Harmonic Technology Cables: Follow-Up

CLEMENT Perry has asked me to write a short note regarding what I have discovered about the Harmonic Technology cables in my system. I was exposed to this company a few months ago in my search to find a pure internal wire to use in my top speaker models. Although I am currently using a very high grade of solid copper wire with a foamed Teflon dielectric inside my speakers and believe it to be accurate, as well as great sounding, I am always interested in improving the performance of my designs. I had heard rumors of a new type of smelting process that could eliminate a form of distortion in regular copper wire and began to trace the source of this rumor. After contacting Robert Lee and Jim Wang of San Diego, I was given photographs taken by a scanning electron microscope. These revealing photos showed that normal copper wire is not homogenous but has crystalline barriers formed by the casting process. Harmonic’s OCC casting process greatly reduced these aberrations, and so I was excited to find if this wire had superior sonic differences. Naturally, the scientist in me is highly skeptical of such claims, while the audiophile in me always has eternal hope! Upon receiving a sample of this wire a few months ago, I prepared a blind A/B listening test to properly evaluate the sonic differences, if any, from my standard high purity oxygen-free copper solid core wire. Since in the past we found almost no measurable differences between brands of wire when using sensitive instrumentation, we have tended to rely on listening tests to make these decisions. For those who are familiar with my speaker design regimen, you will note that I use blind A/B comparisons to evaluate different drivers and crossover parts, so using this same method to compare wires makes scientific sense.

I had an assistant switch between the two cables, approximately 10ft long, while I listened to recordings through our reference VR-8 speakers, using a wide variety of electronics (we have about 8 brands in house for comparison tests). I was consistently able to hear not only subtle differences, but also what I regard as very important differences.

First, the Harmonic Technology wire has a "different" type of sound altogether; it is more open and transparent, allowing more detail to come through. However, this is not necessarily the same type of detail enhancement I hear with other highly regarded products, some of which seem to achieve their extra clarity by increasing treble energy. Brightness is an anathema to me, and I continue to hear this effect on many hi-fi products even today. The H-T wire is exactly the opposite; it has very clean sound without any treble emphasis, although I hear more treble information than ever before. However, this extra information is very well blended into the midrange, which is as thick and chunky as the real thing.

Also, and more importantly, it does not alter the sound of the signal appreciably. I hear far less coloration and frequency response errors with this cable than any other I’ve tested. I believe the balance between the very deep and controlled bass, and the extra rich mid/treble frequencies, to be nigh perfect. The reduction in "grain" was quite apparent, and must be attributed to the elimination of the crystalline barriers. Who knows, but it certainly makes listening to average recordings much easier. Glare, harshness, and distortion seem to be greatly mitigated, giving the sound a burnished glow that’s incredibly musical.

Does this mean that this is a perfect cable? I don’t know, perhaps someday something better will come along. But in the here and now, this is the most neutral cable I’ve experienced in my system so far and has thus earned my recommendation.

Albert Von Schweikert designs and manufactures reference loudspeakers for Von Schweikert Research. For more information, visit their website at www.vonschweikert.com or read the review of the VR6 loudspeaker in the september/october issue of planethifi.

The report sits naturally beside Planet HiFi’s period evaluations of WireWorld Atlantis II and the Silver Audio Hyacinth.