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"A best friend is like a good bra: hard to find, comfortable, supportive, always lifts you up, makes you look better, never lets you down or leaves you hanging, and always close to your heart."
In late 1991, while she was a freshman at UC Berkeley, my friend ACS also worked at Victoria's Secret. ACS was instrumental, in turning the rest of us on to the saying above.
While our friends focused on bras, ACS reminded us not to overlook panties. ACS was big on color combinations, and carried that influence to audio products. She understood that, with the exorbitant prices of high-end audio, whatever you buy "better look good." For example, she liked silver-colored electronics, used with Apogee loudspeakers with the "Anthracite" blue trim.
The girls detested that there was absolutely NO issue, with their brothers and other guys going shirtless/topless. But if the girls went shirtless/topless... With tops as a necessary evil, the girls generally did not like underwire bras, or at least could not find one which fit. Thus, demand grew for comfy tops, which could be worn without a shirt.
"Try it on! Try it on! Try it on!" Actually, we did not buy lingerie for our friend [we included a conservative sleepshirt]. ACS shrugged, "As sexy as some bras are, at the end of the day, you take them off."
By Memorial Day weekend 1992, my ex-girlfriend KJ was done with her freshman year at UC Berkeley. At her SF Chinatown home, she had a Sharper Image shower radio. KOIT played Genesis' "Hold On My Heart." After drying off, KJ did not don a bra. Just like a guy, she simply threw on a t-shirt.
KJ and I walked by the Transamerica Pyramid [check out this photo taken at night]. Across the street was Audio Excellence, which had a cut-out display of a Thiel CS2.2 loudspeaker. But everything there was too rich for our college-kid blood. So we continued to Ultimate Sound, then located on Kearny, in the dungeon basement of the Sherman Clay building. Ultimate Sound had spools of AudioQuest, Kimber, Monster Cable, and XLO speaker wires.
KJ ran her fingers over Kimber's black-and-gray 4VS. Ostensibly, VS stood for VariStrand, not Victoria's Secret. KJ appreciated and liked that the 4VS was -- unlike an underwire bra -- soft, thin, and flexible. However, David Tam told customers that, for not much more money, a factory-terminated 4TC was a significantly better buy. Later, when ACS saw the 4TC, she approved of the black-and-blue color scheme -- which was common and popular at Victoria's Secret. Was that the secret to the 4TC being a top-seller? Nah.
It's not a secret, that many of you have been clamoring for a comparison of current-production Carbon 8 (left, in licorice black) and 4TC (right, which sports a white-and-clear color scheme). The Carbon 8's chainlink-like weave makes it pretty impossible to "puff up." If you manage to "puff up" the 4TC, you lose length. But now that the conductors are spaced apart, they electrically interact less. Moreover, you can then get those conductors to criss-cross closer to a right angle, rather than the stock overlapping.
Audiophiles were always blabbing about "how the cable sounded." But the girls squinted, said that they preferred not wearing a bra, and argued that speaker cables should have NO sound at all.
If you go to my Cable Asylum post below, you will find that the Kimber Carbon line-level interconnect picks up where the KCAG leaves off. The Carbon IC gets rid of the grain and glare, maintains the image focus, and does not allow for any bass softness. Interestingly, that is eerily similar to what happens, when you go from Kimber's 4TC to Carbon 8 speaker cable.
Let's assume that you have (a) quality electronics, and (b) accurate and transparent loudspeakers. Then you can evaluate the Kimber 4TC and Carbon 8. You immediately recognize that the Carbon 8 is much more accurate, simply telling you what is going on. With the Carbon 8, there are no "free notes." If the info does not exist in the equipment or recording, the Carbon 8 will not fake it. If you are only wearing a t-shirt, the Carbon 8 will not magically give you that comfy, supportive, pretty, and exact-fitting bra.
If you go from Carbon 8 to 4TC, brace for disappointment. First, the images become more diffuse. Second, the music just seems slower. Third, that pile-driver bass is lost, replaced by a more amorphous blob. Fourth, tonal balance shifts, so that there is some lower midrange loss of body, coupled with an emphasized or even tipped-up treble. Fifth, because of the previous four distortions, the 4TC simply cannot reveal as much detail.
If you opened the door, and walked into the bathroom, while KJ was taking that hot shower, the steam blinded you, and you could not see a damn thing. That's kind of what you'll experience, when going from Carbon 8 to 4TC.
If you go from 4TC to Carbon 8, the snap in focus reminds you that, as KJ was drip-drying, KOIT played Celine Dion's "If You Asked Me To." With the speed and resolution restored, the Carbon 8 reminds you that your friend did try on the VS sleepshirt, but it was a bit too big for her. But she liked it, so she took it back to VS, and exchanged it for one, which was a size smaller. And that was a happy ending.
The Kimber Carbon 8 may not be a best friend or good bra. Does it have NO sound at all? Of course not. Is it a Victoria's Secret angel? Of course not. But it is an honest performer.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Kimber Carbon 8, Part 5 - Luminator 23:06:06 12/25/21 (0)
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