Home
AudioAsylum Trader
Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Kimber Kable KS-1036 Cable by Luminator

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Kimber Kable KS-1036 Cable

75.25.148.121


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ Cable Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: KS-1036
Category: Cable
Suggested Retail Price: $670 termiantion + $1820/meter
Description: single-ended interconnect
Manufacturer URL: Kimber Kable
Model Picture: View

Review by Luminator on January 14, 2010 at 15:21:56
IP Address: 75.25.148.121
Add Your Review
for the KS-1036


In my review of the MIT S3.3 interconnect, I left off with the Fall of 1986. As soon as readers finished digesting that review, they prodded me to continue to the Spring 1987 semester. Problem is, in my years of posting here on Audio Asylum and other internet sites, I have already cited many of the songs from the first half of 1987. I know I have to satisfy your appetite for more/different songs, so I eliminated those I have already cited, and still came up with a juicy list.

Ah, but you know the drill. Before we get to the Spring 1987 semester, click on the links below for the vital stats of the Kimber KS-1036.

The Lost Christmas Eve
Awake
Last Christmas
Moonlight Madness
Reggatta De Blanc
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head
Strawberry Switchblade

Yes, as always, you can scroll down to the bottom of each post, and leave your comments.

After the Bay Area’s Timex Social Club broke up, producer Jay King went to Sacramento, and formed Club Nouveau. Club Nouveau’s first hit was “Jealousy,” which is an answer song to Timex Social Club’s “Rumors.” Most of you know Club Nouveau from their uptempo remake of Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me.” But true Bay Area and Sac fans know about “Why You Treat Me So Bad.”

It might be difficult to find “Why You Treat Me So Bad” on vinyl, cassette, or CD. So most people will just go to their computer, search for it, and download it. Several of you have USB-to-S/PDIF converters, enabling you to send your computer’s audio to an outboard DAC. In this application, the Kimber KS-1036’s sweet but not fat sound nicely prevents “Why You Treat So Bad” from becoming too trashy.

My high school, Lowell, had a dance once a month. The school was large enough, that the dances had two DJs, one in the courtyard, one in the gym (above). The modern rock DJs took the courtyard, while the rap DJs took the gym. By this time, Run DMC, Salt-n-Pepa, and the Beastie Boys were hella popular. But we were unprepared for the DJ unleashing 2 Live Crew’s “We Want Some Pussy” on us. Of course, the DJ would blank out the word “pussy,” leaving us to fill in the blank.

If you do not treat the Kimber KS-1036 on a proper cable burn-in device, such as the Audio Dharma Cable Cooker, you are going to end up with disappointing sonic results. The un-treated KS-1036 will sound congested, slow, crumpled up, and uninspiring. You may have the finest vinyl playback gear. But if you use an un-treated KS-1036, and put on your 2 Live Crew records, you’ll be drifting into the Land Of Nod with, “Hey, we want some ZZZZZZZZZZZZ’s.”

Yes, during Lowell’s dances, the modern rock DJs would occupy the courtyard. But during school hours, the kids who liked modern rock itself hung out here. This is where I would learn about such acts as The Cure, Danny Wilson, Echo And The Bunnymen, New Order, and The Smiths. But as I have written before on Audio Asylum, there was nothing quite like hearing Erasure waft across the courtyard. It did not matter if you were gay or straight; it was fun to prance along to Erasure’s “Victim Of Love.”

Using the KS-1036 on the California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss proved enlightening. Here, we found our wrists and hands flowing side to side, to “Victim Of Love.” This is still a thin recording, but the KS-1036 was making it a little easier to bite into. Why? The images were not as small, even though tonally, the sound was still a little thin in the mids. Certainly, there was full extension up top.

I’ll never forget the way my preppy classmate Kendrick was goofing around, while we were playing basketball. While most of us were hacking and trash talking, Kendrick was prancing around, making light-hearted comments. And then he just broke out into Wang Chung’s “Let’s Go!”

Still on the CAL Icon M2PB, the KS-1036 reduced “Let’s Go’s” sense of jump. Sure, as Erasure’s “Victim Of Love” showed, there was a good flow. But Wang Chung’s vocals did not lead as forcefully as they should. And the snare drum was not as snappy and punchy as it should have been.

As part of the alumni association, my class has a picture of me in front of my locker, which was near Room 259, above. My locker was open, and the door had a picture of Poison from their Look What The Cat Dragged In era. The album came out in 1986, when heavy metal was dead. So it took a few months, before it started to sell. Eventually, Poison’s androgynous image caught on.

The Simaudio Andromeda is simply the most emotional CD player I have heard. It does not matter, if you use its single-ended or balanced outputs. This is one energetic, soulful player. Somehow, when playing Poison’s “Cry Tough,” the KS-1036 lost the Andromeda’s ability to make you get up and pump your fist. The song came across as soggy and pedestrian. There certainly was nothing overtly wrong with the sound; it was just “average” and “so-so.”

My friend Scott and I were in the same Latin class. He and I were among the first to acquire CD players. He would bring his Quasar portable to school. One of the CDs he had was Expose’s Exposure . Using my own headphones, I found that Quasar player to have murky, soft, kind of low-rez sonics.

Damn it, that was what I got, when using the KS-1036 on the Creek Destiny CD player. The synthesized horns on “Let Me Be The One” should let ‘er rip. But not with this combination. The Destiny already blunts percussion and softens kick drum. But the smoothed-over upper midrange really saps the energy and color from what should be an uplifting track. I know that the KS-1036 is just being “honest,” in showing off the Destiny’s lack of punch and verve, but it just takes it further in this direction. Of all the sources I used with the KS-1036, the Creek Destiny was the worst match.

