Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Acoustic Zen Hologram biwire Cable by Celluloid

Model:	Hologram biwire
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$1100 approx
Description:	biwire, zero (mono) crystal design
Manufacturer URL:	Acoustic Zen
Manufacturer URL:	Acoustic Zen

Review by Celluloid on November 03, 2001 at 07:41:16
IP Address: 168.122.16.65

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for the Hologram biwire

A very enlightening experience. First one must wrestle these large and heavy cables to the ground and subdue them...you feel like the Aussie on the nature channel as you hold these large snakes in one hand and try to keep their weight from pulling out of the speaker connectors. I can easily imagine them toppling a small floorstander or stand mounted monitor due to their weight. Attaching them to a biwire setup is not fun at all. For some unknown reason they arrived with all biwire legs the same length making installation difficult. (I had emailed my speaker type to dealer and had noted reviewers had unequal legs to their AZs, so I anticipated the same.) I didn't like the pressure (bending) on the cables, which had to be bent to a severe angle for installation. Nor the looks at the back of the speakers since the installed cables bowed out a good 6 or 7 inches at least. One good thing about the Holograms is that the tweeter legs are only about half the gauge of the woofer legs. AZ notes that they have been optimized for two ways with a crossover point at around 2.5khz--perfect for the Merlins. The sound, however, was excellent. Since I already use this crystal type of ICs from Luminous Audio I had high expectations of the sound quality. No disappointment. My initial response was very enthusiastic. (see previous postings.) They sounded full and powerful, yet warm and smooth. I replaced my previous reference, which had beat everything yet, the B&W Silver Anniversary biwire--two narrow gauges per twisted biwire leg. There is a nice thickness and body to the sound and the construction of the AZs. This is a "zero" (or mono) crystal copper design and is at least 5 times larger in diameter than the B&Ws. The sound is solid as well--thick but clear and well-controlled in the lower frequencies. The perceived thinness of cd sound disappeared. I noticed a much flatter bass from 100hz and below--curing room anamolies at 50 hz where I had a bump previously attributed to the room. This is a cable that seems to excel from lower midrange throughout the bass region where it is very controlled and three-dimensional. The top end sounded just slightly reserved at first, perhaps due to the manner in which the lower registers call attention to themselves for the latter's heft and weight. I felt these cables were really keepers. They seemed to like the JouleSET/Merlin combo and were extremely suave and smooth--perhaps, I thought, just the slightest bit euphonic. In fact, they sound very much like the elegant Magnan/Cardas Golden style sound...with any errors on the side of fullness and warmth. I was completely satisfied and content.
At the same time, I had also made two seemingly insignificant changes to my system. An Acme outlet to my dedicated 20 amp line and four Bolder cable type one powercords. More on that later. I auditioned a lot of vocalists to test the speaker cables, especially difficult Sinatra recordings ("live at the Sands" etc.) as well as audiophile quality vocal music from Holly Cole and Patricia Barber. A lot of jazz (Mingus, Monk, Miles, Bill Evans, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Art Pepper, etc.)--plus harder material like Hendrix, Jeff Beck and others. On all the recordings I heard a positive change in the overall musicality of the system with the AZs. They are slightly larger than life size, compared to the B&Ws, with good stage width and a middle of the hall presentation. One of the best things about them was that they really didn't seem to need burn-in time to settle down, like many cables. I put well over 150 hours on the cables--sometimes more than 10 hours a day, both with music and burnin cds. The character remained consistent throughout; this I attributed to the crystal design since I noticed the same with the LASS interconnects. I actually had no interest in going through the same tedious process of A/Bing them against the B&Ws again--since in my mind there really wasn't any chance that the silver speaker cables could compete. This just seemed to be a fairly "perfect" cable for my system--and significantly better than any of the more expensive cables I've tried in recent years (JPS, Cardas, etc.)
I found myself, just for the perverse pleasure of messing with my system, doing just that...swapping back the Silver Anniversaries. I was shocked. Not only were the B&Ws now just as warm and nearly as full and "thick" or solid in presenting a stable, 3d image of the musicians, but had much better and believable highs and mids. Transient speed and decay were astonishingly better with the silver cables. The character of Sinatra's voice was much more believable--a slight raspiness and edge, and even better the retrieval of the ambience of the room increased enormously. There was significantly more "drama" to the overal presentation. The soundstage went far deeper, there was more snap and pace to Basie, and the cymbals crashes and horn "stings" were more thrilling. There is just much more dynamic range and clarity; with a sense that everything is cleaner and crisper overall.
I put on test sweeps of the mid and bass range and the bass hump I had previously noted with the B&Ws was now gone! This wasn't a subtle anamoly--it was consistent with every speaker cable from Cardas to Zen. I thought it uncurable, one of those room "booms" that would need tube traps and other treatments that I was unwilling to endure for obvious reasons (wife + decor=no!) I could rattle mirrors and picture frames at 50 hz, but now it was not only gone, but the measurable bass output below 50 hz had increased and was now far more linear. Leaving aside Rupert Sheldrake-like magical scientific explanations (for example, the AZs had "treated" my room or speakers, etc.) I had to figure it was something more plausible.
The Acme/Bolders had not only burned in at the same time as the AZs, but these inexpensive tweaks had really been responsible for the cleaning up of the bass and lower mids. These are really a fantastic bargain. Some of the PCs I've tried have literally ruined the bass, no matter what else they did well. In fact, most of the PCs I've tried are either far too forward in the midrange for me or seem to choke off (like a conditioner) those same frequences. I've tended to follow the Risch/Crump recipe in the past--high quality Belden PCs reterminated with better connectors. Bolder simply makes them better than I can, and at a very attractive price. As for Holograms--their filtering effect of subduing or depressing both macro and micro-dynamics were appealing at first, but ultimately robbed the music of the drama. They have plenty of resolution; or just enough to give one a full and powerful sound with a nice flattering portrait of the musical event. Like so many of these larger cables, however, one frequently hears a slight homogenization of the music. As if the "color" of the cable becomes the dominant signature of the system. Much of the subtlety of the micro details are glossed over a bit, losing cues of timing and pace. Transients seem shorter giving one less a sense of the ambience of the recording venue and less depth. Sinatra's voice, for example, is bigger, more husky--seeming to come from the chest more than the throat-- and has a flattering body and solidity. AZs are ultimately a complimentary cable, smoothing off many of the rough edges to music and thus being a perfect companion to a system that needs a little taming. In a SET/tube system, it seems to rob the music of some of its life and vitality. The B&W Silvers, on the other hand, are far more neutral...even than the vaunted Cardas Neutral Reference. Sinatra, singing live at the Sands, is a perfect illustration of how they better the AZs. (I try to stay away from audiophile recordings that tend to sound good on virtually everything.) This is far from a great recording, but I use it quite a bit for auditioning because I know fairly precisely what his voice should really sound like having listened to submasters on tape at 15ips. There should be a coarseness and a slight ragged edge to the voice, the mike itself should be "heard" and the room tone should be clearly articulated with plenty of air. In addition, there should be an almost hard brilliance and excellent projection into the room of the massed horns. The AZs subdue all of this just a bit, with a subsequent loss of depth and inner details and the ambience of the music. Your perspective moves from the front of the room to the middle and you may have more difficulty with depth of field. To use a photographic example--the AZs are soft focus, blurring a bit at the edges but give an overall cosmetic enhancement to the images. The B&Ws, on the other hand, have a much finer grain image, very sharp and distinctly focused, with a slightly smaller more defined image size, and far deeper depth of field. (a 28mm lens perspective instead of a 50mm?)
My advice, before you leap to a big investment in speaker cables, try Acme and Bolder...they seem to get things amazingly right for a modest investment. (And don't throw too many upgrades into your system at one time! You'll never know what each is doing.) And if you have a noxiously forward or etched cd based system that needs some smooth romance, you may like--or even love-- the AZs. In a highly resolving and musically balanced system, you may need to audition before buying.

Product Weakness: Not the last word in detail and microdynamics
Product Strengths: Smooth and powerful

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Joule Stargate SET monoblocks
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Joule
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Meridian/Marantz SACD1
Speakers:	Merlin VSM Mill.Battery SE
Cables/Interconnects:	Luminous Audio Synchestra Signature
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	various
Room Size (LxWxH):	see system x see system x
Room Comments/Treatments:	fairly damped room
Time Period/Length of Audition:	approx a month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	ESP Powerdistributor, Miracle Audio Timbers, Bolder PCs, Acme outlet, others
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition):	see above

Product Weakness:	Not the last word in detail and microdynamics
Product Strengths:	Smooth and powerful