December 2001

Ensemble Dynaflux Interconnects and Megaflux Speaker Cables

by John Crossett

Review Summary Sound "I was suddenly aware that there seemed to be more music present" -- "I was hearing all these new low-level details on a disc that I’ve listened to many, many times before." "For the first time, I was hearing the orchestra as a group of distinct sections, all playing together. The dynamic swings were tremendous, and the sound of the hall was palpably real." Features "'High-purity copper'" cables whose materials and construction techniques aim at "lowering the noise floor and decreasing micro vibration." Use Both the speaker cables and interconnects are thin enough for easy bending and thick enough to retain their shape. Value "With kids, a mortgage, food, and all the other trappings of life nipping at my heels, I just can’t justify spending almost $6000 on cables," but the Ensemble cables "made music sound more real in my system, and that's what we’re supposed to be after, isn’t it?"

I guess you could call me the Audio Atheist. While I don’t attend the Church of the Almighty Measurement, neither do I bow down at the Alter of the Absolute Sound. No, I go my merry way proclaiming that while individual pieces of equipment do sound different, it’s up to each one of us to decide whether or not that CD player, turntable/tonearm/cartridge, amp, speaker or whatever brings us closer to what we perceive as real sound -- and thereby justify the cost of purchase.

But where oh where do cables fit into my belief system, and expensive cables at that? I’ve never been a proponent of pricey cables, but then what would you expect from the Audio Atheist? Don’t get me wrong -- I know that cables sound different one from another, but not so different that I would ever consider spending the amount of a decent used car on any of them. But then I’ve never had any big-dollar cables to play around with either, or at least until now.

When I opened the box from Artistic Audio, Ensemble's US distributor, and found Dynaflux interconnects ($850 USD per meter) and Megaflux speaker cables ($1430 per eight-foot pair ), I knew I was in for the vindication of my beliefs or an ear-opening experience.

Background & construction

Ensemble has been making high-quality audio equipment in Switzerland for 15 years. Incorporated in 1986 by Dr. Urs Wagner, who still heads the company, Ensemble currently has a 32-product line, of which the cables under review here are but a small part. There are electronics, speakers and power-line products too, making it possible to have an entire Ensemble, uh, ensemble.

There is very little information regarding the construction of these cables in Ensemble's product literature. However, a quick e-mail to the Brian Ackerman at Artistic Audio brought in the following facts. "High-purity copper" (How high? He didn’t say) is used for the conductors themselves. The conductors are then coated with a micro layer of "Film Shield Force," a proprietary material developed by Ensemble and used to shield against RF and lower the noise floor of the cables. Then Ensemble adds special resonance-control material, again to aid in lowering the noise floor and decreasing micro vibration. To quote Ackerman, "The construction is very precise in that each material used is providing a perfect pathway for the signal to flow through without disrupting its delicate nature." The locking RCA connectors (the review cables were single ended) are made of 94% pure beryllium copper, then gold-plated. They certainly look to be of high quality.

At approximately 1/3" thick, the Dynaflux interconnects are substantial enough to hold their shape, yet they are easy to angle for proper connection to equipment. I wouldn’t want to bend them at too sharp an angle, however, as that could damage the wiring inside. The Megaflux speaker cables are somewhat larger in circumference (but not of fire-hose size), but they too are easily placed and molded between amp and speaker.

Setup

I used the Dynaflux interconnects in between my Rega Planet 2000 CD player and Audio Research SP 6A preamp (in place of my usual Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II) and between my preamp and Sunfire Stereo power amp (in place of my Alpha-Core TQ2), and the two pairs of Megaflux speaker cables between the Sunfire amp and my Magnepan 1.6 Q/R speakers (to duplicate the biwire configuration I normally use with Alpha-Core MI2 copper cables). My VPI HW-19 Mk IV turntable/Butternut Audio-modified Rega RB-300 tonearm/Clearaudio Aurum Beta S cartridge is hardwired with DH Labs cable from tonearm to preamp (it has Cardas silver wire internally), so no substitution was possible there.

Sound

The first thing I did after replacing all my cables with those from Ensemble was to allow an appropriate amount of time for the cables to burn in. I then sat down to do some serious listening. As the cables burned in, I was suddenly aware that there seemed to be more music present. By that I mean that the sound was more a single entity than my previous mishmash of admittedly less expensive cables had ever let through. This wasn’t helping my belief system any.

Using CDs to begin the real evaluation process, I reached for the one disc I always grab when I listen to any new equipment: Clifford Jordan’s Live At Ethell's [Mapleshade CD-56292]. I was hearing that familiar wide soundstage, but a much deeper one than I’ve been used to. And the instruments were placed more palpably within that space. Then there was Clifford, just left of center, blowing air into and through his tenor sax. I was hearing all these new low-level details on a disc that I’ve listened to many, many times before. These details made the music sound more alive, more like I was sitting in the audience listening to Clifford and the boys play.

