July 29, 2012

• XLO Reference Type 5, Part 9

  Ah, summer of 1997.  That would turn out to be popular music's final stand.  It has been all downhill since then.  Peter Cetera breathed new life into his back catalog, by releasing a greatest hits album, You're The Inspiration: A Collection.  People (re)discovered "I Wasn't The One (Who Said Goodbye)," "She Doesn't Need Me Anymore," "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight," and "S.O.S."  After work, I loved listening to this CD via Discman, as I walked from SOMA all the way to the Tower Records on Columbus.  When it came to cables, this album made me think about XLO's original Signature series.  Its magenta and black color scheme was like a fog-free night along Columbus Avenue.
  
  Also that summer, the presence of KJ made me put aside other girls.  We loved going to my place, and listening to music.  My system at the time comprised the Theta Data Basic II and DS Pro Prime IIA; Classe' Thirty and CA-100; Kimber KCAG, 4TC, PowerKord; Thiel CS1.5.  Yeah, yeah, this same system caused me to do my infamous backstroke up the back of the couch.  That was when Kenny Loggins' "For The First Time" played.
  
  My system sounded faster and sexier, when I replaced the KCAG with XLO's Signature interconnects.  I simply could not afford the Signature-5.1 speaker cable.  A 2-meter pair would have cost more than the CA-100 power amp!  I knew I was going to make equipment changes, so I did not want to commit big money on speaker cables.  Thus, I also avoided the XLO Reference Type 5.  A 2-meter pair would have cost $815, not much more than a 1-meter XLO Sig 2.1.  I ended up getting the XLO Ultra 12, which was no better or worse than the Kimber 8TC.  The Ultra 12 provided a tighter, stronger bass.  But it was just too much.  The Ultra 12 had better focus than the 8TC, but less apparent resolution.  The Ultra 12 was only slightly more extended up top, but no more detailed.
  
  With or without the Cable Cooker treatment, the XLO Reference Type 5 is clearly superior to the Ultra series speaker cables.  The Ultra series has more bloat, congestion, and glare.  The Ultra series has less resolution, focus, speed, control, top end extension, and transparency.  Because the Reference Type 5 has fewer errors and distortions, it gets out of the way better, and more forcefully reproduces the emotion, vibe, and breath of You're The Inspiration: A Collection.  It does indeed trick us into thinking that it's summer 1997, not summer 2012.
  
  It also reminds us that Disney owned the Mighty Ducks hockey team.  Here is a Mighty Ducks t-shirt.  I wore it in '97, and I still wear it today.  XLO would always tongue-in-cheek claim that Disney stole XLO Reference Series' purple-and-green color scheme.        

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