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Equipment Review

February 2003

Stereovox SEI-600 Interconnects and LSP-600 Speaker Cables

by Marc Mickelson

 


Stereovox SEI-600 interconnects...

Review Summary
Sound "Present, composed, and high in resolution"; "you'll love the musically significant information these cables are able to convey, but you won't be disappointed by a hyper-resolving presentation"; "their greatest achievement is the way they balance their attributes and create a complete sonic picture."
Features Pure-silver and silver-plated-copper conductors combined with unique materials and terminated with custom-designed connectors.
Use "The interconnects are very flexible, so snaking them around equipment and between racks is E-Z"; interconnects and speaker cables are non-directional.
Value "Expensive -- just in case you didn't know"; but "they do everything at such a high level, often surpassing other cables at the single thing they do best."

The makers of high-end audio's least visible products -- cables -- are also some of the designers whose names we audiophiles recognize most quickly. George Cardas and Ray Kimber are easy ones, but another cable guy whose name I know well is Chris Sommovigo, erstwhile maker of the very fine Illuminati digital cables and now the design mind behind Stereovox. I first met Sommovigo a couple of CESes ago when he was showing off prototypes of his Stereovox SEI-600 interconnects. No one could help but admire the workmanship and especially the custom-made RCA connectors of those cables, and while production models were still months in the future, Sommovigo's involvement alone made those cables something to file away mentally for the day when they would be in full production.

Stereovox's current product lineup is small: the SEI-600 single-ended interconnects ($2500 USD per meter pair) and LSP-600 speaker cables ($6950 per eight-foot pair) under review here, both of which Sommovigo calls "cost-no-object designs," along with the LSP-600t speaker cables ($2500 per eight-foot pair), which are meant as a biwire complement to the LSP-600 but can also be used on their own. Balanced interconnects are in the works and should be available soon. The sticking point on the balanced cables? Connectors, which Sommovigo thinks are of ultimate importance. This is why he designed his own RCAs, the formidable Xhadow Millenio, which for now are used exclusively for Stereovox cables, although Sommovigo concedes that he may offer them to other cable makers in the future. The Xhadow Millenio has 13 separate parts, including elastomeric compression O-rings that help seal the connection to the conductor within as well as damp resonances internal to the RCA connector. A good number of RCAs look like jewelry with their gleaming exteriors, but the Xhadow is industrial art, its elegant square shape conveying that, in this case, form and function work together. Add in the visual simplicity of the SEI-600's silky pure-Nomex outer sleeve and you can't help but admire the distinctive look of these cables. Sommovigo definitely has some aesthetic chops.

But there is so much more going on with these Stereovox interconnects than their looks. Conductors are pure silver, and in order to guard against copying, Stereovox will not divulge any aspect by which its conductors are drawn, cast, or otherwise manipulated. What they will disclose is that the conductors are solid core and elliptically shaped, a combination that Sommovigo developed for audio applications in 1997 and has continued to refine since. The SEI-600's Elliptical Solid Core conductor, as Stereovox calls it, is used in a coaxial geometry. The dielectric used is, according to Sommovigo, "a very special iteration of air-articulated micro-porous PTFE" called Gossamer, whose claim to fame is that it provides a very consistent dielectric constant of 1.4. For reference, air or a vacuum is 1.0, and normal PTFE, which is the highest grade of Teflon and used in a good many other cables, is 2.1. Gossamer is not extruded onto the conductors of the SEI-600 but rather physically wrapped in a "multifilar concentric spiral." Therefore, the wires themselves are never exposed to the heat of an extrusion process, which, according to Sommovigo, can create temperatures in excess of 600 degrees Fahrenheit and can cause "some carbonizing of impurities in the thermoplastic, the conductor surface, and the gas atmosphere in which the extrusion is taking place," creating "microscopic quasi-conductive crusts." Yuck.

The SEI-600 interconnects also utilize two discrete helically applied shields, each of which is said to emulate the protection of a solid-metal tube. Even with these shields, the interconnects are very flexible, so snaking them around equipment and between racks is E-Z.

stereovox_lsp600.jpg (11194 bytes)
...and LSP-600 speaker cables

The LSP-600 speaker cables are no less a hard-core design. Essentially a twisted-pair cable, the LSP-600 uses medium-gauge pure-silver and silver-plated-copper conductors, each of which is actually made up of several layers of very small bare wires wrapped in a spiraling arc around cores of Gossamer. Stereovox calls this assembly of conductors a Dense Conductor Array -- there are over 500 individual strands of very tiny wire (0.0035" diameter or 39 gauge) that are combined to emulate concentric, thin-walled tubes that amount to an appreciable gauge without being bunched together. Each of the DCA conductors are jacketed in a braided Nomex sheath, and then they are twisted together inside another jacket that is filled with material to help cushion the conductors and damp vibration. They are terminated with a silver-plated pure-copper Xhadow stud that's textured for best contact. This stud is the foundation for the Xhadow modular termination system: Spade connectors of different sizes are in turn terminated to the stud via 2mm Allen set-screws. Thus, if you need to change out your spades because you buy a new amp or speakers, Stereovox has you covered.

