FULL WIRING SET BY KIMBER KABLE REVIEW

I’m testing them today as a set. I normally use a variety of wiring in my stereo and was eager to know whether using a wiring set from a single manufacturer would provide better results. I consider this a more rigorous than usual comparison because my current equipment is toward the economy side of the high-end continuum, and certainly if I could detect differences on my system, such differences should be even more audible on higher resolution gear.

The Kimber Kable Wiring Set DOES make audible differences in my system over the usual mixed lot of wires, and, at least in my case, those changes are beneficial. The actual Kimber Kable wires that I used were:

• GOMINI-HB, 1-meter adapter cable (1/8” male stereo headphone plug to R/L male RCA plugs)
• Classic PBJ 1-meter interconnects using Kimber Ultraplate male RCA plugs
• Classic PBJ 1-meter interconnects using Kimber XLR connectors
• Ascent 4TC series speaker wires in eight-foot lengths using optional PM33 spade terminals

This Kimber Kable Wiring Set comes to me with high expectations. Back in the 1970s, the predominant wiring brands were Radio Shack (interconnects) and either lamp cord or Monster Cable (speaker wire). My favorite local audio salon at that time, Paul Kadair’s Audio of Baton Rouge, had just received their first shipment of a new product called “Kimber Kable” speaker wire. It was an unimpressive-looking braided wire sheathed in shades of black & brown, and the local audio clique (myself included) was HIGHLY skeptical that this stuff could sound audibly different from anything else.

So, we devised an audition test – we had the salesman cut a length of Monster Cable and one of Kimber, trimming them until they had equal resistance. The salesman then hooked up one side of a speaker pair with Monster, the other with Kimber. The audience quickly decided that this wasn’t a fair test – the different room effects of speaker placement had a much greater effect on the perceived sound than any expected difference in cable sound.

A switch box was then inserted, and a full set of Monster and Kimber alternately but randomly connected to the Acoustat 1+1 electrostatic speakers. The listening comparison proceeded, and yes, there was a distinct difference. Our peanut gallery quickly complained to the salesman again, pointing out that the Acoustat speakers were essentially a giant pair of capacitors, and that wire performance into them would be significantly different than into a pair of conventional speakers.

The long-suffering salesman (who by this time was actually getting into the test) wired up a pair of Snell A speakers instead of the Acoustats, and we continued the test. The audience found that we could discern the Monster Cable wires from the Kimbers 100% of the time without knowing which cables were active. The salesman even tried to trip us up several times by asking, “which are playing now” when he hadn’t actually switched the wiring at all; we caught him every time.

What differences were we hearing? The Kimber wires had a smoother frequency response and a less harsh treble but without any reduction in dynamics. The effect wasn’t beneficial with all speakers, but most speakers of the day had a bit of a treble zing, and the Kimbers made those speakers sound significantly more realistic.

I ended up buying a pair of those Kimber speaker wires that day, and they were one of my favorites for decades until a friend “borrowed” the cables one day and liked them too much to return them (he’s a GOOD friend).

So based on prior experience, I am expecting great things from the Kimber Kable Wiring Set.

• Secrets review of the Wireworld Eclipse-7 Speaker Cables
• Secrets review of the Wireworld Full Wiring Set

The Kimber Kable Wiring Set was evaluated using subsets of the following equipment:

• 4TB Western Digital external USB data drive
• Mac Mini configured as Roon server
• Audioquest Dragonfly Black 1.5 DAC
• Audio-gd HE-1 stereo preamplifier
• Black Ice Fusion F11 tube integrated amplifier
• Emotiva T2 tower loudspeakers
• Tekton Design Double Impact loudspeakers
• Emotiva PA-1 monophonic power amplifiers
• Starke Sound AD4.320 stereo power amplifier
• Emotiva TA-100 integrated amplifier
• Room treatments including absorbers and diffusers

The following wires were compared to the Kimber Kable set:

• Emotiva MSR-1.0 1/8” stereo male plug to dual RCA male plugs (vs. Kimber Kable GQMINI-HB)
• Audioquest Diamondback 0.5M XLR cables (vs. Kimber Kable PBJ XLR cables)
• Blue Jeans 0.5M RCA interconnect cable (vs. Kimber Kable PBJ RCA cables)
• Unknown speaker cables with locking bananas (vs. Kimber Kable 4TC)

During the Kimber Kable review, I had the opportunity to discuss some of the things I was most curious about with Mr. Thomas Kimball of Kimber Kable.

1. What is the Kimber design intent for different product lines?

The higher-end items do elevate the Sonics as well as the artistic presentation of the cable itself. They accomplish this with higher-end materials, more complex design, and much more hands-on labor during assembly and in-house fabrication of the associated components. The entry-level products are designed to maximize performance with simple yet effective designs.

2. What electrical parameters does Kimber use to create the “sound” of Kimber (resistance, capacitance, inductance, EMF shielding, metallurgy, etc.)?

The very foundation of Kimber Kable’s identity is rooted in the 16-wire braided speaker cable, 8PR. This multi-conductor braided cable drastically lowers series-induction which gives the speaker cable not only a high degree of immunity to noise but also wide bandwidth. In other words, Kimber low-impedance cable behaves less as a filter than any typical lamp-cord design. The Kimber Kable VS, TC, and CARBON speaker cables are based around the same central design concept with progressively higher-end materials used in their construction.

3. What quality control measures do Kimber use to ensure consistency between batches?

Kimber Kable Items are all handmade at our factory in Ogden Utah where we are constantly checking for irregularities and imperfections in the wire. 

Several wiring configurations were used for this review:

Configuration 1:

• Audioquest Dragonfly Black 1.5 DAC
• Emotiva MSR 1.0 wire
• Black Ice Audio Fusion F11 Integrated tube amplifier
• Unknown speaker cables
• Emotiva T2 speakers

Test Configuration:

• Kimber GQMINI-HB wire was substituted between the DAC and the integrated amplifier
• Kimber 4TC speaker cables were substituted for the previous speaker cables

Configuration 2:

• Audioquest Dragonfly Black 1.5 DAC
• Emotiva MSR 1.0 wire
• Starke Sound AD4.320 power amplifier
• Unknown speaker cables
• Emotiva T2 speakers

Test configuration:

• Kimber GQMINI-HB wire was substituted between the DAC and the power amplifier
• Kimber 4TC speaker cables were substituted for the previous speaker cables.

Two of the things that strike me the most in this track are the dynamics (from “turn it up piano interludes” to “turn it down” massive crescendos) and the way that percussion instruments (cymbals and triangle, particularly) “float” above the rest of the orchestra.

Yes, the bass is thunderous, as it should be. Even in the upper midrange and treble (that have been an occasional problem using my normal mishmash of mixed wires), the glare is mostly gone with the Kimber wires. I went back and forth twice between my normal wiring and the Kimber to be sure of what I was hearing – and I feel confident that the difference between glare and the smoother presentation in that frequency range must be attributed to the Kimbers.

The solid-state amplifiers (not only the Starke Sound but also the Emotivas) yielded incredible detail to the sound, but without the slight degree of warmth that the Black Ice Audio tube amplifier provided. The Kimber wires made the difference clear.

Once again, the transparency and detail of these recordings came through perfectly, but without the warmth that the Black Ice Fusion F11 tube amplifier provided. The upper midrange to lower treble wasn’t as harmonically rich with the solid-state power amplifiers, and the Kimber wires laid bare this difference.

Configuration-3:

• Audioquest Carbon USB cable from the server computer
• Emotiva TA-100 integrated amplifier with internal DAC
• Unknown speaker cable
• Emotiva T2 speakers

Test configuration:

• Kimber 4TC speaker cables were substituted for the previous speaker cables

And therein lies a tale. When I first hooked this configuration up, I got no sound out of either speaker. I eventually traced the problem to an incompatibility between Emotiva’s binding posts and the PostMaster 33 spade terminals of the Kimber Kable 4TC wire.

I usually use banana plugs, but the Kimber Kable 4TC speaker cables are terminated with PostMaster 33 spades. The spades are designed with two conductive plates with a compressible layer of rubber in between.

