The fabulous Silversmith Fidelium Speaker Cable

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by TubeMon, Sep 22, 2020.

  1. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
  2. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
    And here is a U-Tube video by the same reviewer.

     
  3. samurai

    samurai Step right up! See the glory, of the royal scam.

    Location:
    MINNESOTA
    I bought a pair of these relatively early when they enjoyed a nice discount.
    There was no subtle, I think I hear a difference with these cables, the improvement was clearly audible.
    IMO: The only downside being the cables are a touch fragile and delicate plus some
    folks might have difficulty attaching them either to the speaker or to the amp (or both).
    I see they now have another option for attachment.
    The price though not insubstantial is not atmospheric either.

    I consider these speaker cables to be an impressive accomplishment.
    Caveat: As always YMMV.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2020
  4. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
    A tweak that improved the sound: The Enacom Noise Filter (speaker type).
    Placed across the speaker terminals (across the tweeter terminals if you bi-wire), I heard an improvement in the critical Upper Midrange/ Lower Treble response. Sweeter, but with added clarity.

    Note: Do not attach this device between the Fidelium and the speaker post.
    This defeats the purpose of the cable's novel direct interconnect topology.
    With my Edison Price terminal posts, I was able to jam the two Enacom leads into it's open top, thus avoiding contacting the Fidelium itself.
    If you don't have this capability, I would recommend not doing it.

    The Enacoms are pretty cheap on EBAY and as such are worth a shot.
     
  5. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
    It was noted recently how the Fidelium Cables sounded great on piano music. My Hales Signature Twos were once described by Robert Harley as having the most accurate portrayal of piano he had ever heard.
    Well these two coupled together along with the two Reference Recordings of Minoru Nojima (Liszt and Ravel) was nothing short of scary.....

    This virtuoso only has about a half dozen recorded examples of his work.
    These RR CDs are readily available on EBAY.
    Scoop them up!
     
  6. Mrmb

    Mrmb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis IN
    A little late to the thread, but my 2-cents is that after auditioning the Fidelium's, I opened my wallet to buy Mr. Smith's inventive cables. Hence, I 2nd. the other positive comments in this thread. Sounds/notes come out of blackness that the other cables I've tried have lacked. Also there is a smoothness -- perhaps a lack of distortion -- to the sound that is an additional plus.

    Great Advice TubeMon: The RR of Minoru Nojima is wonderful....Thanks!!!
     
  7. enginedr

    enginedr Its all good

    Location:
    New York City
    I have the Fidelium cables in my system for 10 weeks now and concur on your listening impression .
    They bested a pair of cables that cost twice as much
     
  8. Mrmb

    Mrmb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis IN
    enginedr, Did you find much change as the in-use hours grew? I've read opinions that differ about their break-in, or lack thereof....

    I found Silversmith's Jeffrey Smith's design unique and refreshing in that it lacked the marketing differences found with other cable manufacturers, like white boxes, A/C Couplers, magnets, quantum tunneling and cryogenic conditioning etc. It's all about the conductor (wire), it's configuration and shielding and "playing" with the Inductance, Capacitance and Resistance ratios. But yet established cable companies manage to change and supposedly improve their product line-ups more frequently than some change the oil in their automobiles.

    The Fidelium's design is straight forward, but nevertheless unique and as such, refreshingly simple, but complexly so, if that makes any sense!?! As is said, a picture is worth many words and Silversmith's website has that, as well as the Fidelium's design parameters.

    For a more detailed description of my audition, that post can be found here: The fabulous Silversmith Fidelium Speaker Cable
     
    jusbe likes this.
  9. samurai

    samurai Step right up! See the glory, of the royal scam.

    Location:
    MINNESOTA
    The website mentions Fidelium interconnects may be in the works.
    My positive experience with the speaker cables would make me consider giving them a shot.
     
  10. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
    I will definitely try the IC's when they become available.
    Right now use Magnans which were the forerunner of this cable concept....
     
  11. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian

    I know cable choice is important as I’m going through the same thing right now. It’s great you found cables that fit your environment, equipment and personal taste. Sounds like you made the right decision. Happy listening.
     
  12. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    These sound really great, even moving me to consider trying a set sometime. But then again maybe I'll wait until @Ilusndweller gets a set and does the old blind ABX tests on them. Can't just trust my own ears you know -- too many positive reviews in this thread has my expectation bias primed for greatness!
     
