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In the late-2000s, I began reviewing Kimber's then top-of-the-line RCA interconnect (since surpassed by the Naked), the Select KS-1036. Since then, audiophiles have asked, "What about the balanced equivalent, the KS-1136?"
While I have had multiple pairs of the KS-1136, none of their owners gave me permission to blog about them. But let us back up, for a moment.
At the beginning of 1994, San Francisco's Ultimate Sound moved to 41 Grant, between O'Farrell and Geary. Ultimate Sound arguably brought in more foot traffic, than any other Bay Area high-end audio store. And its top-selling line-level interconnect was the Kimber PBJ.
In May 1995, my friend Scylla graduated from UC Berkeley. She could have returned to her parents' place. Instead, since she had found good employment in East Bay labs, she continued to live with housemates in El Cerrito. She did borrow some of my old interconnects.
In summer 1997, Scylla and I went to Honolulu. While at Queen's Surf Beach, Scylla was bummed, that there were no waves, and thus, could not do much, on my bodyboards. Although the surf was flat, Scylla still remarked that there were lots of sounds: wind, people, traffic, water lapping the shore. And then, she remarked, "Too many cables sap or remove these shhhhh sounds."
We then went to Audio Directions Ltd. There, the late Stewart Ono (AA's UncleStu52) said that, for balanced interconnects, the Silver Streak made no sense. "You should either spend real little, and get the PBJ; or spend a little more, and get the full-blown KCAG."
Back at San Francisco's Ultimate Sound, I had run into a repeat customer, "Brad." After making small talk, we exchanged emails. He (I think he was around 40, back then) said he lived in Oakland/Piedmont, above where Pleasant Valley Avenue became Grand Avenue. In early 1998, Brad was actually at Ultimate Sound, the same time I had ordered Kimber's original all-silver balanced Select interconnect, and the precursor to the KS-1136, the KS-1130. Brad said that he used a few Kimber products in his PS Audio-based system. He said that, when I received the KS-1130, I should come over to his house, and bring my older KCAGs.
After I received that KS-1130, I emailed Brad, and we arranged a meet-up at his house. The KS-1130 came in a Pelican case. On that rainy, El Niño-fueled day, I actually used the Pelican case, to bring both the KS-1130 and KCAG.
But first, I went over to Scylla's house. The night before, her housemates didn't want to eat leftovers, or cook up something new. So they got Zachary's deep dish pizzas. One slice gets you full, so they had plenty of leftover pizza. When I arrived, Scylla and one of her housemates were booty-bumping to a then new-to-me song, "The Way," by Fastball. That would go on to be one of the 90s' quintessential hits. I was barely there for five minutes, when the leftover pizza came out of the oven. Scylla whipped up some salad, the housemate pulled out some cans of soda. After lunch, Scylla once again looked at a paper map of Oakland, and drove her little car to Brad's house.
In 1998, we did not have any cable burn-in devices. We did not acquire an audiodharma Cable Cooker, until 2003. But again, when Kimber came out with the KS-1136, I already had the Cooker. Thus, several audiophiles sent me their KS-1136es.
If you do not have a cable burn-in device, we're almost tempted to say, "Don't bother with the KS-1136." With any length of regular use, the KS-1136 is so underwhelming. You will wonder why you spent thousands of dollars on something so subpar.
We were able to Cook these KS-1136es for 1-hour, 2-hour, 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, 4-day, and 5-day increments, and then listen. Although 1-hour on the Cooker is better than years of regular playing time, the KS-1136's potential doesn't really start to show, until it has had 3 days of Cook time. After the 4th day of Cook time, you start to see signs of over-Cooking: slow, dull, airless sonics. So let us proclaim that optimum Cook time for the KS-1136 is 4 days.
Now for some more bad news. The current price of the KS-1136 is $860 termination, plus $1620 per HALF meter. Therefore, a 1-meter KS-1136 is a whopping $4100! That is more than many a speaker or an electronic component. Not to fret, we've been putting various samples of KS-1136 to work, for over a dozen years.
Fastball's "The Way" was about an older couple, packing some belongings in their car, leaving everything else behind, and not even telling their kids. Yes, that came out 24 years ago. But when high-end audio products do justice to the music, the intervening years disappear. Can the Kimber KS-1136 pass signal intact, to preserve the music?
We Shall See,
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Kimber KS-1136, Part 1 - Luminator 22:25:30 07/20/22 (4)
- RE: Kimber KS-1136, Part 1 - fantja 23:42:50 07/22/22 (3)
- See Below - Luminator 00:03:13 07/23/22 (2)
- RE: See Below - fantja 22:45:17 08/22/22 (0)
- RE: See Below - fantja 03:46:19 08/12/22 (0)
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