When these are used, and particularly if excessive force is used for tightening, the rubber between the blades compresses and pooches out some. This normally wouldn’t be an issue. However, the speaker terminals of the Emotiva TA-100 amplifier seem to have smaller-diameter shoulders than the average five-way binding post. The rubber of the terminal squeezes out just enough to keep its blades from making contact with the binding post’s shoulder. Therefore, the terminals appear to be not only fully inserted but also completely tight, but without making ANY electrical contact at all.

When I substituted banana jacks, everything worked normally. When I went back to the spade terminals and inserted one leg of the spade through the hole of each binding post, then tightened the threaded retainers, the system worked perfectly.

So FYI – should you ever get wires terminated with this sandwich-style of spade lug (and I don’t think I would recommend the PM-33s), don’t tighten them enough to cause pooching of the rubber and/or watch VERY closely the shoulder diameter of the binding posts you’re using. I guess another option would be to get an X-Acto knife and periodically trim off the excess rubber. Of course, if you hook the wire up once and never moves it again, this is all probably academic. But this was a head-scratcher until I discovered the cause.

And even though the $399 Emotiva TA-100 amplifier, the Kimbers improved both soundstage and transparency. It took me two or three swaps between the usual speaker wires and the Kimbers to decide, though.

Configuration-4:

• Audioquest Dragonfly DAC
• Emotiva MSR 1.0
• Audio-gd HE-1 Preamplifier
• Audioquest Diamondback XLR cable
• Starke Sound AD4.320 power amplifier
• Unknown speaker cables
• Emotiva T2 speakers

Test configuration:

• Kimber Kable GQMINI-HB substituted for the Emotiva MSR 1.0 wire
• Kimber Kable PBJ-XLR interconnects substituted for the Audioquest Diamondback
• Kimber Kable 4TC speaker cables substituted for the previous speaker cables

NOTE ON LISTENING TESTS: Once the “official” listening tests were concluded, I inserted a Schiit Loki equalizer, using the Kimber PBJ unbalanced interconnect into configuration 1. This provided the best sound of all, with a slight bit of upper midrange attenuation and a slight bit of high treble (15kHz) boost. The equalization, however, was used primarily to compensate for the amplifier used, not the interconnects.

Before I wrap up, I must, sadly, include a note of caution. There are a plethora of used or even new instances of Kimber Kable on the market, particularly on eBay, that may look like, and claim to be Kimber Kable, but most assuredly, are not. I once made the mistake of ordering a pair of 12TC Kimber Kables at a price too good to be true. And, in fact, it wasn’t true. The spade terminals on those fakes fell apart within a month. Real Kimbers just don’t do that.

In fact, Kimber even has a section on its website called “Counterfeits.” I reproduce it here because it’s so important:

Some things to look out for when purchasing Kimber Kable online:

1. Where is it shipping from? Any Kimber product shipping from Hong Kong or China is fake. Furthermore, any Kimber product shipping across any international border is probably fake.
2. Has the product been discontinued?
3. Is the packaging missing or incorrect?
4. ANY Kimber Kable from Alibaba or AliExpress is fake.
5. Any items selling as “new” or multiple available” from eBay, Audiogon, auction sites, or third-party marketplaces should be considered counterfeit. We cannot cover these items under our factory warranty.

The Kimber Kable Wiring Set made an audible and positive difference in my system. Although my effect was positive, you’ll need to try it yourself.

In most circumstances (three out of four equipment combinations), the Kimber Kable wires seemed to remove a bit of glare in the upper midrange/lower treble of my system. They also provided some of the most-plentiful, tightest, and most articulate bass that I’ve heard in my system. These artifacts marginally but audibly improved the sound of my system. I think that the effect was most profound in the first configuration of the test setups. The effects of the Kimber Kable on my systems were both audible and positive. But the effects seem to be heavily system dependent. Although your system will likely sound different with Kimber Kable, the question remains as to whether the audible effects will be as positive for you as they were for me. And the only way to find out is to try. Kimber has a generous return policy and if you don’t like the effects, you can return them for the (very trivial) cost of postage. Kimbers are durable, well-made, and not outrageously expensive; and if you buy from Kimber or an authorized dealer, a trade-up program is available should you wish to upgrade in the future.