    Ilusndweller likes this.
  13. TEA FOR ONE

    TEA FOR ONE Listening to the world one note at a time

    Location:
    Rochester,NY
    I’ve read nothing but great end user reviews all over the forums. I keep my eyes peeled for used speaker cables. Needless to say,I haven’t seen any. New is out of my budget. I have no issues buying used.
     
  14. jusbe

    jusbe Modern Melomaniac

    Location:
    Auckland, NZ.
    Interesting. Hadn't thought of this much before. Seems logical enough. Also would make a considerable saving and I can see Silversmith makes the necessary adapters and jumpers to suit.
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2021
  15. jusbe

    jusbe Modern Melomaniac

    Location:
    Auckland, NZ.
    The only concern would be inflation. According to Greg Weaver he's already working on a cable three times s good as the Fidelium. Will that be three times as expensive?
     
  16. OC Zed

    OC Zed Bludgeon Riffola

    Location:
    Costa Mesa, CA
    I was very excited about the Fidelium cables, but I need a 12’ order and he only offers up to 10’. I received a prompt and polite email response back letting me know custom orders are not available, but some customers have combined cables to achieve longer lengths. Unfortunately, that becomes really cost prohibitive for me just to add the extra 2’. I’m keeping my fingers crossed hoping for longer offerings down the road.
     
  17. jusbe

    jusbe Modern Melomaniac

    Location:
    Auckland, NZ.
    I guess that helps to keep the costs lower if lengths are predetermined and not to order. But I understand your plight.

    I wonder if he'll release balanced/XLR interconnects?
     
  18. TubeMon

    TubeMon Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Monterey, CA
  19. Ilusndweller

    Ilusndweller S.H.M.F.=>Reely kewl.

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    IMHO these are THE BEST* speaker cables available (in theory, I have not heard them) and not insaaaaaanely priced.

    *excluding digispeakers which are connected digitally
     
  20. Ilusndweller

    Ilusndweller S.H.M.F.=>Reely kewl.

    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    For all practical purposes, nothing is "becoming" or "changing". As far as these cables, IMHO they have THE BEST speaker cable/speaker interface possible as you create the most metallic bonds when you tighten down the binding posts. In addition there are no additional interfaces/materials.

    "2.3.3 Adhesive Wear

    This type of wear has also been termed "sliding wear". Though sliding wear has also been used as a more general term which includes adhesive wear as just one of many components involved. Before describing this wear mode, it should be made clear that just because material of opposing surfaces is found adhered to one another after a wear test does not necessarily imply that chemical adhesion has occurred and one cannot jump to the conclusion that adhesive wear was occurring.

    When two surfaces are mated to one another, actual contact only occurs at various isolated points (the asperities) called junctions. When the areas of all the junctions are summed, one obtains the real area of contact. On the other hand, the area of contact which one determines through geometrical considerations of the actual part on a macroscopic level is called the apparent area of contact. The real area of contact is usually much less than the apparent area -- sometimes a thousand or more times less [11]. Typically the real area is about 1% of the apparent area. The diameter of typical junctions has been estimated to range from 1 micrometer to 100 micrometers [12].

    Considering only the real area of contact, it is the protruding asperities which will make contact with the opposing surface (and its protruding asperities). On an atomic level, because a force is being applied to push two surfaces together, bonding will occur somewhere in the junction if the two materials have compatible structures. The extent of cleanliness and other factors such as temperature and environment also play a role. This is due to the nature of atomic forces.

    Figure 1 shows the force versus distance between two surfaces [13] which is similar to the inter-atomic force vs. distance between two atoms [14]. Being in the trough signifies bonding and somewhere in any given junction there will be atoms which are in the trough. Thus there will almost always be some bonding between two unlubricated surfaces when an external force is applied. How much bonding occurs over a given junction depends on many things including the force applied, the compatibility of the crystal structures, material properties such as Young's modulus, how closely the two surfaces mate to one another on an atomic level and how clean the surfaces are. As two surfaces are properly cleaned the friction coefficient can become very large due to adhesion effects, sometimes even exceeding 100 [15]. This type of cleaning can involve sputtering in a vacuum chamber.

    If one considers two surfaces, each containing an infinite number of atoms being pressed together, statistics tells us that at some location in the interface of the two surfaces, the atoms of the opposing materials will be properly positioned and will lie in the trough of Figure 1. This creates a bond. As a tangential force is applied through sliding, the bond may break where it was formed. This does not lead to adhesive wear. If it breaks in the interior of either of the original surfaces though, adhesive wear has occurred. It will generally break in the softer of the two materials.