After reading a review in Stereo Review, I bought Hipsway’s eponymous album. I could be wrong, but I think I bought it from the Tower Records which used to be on Market Street, in San Francisco’s Castro. The album sucked. But it did have a good song in “The Honeythief.”

Likewise, I can imagine “professional” reviewers praising the KS-1036 for its smoothness, freedom from outright distortion, decent macrodynamics, and overall quiet performance. And indeed, the stereotypical audiophile, who values these traits, will find much to like. But the truth is, the KS-1036 fuzzes image outlines, blunts attack, and softens the bass. And it overcoats the music in this fine whitish grain. Okay, I can be more charitable, and call it, “powdered sugar.”

The KS-1036 is in the same price range as my old standby, the XLO Limited Edition. Some audiophiles are going to argue that the KS-1036 is “better,” and some will claim that the LE-1 is the “superior” interconnect. Having lived with both, I can come out and say that they both perform in the same general class, but do not sound alike. While listening to these two interconnects out of the Wadia 781i, my friend Lina said that the KS-1036 was like an “iced Frappuccino with whipped cream,” while the LE-1 was like “the warm tea they serve at dim sum.”

And I’d have to agree. Tonally, the KS-1036 is more delicate. There is slightly better contrast between music and the background silence. There is more space between the diffuse images, and slightly better see-through transparency.

The LE-1 has firmer images, which seemed to be “illuminated from within.” There is a distinct lack of transparency, upper soundstage air, and breath. The LE-1 transcribes more power, but both of these interconnects are below average in the PRAT category.

I have already spilled a lot of ink about Anthrax’s landmark Among The Living . Known to us here in San Francisco and Daly City, Death Angel were a favorite. You see, when they came out with The Ultra-Violence in Spring 1987, they were of high school and college age. Not only were they local, they were kids just like us. The album should sound raw, putting you firmly into that drought-stricken time in the Bay Area.

Coming out of the dCS Puccini, the KS-1036 makes The Ultra-Violence appear too refined, high-class, and cleaned-up. For most audiophiles, many of whom do not know about thrash, this is perfectly fine. It lets you get into, and understand, the music. You will love sitting on your couch or listening chair, and not have to deal with the crazy fans moshing it up.

Many times, I have already chronicled how, in May 1987, I twice saw the video for Motley Crue’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” – and never again. That’s ‘cuz the video was pulled from rotation. But anyway, The Crue’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” marked heavy metal’s comeback. For me, it meant thumbing my nose at conformity. As long as I stated why, it was okay to show what I liked and disliked. But as I took English and Latin, my teachers would say that writing about black-and-white issues was easy. It is not so easy, when issues are multi-dimensional and in various shades of gray.

You can read the above, and conclude that the KS-1036, used as a regular interconnect between source and preamp or between preamp and power amp, was, especially at this price, ho-hum. But one application where I found the KS-1036’s softer, more forgiving sonics welcome was between source and headphone amp. If you find headphone listening to be a bit relentless and pummeling, give the KS-1036 a try. If everything sounds like Tommy Lee using your head as a drum, give the KS-1036 a try. If your amp does not have a cross-feed circuit, the KS-1036’s more diffuse image outlines may provide some relief from that “hard-panned” headphone quality.

Somewhat quizzically, I felt that the Creek Destiny CD player and integrated amp, with KS-1036 between them, sounded better via the headphone jack. Here, Mick Mars’ guitar from “Dancing On Glass” had more expression, snarl, and bite.

Oh for crying out loud. The above picture was actually taken during the Spring of 1987. After finals, we and some other friends went to a theater on Van Ness Avenue, and saw The Untouchables . After that, a couple friends came over to my house, and we partied to music. One memorable song was Simply Red’s “The Right Thing,” which was a punchy wall of sound.

Back then, we were just getting into CDs. Perhaps Laser Video existed, but not DVDs. Interestingly, I found that the Kimber KS-1036 sounded best on, of all things, the Oppo Digital BDP-83 universal disc player. DVD players are often characterized by audio which has cartoonish imaging, and dry but detailed sonics. And so it is with the BDP-83. But the BDP-83 goes beyond other DVD devices, In that the sound has more transparency between those images, along with a smoother handling of transients. The KS-1036 lent the BDP-83 more grace, more subtlety, less tension, in navigating “The Right Thing.”

Gosh, in the Spring of 1987, I really only knew about Monster Cable. The WBT connectors on the KS-1036 cost as much as all the Monster Cable products I had in my 1987 system. In my English 4 class, I recall writing about Steve Winwood’s Back In The High Life . My friend Larry remarked, “How can we be back in the high life, when we were never in it to begin with?”

As I listen to Atlantic Starr’s “Always,” it is nice to know that I am still writing about music and audio. But never, back then, could I envision interconnects retailing for US$2500.

-Lummy The Loch Monster


Product Weakness: only available in black; some users will not like the locking-barrel WBT RCAs; even a Cable Cooker cannot alter the KS-1036's personality
Product Strengths: relatively flexible; available in custom lengths


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: numerous
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): numerous
Sources (CDP/Turntable): numerous
Speakers: numerous
Cables/Interconnects: numerous
Music Used (Genre/Selections): rock, pop, metal, R&B, Hawaiian, dance, rap
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  The Cable Cooker  



Topic - REVIEW: Kimber Kable KS-1036 Cable - Luminator 15:21:56 01/14/10 ( 4)