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A tale of 2 cables - OR and FR Part one
I have never been keen to try out interconnects and power cords as I always prefer to achieve the tonality & dimensionality of the sound coming out from my system by experimenting with room acoustics and minor speaker placement.
However, after a strong recommendation by PT early this year to try the Argento FMR power cord to replace the one which connected the power bar to the wall socket finally re-converted me (yes I was an early Argento user) to using more and more Argento power cords and I was very happy with these beautiful white-silken FMR & FR cords running around behind the back of my hi-fi racks.
Many days ago, Jlam informed me Argento had produced a special power cord to commemorate the forthcoming Olympic game in China and is suitably named Olympic Reference, he suggested even though my system is completely Flowed-up, I should reserve at least one even for collection purpose. Well, for what it is worth, I ordered one out of curiosity.
When the OR subsequently arrived last Thursday, PT called me at lunch time and I think I was the 1st person to collect this special cable. When I opened the wooden box, the finish of the cable really impressed me, the metal casings on both sides of the cord are exquisitely finished in rare platinum finish (Jlam told me this was done by a Danish jewel maker), it really made the cable look like a million dollars ! However, as usual, I immediately plugged my new toy to the little Tivoli radio for a 24-hour burn-in period before giving it a listen.
Friday afternoon, I removed the OR from the radio and since the width of the cord looked exactly same as FR and not the FMR, therefore, the natural AB comparison should be conducted against the existing FR, I replaced the FR on my Zanden transport with the OR and proceeded with my first listening to this hi-fi gem which had already received enthusiastically positive feedback in the AE forum.
The first minute of casual listening confirmed this is a special cable indeed, although I could not discern any difference in the tonality or dynamics as OR is a direct brethren of the FR but with some not-so-small modifications as disclosed by designer in the forum earlier, Ulrick has succeeded in making a better cable by improving on the areas where the FR is already good at. Let me summarise my overall impression of the OR before going into details, this hi-fi gem sounds more refined, expressive and focused than the FR.
In my opinion, whenever one writes about his impression on certain aspects of hi-fi reproduction, it must be meaningful to the readers so that even though they are not present during the audition, they should nevertheless have a good grasp of what he is experiencing. I have chosen a smaller number of CDs which most fellow audiophiles would posses to conduct my audition of the OR, they are : 1) XRCD version of Aron Neville ‘s Warm Your Heart (although sound reproduction of 95%+ of XRCDs sucks, this one & the Eagle’s live are exceptions), 2) Eva Cassidy’s Live at Blues Alley, 3) Stradivarius Gala Concert and 4) Cantate Domino.
I am so familiar with the abovementioned discs, so whenever & wherever I hear them, I can instantly discern whether the sound of a system is well balanced or not. After hearing the first 20 seconds opening of Aron’s track 2, the skin texture of the drum and the metal percussion came out more clearly than ever before, there was a little bit more of harmonic decay. The biggest surprise was I could hear more inner details in the music which was not noticeable in the past, sound image of instruments & vocals were better than FR, furthermore, the overall playing sounded more expressive as if each player wanted to perform their best and last but not the least, although in the bass, OR did not go deeper than FR, it had much better definition & contour and perhaps a little bit faster, making the low level music reproduction much easier to follow. I later switched the cord back to FR, immediately, the lows became slightly muddled and bass lost its definition. I am sure all users of Horning speakers will admire the low level resolution of the OR.
Cassidy’s track no. 12 usually presents problem to large speakers as well as boomy speakers, if you find the bass muffled & boomy, the problem is not in the recording but your speakers, their placement or your room acoustics. If you have a balanced sound system, the bass will come out clearly with impact, each bass note can easily be followed, the cymbals are pretty well extended and should show off the treble of your speakers, the sound image may be slightly blurred if your speaker placement is not exactly spot on. Here, with the OR, the bass coming out of the bass guitar was tuneful and sometimes went fairly deep, the cymbals exhibited shimmering highs towards the end, all these made this live recording sounding pretty ‘live’ in my living room.
