give it a 15-second blast with a hair dryer and they’ll go right on," said Smith. Sure they will, I thought to myself. Well they did -- the interconnects slid right on.

More inconvenience. The speaker cables’ ribbon terminations were too wide to fit side by side on my Wilson speakers’ binding posts. If installed conventionally, they would overlap, causing one of the biggest no-nos in audio installation: shorting the positive and negative legs from the amplifier. Talk about an explosive transient! This was easy enough to get around, though. I simply came in from each side so that the two legs were facing each other head-on instead of being parallel.

The sound

You can’t always believe what you read, and there is no better case study than the various articles I’ve read on the sound of silver cables. Or maybe it’s just that different silver cables sound vastly different, the sound not being so much attributable to the conductor material but the design. Whatever the case, the Silversmith Audio Silver cables do not sound thin, tinkly, or bright -- like you might think silver sounds. In fact, in my system, they sounded quite full-bodied and weighty. Diana Krall’s "Let’s Face the Music and Dance" (When I Look in Your Eyes [Verve IMPD-304]) is a prime example. There is a certain lushness present on this disc that can come through the right system and completely envelop the listener. It’s quite a comfortable and relaxing experience, yet this characteristic yields no lack of detail in the voice. Take that bit of bloom away and you have a more neutral-sounding recording, but one that is less enjoyable in the absolute sense. With the Silversmith Audio cables in my system, the full-bodied sound is kept intact and the recording is delivered with all the emotion unfettered.

More on the Silver cables

Installation of the Silversmith Silver speaker cables, with their pliable foil spade connectors, requires some thought with regard to connection and routing, but the interconnects are as supple and easy to use as any I've encountered. But it's the state-of-the-art balance of these cables that's most noteworthy. Try as I might, I could not discern an obvious tendency of these unique silver cables -- they excel in every musically significant way. High-frequency purity, midrange palpability, tonal color, texture, bass weight and depth are all exemplary. These cables don't sound sweet or cool, lean or thick. Their detail retrieval is neither too great nor too little. The music simply emerges with the sort of ease and vibrancy typical of live music.

And lest you think all of what I say above is a matter of partnering equipment, I used the Silversmith cables with my reference Lamm electronics, the Audio Research Reference Two Mk II preamp and 100.2 stereo amp, even a Mark Levinson No.383 integrated amp. I also listened to a wide array of discs -- this is what you do when you install something into your audio system and you can't grasp onto one area in which it calls attention to itself. While very good and poor recordings sounded just as they should, it was with exceptionally dynamic and detailed recordings that the Silversmith cables shone, each component seemingly performing at the very top of its game. Keith Richards' Main Offender [Virgin 86499 2] is still the rock recording against which I measure all others. On "Runnin' Too Deep," Richards' electric guitar cuts loose with explosive power. Meanwhile, the soundstage is spacious and the drums sound like the real thing -- buy this CD and you'll know what I mean. The bass line is easy to follow amidst the electrified din, and the Silversmith cables make it all the more tangible and vivid.

Silversmith Audio's Silver interconnects and speaker cables are not showy and thus not easy to categorize in their own right. And above everything else, this ends up being their thing. If you want speaker cables and interconnects that flatter the entire spectrum your audio system is able to reproduce, try these from Silversmith Audio. They're special.

...Marc Mickelson
marc@soundstage.com

Although the tonally colorful midrange of the Silver cables did not intrude on the upper-frequency detail, there was not the feeling of super resolution and speed either. It was a more natural rendering, both tonally and with respect to soundstaging and image placement. Listening to David Chesky’s wonderful Swing Live DVD-Audio disc [Chesky CHDVD222] in a two-channel configuration confirmed this. The drums were placed properly on the rear of the stage, and when they were struck, I could sense the skins’ tautness and the decay of the instrument. It did not, however, sound as if the drums were right on top of me. And that last ounce of immediacy was tempered. The sound was involving in a way that I could just settle into.

