March 2010 Reviewed by Howard Kneller	WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6 Interconnects, Silver Eclipse 6 and Horizon Speaker Cables, Gold Starlight 6 Digital Cable, and Silver Electra 52 Power Cords

Description Model: Silver Eclipse 6 interconnect Price: $699.95/1m pair Model: Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cable Price: $2449.95/2.5m pair Model: Horizon speaker cable Price: $4.07/foot Model: Gold Starlight 6 digital audio cable Price: $499.95/1m Model: Silver Electra 52 power cord Price: $699.95/2m Warranty: Limited lifetime. System price: $16,926.26 (as tested, with custom lengths as described) Features Silver Eclipse 6 interconnect DNA Helix conductor design Composite Dielectric Technology insulation Patented SilverTube connectors

Features (cont'd) Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cable 10-gauge per polarity silver-clad OCC copper conductors Diagonal DNA Helix conductor design Available terminated with banana plugs or spade lugs Horizon speaker cable 16-gauge oxygen-free copper conductors Available terminated with banana plugs or spade lugs Gold Starlight 6 digital cable OCC solid-silver conductors DNA Helix cable design Composite Dielectric Technology insulation Proprietary jitter-reducing design features Patented SilverTube connectors Silver Electra 52 power cord 12-gauge conductors of silver-clad OCC copper Connectors of silver-clad OCC copper Noise Filtering Array design minimizes noise and damps resonances Dual foil shields of low-impedance copper Silver-clad copper-alloy plug contacts

There are a lot of audiophile cable makers out there. Lured by visions, accurate or not, of the sort of profit margins enjoyed only by drug dealers and some Florida theme parks, and aided by the fact that there are virtually no barriers to entry, everyone from DIY guys to component manufacturers seem to be taking a run at selling cables. And because there are so many cable companies, it doesn’t matter what your connection to this hobby is -- audiophile, manufacturer, public relations, press -- it’s not uncommon that you’ll come across a cable company you’re unfamiliar with.

Such was the case for me and WireWorld Cable Technology. Although I’d heard of the company a long time ago, I never really knew much about them. To me, the name alone sounded decidedly downscale, even mass market.

Not.

When three large boxes of WireWorld cables showed up at my door, it quickly became apparent that there was nothing at all downscale about them: not the cool, mostly flat designs, not the jewel-like construction, and not the silk-like material lining the shipping boxes.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. David Salz, WireWorld’s president and chief designer, entered the cable business in 1982, when he founded Straight Wire. In 1992 he sold that company and founded WireWorld. Over the years, Salz has earned a rock-solid reputation for good cable designs. The keystone of his approach is to compare the sound of a system using his cables to that of a system which uses no cables at all. Salz feels that, more than any other cables, his cause components to sound as if they’re actually hardwired together. In fact, Salz has developed a device that creates a direct, cable-less connection between components, and allows any set of cables to be compared to that standard. At this point, I was more than a bit curious to hear -- or not hear -- his products.

Salz sent me enough cables to outfit my entire multichannel rig -- a very expensive proposition: a Gold Starlight 6 digital cable ($849.95 per 2m length) between my disc player and A/V processor; 5.5 pairs of Silver Eclipse 6 RCA interconnects ($1199.50/2m pair), which I used between my disc player, processor, and amplifier, and one 4m length ($1099.98) between the processor and subwoofer; 1.5 pairs of Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cables ($2449.95/2.5m pair) cables for my two main channels, and a single cable ($1004.98/2m) for my center-channel; a pair of Horizon speaker cables ($121.95/30’) for my rear channels; and seven Silver Electra 5² power cords: five ($699.95/2m) for my various components, and two ($949.95/3m) for my electrostatic main speakers.

Silver Eclipse 6 interconnect

The Silver Eclipse 6 interconnect has silver-clad conductors of Ohno Continuous-Cast (OCC) copper. These metals are generally regarded as the purest of their type that is commercially available. The conductors are insulated with high-grade materials, including specialized composites that utilize WireWorld’s Composite Dielectric Technology. The company claims that, unlike conventional insulators such as Teflon or polyethylene, these insulators virtually eliminate noise-modulation distortion. These insulators are wrapped in an outer jacket of PVC, itself covered in a cool-looking black mesh.

The Silver Eclipse 6 features what WireWorld calls its DNA Helix design. They state that, to minimize electromagnetic loss, a cable’s positive and negative conductors need to be very close together -- thick, round conductors can’t be positioned closely enough unless they’re flattened, twisted, and arranged just so. WireWorld claims that the DNA Helix allows the four conductors of the Silver Eclipse 6 to be positioned so as to neutralize electromagnetic fields (such as inductance, the skin effect, and eddy currents), which can degrade the sound quality. This twisted design means that, unlike most of the other cables discussed below, the Silver Eclipse 6 is circular in cross section.

The Silver Eclipse 6 also uses WireWorld’s best connector, the patented SilverTube, made of silver-clad, oxygen-free copper (OFC). They feature a silicone rubber tension band, which, as I witnessed firsthand, cause the connectors to grip the RCA plug with remarkable tightness. According to WireWorld, these connectors create the lowest contact resistance possible.

Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cable

The flat Silver Eclipse 6 speaker cable comprises 12 flat conductors of silver-clad OCC copper totaling 10 gauge per polarity. The conductors are stacked in a diagonal pattern that WireWorld calls its Diagonal DNA Helix design.

While the conductors are rather wide, they’re as thin as a single strand, and there are enough strands to provide very low resistance. Because the strands run parallel to each other, they provide the most direct signal path possible. Further, like a focused lens, the space between the two polarities is tuned to approximate the sound of a direct connection. The conductors of the Silver Eclipse 6 are surrounded by a dielectric of high-density polyethylene, in turn sheathed in a PVC jacket and a mesh overlay.

The Silver Eclipse 6 comes standard with spade terminations. Banana plugs are optional.

Horizon speaker cable

The Horizon speaker cable is also flat, with parallel strands. This inexpensive model comprises conductors of 16-gauge OFC in a PVC jacket. Like the Silver Eclipse 6, the Horizon comes standard with spade terminations; banana plugs are optional.

Because the Horizon is not only flat but extremely thin, it tends to develop kinks during setup. I’d experienced similar problems with some flat Nordost cables. However, like the Nordosts, the WireWorlds are very flexible and can easily be bent to remove any kinks. Once they were in place in my system, the kinking problem didn’t recur.

Gold Starlight 6 digital audio cable

WireWorld states that computer signals can be transmitted and saved without loss. This is because they are transmitted as blocks of data that are robust because they don’t depend on maintaining a specific timing between the sending and receiving components. During playback, however, digital audio signals are transmitted in the form of datastreams, which are said to be more fragile -- to avoid losses, the processors of both the transmitting and receiving components must remain perfectly locked to the timing of the signal. WireWorld states that, as a result, digital audio equipment, including cables, create a type of error known as jitter, which cause portions of the audio signal to be removed and replaced with noise and distortion. Cables in particular, the company says, tend to round off the square waveforms of the signal, making them difficult for a processor to read.

The Gold Starlight 6 digital cable is designed to minimize jitter through the use of the various technologies discussed above, such as the DNA Helix design and Composite Dielectric Technology. Its flat conductor is made from a solid strand of OCC silver. Like the Silver Eclipse 6 interconnect, which also uses the DNA Helix design, the Gold Starlight 6 is circular in cross section. The Gold Starlight 6’s Composite Dielectric Technology insulation is wrapped in the aforementioned PVC jacket and black mesh, and the cable is terminated with SilverTube connectors.

Silver Electra 5² power cord

WireWorld power cords are designed quite differently from their audio and video cables. According to the company, an ideal signal cable would pass along the entire frequency range without altering it. However, the company states that an ideal power cord would pass along only the 50Hz or 60Hz AC power while blocking all other frequencies, thus preventing power-line noise and frequency multiples of 60Hz (the latter are called power-line harmonics) from degrading performance.

All of WireWorld’s power cords use a proprietary Noise Filtering Array design, which consists of a flat geometric structure. This design also includes unique composite insulating materials. The company states that the combination of these features maximizes the cords’ powers of inductive and capacitive filtering, by which they can absorb power-line noise, frequency multiples of 60Hz, and damping resonances that other cables, and even power conditioners, can’t. This means that the cords act as low-pass filters. Regardless of the details of this technology, flat power cords, like flat speaker cables, look a lot cooler than the usual cylindrical shape.

Like WireWorld’s signal cables, the Silver Electra 5² power cord uses conductors and connectors of silver-clad OCC copper. WireWorld claims that this makes them extremely quiet and subject to very low attenuation. The 12-gauge conductors are closely coupled to dual low-impedance shields of copper foil. According to WireWorld, these shields cancel unwanted energy that can degrade performance. The shields are covered with Composite Dielectric Technology insulation, this in turn wrapped in a PVC jacket. The plug contacts are of silver-clad copper alloy.

Performance

Due to the sheer number of cables involved, and the fact that many of them share common materials and design attributes, I evaluated all of the WireWorld cables collectively. What I found was that these cables got both the big stuff and the little stuff right.

Looking for samples of the big stuff, I pulled out the Blu-ray edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Throughout the movie, whenever Harry or one of his enemies waved a magic wand, the WireWorlds let my speakers and subwoofer produce explosions that not only went deep, but also impressively articulated each erupting ripple. One of my favorite parts of any Potter movie is the annual Quidditch match. As even casual Potter fans know, this fictional game resembles a cross between football and soccer, played in flight on witches’ brooms. With the WireWorld cables in my system, the sounds of the players racing through the air during this season’s match were fast, detailed, and visceral.

Speaking of series, I am no fan of network TV. However, I’m addicted to Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles, in which John Connor and his mom once again find themselves hunted by robotic killing machines from the future. What struck me while watching the DVDs of the second season of this series, now itself terminated, was how my well my system, linked by the WireWorlds, addressed the little things. For example, they excelled at separating the foreground action from the background effects. Whether it was the sounds of chatter in a crowded bar (episode 17), distant running water in an abandoned offshore oil platform (episode 18), or music from a nearby car in a parking garage (episode 19), these Foley effects seemed to be physically distanced from both the dialogue and the other more central effects.

