Both Big E and myself had had some very enjoyable experience with Siltech's Classic Anniversary range a couple of months ago. We came away extremely impressed with its loudspeaker cables range, the 330L, 550L and 770L. Big E called them his 'fairy sisters', remember that one? :-) That article was done so well by Big E that Siltech references to it with a link from their website's home page. Now, Big E listens to the seductive fairy sing in front of him every day. You see, he bought the 330L to be his reference.Being duly impressed so, we shall continue to check out the Siltech range. Here, we go into Siltech's Classic Anniversary powercord offering, the Siltech SPX-300 comes in with a list price of RM3,980 for 1.5m.
The Siltech SPX-300 is very well constructed, having the same high quality feel in its connection, its sheath, and the coolest design feature of all, in the Classic Anniversary range, the metal 'clamp' (looks like stainless steel to me) at one end of the cord. Holding it in your hand, you can feel that it is heavy, heavier than many other companies' offerings. The weight is attributable probably to the amount of metal in it and the clamp. Siltech says that the powercord is made of silver coated OFC (oxygen free copper).
Unlike the loudspeaker cables, which are very flexible, the body of the SPX-300 is stiff. It can be bent but does not hold its shape easily. This made the routing of this cable more difficult than others, so you probably want to consider having some free space behind your equipment.
I tried the Siltech SPX-300 on the Ayre C-5xeMP universal player. The powercord came burnt-in (a label on the cord mentioned that it was burnt in by ProBurn). However, I still found that it sounded best after 1 full day of continuous use.
The Siltech SPX-300 is so obviously cut from the same Siltech cloth. It offers the same beauty of sound that I heard in the loudspeaker cables (more of that later). When I first heard the powercord in my system, the thought that kept recurring in my head was, "Quiet, this is really quiet." Yes, the first prominent contribution of the Siltech SPX-300 was the noise-less background that it brought to the game. Music was played on a jet black canvas and the space between the players was just simply dark.
There was also excellent definition and separation of the sonic images. In 'The Linden' (second track) on Youn Sun Nah's 'Voyage' album, there was a shaker playing midway through the track (around 2:00), moving across the sound stage and front to back. I never heard this effect so clearly before the Siltech SPX-300, I could, not only hear each shake clearly now, but also 'see' its movement around the stage.
The SPX-300 also sounded very open at the top, and there was a certain sweetness in the highs too, just like the loudspeaker cables in the same range (though I have to say that the latter's effect was more pronounced). This character was, quite honestly, beguiling and addictive. The mids were beautiful too, it was articulate and rendered with finesse. The bottom was not particularly strong, but was confident and well controlled, more importantly it was balanced with the rest of the spectrum.
Another positive attribute I can't emphasize enough is its very good details and clarity. There was no soft lens to render anything with too much of a romantic hue (there was little if any ajinomoto in the sound, so to speak :-) ). Image edges were well defined and this clarity unveiled a new layer of details from the CD medium. Each image has its own acoustic space - a corollary from the quiet background which I touched on earlier.
I heartily recommend anyone looking for an excellent powercord to audition the Siltech Classic Anniversary SPX-300 powercord. See if you are also susceptible to the fairy's charms. :-)
Siltech is carried by CMY Audio & Visual, contact John, tel: 03-21439206
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