All terminations are made via Stereovox's ISCoRS (Intimately Stressed Contact Resistance Soldering) system, which employs resistance soldering instead of the normal soldering iron. The SVX-4947 solder used is a silver-bearing formula that melts at a very low 145 degrees Centigrade. It's used to once again avoid any heat damage to the conductor or connector.

Even with all of the information I've conveyed here, I've only scratched the surface in terms of the materials and construction of Stereovox's cables. Chris Sommovigo is a detail-oriented guy, and his products prove this.

Review system

The Stereovox interconnects and speaker cables were evaluated as part of my reference system, which changes a bit from month to month as new review items show up. During the cables' stay, Lamm ML2 and ML1.1 tube amps drove Wilson WATT/Puppy 7 speakers. The preamp was Lamm's esteemed L2 Reference two-piece unit. Digital sound was provided by Mark Levinson No.39 and No.390S CD players used directly into the amps, as CD players with a preamp, and as transports for a Bel Canto DAC2. Coaxial digital cables were a DH Labs D-75 and an i2Digital X-60, another Chris Sommovigo design (see sidebar below for more details). Power cords were Shunyata Research Taipan and Anaconda Vx, while a Shunyata Hydra or Sound Application XE-12S with 20A Elrod power cord conditioned the AC. The Lamm amps and preamp rested on Silent Running Audio VR-series bases, which sat either on the carpet-over-cement floor of my listening room or on a pair of Target equipment racks. For comparison, I had full sets of cables from TARA Labs, Acoustic Zen, Nordost, and Analysis Plus, all of which were helpful in pinning down the performance of the Stereovox cables.

One thing I found most fascinating in light of all that goes into the Stereovox cables is that neither the interconnects nor speaker cables are said to be directional. Just the same, I used them in my system in one orientation, so the signal flowed only one way as I put in and removed the cables during the review period. Old audio habits die hard.

Vox humana

If you've ever attempted to evaluate audio cables, you know how much work it can be. The differences among sets of cables are not nearly as pronounced as those among speakers, for instance, but the sonic effect of cables on the overall sound of an audio system can be profound -- bringing a collection of components into their own or contributing to the sense that something's wrong. Great cables, like great baseball umpires, do their job when they're not noticed. But unless you know what a piece of recorded music should sound like, you don't know how unnoticeable a particular set of cables is.

So what's a reviewer to do? Listen carefully and describe what's heard, that's what. And in this respect, these Stereovox cables proved to be a challenge. Their performance is so high in every sonic sense that discerning one or two areas to pick out and thus focus on is difficult and, I fear, would convey an inaccurate representation of the cables. They do everything exceedingly well, and in so many ways Stereovox has created cables that are the equal to the Lamm and Wilson products I use and love. All convey the truth and beauty of recorded music in ways that remind me what high-end audio is about: making listeners forget that the music they're hearing is not live.

i2Digital X-60 coaxial digital cable

Chris Sommovigo’s original Illuminati D-60 was the first S/PDIF digital cable that not only provided a discernible difference to my ears, but a marked improvement. It was the real deal, and I was astonished by its performance. Highs were clearer, bass had better detail, and soundstaging was more precise than with other cables I was using. Sommovigo's recipe for success? Simple: 75 ohms end-to-end. But Illuminati was bought out by Kimber, and thereafter Sommovigo helped design other cables. At the same time, my D-60 went AWOL. A friend borrowed it, heard the same kind of remarkable improvement I did, and never gave it back.

So when Chris started up again with i2Digital (a separate company from Stereovox that sells direct) and another digital cable called the X-60   -- more or less the D-60’s successor -- I looked forward to hearing it. The X-60 looks a bit different from the D-60. It’s very thin and light -- it feels like it could float. Given its small diameter, it’s obviously flexible and easy to use. The X-60 comes terminated with BNC connectors that also accommodate what Chris Sommovigo calls "interseries modules," which allow the use of the cable with RCA connections. These are included with the X-60, and I used the cable with them and without them. Again, the X-60 arrives with no magic or voodoo, just a claim of being a pure 75-ohm transmission device.

