Cable Asylum: REVIEW: VH Audio CHeLA, Flavor 1 and 2 Cable by Japesgalore

Model:	CHeLA, Flavor 1 and 2
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$various
Description:	Bulk speaker and power cables
Manufacturer URL:	VH Audio

Review by Japesgalore on April 15, 2010 at 13:55:12
IP Address: 77.236.0.10 Add Your Review
for the CHeLA, Flavor 1 and 2

Just dropping in a 'short' review of a few things I ordered, oh, a good while back - I feel like I only owe it to Chris VenHaus.

CHeLA

2x7' of CHeLA cables replaced the 4x4 spiralled Cat5 (de-sheathed, polyethelene insulated) cable I was using. It's been a long while now and unfortunately I never made the notes to refer to now so my comparison can only be vague. The improvement in quality was a very substantial one, and different to when I went from my TNT style braided Cat5 (sheathed, basic insulation) to the quad-spiralled Cat5. The overriding impression, I remember , was of a huge increase in 'tonal information', as I would call it, which might in other words be called inner detail (correct me if I'm wrong). There was an improvement in the cleanness of the highs and lows, for sure, and PRaT remained excellent, but the sudden new richness of tone was the most startling. It was almost overwhelming at first but now I couldn't do without it.

In addition, I retained the Alan Maher speaker cable filters (and even wired them directly to the Furutech spades) which made a bid difference to the Cat5 and had a similar impact to the CHeLA (although I never really tested the cable without the filters). I'll try to say more on them in an upcoming review of some of Alan Maher's products but, suffice it to say, they had the effect of, as another reviewer once put it, 'pumping air' into the musical presentation. The highs are cleaned up further and the soundstage improved and an already great cable is, I believe, made even better.

FLAVOR...

The bulk Flavor 1 and 2 cables were wrapped in cotton, fed through a rubber hose which was in turn wrapped with cotton. The ground was spiralled around that and everything terminated with the basic copper Furutech connectors. The shielded Flavor 1 was for the Jolida JD100S CD player and the Flavor 2 for the Jolida JD1501S integrated amp. Both were plugged into the basic Furutech outlet (ETP60 or something) which in turn is fed by a dedicated line.

Upon installing the Flavor 1 I heard the change but wasn't sure I liked it; something was missing, perhaps PRaT (I was using my own quad-spiralled, unshieded cable with spaced ground before). I thought I would allow it some time to break in. When I put the Flavor 2 on the amp (which had the same quad-spiralled cable as the C player) the sound immediately jumped a notch - there was more power in the presentation and I knew I liked it.

Eventually, I did a little experimentation and swapped out the chord in different configurations, using a stock cord on the amp when trying the Flavor 2 on the CD player. The sound certainly seemed to be more dynamic and engaging with the unshieded cables on both components. So, I proceeded to gut the Flavor 1, wripping off the outer layer of teflon and both shields, leaving only the spiralled hot and neutral wires, and put everything back into the cotton-damped construction.

Now everything was sounding unrestrained and musical, without any more noticeable RF, or whatever, distortion. I'm sure that the lengths to which I went to damp the cables from vibration has a bigger impact on the sound than their succeptibility to noise, and the shielded Flavor 1 certainly seemed like it would transmit physical vibration more, even after damping with cotton, than the Flavor 2. So, in my case, contrary to all advice (even from those with the same CD player), the unshielded cable was the better choice. Other steps have been taken to tackle line noise, in the form of a wired-in PE v3 from Alan Maher and a few of his circuit breaker filters.

Now the sound is cleaner, more rhythmical, more dynamic and, ultimately, musical than its ever been. The upgrading/tweaking curve is has all but levelled off and I'm left simply to enjoy the music:) Unfortunately I made so many changes in quick succession, and not written my observations down, that it's quite hard for me to be precise in my description - not that I'm any good at verbalising my impressions on audio anyway;)

Once agin my thanks goes out to Chris VenHause for his excellent, great value products and top-notch service.

Product Weakness:	Flavor 1 just didn't do it for me
Product Strengths:	Value, neutrality - in the sense that you can't 'hear them' in the chain, music is made more life-like

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Jolida JD1501S
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): none
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Jolida JD100S
Speakers: Dynaudio 52SE
Cables/Interconnects: pure gold DIY interconnect
Music Used (Genre/Selections): all
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Jolida JD1501S
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	none
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Jolida JD100S
Speakers:	Dynaudio 52SE
Cables/Interconnects:	pure gold DIY interconnect
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	all
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner