AUDIO VIDEO SA June 2002

CABLES

Kimber Select KS-1030/1130/3033

Top of the class

Unloading the three, compact Pelican airtight composite cases from the boot of my car, I realised that the combined value of the content locked inside them was in excess of R60 000.

That’s not all that much if what I was carrying had been a haul of diamonds, jewellery or precious artefacts. But few would have believed me if I told them that what I was carrying were three sets of audiophile-grade cabling from US manufacturer Kimber. Small wonder then that I was looking forward to spending some time with what are probably the most expensive interlinks and speaker cables I’ve ever had the pleasure of evaluating.

The Kimber Select range is a new one that embraces single-ended and balanced interconnects, as well as loudspeaker cables and digital interlinks for a family with 11 models in all.

For this, my first experience of Kimber Select models, local importer Audio Importers provided a pair of Select KS-1030 single-ended interlinks, a set of Select KS-1130 balanced interconnects, and a 2,5m pair of Select KS-3033 loudspeaker cable.

SELECT KS-1030

Handsomely presented with a glossy, braided sheath, high-grade WBT locking RCA terminals and wooden cable separators (which also provide a direction indicator), the KS-1030 quite clearly looks the high-end part.

Kimber says it includes technology developed for the Model 88 speaker cable, and utilises the marque’s so-called Black Pearl silver conductor employed in an orthogonally braided geometry. The focus of the KS-1030 is on safeguarding the original signal against any distorting influences, both acoustic and electro-dynamic.

Having given the cable ample time to settle in, I sat down for some serious listening, typically in conjunction with my usual reference interlinks – XLO Reference Type 1 and Van den Hul The Second – in a system comprising Electrocompaniet’s EC4.6 pre-amp and AW120 power amplifier, Celestion SL700 SE Mk II speakers and a Rotel RCD-991 CD player.

What I really liked about this cable was its staging. Depth and height were immediately extended beyond expectations, but without compromising the cohesion and believability of the sonic image. Focus remained pin-point accurate, while the sound picture’s airy approach allowed ample space for fine detail.

Tonally, the Kimber’s approach was neutral, imparting no specific signature of its own and simply translating the signal with impartial accuracy. As a result, recording flaws were ruthlessly exposed, while quality productions were allowed to come to their fullest right. Add smooth pace and a liquid flow of music, and you have a quite brilliant and thoroughly entertaining interlink.

SELECT KS-1130

Next up was the Select KS-1130, effectively the balanced version of the KS-1030. Similarities between the two include the use of Kimber’s black pearl silver conductors, although employed here in conjunction with a dual concentric grounding format.

Again, construction was exemplary, with the braided sheath and wooden separators underlining the interlink’s upper-crust status, while solidly engineered XLR connectors ensures a positive interface with system components.

The sonic characteristics of this cable were closely aligned to that of the KS-1030, with a similarly natural, open and airy soundstage, powerful dimensional traits in terms of depth and height, and exceptional attention to fine detail.

If anything, the balanced construction’s more efficient rejection of noise and interference provided an even richer harvest of musical information, allowing an extended audible frequency range, slightly improved detailing and staging that seemed more layered and thus more dimensionally realistic.

Important, too, was that the KS-1130 always retains its musical integrity, steering clear of the clinical appraisals some cables employ to dissect detail. Instead, this is a wholly involving, exhilarating cable that does both music and hardware the fullest of justice.

SELECT KS-3033

As thick as a hosepipe, and endowed with gold-plated spade connectors, this all-copper speaker cable makes as much of a visual statement as the sonic promise its technology expresses.

Multiple strands of super-pure, oxygen-free copper make up the conductors, which are equipped with high-pressure/low temperature Teflon dielectrics. The copper strands are varied in size and shape to combat conductor resonance and phase shift.

All of this becomes immaterial once you listen to these cables, however. Their delivery is smooth, rich and emphatic, with a tonal reach that seems to extend to new highs and lows without sounding overbearing. Tops are brilliantly detailed but never brittle, while the lows provide a deep but pacy flow that never lack impetus.

Add massive staging, athletic response and a rock-steady sonic image, and you have a very classy speaker cable.

Kimber’s Select cable and interlink range achieve what very few high-end cables are capable of: they provide exceptional clarity, detail and staging, whilst retaining absolute musical integrity. The result is sheer, sonic bliss.

Deon Schoeman

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