And like the D-60, the most noticeable difference comes in the high frequencies -- they become a small bit purer and more crystalline. With the X-60 tethered to the Zanden Model 5000 Mk II DAC -- one of the world’s best DACs -- I have, quite simply, the best top-end performance I’ve heard from any digital source. If your digital front-end has a little bit of hash up top, you might want to try swapping the cable for the X-60 before throwing in the towel. Bass is more articulate and detailed too. Some might claim to hear more bass, but I don’t think this is so. It’s better resolved. And then there are the mids: The character of the midrange certainly doesn’t change, but it’s easier to hear detail, and voices carve themselves out of the mix more readily. Given these improvements, it’s not hard to understand why soundstaging and imaging improve too.

For me, the X-60 serves the same purpose as the original D-60: It’s a digital interconnect I trust -- a reference that I won’t let go of this time. At $199.95 for a terminated meter run, it’s not dirt cheap, but at the same time, I don’t think you can find a better digital cable near its price -- or perhaps at all.

...Doug Schneider
das@soundstage.com

Starting at the top, the treble region through these Stereovox cables is as extended as it is with any cables I've used, but there's no highlighting of strings or cymbals, for instance. Silver cables have gotten a bad rap for supposed emphasis in the treble, but there's no zinginess or grain here, just natural portrayal. Brass does not lose its bite, but it doesn't gain any undue leading-edge accentuation either. My test for realistic brass is Parker's Mood [Verve 314 527 907-2], a CD that features the playing of Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, and Stephen Scott as a trio that bears their names. The trumpet in the left channel on the title track should pierce through the air in your listening room like a train whistle -- in quick bursts only. And that's what happened with the Stereovox cables in my system. The trumpet sounded brassy and sassy in its staccato assault. Great stuff.

If you are a detail freak, you'll love the musically significant information these cables are able to convey, but you won't be disappointed by a hyper-resolving presentation. There is a reassuring sense of detail up and down the musical spectrum from the Stereovox cables, as though you're hearing everything the music has to offer in just the way it's supposed to be reproduced. I suspect some of this has to do with a discernible absence of fine noise and corresponding increase in the perceived amount of signal. Whatever, these Stereovox cables sound exceedingly quiet, perhaps due to their double-shielding scheme. Former SoundStager Grant Samuelsen coined the term "touch music" for recordings like Carrefour's Romeo & Juliet [Turtle Records 298123], with its gentle music and spacious sound. Put these Stereovox cables in and be ready to have all of the nooks and crannies of the soundstage illuminated. In the case of Romeo & Juliet, I'm talking about marimba that even when gently tapped softly rings in the room, then fades like smoke on the wind. And yet, when something far more raucous is playing, like the Beast of Bourbon's From the Belly of the Beasts [Red CD 30], the sound never turns irritating due to an overload of detail.

Soundstaging is not just matter of being able to pick out performers in space, but also the sense of wholeness of that sonic picture. The Stereovox cables excel at producing a soundstage that is as wide and deep as the original material will allow, but is also physical and uninterrupted as it spreads out between and around the speakers. I've mentioned the Hot Club of Cowtown in past equipment reviews, and the title track from their CD Dev'lish Mary [HighTone HCD8124] showed off the Stereovox cables' seamlessness. The trio -- bassist right, vocalist center, and violin left -- occupied the end of my listening room. But the auras of each overlapped, creating a panorama of sound -- right to left, front to back, east to west, soup to nuts. This was real presence, the string tones crackling in the air.

While the bass of these cables is not up to the standards set by some of the networked designs -- I've reviewed Transparent Reference XL and recently received MIT Oracle v2.1 -- it is nonetheless exceptional overall. Slam and nimbleness are conveyed with ultimate proficiency, and while networked cables can convey more weight, the difference between them and the Stereovox cables in this regard is not all that great. Wynton Kelly's Piano [Victor VICJ-60259] may have been recorded in 1958 and in mono, but it has some real bass on it -- the kind that can overhang if, for instance, your speakers are too close to boundaries. With the Stereovox cables, the low end had growl and bite, and it gave the music the foundation it needed to be completely involving. On "Whisper Hot," Paul Chambers' plucking comes in waves, each note disappearing then making way for the next. The low end of this recording is ample, and the Stereovox cables let it all come through, creating the sort of note-to-note anticipation that I suspect Chambers had in mind as he played.

For comparison

During the time I was evaluating the Stereovox SEI-600 and LSP-600, I would routinely substitute in an entire set of competing cables just to discern the differences. In each case, I came out preferring the Stereovox cables, not by great margins but certainly enough for my preference to be clear in my mind. I then started to realize what was happening: In so many ways, these Stereovox cables combined the best things about all of the other cables I used, an achievement I've never encountered before.