The entire bass range was weighty and displayed good drive and energy. Kick drum would roll through the room and the listener, instead of giving a sock in the gut and stopping. Jamming to Metallica’s "Nothing Else Matters" from what has become known as the Black CD [Elektra 61113-2] aptly illustrated this. Bass depth was as good as what I’m used to hearing in my system, the Krell and Wilson combination seemingly exercising each other’s ability to delve into the deep blackness that drummer Lars Ulrich likes to explore. The Silversmith ensemble did not diminish or highlight this region; the cables simply left it intact.

Loading Ziroq’s self-titled DVD-A [Silverline 288067-9], I found that the sound of the percussion, acoustic bass, and palmas was presented with excellent clarity. The snap and focus exhibited by each instrument was captivating and sounded most immediate. Don’t look for hyper-detail or an up-front sound from the Silversmith cables, but rather a sonic blend of correct tonal color with appropriate clarity. If that sounds like I’m saying you get the best of both worlds, well yeah, that’s the balancing act these cables achieve.

The Silversmith Audio sound really lands somewhere in the middle of the extremes: clarity without crispness and body without an overabundance of warmth. I know of audiophiles who actively look for this combination in their system’s sound (SoundStage! editor Marc Mickelson, for one). Maybe these cables won’t fix a problem you hear in your system’s performance, but they surely won’t add to or detract from it either. And that’s saying something.

Silversmith versus Nordost

Cable comparisons can be difficult. Sometimes the differences are so insignificant that discussing them at all seems somehow out of proportion, especially in comparison with something like a speaker-to-speaker showdown. But comparing the Silversmith cables with cables from Nordost shows there’s plenty to discuss. And this makes my job easy.

The Nordost Red Dawn II speaker cables and interconnects have a distinct sound: fast, airy, and extremely resolving. Their sonic signature is nothing if not neutral, and they provide superb image focus. A quick hit of Andrea Bocelli’s Sacred Arias [Philips 289 462 600-2] will tell you everything you need to know, as the vocals are laser-like in their placement and the sound is powerful in its resolution. I like the Nordost cabling, especially with the Wilson loudspeakers I use, because they don’t drag down the sound. They enable the Wilsons to open up and run like the thoroughbreds they are. Don’t look for the Nordost cables to make pretty all that is put before them. In fact, before buying them, I’d suggest you really like what you hear in your system, and have a desire to augment it further.

In comparison, the Silversmith Audio Silver cables bring out the natural warmth and body to the sound of voices and instruments. You don’t really lose any definition, as it is still clearly heard in the sonic mix, but it is not as up-front and apparent at all times. Now this doesn’t mean that the Silversmith Audio cabling makes you work harder to get into the music. In fact, the cables make the listener quite comfortable with the level of resolution and detail, while washing a full-bodied sound over the proceedings.

I could argue that there’s more midband information coming through with the Silversmith cables. I’d suggest you take a hard listen to these cables if you are a midrange-above-all-else kind of guy, which we all are to an extent, but still want to retain all the top-to-bottom information present in your recordings. "I’ve Got You Under My Skin," also from Diana Krall's When I Look in Your Eyes, will illustrate this point conclusively. Krall's voice is front and center, but her accompaniment is given its due too.

Conclusion

The Silversmith Audio Silver cables are an accomplished design, as their sound seems dictated most by the philosophy of moderation. The performance I was able to wring from my audio system with these cables was nothing if not balanced, detailed and resolving, but not at the expense of tonal color and fullness. The Silver cables may not be able to claim the very best performance I’ve heard in any one area, but they do strike a mighty fine equilibrium. And this makes the sum of their traits quite valuable in the right system. Who knows? Maybe they'll be invaluable in your system.

...Jeff Fritz
jeff@soundstage.com

Silversmith Audio Silver Interconnects and Speaker Cables
Prices:
Silver Interconnects, $1400 USD per three-foot pair; Silver Speaker Cables, $2950 USD per eight-foot pair.
Warranty:
Five years parts and labor.

Silversmith Audio
4946 Pacifica Drive
San Diego, California 92109
Phone: (858) 272-6375

E-mail: info@silversmithaudio.com
Website: www.silversmithaudio.com

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