Opinion 1
Since more than half a year has passed since the last Audio Video Show, it would seem that we have not only listened to everything we have spotted there, but even forgotten we did it. However, as this story proves, some things must ripen and come into their own time. This was the case with an intriguing novelty in the portfolio of the Polish WK Audio manufacture, which, although grabbing us by eye and ear, when agreeing on the delivery date, ended up in a pre-Christmas skirmish, amongst overwhelming amounts of all sorts of cables lying in our houses, and in a queue that needed to be urgently unloaded. And since we are not in the habit of taking anything for testing only to put it somewhere in the corner and allow to cover with dust and cobwebs, we agreed with Witek Kamiński (the founder and owner of the brand) that as soon as a „weather window” will appear on the horizon, we will gladly return to the topic. And since you are reading these words, it is a sign that such natural circumstances have finally arrived, and the first, and at the same time topline TheRed Speakers cable from the WK Audio catalogue has found its way under our roofs and finally we can share with you our extremely subjective reflections.
I hope that it is clear from both the above photos, and the nomenclature used by the manufacturer that TheRed Speakers are … red. I mean that this is the color of the textile braid from which their outer protective conduit is made. Compared to the power cords we have tested to date, it is worth noting that the manufacturer has moved away from massive aluminum couplers and splitters in favor of much lighter wooden counterparts. In addition, in order to counteract parasitic vibrations, the manufacturer reached for balsa, which is extremely rarely used in Hi-Fi while doing a great job in, for example, model making, so the cubes ending the “bloody” runs should be treated with appropriate care and attention, as this is a very soft type of wood, thus characterized by quite illusory resistance to all kinds of dents and scratches. Speaking of wood, it is worth mentioning that TheRed reaches the end user in impressive plywood boxes, richly padded with gray sponge, which did not make it to the above photo session due to the acquisition of a demo set circulating in the area for testing, but which could be admired at the last Audio Video Show. In terms of construction, TheRed Speakers are based on high-purity copper with a 4 mm² cross-section of used conductors. Importantly, the positive and negative conductors are not only separated („+” and „-” are separate wires), but they also have different setups. From the ergonomic point of view, the TheReds are extremely graceful to place and you can feel that under the red jacket the signal wires are led inside some extremely light and elastic filler (maybe polyester or silk wool, like offered by e.g. Acoustic Revive – PSA-100?). The cables are pre-assembled with top-of-the-line Furutech CF-201 NCF (R) spades, and any configuration of spade/banana plugs is possible to be fitted to the cables on request.
Since the tested cabling came to us straight from the battlefield, where potential buyers were squeezing the last juices out of it, we decided that the process of accommodation and burning-in can be reduced to the necessary minimum. Just a day or two to cool down the emotions, equalize the potentials and get used to the rather absorbing color, so different from the on-duty swirl behind the speakers. However, when the first timid sounds of the truly apocalyptic „Modern Primitive” album by the crazy Greeks from Septicflesh sounded from the speakers, it became clear that TheReds were not going to take prisoners, and knocked the argument out of the hands of cable-skeptics that cables cannot be heard, in an extremely ruthless way – because the presence of the „red” WK Audi was heard on a par with their physical and visible existence in my system. In a nutshell, this presence was confirmed by the extraordinary expression and spontaneity of the sound, the emphasis on the lower midrange and a veritable turbo charge of the lowest frequencies. And there was a lot to turn up, because it is worth bearing in mind that on the above-mentioned album we get a huge dose of uncompromising Death Metal, generously embellished not with samples dug out of the memory of synthesizers, but with the truest symphonic performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague and choirs composed of both adults and children. In short, it is a material that does not often have a chance to be present at all kinds of fairs, exhibitions and other audiophile presentations. It’s a pity, because it works like a powerful sieve sifting the wheat from the chaff and systems that deserve to be called high-end capable of playing everything from ordinary, nicely packaged shells, whose end of dynamic possibilities is marked by slick, sad tunes, where the bass extension ends with tambourine parts and the piano is usually replaced by a pianola or harpsichord. And here we have the full dynamic spectrum, bold edges of the sound spectrum, wide range of screams and growls, the momentum of a great symphonic orchestra combined with brutality of sharp guitar riffs and percussive blasts capable of clogging every weak link of not fully thought-out systems. And with TheReds, not only there was no cataract, but the permeability of the system’s bloodstream increased, and the sounds from the speakers were so spontaneous that I prophylactically began to check whether the energy supplier had increased the voltage as part of the weekend promotion. Interestingly, the increase of „expressiveness” did not go hand in hand with either offensiveness or bringing the first planes closer, so there was no need to prophylactically remove the tableware from fear of too much interest of the performers in the delicacies served. The stage was created from the line of speakers back and the gradation of planes was extremely harmonious, without too much emphasis on contours of the virtual sources located there. Admittedly, this does not mean truly impressionistic stains and smears instead of flesh-and-blood musicians, but the Polish wires are far from being overly sharp like the newest large-screen displays set in demo mode.