The recording of solo violin on Stradivarius gold CD can sound harsh if your system is not properly tuned, try track 9 first and check if the opening of mass strings pass the harshness test or not, then proceed to tracks 12-14. The OR makes the contour of the bow of the violin more life-like, every stroke of the violin solo playing came out clearly and you can also hear intermittent coughing from the audience clearly during the short interval before tracks 13 and 14, the ambience of the Barbican hall and its slight boomy resonance were all reproduced more realistically by the OR on this disc.
Cantate Domino is another old time favourite to test low level reproduction as well as sound imaging, apart from track 9, I also listen to no. 11 & 12. Here, the OR allowed me to hear the low level of the large church organ more clearly than ever before, you can follow the sound whenever the pedal changed to a different bass note, the soprano should stand right in the middle instead of drifting slightly off center to the right, furthermore, the hall ambience augmented by the singing of the chorus was realistically reproduced by the OR (to be honest, I only noticed hall ambience easily/frequently after changing to the Cessaro horn speakers recently).
All in all, if you are not expecting a more dynamic (bass) and richer sound from OR, then you’ll be surprised by the improvements in the areas I have mentioned above and these will lift the performance of your hi-fi system. I am sure once current short-supply situation is over, there will be an excess of supply of the FR in the secondary market.
As I am pretty much pre-occupied with fiddling with the placement of 16 noise filters on the large front window of my listening room, I will continue current exercise as well as minor experimenting of speaker placement and will report my further impression of the OR in part 2 later this month. I hope those who are still waiting for the next batch of OR arrival will at least have a faint idea of how it sounds in comparison to FR, please be patient as your patience will be rewarded by a higher level of music reproduction when this exquisite cable replaces your FR in the not too distant future.
However, after a strong recommendation by PT early this year to try the Argento FMR power cord to replace the one which connected the power bar to the wall socket finally re-converted me (yes I was an early Argento user) to using more and more Argento power cords and I was very happy with these beautiful white-silken FMR & FR cords running around behind the back of my hi-fi racks.
Many days ago, Jlam informed me Argento had produced a special power cord to commemorate the forthcoming Olympic game in China and is suitably named Olympic Reference, he suggested even though my system is completely Flowed-up, I should reserve at least one even for collection purpose. Well, for what it is worth, I ordered one out of curiosity.
When the OR subsequently arrived last Thursday, PT called me at lunch time and I think I was the 1st person to collect this special cable. When I opened the wooden box, the finish of the cable really impressed me, the metal casings on both sides of the cord are exquisitely finished in rare platinum finish (Jlam told me this was done by a Danish jewel maker), it really made the cable look like a million dollars ! However, as usual, I immediately plugged my new toy to the little Tivoli radio for a 24-hour burn-in period before giving it a listen.
Friday afternoon, I removed the OR from the radio and since the width of the cord looked exactly same as FR and not the FMR, therefore, the natural AB comparison should be conducted against the existing FR, I replaced the FR on my Zanden transport with the OR and proceeded with my first listening to this hi-fi gem which had already received enthusiastically positive feedback in the AE forum.
The first minute of casual listening confirmed this is a special cable indeed, although I could not discern any difference in the tonality or dynamics as OR is a direct brethren of the FR but with some not-so-small modifications as disclosed by designer in the forum earlier, Ulrick has succeeded in making a better cable by improving on the areas where the FR is already good at. Let me summarise my overall impression of the OR before going into details, this hi-fi gem sounds more refined, expressive and focused than the FR.
In my opinion, whenever one writes about his impression on certain aspects of hi-fi reproduction, it must be meaningful to the readers so that even though they are not present during the audition, they should nevertheless have a good grasp of what he is experiencing. I have chosen a smaller number of CDs which most fellow audiophiles would posses to conduct my audition of the OR, they are : 1) XRCD version of Aron Neville ‘s Warm Your Heart (although sound reproduction of 95%+ of XRCDs sucks, this one & the Eagle’s live are exceptions), 2) Eva Cassidy’s Live at Blues Alley, 3) Stradivarius Gala Concert and 4) Cantate Domino.
