June 1, 2011

  • Cardas Cross, Part 7

    Those of us in the Bay Area got to hear Timex Social Club's "Rumors" first, in spring of 1986, before it went on to be a smash hit in July.  You see, Timex Social Club had formed in Berkeley.  Their mix of rap, R&B, and hip hop would set the stage for new jack swing.  I have always loved Casio digital watches.  Some of my other classmates preferred Swatch.  hardly anyone liked Timex, but that's beside the point.  "Rumors" is simply ground-breaking, and still is enjoyed today.  The funny thing is, the song references Michael Jackson, who "might be gay."  As it turns out, MJ wasn't gay; rather, he was a pedophile.

    In the mid-80s, we were eating Honey Comb, and today, people are still eating Honey Comb.  In the early-90s, when I was living in the dorms, I had the 14-meal-per-week plan.  Thus, I usually skipped breakfast.  But the dining halls did keep the dry cereals out, so if the rest of the food sucked, I could always eat cereal.  I can't help it.  While I was living in the dorms, I used to read the then digest-sized Stereophile magazines.  The cross section of some Cardas cables could look similar to a honey comb.  So Honey Comb cereal does have the ability to make me think about Cardas.

    I can't help it.  Because of Cardas' early-90s ads and its shell logo, I associate Cardas with nature.  So when walking across the UC Santa Cruz campus, those trees made me think about Cardas.  Furthermore, if you go up the hill from Berkeley, you may nothear Timex Social Club, but you will run into Tilden Park.  Tilden has miniature steam trains.  They can use water towers (above) to refill.  But anyway, the woods of Tilden Park make me think about Cardas.

    My audio friends and I have been using Cardas' Cross speaker cable since the mid-90s.  So it has had plenty of playing time.  Plus, it has been properly treated on the Audio Dharma Cable Cooker.  We keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting, but no, the Cross simply cannot reproduce soundstage depth.  In this regard, it is eerily reminiscent of Krell's mid-90s preamps.  There is decent detail, PRAT, and cleanliness.  There is a reduction in deep bass and instrumental body.  Thus, if you are going to use Cross, it stands a greater chance of musical success, if used in small rooms.

    Hey, I'm not the only one taking pictures!  Because the Cross truncates soundstage depth, you could say that it is like looking at a photograph (which is 2-dimensional).  It reminds me of some other speaker cables I used in the early-to-mid-90s: the AudioQuest Type 4 and Indigo.  Like the Type 4 and Indigo, the Cross can't reproduce soundscapes, and soundstages with depth.  But the Cross goes a bit further, by being cleaner, faster, and more precise.