Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Chimera Advantage Series 2 Cable by triodesteve

Model:	Advantage Series 2
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$248/ 1 meter
Description:	Continous Cast Copper/Litz braided
Manufacturer URL:	Chimera
Model Picture:	View

Review by triodesteve ( A ) on May 22, 2004 at 22:12:44
IP Address: 68.113.6.81

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for the Advantage Series 2

First, let met me tell you upfront that I am not a cable jockey. Cable shoot outs with my buds are not my idea of fun.
A rereading of an old Listener article on cables led to a Google search of continuous cast wire which led me to Chimera Labs and Dennis Boyle. If you take a look at his website, you'll see that he lays everything out on the table. You want to know what's in the cable, he tells you. You want to build your own, he'll sell you the pieces. You want your money back if you don't like any of his prodcts, you got it. How many audio companies will do that?
So what do they sound like? Out went all the silver foil, and in went 2 pieces of Chimera interconnect and to be honest, I was shocked. How could two pieces of wire make that much difference? More resolution? Yes there was, but it was more than that...for the first time in ages, music flowed out of my system, players sounded like they were feeding off of each other. I felt like I understood why they were doing what they were doing. I stopped caring about the equipment and started listening to music. Why? I have no idea.
Here's what I do know. After break-in (maybe 60-70 hours) the soundstage grew to include the 3 feet outside each speaker and probably another 3 feet to the back as well. Cymbals, which always sounded grainy and nasty, now sound natural. Details like microphone placement and recording venue now sound obvious to me. You want echos bouncing off of walls? This cable does it for me.
I then added speaker cable from my Music-6 to the Oris horns and it's more of the same. Everything just sounds so right.
I'm sorry if I didn't go into enough detail about audiophile stuff or comparing them to the latest and greatest, but at the end of the day, you either like them better than what you had or you don't. I do...by a large margin!

Product Weakness: no audiophile approved looks, custom made (can be a wait)
Product Strengths: Sound quality, bargain price, unique packaging, money back guarantee

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Final Labs Music-6
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Aprilsound custom TVC
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Sony SCD777es/ Teres
Speakers:	Oris 200 (AER BD1)/Onken
Cables/Interconnects:	Goertz Micropurl/Lewis Perfect Foil
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	everything
Room Size (LxWxH):	30 x 15 x 6
Room Comments/Treatments:	none right now
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Risch balanced AC on SACD player
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	no audiophile approved looks, custom made (can be a wait)
Product Strengths:	Sound quality, bargain price, unique packaging, money back guarantee