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 greatest recognized for its interconnects and speaker cables, each for his or her hefty value and stellar efficiency. Its chief designer, Edwin van der Kley Rynveld, who invented a singular 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, instructed that I evaluate its new line of cables, I used to be greater than recreation.
The packaging for the Royal Double Crown Series that I obtained, one step from the very high of the road, may hardly have been extra placing—the darkish blue containers containing these gems have been festooned with giant golden royal crowns. The aristocrat of cables? After prying the containers open, I found a passel of pretty hefty-looking interconnects, speaker cables, and energy cords, whose building appeared 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 relating to the highest audio producers, who make use of silver for its pace 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 tough 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 tools that’s too relaxed and mellow, this was one thing else altogether—refined, wealthy, and rewarding. The first motion, which relies on the music “Through the Wood Laddie,” was an actual pleasure to pay attention by way of 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 virtually just like the inside glow of tubes, besides that there was (gulp) nary a tube within the system.
The soothing character of the Siltech was all to the great on “hotter” recordings corresponding to Count Basie’s traditional 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 corresponding to “H.R.H.” and “Segue in C” which can be assured to focus on the spectacular qualities of a great full-range stereo. One of the enjoyable issues about this recording is that the songs typically 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 really is leaping. Such is the case on “Segue in C”; the Siltech cables simply dealt with the super 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 absolutely obvious, together with these within the bass line. Indeed, I might 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 hearken 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 virtually appeared to plunge into the sonic depths, delivering a type 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 provide on the music “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 tools phrases, it will be as a single-ended-triode sound.
The composure and tranquility of the Double Crown cables most likely gained’t enchantment to listeners searching for extra razzle-dazzle or sizzle. These cables are in one other realm altogether. There is one thing greater than somewhat 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 type 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 lifeless 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 example, an pressing character that swept alongside all the things in its path with complete musical conviction.
The absence of grain together with the superior bass management and picture solidity of the Royal Double Crown be sure that it ranks among the many aristocrats of high-end cables. It could not have the identical supersonic pace because the Nordost Odin 2 or the heft of the Transparent Magnum Opus, nevertheless it 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 searching for efficiency match for a king would do properly to contemplate 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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