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Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Sahuaro Jetstream XLR Cable by pctower

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REVIEW: Sahuaro Jetstream XLR Cable

64.105.65.205


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Model: Jetstream XLR
Category: Cable
Suggested Retail Price: $550/meter; 2 meter minimum
Description: True XLR Balanced
Manufacturer URL: Sahuaro
Manufacturer URL: Sahuaro

Review by pctower ( A ) on March 21, 2002 at 09:59:14
IP Address: 64.105.65.205
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This is a review of Sahuaro’s brand new true balanced, XLR Jetstream interconnects. As far as I know, I’m the first customer to actually have these cables in my system. Of necessity, this also has to be a review of a double run of Sahuaro Sublime speaker cables, as those were added between my Rowland Model Twelves and Vandersteen Five speakers at the same time I placed the Sahuaro ICs in use.

I want to say up front that I have not heard any of the Big Four: Opus, Valhalla, Siltech G5, or the group’s newest member, HMS. Therefore, some may find this review of little use. But I would like to give some background on my recent experience with cables.

Three years ago, we moved into a new home we had built and for the first time in my 30 years as an audiophile, I had a true dedicated listening room. I spent the first year upgrading some components and spending a lot of time experimenting with speaker placement and sonic treatments of the room.

Up to that point, I had used Transparent cables for many years. I had dutifully moved up the line as budget permitted, to where I had a combination of Ultra with XL technology and Reference with XL technology cables in my system. At one point, I even tried the $10,000 Reference XL speaker cable.

Then, an acquaintance suggested I give Harmonic Tech ProSilway a try. I did, and I was blown away with the amount of detail I had been missing with Transparent. That started me on a two year quest to find cables that would accomplish what I wanted in my system. During that period, I tried and returned (or in the case of used cable I bought, resold) dozens of cables.

My main goal with any component or cable is to further my emotional connection with the music. My experience has shown that several objective characteristics will further that goal.

First, the music should be coherent top to bottom, with no segment of the frequency response range calling attention to itself. Each segment should contribute to the melody and rhythm of the music. Highs should be crystal clear, but never call attention to themselves. I have never heard live music where the highs stood out. Rather the highs give the music life and dictate the tonal individualization of vocals and instruments.

Bass should be strong, but not intrusive. Symphonic music is an area where bass is critical. A symphony orchestra playing at full bore has an incredible foundation that makes a major contribution to the emotional appeal of the music, but the bass is never boomy or intrusive. The bass should be well defined, with the lower registers of strings and horns fully contributing to the melody.

A clear, pure midrange must be a given. The articulation of words in vocals must hold their own in competition with the instrumental backup and not be buried in veil of confusion.

Focus is also critical. Lack of specificity as to location and relation to the recording environment becomes quite disconcerting upon prolonged listening. The soundstage must be believable.

Background must be dead silent and free of grain.

By my tastes, restricted dynamics are the death knoll of musical enjoyment, so any hint of that will nix any component or cable in which I detect constriction.

So with those criteria in mind, how did the Sahuaro perform. Well, in my system, they met each standard in spades, and in all areas stood head and shoulders above all of the many well-know, highly rated cables I have auditioned over the past two years. In short, the Sahuaro cables satisfy every single criteria I set for a cable or component that will significantly advance my goal of increasing my emotional connection with the music.

I must say that putting the Sahuaro into my system did not come without a cost. These cables are highly revealing. By “revealing” I don’t mean sterile or analytical. To the contrary, “revealing” to me means that the magic of the music comes through. But it also means that anomalies elsewhere in the system will be painfully revealed. I had to spend considerable time rearranging power cables to achieve the above-described results. I have so far been limited to power cables on hand, but I have some of Bob Crump’s new Silver power cables on the way. But even with my existing power cables, I was able to turn out the anomalies uncovered by the Sahuaro cables and have been walking around smiling like a Cheshire cat.

While I have not tried any of the “Big Four”, I believe the Sahuaro cables are so good that anyone who is considering cable in this price range or above owes it to himself to put these cables on his short list of must-hear cables.


Product Weakness: None
Product Strengths: Best cable, by a wide margin, that I have ever used in my system.


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Rowland Model Twelves Monoblocks
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Rowland Synergy II with external Cadence phono-pre
Sources (CDP/Turntable): CEC TL-1X transport, AudioLogic 2400 DAC; Basis 2500TT, Graham 2.2 arm, Graham Nightingale cartridge.
Speakers: Vandersteen Fives
Cables/Interconnects: N/A
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Symphonic, jazz, 60s & 70s rock, opera, wide variety of vocals.
Room Size (LxWxH): 22 x 14.5 x 11
Room Comments/Treatments: Extensive
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Platinum Power PP-1
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner
Your System (if other than home audition): N/A




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Topic - REVIEW: Sahuaro Jetstream XLR Cable - pctower 09:59:14 03/21/02 ( 5)