Changing the repertoire to a slightly more civilized one, i.e. „The Gathering” by Geri Allen, on one hand, showed the lyrical face of the tested speaker cables, but on the other hand, made it clear that as long as there is a rhythm section in the reproduced material, there is no way it will not be shown in an original and, what can I say, very attractive way. And it was just like this here, where the drum kit, bass and piano of the leader were characterized by infectious motoric skills and great timing, while the brass instruments charmed with golden juiciness of sound. There was an extraordinary, almost „tube-like” coherence and although the sound can be considered a bit, maybe not dimmed, but focused on the midrange and bass, there was no shortage of upper registers. In fact, those are presented with courage and great resolution, but due to their smoothness and creaminess, they do not hurt your ears and do not step out of line.
Maybe TheRed Speakers are newcomers in WK Audio’s portfolio, so far dominated by power cabling and anti-vibration accessories, but I am absolutely not surprised by the fact that instead of timidly breaking through to the consciousness of recipients from a more or less budget level, Witek Kamiński decided to immediately attack the audiophile Olympus. After what I had the opportunity to hear during their testing, it is safe to say that TheRed Speakers are high-end cables to the core, both in terms of dynamic and sophisticated sound, as well as construction details, starting from the type of wood selected during the listening sessions, to the anti-vibration „cubes” to the truly jewelry confection with the top Furutechs.
Marcin Olszewski
System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Ayon CD-35 (Preamp + Signature) + Finite Elemente Cerabase compact
– Network player: Lumin U2 Mini + Farad Super3 + Omicron Magic Dream Classic; I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RA4TB
– Turntable: Denon DP-3000NE + Denon DL-103R
– Phonostage: Tellurium Q Iridium MM/MC Phono Pre Amp
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Integrated amplifier: Vitus Audio RI-101 MkII
– Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Contour 30 + Brass Spike Receptacle Acoustic Revive SPU-8 + Base Audio Quartz platforms
– IC RCA: Furutech FA-13S; phono NEO d+ RCA Class B Stereo + Ground (1m)
– IC XLR: Organic Audio; Vermöuth Audio Reference; Furutech DAS-4.1
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Vermöuth Audio Reference USB; ZenSati Zorro
– Speaker cables: Signal Projects Hydra + SHUBI Custom Acoustic Stands MMS-1
– Power cables: Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power + Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Acoustic Zen Gargantua II; Furutech Nanoflux Power NCF; Esprit Audio Alpha
– Power distribution board: Furutech e-TP60ER + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi-50 NCF(R) /FI-50M NCF(R)
– Wall power socket: Furutech FT-SWS(R)
– Anti-vibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Switch: Silent Angel Bonn N8 + Silent Angel S28 + Farad Super3 + Farad DC Level 2 copper cable
– Ethernet cables: In-akustik CAT6 Premium II; Audiomica Anort Consequence + Artoc Ultra Reference + Arago Excellence; Furutech LAN-8 NCF; Next Level Tech NxLT Lan Flame
– Table: Solid Tech Radius Duo 3
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panels VMT
Opinion 2
If you follow our struggles with audio on a fairly regular basis, you certainly know the Plichtow cable manufacturer WK Audio. Its portfolio already includes several interesting products from the power department in the form of The Air, The One and The Red series, which are selling very well all around the world. However, the world is the world, but it would be good if a similar state of affairs took on the appropriate blushes also on the domestic market. That is why, when a new design is brought to life, the manufacturer does not forget about his compatriots and organizes appropriate test sessions. In this way, after an interesting meeting with an innovative-looking power cable, which had its conductor bundles parallel to each other, this time we will face the WK Audio TheRed Speakers column cable, which continues the “scarlet” product line.
As the photographs show, the above-mentioned model is not a typical, integrated structure. In this case, we are dealing with completely separate leads for the plus and minus signals. And not only that. Each of the cores, in addition to the use of proprietary weaves of high-purity copper conductors and proprietary insulation and anti-vibration protection, can also boast a slightly different internal structure. What is exactly is remains a sweet secret of the manufacturer, but one thing is for sure, the two leads are not twins. In the place where the diameter of the wire changed from thick and color from expressive red to thin and iridescent black was armed with a balsa cube that extinguishes vibrations. When it comes to termination, in the case of the test model, you can see the latest version of the spades manufactured by the Japanese Furutech CF-201 NCF (R). The cables presented are packed in an elegant plywood box padded with sponge and with an appropriate certificate of originality.