I picked out Doreen Smith’s In the Still of the Night [Fidelio Audio FACD 006] to test how well the Ensemble cables handled vocals. I was amazed at the way I could hear into the room, something I’d never noted previously. And Smith's vocals, which are the strength of this disc, made her sound more like a real person. She was singing just for me.

Another disc that has become a favorite of mine, ever since I saw the movie, is the soundtrack to Robert Altman’s Kansas City [Verve CD 314 529 554-2]. On "Solitude," there is a bass duet between Christian McBride on the left and Ron Carter on the right. It was sooo easy to hear the differences, both in their styles of play as well as the different basses, with the Ensemble cables in my system. And when Don Byron entered on clarinet, he seemed to soar in from out of nowhere. It was a simple thing to follow him as he raised his clarinet up and down and moved it from side to side during his solo.

Digging into my vast treasure trove of black gold (aka, vinyl records), I slipped John Prine’s Bruised Orange [Asylum LP 6E-139] on the VPI and sat back and enjoyed "That’s the Way the World Goes Round." In the very beginning of the track, Prine flubs his guitar line, stops, jokes with the band, and then restarts the song. The Ensemble cables brought this track to life. I could better hear Prine’s voice flowing back into the room as he turned to his fellow musicians. There’s a pennywhistle used on this track too, and the Ensemble cables brought out the sharpness of the whistle sound as well as the breath needed to make it. A wonderful job, one I was learning quickly to enjoy.

Moving on to Classic Records reissue of the RCA Pictures At An Exhibition [Classic Records LSP-2201] with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony, I found that this was the record that showed me what the Ensemble cables did better than any other cables I’ve heard in my system. For the first time, I was hearing the orchestra as a group of distinct sections, all playing together. The dynamic swings were tremendous, and the sound of the hall was palpably real. While these things did not represent a huge difference over my previous cables, they were easily noticeable and musically significant.

Comparisons

After listening to all the Ensemble cables for a while, I began to do direct comparisons with the cables I was using. I started by putting the Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II cable back between my CD player and preamp in place of the Ensemble Dynaflux and popped the JVC XRCD of Joe Beard & Ronnie Earl’s Blues Union [JVC JVCXR-0025-2] into the CD player. Big difference! The Harmonic Technology cable was far more forward than the Ensemble interconnects, sharper-sounding, with better edge definition and a much wider soundstage too. But there was noticeably less depth, and the integration of sound within the soundstage was also lessened. Low-level detail, while there with the Harmonic Technology cables, didn’t seem to work into the fabric of the music as completely as with the Ensemble interconnects and tended to call attention to itself a bit more.

Putting the Dynaflux back between CD player and preamp, I changed to the Alpha-Core TQ2 between preamp and power amp. This served to illustrate these points again. Once more, I got a wider, but less deep soundstage (but, surprisingly, there was more depth than with the Harmonic Technology cables). Going back to Kansas City, the definition between the basses was still easy to discern, but it was just not the equal with the Dynaflux in use. Also, the sense of the room was somewhat diminished via the Alpha-Core interconnects. However, the balance between detail and musicality was the same; both cables did a superb job.

It was the Alpha-Core MI2 speaker cables that suffered most in comparison to the Ensemble Megaflux. Using Art Pepper’s LP Saturday Night At The Village Vanguard [Contemporary LP 7644], I noted that while the soundstage stayed about as wide, depth was considerably lessened, and images weren’t set into the stage with anywhere near the same precision. Bass was consistent, both cables doing an excellent job of both depth and definition, but the piano lost some of its presence, and Pepper’s alto sax was noticeably less real-sounding.

Summing up

OK, I have to admit to having had my belief system shaken by these Ensemble cables. They sounded more like real music than my usual cable setup. That "suspension of disbelief" thing was easier to accomplish with the Ensemble cables than those I was previously using. I’m really going to miss all of the Ensemble cables (especially the Megaflux speaker cables) when I have to send them back, and more than I thought I would.

But whether or not I would own the Ensemble Dynaflux and Megaflux due to what I heard during the review process is another matter altogether. While I thoroughly enjoyed what the cables did in my system, I still feel that, as with many other high-end cables, the price is suspect. However, if I won the lottery, I might well spring for these superbly musical cables to use as my reference. But in the real world, with kids, a mortgage, food, and all the other trappings of life nipping at my heels, I just can’t justify spending the almost $6000 the review set of cables would cost. There are too many fine, less expensive alternatives out there that get me almost as close at a fraction of the cost. But -- and this is important -- I won’t begrudge anyone who feels that these Ensemble cables are worth their cost. They made music sound more real in my system, and that's what we’re supposed to be after, isn’t it?

His belief system shaken, the Audio Atheist lives on, a sadder, but wiser man.

...John Crossett
johnc@soundstage.com

• Current Issue Equipment Reviews