Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Cerious technologies Interconnects/Speaker/Power Cable by emailists

Model:	Interconnects/Speaker/Power
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$750 1 meter
Description:	Ceramic cables- non metalic
Manufacturer URL:	Cerious technologies
Model Picture:	View

Review by emailists ( A ) on November 09, 2005 at 10:53:37
IP Address: 162.84.161.74

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for the Interconnects/Speaker/Power

This is a review of an entire installation of Cerious RCA, XLR, Speaker, and power cables, not of an individual cable.

Also the cables have only been in the system a little less than 2 days, some users indicate it could take 3-4 days for the cables to fully settle.

It seems Cerious has caused quite a stir on the audiophile forums with their departure from metal for its wire products.

What I am hearing is something I have never heard on any system at any price. Each instrument or singer appears in their own acoustic space with a sense of naturalness and ease I have previously only heard with live instruments,

The best description I can offer is I feel like I am "off the grid." As others have indicated the sound stage emanates from such a low level of noise, such an acoustic blackness that one feels isolated from the outside world of noise, grunge and harmonics.

Fine details emerge from both LP and CD that I never knew were there. Rickie Lee Jones Pop Pop Alto LP release was a revelation. I heard breathing and string noises and buzzes throughout that had never been revealed previously. A chair creek that was always noticeable, now took on it's own acoustic space.

Nora Jonesâ€™s voice on her first CD sometimes exhibited a whitish quality, that was gone listening with the Cerious cables in place. I got such a much better sense of a whole person standing in front of a mic than previously before, with my bear labs pure silver IC's, mixture of TG audio labs power cords (and some stock AC cables) and Canare 4s 11 (I believe called star quad) OFC speaker cable. Granted the Canare is not what would be considered a high end speaker cable, but I preferred them to the matching speaker silver plated copper cables from Bear.

I have read some posts that indicate they feel a loss of transient edges with Cerious cables, and I can understand why someone might believe this. I feel the presentation with Cerious is such a departure from what we normally hear, that perhaps we need to redefine what we consider accurate. I too find myself on some recordings thinking, damn this is so relaxed and natural, maybe there is something missing. Then with a short time a music event happens that simply astounds, or a new detail emerges from a well known recording, or one hears an instrument or voice that sounds so much like the real thing, that you realize you are getting more information, not less. The body and bloom and space around each performer is there in such spades that it just seems unlikely that any initial transients are being dulled, blurred or lost.

Though far from an audiophile recording, Springsteen's Devils and Dust dualdisc, revealed details and subtleties from instruments previously buried in the mix, and as well a distortion in his voice that I never noticed, even after using it a reference disc for evaluating CD playback for some time.

Even subtle variations in the left to right balance of voices and phase are audible when previsouly they were not.

A phenomenon I have noticed in the past as I have made improvements to my system using ferrite chokes on cables, and later using PS Audio power gear to isolate the system from the line, or using the same PS audio gear to isolate my computer gear from the rest of the power line (though on their own line) is that every time I remove harmonics and AC grunge, the sound becomes less dynamic and less exciting. A system free from these artifacts needs to be turned up a bit louder, and often initially sounds "duller," requiring a retuning of our ears to really appreciate the purer signal being presented.

Other posts and reviews have indicated what sounds like a loss of high end detail, which I can understand, until a triangle rings and just jumps out from the rest of the sound palette, and reminds you when there is high frequency content, it will be portrayed.

The ambience of the acoustic space is also very easy to hear, which leads me to believe there is no loss of information or air that is supposed to be there.

Acoustic layers and tracks are also easy to discern, and the soundstage appears nice and wide when mixed or recorded that way.

The imaging also now allows the speakers to disappear even more than previously.

Things like drum kits just seem so much more like the real thing, (I'm a drummer) as well as wind instruments that take on fuller perspective than I hard recalled hearing in any system.
Rickie Lee jones's voice (which I am so familiar with) on LP and CD take on a new perspective of a full body singing rather than just vocal cords or a head.

Other have mentioned great dynamics, and I find the same. There are some events that simply just jump out at you, as if from nowhere.

I recently upgraded to the PS Audio GCC-100 control amp, (which launched my desire for better cables). The GCC's lack of resistor based volume control made me think that the signal I presenting to my speakers was now so transparent, that I was exceeding what the speakers were capable of, and any last vestiges of coloration was coming from the speakers. After installing the Cerious products, I realized that the final coloration I was hearing was now gone, and the speakers were in fact capable of resolving what I was feeding them.

I have on order a pair of Cerious Two/Bass and can't wait to hear what a truly full Cerious system of capable of. Bob Grost is certainly onto something with his synthetic ceramics, and I encourage anyone to try and hear the products.

That being said, the cables are not the easiest to work with (mostly the power cords however). On short lengths they are stiff and not too happy twisting to the correct orientation of your iec jack, etc.

I ordered some 1 meter power cables, and an even shorter one to go between the PS audio Power plant and the UPC unit sitting on top of it. I would advise people to stay with the (I believe) standard 5 foot length. It will be easier to work with. Also I had to wipe some of the cables down fresh out of the bags, from what seemed like perhaps the fluid they are filled with. They didn't seem to me leaking any, just probably from the manufacturing process. They certainly are not fancy looking, the most aesthetically pleasing looking cables I have ever seen, but the real value is the cutting edge technology inside.

I am not on the euphonics side of audio equipment tastes, but if it turns out there is an area where the Cerious gives up something to another cable, I think ultimately I won't care. The qualities of presentation bring so much to the table in terms of detail (acoustic envelope as others have referred to it), and natural realistic presentation from recordings great and poor, and ease that is exactly what I am looking for, I doubt I could be tempted to try another cable system. Add to that the reasonable cost (for our hobby anyway) and the lack of oxidation/ long product life, and one would conclude Cerious has a revolutionary product that should satisfy for a long, long time (or whenever we all go to full digital delivery direct to the speakers and forgo analog devices - except for sources, altogether).

Product Weakness: Power cords (shorter lenghts) are stiff and hard to twist to correct orientation
Product Strengths: ease of presentation, natural reproduction

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	PS Audio GCC-100
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	WTT classic/Sumiko Celebration
Speakers:	Source Technologies 610
Cables/Interconnects:	Cerious
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Acoustic Rock/Jazz
Room Size (LxWxH):	20 x 11 x 12
Room Comments/Treatments:	roomtunes corner tunes- hardwood floors
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	PS AUdio P500
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Power cords (shorter lenghts) are stiff and hard to twist to correct orientation
Product Strengths:	ease of presentation, natural reproduction