    Thinking about this on a more macroscopic level, the asperities form the junctions, and when a normal force (load) and tangential force (sliding) are applied, these asperities or junctions may deform plastically (bond breaking in the interior of either of the original surfaces -- generally the softer material), elastically (bond breaking in the junction, thus leaving the original materials unharmed), or some of each. In addition to the factors mentioned above, this also depends on the number of junctions and the size of the junctions. In most cases there is some amount of plastic deformation occurring at some of the junctions. This plastic deformation is extremely noteworthy because it is a significant dissipative process for friction in crystalline materials such as metals [16]. Plastic deformation is a very important way of storing energy and converting mechanical work to heat.

    Topography studies of most post-tested wear surfaces show that evidence of plastic deformation can usually be found somewhere locally on the tested surface. Longitudinal cross sections allow estimates of surface strain and strain profiles near the surface [17]. Strains exceeding 1000% develop quickly under the imposed compressive and shear stresses involved in sliding [18].

    One of the earlier theories proposed gives a clear summary of the most familiar ideas about adhesive wear. It states that transfer occurs if the shear strength of the adhesive bond between two asperities is greater than that of the transferring material [19]. The preferred transfer direction is from the cohesively weaker material to the cohesively stronger material. Other geometrical factors are also important. For example, in a pin-on-disk situation, transfer generally occurs from the disk to the pin. As a consequence, the disk has a larger wear loss [20]. Lubrication is generally a good way to inhibit adhesive wear."
     
  21. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Just before vacation I ordered from Jeff Smith a 6' set and two sets of special made jumpers for my Avantgarde Duo loudspeakers. I hooked them up about a week or so ago, and here are my initial impressions.

    After I first hooked the ribbons up and listened I was mildly disappointed. It sounded a bit 'soft', as if the volume had been turned down a bit. I thought "This can't be right. If these ribbons are more conductive than copper and even silver, why does the volume seem lessened?" For the next several listening sessions (about an hour or two each session) I gradually realized that everything was there -- beautiful *accurate* highs, a nice clear midrange (voice), and an excellent, deep, powerful bass range. But each time I had the feeling it wasn't loud enough (set at the same level position on my amp that seems optimally loud with the preceding Acoustic Zen Satori cables). And when I raised the volume a notch, it really sounded exciting -- more dynamics, slam, more everything including 'inner' and textural details that make it seem as if my system (as a groove 'microscope') is getting ever more close to the actual recording venue. You know, the usual audiophile cliches -- but man I'm loving it! But until a few days ago I thought the comparison was unfair and inaccurate if I have to nudge the volume up a notch.

    But then a few days ago I decided to follow where my auditory intuition was directing me to go -- to investigate and now find the 'new' optimal loudness level for playing records. Where before I set the volume knob at "10:00 o'clock", I now seemed to settle on about "11:00 o'clock". And even though it is a *bit* louder subjectively, the sound still seems "natural", whereas with the other cables it would be too loud -- too loud to sound "natural", as in "not forced".

    I suspect somehow the ribbons are bypassing a lot of the 'distortion' inherent in normal cables, and thus the volume can be set louder, with very satisfying results I must say. In other words, the ribbons have allowed my system to reach another level of reproduction. I'm excited to listen further in the weeks and months to come now!

    Old...
    [​IMG]

    New...
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  22. DaveyF

    DaveyF Forum Resident

    Location:
    La Jolla, Calif
    Could it be that the resistance of these cables is different to your old model? ( maybe the capacitance also?) That might explain your volume findings...
     
  23. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    It's very likely, yes.
     
  24. Otlset

    Otlset I think I am I think

    Location:
    Temecula, CA
    Well it's been several listening sessions now, through the weekend, and the system as well as my auditory apparatus has settled in some to using the new Fidelium speaker ribbons. The loudness/volume setting on my amp is now much closer to the one used with the previous cables.

    I think what is going on is the new ribbons have reduced a sort of distortion in the sonic presentation I didn't even know was there in previous listening with the old cables, such that it is so smooth sounding across the frequency range, it almost begs to be turned up now a bit -- and so I do, and the sound is spectacular. Better and more dynamic across the frequency range -- all hyped-up audiophile cliches apply here as description of course, including the 'uncovering' of previously unheard inner detail and instrumental and vocal textures.

    These ribbons ('cables') then have my unqualified recommendation, a real upgrade!
     
    OC Zed likes this.
  25. RemyM

    RemyM Forum Resident

    Gotta love Jeff

    Jeff believes that it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain how audio, digital, and power cables affect the sound quality using those parameters.
     

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