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REVIEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Sonic ART ‘ZEN’ Vario-core
speaker cable
ZEN is
how we would wish to feel when we sit down in front of our audio system and
immerse ourselves in the music….
ZEN is
Sonic Art’s new hand made speaker cable for 2025, borne from listening to
various speaker cables over the past 2 years, cables that retail for up to
$7500 a set, cables with big names and big reputations. We didn’t set out to
beat these mega cables, the aim was to meet them on the playing field and hold
our own, get as close to them as we could, and at the same time remove a zero
from the price!
Most of us are not in the position to spend thousands
of dollars on a set of speaker cables. We want a good level of performance, one
that gets close to the megabuck cables but at a sane price. The only way to get
this is to look at small boutique manufacturers who don’t have the
responsibility for dozens of employees or spend a huge percentage of their
budget on marketing and promotion. Sonic Art is small, specialised, and able to
spend time developing a quality cable without huge costs to do so.
ZEN is
a copper cable, I use Japanese copper, the Japanese have an intimate
relationship with audio, particularly analogue, and they produce some very
elegant raw materials. I have gone back to pure copper for speaker cable as I
am looking for that more intimate view into the music, I wanted a cable that
will suit every system, one that is extended at both ends of the frequency
spectrum yet smooth, the micro detail is still there, but the sound is more fleshed
out, solid transparency? We all know how hard it is to describe what we hear, ZEN has so far
shown a very detailed yet analogue musicality in the systems it has been tested
with, from conventional driver speakers to electrostatics, the
result has been the same.
ZEN features
eight conductors per channel, four heavier gauge and four lighter gauge giving
us 7mm² per terminal,
the conductors are copper! You wont find a millon nines, PCOCC or any other fancy designation used to
sell expensive cabling, we chose a high purity Japanese made copper wire with a
smooth detailed sound. Insulated with high grade Polyethylene, each set of 4
conductors feature a patterned twist, each the two twisted conductor sets are
lightly twisted together, then housed in the best USA made antistatic UV stable
hi temp polyester sheath. Beautiful machined anodised end caps finish the assembly, they allow the twisted conductor sets to exit the
sheath neatly. MilSpec heatshrink
provides colour coding & protection for the exposed conductor sets.
Termination is made with ‘THE BULLET’
gold plated beryllium copper shell banana plugs amplifier end, and SONIC ART
Gold plated Copper Spades speaker. Of course we can build the cable with
whichever connectors at whichever end you need! Simply add notes when you order
and we will adjust the cable design and pricing accordingly.
Sound?
Open, very detailed but not bright, deep bass response that remains tight,
leading edge attack is very apparent, the cable has good PRAT (pace rhythm
& timing) and a wide stage with well defined instrument placement and
layering. It’s a very good performing cable for the money!
SONIC ART ZEN Speaker
cable Specifications:
Wire: Japanese long grain copper conductors, Vario
Core sizing ratio. Multistrand conductors, 8 core with
7mm² per terminal.
Insulation: Hi grade Polyethylene dielectric. MILSPEC
Antistatic UV stable polyester sheath.
Connectors: ‘THE BULLET’ 4mm copper banana plugs amp end, SONIC ART
Copper spades speaker end.
Note: All Sonic Art Speaker Cables must be run in the direction of the
printing on the labels.
Sonic Art ZEN requires 50-100 hours
of use before reaching full performance.