I am so familiar with the abovementioned discs, so whenever & wherever I hear them, I can instantly discern whether the sound of a system is well balanced or not. After hearing the first 20 seconds opening of Aron’s track 2, the skin texture of the drum and the metal percussion came out more clearly than ever before, there was a little bit more of harmonic decay. The biggest surprise was I could hear more inner details in the music which was not noticeable in the past, sound image of instruments & vocals were better than FR, furthermore, the overall playing sounded more expressive as if each player wanted to perform their best and last but not the least, although in the bass, OR did not go deeper than FR, it had much better definition & contour and perhaps a little bit faster, making the low level music reproduction much easier to follow. I later switched the cord back to FR, immediately, the lows became slightly muddled and bass lost its definition. I am sure all users of Horning speakers will admire the low level resolution of the OR.
Cassidy’s track no. 12 usually presents problem to large speakers as well as boomy speakers, if you find the bass muffled & boomy, the problem is not in the recording but your speakers, their placement or your room acoustics. If you have a balanced sound system, the bass will come out clearly with impact, each bass note can easily be followed, the cymbals are pretty well extended and should show off the treble of your speakers, the sound image may be slightly blurred if your speaker placement is not exactly spot on. Here, with the OR, the bass coming out of the bass guitar was tuneful and sometimes went fairly deep, the cymbals exhibited shimmering highs towards the end, all these made this live recording sounding pretty ‘live’ in my living room.
The recording of solo violin on Stradivarius gold CD can sound harsh if your system is not properly tuned, try track 9 first and check if the opening of mass strings pass the harshness test or not, then proceed to tracks 12-14. The OR makes the contour of the bow of the violin more life-like, every stroke of the violin solo playing came out clearly and you can also hear intermittent coughing from the audience clearly during the short interval before tracks 13 and 14, the ambience of the Barbican hall and its slight boomy resonance were all reproduced more realistically by the OR on this disc.
Cantate Domino is another old time favourite to test low level reproduction as well as sound imaging, apart from track 9, I also listen to no. 11 & 12. Here, the OR allowed me to hear the low level of the large church organ more clearly than ever before, you can follow the sound whenever the pedal changed to a different bass note, the soprano should stand right in the middle instead of drifting slightly off center to the right, furthermore, the hall ambience augmented by the singing of the chorus was realistically reproduced by the OR (to be honest, I only noticed hall ambience easily/frequently after changing to the Cessaro horn speakers recently).
All in all, if you are not expecting a more dynamic (bass) and richer sound from OR, then you’ll be surprised by the improvements in the areas I have mentioned above and these will lift the performance of your hi-fi system. I am sure once current short-supply situation is over, there will be an excess of supply of the FR in the secondary market.
As I am pretty much pre-occupied with fiddling with the placement of 16 noise filters on the large front window of my listening room, I will continue current exercise as well as minor experimenting of speaker placement and will report my further impression of the OR in part 2 later this month. I hope those who are still waiting for the next batch of OR arrival will at least have a faint idea of how it sounds in comparison to FR, please be patient as your patience will be rewarded by a higher level of music reproduction when this exquisite cable replaces your FR in the not too distant future.
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Comments
Hi Roy,
I have only one OR on hand and currently the FMR is feeding current to my pre-amp, my hunch is replacing it with OR will give me slightly more refined sound but at the expense of dynamics & bass wallop.
Once I have finished with current adjustments of the 16 noise filters on my large front window, I will use 2 FMR feeding the power amps where I'm currently using FR and try the OR on the pre-amp, maybe another OR for the power bar. So part 2 will be my impression on the abovementioned configuration.
Cheers,
Mr Z.