Lest there be the slightest doubt, these cables did music, and did it well. One test track I often use to evaluate equipment is "Parallels," from Yes’s Going for the One (CD, Atlantic 82670). This recording is obviously intended make a big sonic statement. What I have found, having listened to a lot of cables, is that many of them are not fully up to the task. However, the WireWorld cables didn’t disappoint. Rick Wakeman plays a massive church organ on this track, which was recorded at St. Martin’s Church in Vevey, Switzerland. This performance sounds big, full, and rich through the right gear, and with the WireWorld cables these traits came through with flying colors. In addition to correctly sizing the church organ, what struck me was how the cables permitted the majestic sound of the instrument to shine through the recording.

The grandeur of "Parallels" is augmented by the generous use of reverb on Steve Howe’s guitar. During my listening sessions, the WireWorld cables allowed my gear to separate out the resonant echoes and let their decay impressively languish, thus further adding to this recording’s sense of vast scale. And Jon Anderson’s voice was as clean and uncolored as I could ask for.

All in all, I found that the WireWorld cables offered an energetic and lively sound with a low level of noise. Focusing on tonality, I found that the WireWorlds were primarily neutral, with a very slight upper-range bias. Nonetheless, they were in no way bright. Indeed, this tonal character was evident no matter what equipment I used. For example, the WireWorlds demonstrated the same upward tilt when I switched out my Bryston 6B-SST2 amp for my Halcro MC50.

Initially, in light of David Salz’s statement that he voices all of his cables to be completely neutral -- indeed, prides himself on it -- I was surprised at this bias, no matter how minor it was. But perhaps I shouldn’t have been. If you gather a group of audiophiles in a room, you’ll discover how difficult it can be to get them to agree on what, precisely, is a "neutral" sound. Throw in the fact that Salz designs his cables to sound neutral in comparison to the sound of a direct connection, and it becomes apparent that one man’s neutral can be another’s slight upward tilt.

Either way, since the upward tilt that I heard was very subtle, my guess would be that these cables would work well with a large variety of systems. This proposition was tested when, much to my neighbor’s delight, I installed the WireWorld speaker cables and power cords in his system, which consisted of a Rotel receiver and B&W speakers. The WireWorlds worked as well in his system as they had in mine.

Comparison: Beauty meets Beast

I compared the WireWorld cables to my reference Synergistic Research Tesla cables. On one hand, the two families of cables share a significant physical trait in that their conductors are closely aligned. Both WireWorld and Synergistic claim that this not only increases their cables’ performance, but also allows them to be harmonically voiced. However, the similarities may very well end there, at least in terms of appearance: The flat, jewel-like WireWorlds diverge from the extremely utilitarian look of the conventionally tubular Synergistics.

Visual considerations aside, the sonic differences between the two sets of cables were considerable. As described above, WireWorlds were principally neutral in tone. However, as described in my April 2009 SoundStage! review of some of the Synergistic Teslas, those products display varying tonalities and other sonic signatures, depending on the specific cable used. This was true even though each of the Synergistic cables hailed from the same Tesla family. The Synergistics even sound different depending on where you place them in your system. This was not true of the WireWorlds.

This is why the Synergistics, unlike the WireWorlds, can’t be haphazardly thrown into a system. Instead, they must be carefully matched to the sonic strengths and weaknesses of the individual components and other cables used. While the Synergistics will greatly reward those willing to make the investment in time and trouble, the WireWorlds are, in comparison, an easy upgrade.

Which did I prefer? Well, at $6500/8’ pair, the Synergistic Research Apex speaker cables sounded resoundingly better in virtually every way than the WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6 at $2449.95/2.5m pair. No real surprise there -- the latter costs much less. But comparing the WireWorld speaker cables to my former reference, the Synergistic Accelerators ($1700/8’ pair), made for a somewhat closer horserace. When it came to dynamics, inner detail, and presence, I generally preferred the Accelerators. Moreover, where the Accelerators were unchallenged was in imaging, soundstaging, and the ability to render a three-dimensional presentation. Yet the WireWorld Silver Eclipse 6 pulled the occasional upset, especially in terms of refinement.

Aside from any sonic preferences, if you’re a tweaker, you’ll likely be right at home with the Synergistics. If you’re more a set-it-and-forget-it type, you should probably try the WireWorlds.

Look, mom -- no cables?

Not having the benefit of using David Salz’s direct-connecting testing device, I don’t know what a system hardwired together sounds like. But that doesn’t mean I can’t tell that the WireWorld cables are top-notch. They sound and look great, and they’re as close to plug-and-play as any set of cables I’ve auditioned. Yes, you can get your cables from a DIYer, a component manufacturer, or even some guy on the corner displaying his wares under his raincoat. But chances are you’ll be best served by first checking with a guy like David Salz, who for almost 30 years has been doing nothing but designing great cables.

Manufacturer contact information:

WireWorld, Inc.
12349 SW 53rd Street, Suite 201
Cooper City, FL 33330
Phone: (954) 680-3848
Fax: (954) 680-1525

Website: www.wireworldcable.com

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