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Most people know Joseph Chow as the Audio Engineer who worked in the Kenwood FM Tuner division, and later with Schotz at Proton, and as the designer of superb electronicsa solid state DAC, a tube preamplifier, and a tube DAC all marketed under his Audio Horizons brand name, but few know that as recently as three years ago as an outside design consultant, Joseph’s created interconnect cables were sold for as much as $2000 per pair by one of the best known high end cable manufacturers. But now in order to maximize the performance of superb electronics Joseph has perfected a new interconnect geometry that in the slogan of Audio Horizons, delivers “Superior Performance. Clearly.” These interconnects are among the cleanest, clearest, most transparent interconnects you’ve ever heard. We’re so confident you’ll agree that we offer a free home audition, freight prepaid. All Joseph’s cables are superb. One customer after comparing Joseph’s Premium AC Power Cord to his $2000 Shunyata power cord remarked, “I think Joseph’s might be better.” See his words of praise below. We’re so confident you’ll agree that we offer a free home audition, freight prepaid. And because Joseph is selling it factory direct instead of through dealers, he is able to avoid the five times mark up required to sell through a dealer network. Thus this superb Premium Series X Interconnectis available not at $850 to $1000 but at $195. ![]() As you are aware, the sound coming from your speakers is the culmination of an interconnecting chain from the microphone transducer and recording equipment through the various decoding and amplifying electronics to the loudspeaker transducer that reconverts the original signal into the music you’re listening to. This chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Just as the most sophisticated circuit design if it uses poor materials and component parts will never realize the potential inherent in its excellent circuit design, so electronics that produce very clean signals but pass these clean signals between each other through poor signal carriersinterconnects and speaker cable--will never realize the sonic potential inherent in the electronic components and loudspeakers. One must have excellent accessories to complement the excellent components used, which is why ComponentPlus, USA has made available interconnects and speaker cable designed to realize the full sonic potential inherent in your equipment. ComponentPlus interconnects and speaker cable are designed with the same eye for classic balance and harmony that characterize all ComponentPlus designs--the need is to maintain a harmonious balance between the signal carried by the positive and the signal carried by the neutral and ground. Imagine the positive and neutral wires to be a teeter-totter. It must be properly balanced or it will take more force on one end to raise the other. In a cable signal carrier this extra force gets translated into noise, compression, and masking. The same balance required in the teeter-totter is required in the wires, especially with respect to impedance if one is to reduce the force needed to move and transfer the signal. This concern with classical balance explains why ComponentPlus’ cable designs place as much importance on the impedance of the signal carried by the ground as by the hot wire. Preserving this balance is extremely important in the reproduction of harmonic texturethose identifying harmonics that distinguish a reedy clarinet from a reedy sax. We know that one of the main reasons some people prefer tube designs, despite losses in the noise floor and their higher impedance, over solid state designs is because tubes generate better second order harmonics than do solid state designs. Proper harmonics is critically important in preserving that intangible musicality that we prefer, and that we ascribe to tube electronics.
Imagine the sound signal as a tightrope walker walking across a high wire. Imagine that ComponentPlus’ balanced geometry and matching Q act as a balancing pole the tightrope walker can use to preserve his balance as he travels along the high wire. Because the pole is so long, even the smallest deviations from perfect balance are magnified, permitting the high wire walker to compensate before the imbalance begins to create destabilizing motional gyrations. In your sound system, the equivalent of these gyrations is masking noise. As a consequence of its classic, balanced architecture, the first thing that strikes one after listening to an ComponentPlus accessory cable is how quiet the signal suddenly sounds; then because of the lowered noise floor, one realizes that one has improved microdetail retrieval so that one can hear the reedy harmonic overtones of a saxophone more clearly than one has before, and string bass now really sounds like a resiny string bass. The sonic improvement we describe when using ComponentPlus accessory cables will occur with any component. Words of Praise for ComponentPlus and Audio Horizons Grannyring asked to audition a pair of balanced interconnects under our free home audition program. Here's what he wrote: "I love the interconnects. Thus far my listening has revealed your IC's to be world class in bass performance. I have listened to many cables in my system, some costing up to $1400 per meter, and the Series X are the best in this regard.The instrument focus is most amazing. The stage clearly delineates each instrument in front of me. The depth this cable brings to my music is something I have not yet experienced. Fantastic!" Grannyring ended up ordering a second pair of Series X interconnects, and recently ordered a Transparency XLR interconnect between his preamplifier and amplifier. Cedar writes: "Congratulations on the excellence of your Series X Premium interconnects. I've used the Series X interconnects for several months now. Prior to the ComponentPlus interconnects, I used Synergistic Research Resolution Reference X2 interconnects and, before that, various MIT interconnects. The ComponentPlus Series X delivers a purer sound, without coloration or edginess. Cables make a difference. I've listened to some of the most highly regarded interconnects and heard the improvement in my system. I found ComponentPlus Series X to be the best." Gamecock writes: "I have had a chance now to get a real handle on the Premium power cords and interconnects. Let me come right to the point, both products are outstanding. As you know, my first experience with Joseph's cables was the premium power cord. I had purchased one as part of the upgrade package for my vintage Kenwood L-01T tuner. I thought that both the upgraded tuner itself and the power cord were outstanding sonically. . . . It offers superior performance at a real world price. I had a similar experience with Joseph's interconnect. I compared it with . . . [My very expensive] interconnects in my system. In absolute terms, I found the [expensive] . . . cables to be a touch more refined. But at [several thousand dollars] . . . per meter pair versus $195 for Joseph's, I could not justify the extra expense. In a blind listening test, I'm not sure I could easily distinguish between the two. I plan to sell the [X] . . . interconnects and purchase Joseph's for my entire system. In short, Joseph's cable are a serious attack on the state of the art, and all at real world prices. With his home trial program, there is absolutely no good reason not to give them a listen. Potential customers can get the fine sound they seek and save a lot of their hard earned money in the process." ![]() ![]() |