October 16, 2012

  • XLO S-J/S, Part 7

    20 years ago, I was reading the October 1992 edition of Stereophile.  It's a packed issue, 340 pages (including the covers) long.  Robert Harley's review of the California Audio Labs Sigma piqued audiophiles' interest.  A DAC with a vacuum tube?  No way!  Via my Adcom stereo system, I started hearing and loving Swing Out Sister's "Am I The Same Girl?"  For me and my housemates, it represented an enjoyable retreat from the scourge of grunge, which had taken over the UCSC campus.  And for many others, it represented a passage of sorts, into the land of adult contemporary.

    On 10/16/92, I went home to San Francisco for the weekend.  During that 92-93 school year, that was one of the few times I did go home.

    Armed with that October 1992 Stereophile (and its Recommended Components listing), I headed downtown for Ultimate Sound.  I don't know what, if anything, I bought.  But I could not escape the image of XLO's original Reference series.  Ever since then, I've always associated that visit with XLO.

    XLO's Signature series didn't come out until, I believe, the January 1994 Winter CES.  And when they came out with the Sig 5.1 two-lead speaker cable, it was NOT bi-wireable.  To remedy the situation, XLO came out with the so-called S-J/S jumper.

    As you can see, the S-J/S does not look like the current-production S3-5.2 speaker cable.  By running the S3-5.2 to The One's woofer posts first, we can hear that the S-J/S does not add any notes.  There are small losses in soundstage breadth, focus, and treble vibrancy and timbre.  You could argue that the S-J/S' errors are subtractive, not additive.  You'll have to judge for yourself, if this works for you, your system, and your tastes.

    When I emerged from Ultimate Sound, I was in a daze.  Having been in the dark dungeon that was Ultimate Sound, I had to get used to the above-ground sunlight.  My mind was absorbing all those audio products.  I didn't want to go home right away.  So I went around the corner to the Wherehouse on Sutter & Kearny.  I picked up Swing Out Sister's Get In Touch With Yourself, which I then took down to Santa Cruz.

    Okay, people want to know how the XLO S-J/S compares to that other giant-killer bi-wire jumper, the Cardas Clear Jumper.  We have to assume you're using a high-quality system, and that the only thing you change is the jumpers.

    The Cardas Clear Jumper will present the bigger, more airy landscape.  It'll seem fuller and richer in the treble.  The images are larger (especially in the depth parameter), but more diffuse.  There seems to be a small loosening of grip.  The XLO S-J/S will sound like it has better focus, stability, snap, and speed.  Both are from the same general price category, and both are excellent, besting many of the more expensive jumpers I've reviewed here.