What are the features of the tested loudspeaker cable? Before I get to that, I would like to point out that in my opinion this is the best design from this manufacturer. And the reason for that is, that it takes care of opening up the sound on both ends of the spectrum, top and bottom. The mains cable from this series was also very good, but compared to the loudspeaker one, it was much more focused on showing the center of the sound spectrum. Meanwhile, the currently tested design, consistently follows the path of pleasantly increasing the excitement in the midrange projection – I naturally look at that referring to the power cable – added to the sound extra breath and appropriate amount of bass in relation to the midrange. For me, the sound became more equalized, i.e. each sub-range had the same contribution to the musical performance. It was a great move, because when turning up the energy of the midrange itself, sometimes well-made discs could present themselves as being slightly overweight. Calmly, not in the style of tiresome humming or booming, but as a gentle averaging of the information they contain. Meanwhile, letting the highest registers go loose allowed even the most polished material to show its full vitality. And that’s only half of the nice feedback of plugging in the tested cable, because I noticed similar, i.e. positive movements at the other end of the acoustic band. Well, the bass not only went further down, but also offered the necessary multi-coloring and speed. Thanks to this, the system did not have the slightest problem with showing the most important features of any musical story. Whether those were the inspired jazz mysteries of Adam Bałdych’s „Brothers”, where the well-seasoned set perfectly showed not only the emotions tormenting the musician while pouring even a single note onto the staff, but also the phenomenal virtuosity of handling the violin, which is not easy to master, or the brutal attacks of the unruly, otherwise very much liked by me, literally fighting for their five minutes on stage with the charismatic vocals of the frontman of the group’s guitars AC/DC „Highway To Hell”, any way of expressing oneself with the use of musical notations, thanks to the aesthetics of playing the tested speaker cables, easily introduced me to the smallest meanders of their existence. These are two different worlds, which, according to generally accepted “truth”, need slightly different polishing, yet our tested hero proved that it is enough to play evenly throughout the entire sound band, to be sure of a good sonic result. That is why at the very beginning I pointed out that for me this cable model is the best from the whole family. This does not mean, of course, that the rest are bad or weak, just not so universal. Focusing on specific features of the sound – even delicate ones, in the end in some sets may turn out differently, meanwhile, like the tested TheRed Speakers, the equal presentation of the full spectrum of frequencies makes the potential failure oscillate within the limits of statistical error. It was so small that even my system, after unplugging the Japanese Furutech, did not report the slightest quality problems, but only informed me about a slightly different, and not worse, approach to minor aspects of the presentation.
Do the features articulated in the above description allow me to recommend our hero to every music lover? I’ll say this. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t be formulating such a biased question. Question that, in one form or another, would have to be asked anyway. And since these several days with WK Audio TheRed Speakers clearly showed that equal playing will always defend itself, I had no problem with giving such a form of encouragement. Will every attempt be a success? Unfortunately, no. Plaintiff? Banal. It’s just that sometimes we put our toys together in such a twisted way that we cannot go around having a rescue in the style of adding some weight or slimming down the sound. Unfortunately – in a good sense of the word – the most important feature of our hero is equal sound, something that may turn out not being good for some systems having a „square” sound. But just so we understand each other, the fault will lie with the host, not the guest.
Jacek Pazio
System used in this test:
Source:
– transport: CEC TL 0 3.0
– streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + switch Silent Angel Bonn N8
– DAC: dCS Vivaldi DAC 2.0
– Master clock: Mutec REF 10 SE-120
– reclocker: Mutec MC-3+USB
– Shunyata Research Omega Clock
– Shunyata Sigma V2 NR
– Preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Pandora
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Apex Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker cables: Furutech Nanoflux-NCF Speaker Cable
IC RCA: Hijiri Million „Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Hijiri Milion „Kiwami”, Furutech DAS-4.1
Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
Ethernet cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, Furutech NanoFlux NCF, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante, Synergistic Research Galileo SX AC
– Table: BASE AUDIO 2
Accessories: Quantum Science Audio Red fuse; Synergistic Research Orange fuse; Harmonix TU 505EX MK II; Stillpoints ULTRA MINI; antivibration platform by SOLID TECH; Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END, FURUTECH e-TP80 ES NCF
– Acoustic treatments by Artnovion
Analog stage:
– Drive: Clearaudio Concept
– Cartridge: Dynavector DV20X2H
– Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II
– Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer: DS Audio ES-001
– Tape recorder: Studer A80
Polish distributor: Audiopunkt
Manufacturer: WK Audio
Price: 12 000 € / 2 x 2,5m