Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Ensemble Megaflux Speakers Cable by Noel Keen

Model:	Megaflux Speakers
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$1430/8 ft; $1670/10 ft (pair)
Description:	Shielded speaker cable with high quality spades
Manufacturer URL:	Ensemble
Manufacturer URL:	Ensemble

Review by Noel Keen on December 12, 2001 at 09:39:25
IP Address: 138.23.157.173

Add Your Review
for the Megaflux Speakers

Brian Ackerman, the owner of Artistic audio and US distributor for Ensemble (949 362 6080), lives close to me and offered an opportunity to audition some of the Ensemble line of products, which range all the way from speakers to DACs, amps and wires. The company is located in Switzerland, does not advertise much, and its products are thoroughly developed and tested before release for sale. At least so far the company has refrained from the disgraceful practice of many US high-end audio companies of releasing new products and then within months offering MkII or 'improved' versions before the ink dries on the credit card receipt of the first unit. Being rather a nut for improvements in sound, it was irresistible that I try some of the Ensemble products that Brian suggested. The company recommends that maximum benefit will be gained from use of their entire ensemble (pun intended) of power cords, Isolinks, and a power distribution strip (not to mention interconnects, speaker cables and components). I've never bought into this logic, but there are those that do. I posted a review of the Ensemble top line interconnects yesterday (and their excellent digital cable), and today wish to convey experience with the Ensemble speaker cables.
I had happily used the Harmonic Technology Magic bi-wire speaker cables for several months when the Ensemble cables urged their way in for audition. The HT cables are unique in that separate woofer cables (thicker gauge) and mid-tweeter cables are used, the idea being that current carrying capacity is greater for the woofers. The Ensemble Megaflux FSF cables come in one flavor, but I used them bi-wired from the KR amps, with one pair going to the mid/tweeter modules of the VR-8 speakers and the other pair to the woofer modules. The Magics of course had several hundred hours on them, and after letting the Ensemble cables settle in for more than 100 hours, I listened. The summary verdict is that both the HT and Ensemble cables are excellent but certainly have different sonic signatures and different strong points. The Ensemble cables in my system were more dynamic and alive, with more resolution and inner detail and a greater sense of realism. The HT cables were somewhat darker and less immediate in my system but provided excellent resolution and detail, and perhaps better sound staging than the Ensembles on some but certainly not all material. As I will elaborate later, I am betting that which cables perform best will depend a lot of the system.
To illustrate the Ensemble cables, I tried several tracks of the 'Pan Pipes and Organ' CD (Cellier PV750001), particularly track 2, which has excellent sonic cues. The Ensemble Megaflux cables provided clearly better resolution and interior detail on the pan pipes. On this track, I thought that the Ensembles also gave better staging, with the organ and pan pipes more realistically placed in space and sounding like they should and where they should be. With the Magic cables, the organ was relatively overpowering on track 2, not boomy but clearly out of balance with the pan pipes, something you would not sense in a live concert. I wondered if the use of different woofer and mid/tweeter cables with the Magics might be responsible for this, since the Ensembles kept the two instruments in perfect balance.
Emmy Lou Harris' 'Red Dirt Girl' CD has several useful tracks, and I felt that the guitar work was definitely more immediate and dynamic with the Ensemble cables, and percussion had greater resolution and integrated into the soundstage better and more realistically than with the HT cables. Emmy Lou's voice was more alive through the Ensemble cables.
Track 9 of Patricia Barber's 'Café Blue' (Premonition PREM 737-2) is one that I know very well and offers many diagnostic sonic cues for evaluation of wires and hardware. Again, on this cut the Ensemble speaker cables prevailed, offering better resolution and staging with percussion and cymbals and very realistic presentation of the bass. Patricia's voice was full and realistic. The HT cables gave a somewhat boomy character to the bass, as noted above, cymbals were not as clear and realistic, and dynamics seemed less live.
The 'Gladiator' soundtrack (Decca 289 467 094-2), track 1 has some good detail and filigree on the opening, and I clearly preferred the better resolution, bass balance, and tonality of the Ensemble cables. On the same CD, tracks 15-17 offer beautiful detail, staging, presence and tonality through the Ensemble cables that I did not find in as great a quantity through the HT Magics.
Summing up, my system and my ears clearly preferred the Ensemble Megaflux FSF cables. However, I offer the caveat that I have worked hard to improve things in the crucial areas of vibration control and power conditioning (see system below). These tweeks and the hardware I have gravitated to virtually eliminate 'digititis', permit upsampling of 16/44.1 CDs, and push resolution. In this context, the Ensemble speaker cables (and their I/Ces and digital cables, posted earlier) prevailed. I don't mean in any sense to short the Harmonic Tech Magic cables--they certainly are excellent products and have gotten their share of rave reviews. If I was going to re-evaluate them again, I would use their mid/tweeter Magic cables on both the woofer and mid/tweeter modules of the VR-8es, and I am betting they would sound better. I am also betting that people who have edgy DACs, troublesome hard dome tweeters or other features that incline a system toward brightness might prefer the Magic speaker cables to the more revealing Ensembles. But if things are right, or as close to right as your pocketbook will allow, the Ensemble cables faithfully reveal what's on the software and what the other components are doing. As with everything in this racket, when you take it to the limit, it is easy to fall over the edge. We of course all try to perch right on that edge!

Product Weakness: None in my system, but system matching important, especially if your system tends to brightness
Product Strengths: Resolution and tonality were excellent in the context of my system--best I have ever heard

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	KR Audio VT8000 mkII KR52BX tubed
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none--Placette passive attenuator
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	CD--Perp Technology P-1A/P-3A (Dan WRight phase II mods)
Speakers:	Von Schweikert VR-8
Cables/Interconnects:	Ensemble throughout
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	various
Room Size (LxWxH):	40 x 35 x variable
Room Comments/Treatments:	Minimal-some side wall damping
Time Period/Length of Audition:	Two months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Arcici Suspense rack with all components on mixed Black Diamond Racing #3 and 4 cones; Shunyata Hydra/Ensemble Isolink/PSAudio P-300
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	None in my system, but system matching important, especially if your system tends to brightness
Product Strengths:	Resolution and tonality were excellent in the context of my system--best I have ever heard