The Stereovox cables have the speed and openness of Nordost Quattro-Fil and SPM Reference, the panoramic abilities of TARA Labs Air One, and the high-resolution nature of Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval. Add to this mix naturalness, especially in the treble, and a sense of completeness, and you have very special cables indeed.

One set of cables I had here sounded rather similar to those from Stereovox: the Acoustic Zen Silver Reference interconnects and Hologram speaker cables, which also use silver conductors but cost less than half the price of the Stereovox cables. Here the sense of composure was not quite as great, the detail not as bracing. Acoustic Zen has upgraded these cables, however, so current examples may offer sound more like that of the Stereovox cables -- or even be sonically identical. I've greatly enjoyed the Silver Reference/Hologram combo, and I could easily live with it. The same is true of Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval and a host of other cables that I've reviewed. The point is that the Stereovox cables excel beyond these -- not by tremendous margins, but certainly by perceptible ones.

Conclusion

I feel compelled to at least mention that the Stereovox SEI-600 and LSP-600 are expensive -- just in case you didn't know. Yes, it may be possible to buy cables that are very impressive and cost far less money, and some of these might even excel beyond the performance of the Stereovox cables in certain ways and systems. And there may be cables out there that are even better-sounding overall. For instance, I've never heard Nordost Valhalla or top-of-the line products from Siltech, AudioQuest and a host of other companies. So I can't weigh in on whether the Stereovox interconnects and speaker cables are state of the art or not, although I will say with confidence that they can't be very far off the mark.

But in my system and given my experiences up to this point, these Stereovox cables are without peer. They do everything at such a high level, often surpassing other cables at the single thing they do best. They sound present, composed, and high in resolution. But their greatest achievement is the way they balance their attributes and create a complete sonic picture that's as easy to enjoy as it is difficult to describe. In this respect, they are the perfect complement to my current audio system, which is high in resolution and involvement.

If you're putting together a cost-no-object audio system and seek the best cables that money can buy, work the Stereovox SEI-600 interconnects and LSP-600 speaker cables into your evaluation queue. You won't be sorry.

...Marc Mickelson
marc@soundstage.com

Stereovox SEI-600 Interconnects and LSP-600 Speaker Cables
Prices:
Interconnects, $2500 USD per meter pair; speaker cables, $6950 per eight-foot pair.
Warranty: Lifetime.

Stereovox, Inc.
2710 Natoma Street
Coconut Grove, Florida 33133
Phone/Fax: (305) 858-7777

E-mail: chris@stereovox.com
Website. www.stereovox.com


Stereovox responds:

First let me thank you for taking the time to evaluate our products. It’s not easy and we appreciate your thorough evaluation. Stereovox customers also find it difficult to describe the attributes of our cable products in their systems, finding -- as you did -- that when all performance attributes are not only extremely refined but also balanced, the result is music. As you say, "[Stereovox cables] convey the truth and beauty of recorded music in ways that remind me what high-end audio is about: making listeners forget that the music they're hearing is not live."

When I first set out to make a new cable brand back in 1997, the object was to create a new reference level for audio cable, pushing the envelope of performance beyond all expectation. Four full years later, the interconnect was finished and the loudspeaker cable was in the last stages of development. Now, Stereovox is finally offering both products. Never rush a product to market! The extra care with which these cables are made is of key value to great sound.

Stereovox Reference cables are not produced in vast quantities. The products are very specialized and produced under tight quality control. No detail of their creation or execution is overlooked -- I custom-designed and specified each parameter of every material and process. I carefully designed specialized connectors to extract the greatest performance potential. Stereovox cables instantly communicate the extreme care and precision with which they were conceived and manufactured. They naturally communicate the soul of the music they were entrusted to carry.

"There is a reassuring sense of detail up and down the musical spectrum from the Stereovox cables, as though you're hearing everything the music has to offer in just the way it's supposed to be reproduced." No single attribute of our products begs to be noticed. There is no home-theater bloated bass, no exaggerated high frequencies, no warming or cooling in the midrange. These are simply precision conduits that disappear into the music. In your words, "They do everything exceedingly well." We agree!

I'd like to thank Doug Schneider for reviewing the i2Digital X-60 digital cable. Its time had come -- after seven years it was time to reexamine digital interconnects. This slender cable is one helluva performer, and I'm glad Doug agrees.

Thanks! Writing about cables with lucidity and cogency is a difficult task. Well done.

"Stereovox cables are without peer."

And so they are....

Chris Sommovigo
Stereovox

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