Siltech Royal Double Crown Interconnects and Loudspeaker Cables

Siltech is positioned within the Netherlands, the place it started manufacturing audio merchandise in 1983. They embody the Siltech SAGA System amplification, which was reviewed by Jonathan Valin in 2014, and the mighty Symphony loudspeaker, launched in 2021. But the corporate might be finest identified for its interconnects and speaker cables, each for his or her hefty worth and stellar efficiency. Its chief designer, Edwin van der Kley Rynveld, who invented a novel silver-gold alloy in 1997, enjoys a excessive status within the audio trade. When Rich Maez, previously of Boulder Amplifiers now the American distributor for Siltech, recommended that I overview its new line of cables, I used to be greater than sport.

The packaging for the Royal Double Crown Series that I acquired, one step from the very high of the road, might hardly have been extra putting—the darkish blue packing containers containing these gems have been festooned with giant golden royal crowns. The aristocrat of cables? After prying the packing containers open, I found a passel of pretty hefty-looking interconnects, speaker cables, and energy cords, whose building seemed to be meticulous. The cables are properly shielded—a dual-layer insulation of DuPont Kapton and Teflon coupled with a Hexagon air insulation is meant to decrease inductance and capacitance. Nestled inside all this shielding are Siltech’s S10 monocrystal silver-wire conductors. The connectors are constructed from pure silver, as properly. The build-quality seems to be impeccable.

What did the cables sound like? Abandon all preconceptions about silver cables being harsh or rebarbative or vibrant. Fiddlesticks. Those days appear to be long gone with regards to the highest audio producers, who make use of silver for its velocity and purity. Whatever annealing course of Siltech is using—and it’s clearly a superb one—proper out of the field the cables sounded darned good. Indeed, the Royal Crown cables produced a lustrous sound that was troublesome to neglect. Instruments emerged from about as black a background as I’ve ever heard. Forget that. It was obsidian. Take the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch performed by Joshua Bell with the venerable Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, a fascinating orchestral work that I’ve been listening to fairly a bit. Through the Wilson WAMM loudspeakers and darTZeel NHB-468 amplifiers, it was a supremely velvety sound. Not just like the notorious “Dockers” time period that my new colleague Michael Fremer likes to make use of as a disparaging phrase for gear that’s too relaxed and mellow, this was one thing else altogether—refined, wealthy, and rewarding. The first motion, which is predicated on the track “Through the Wood Laddie,” was an actual pleasure to pay attention by the Siltech cables. They conveyed the sonority and sheen of the string part with marvelous constancy, permitting Bell’s rubatos to emerge with tender poignancy. Throughout, there was no trace of any stridency within the treble. Instead, there was a lifelike high quality to the sound. It was nearly just like the internal glow of tubes, besides that there was (gulp) nary a tube within the system.

The soothing character of the Siltech was all to the nice on “hotter” recordings reminiscent of Count Basie’s basic Chairman of the Board, launched in 1959. This kick-ass recording was one of many late David Wilson’s favorites–a showstopper, loaded with nifty numbers reminiscent of “H.R.H.” and “Segue in C” which are assured to spotlight the spectacular qualities of a very good full-range stereo. One of the enjoyable issues about this recording is that the songs usually start with Count Basie plunking away, quietly accompanied by a bass, then the remainder of the orchestra joins in, one after the other, till the joint actually is leaping. Such is the case on “Segue in C”; the Siltech cables simply dealt with the great dynamic surge on this quantity. Also spectacular was the panache with which the cables locked down the varied sections of the orchestra, starting from the muted trumpets on the far proper to trombones on the left. All nuances and particulars have been totally obvious, together with these within the bass line. Indeed, I’d be remiss if I didn’t single out the bass efficiency of the Siltech cables for particular commendation.

Put bluntly, they laid down the regulation proper from the second I inserted them. John Giolas of DAC producer dCS in Great Britain not too long ago visited me to take heed to the brand new Vivaldi Apex CD/SACD gear in my system and launched me to James Blake’s album Friends That Break Your Heart. Giolas and the album didn’t. Nor did the playback on “Famous Last Words.” Right from the outset, the Siltech cables nearly appeared to plunge into the sonic depths, delivering a sort of deep propulsive character to the synthesized bass. Immediately obvious, as properly, was the creamy sound of the treble. Blake’s falsetto sounded ethereal, and feminine vocals have been only a trace extra detailed than I’m accustomed to by way of the WAMM.

Adding within the Siltech energy cable solely intensified these attributes. On the Proprius recording Cantate Domino, I used to be taken by the deep bass these cables helped to supply on the track “O Helga natt.” The sound grew to become even hotter and extra fulsome. The sense of refinement and palpability additionally went up one other notch. They additionally go deep into the corridor—on “Silent Night” on the Proprius recording, the cavernous sound of the church was overwhelming. If I needed to describe the cables in plain stereo gear phrases, it might be as a single-ended-triode sound.

The composure and tranquility of the Double Crown cables in all probability gained’t enchantment to listeners on the lookout for extra razzle-dazzle or sizzle. These cables are in one other realm altogether. There is one thing greater than a bit of spooky in regards to the degree of element coupled to the refinement they provide. On Murray Perahia’s imaginative recording of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata for Deutsche Grammophon, for instance, the cables provided a sort of rhythmic stability that made it even simpler to observe his use of the piano pedal. Ditto for a Rolf Smedvig recording for Telarc with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra of Torelli’s Trumpet Concerto. Once once more, I heard the uncanny rhythmic solidity of trumpet and orchestra with unprecedented accuracy. There was no sense of slippage. The notes popped out of the piccolo trumpet. The transient assaults, in different phrases, have been useless on. On the Berlin Academy for Ancient Music’s recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos for Harmonia Mundi, the precision of the rhythm rendered the accents of the string devices immediately understandable, once more to a level that I’m undecided I’ve hitherto skilled. It gave the much-beloved third concerto, as an illustration, an pressing character that swept alongside all the things in its path with whole musical conviction.

The absence of grain together with the superior bass management and picture solidity of the Royal Double Crown be certain that it ranks among the many aristocrats of high-end cables. It could not have the identical supersonic velocity because the Nordost Odin 2 or the heft of the Transparent Magnum Opus, but it surely brings its personal set of virtues to the desk. Nothing is brummagem in regards to the efficiency of the Double Crown. Quite the opposite. These cables deserve each accolade that will get showered upon them. Anyone on the lookout for efficiency match for a king would do properly to think about them.

Specs & Pricing

Royal Double Crown interconnect: $18,100/1 meter
Royal Double Crown loudspeaker cable: $37,500/2 meter
Royal Double Crown energy wire: $15,300/2 meter

MONARCH SYSTEMS LTD. (U.S. Distributor)
16 Inverness Place E, Building B
Englewood, CO 80122
(720) 399-0072
monarch-systems.com

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