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Switching back and forth between original and new Panatela interconnects, the latter preserved all the delicate nuances and silky smoothness of the original but voices and instruments had a tad more body and richness. The biggest change was in perceived dynamics as well as a heightened sense of forward momentum and jump factor. Recordings sounded more exciting and visceral. Music burst into my room with a little more vim and vigor. While it’s not surprising to hear differences between interconnects in general, it was a bit shocking to hear such obvious differences between two cables that appeared to be identical. Whatever under-the-hood tinkering Mr. Coles has performed on these lovely soft white cloth-covered cables—a little nitrous-oxide injection perhaps—certainly upped the excitement.


The Panatela Digital was of a similar disposition - wide open, clean and clear as a spring day, lively nuanced with excellent delineation of musical detail if slightly lacking in the degree of weight and smoothness of the MIT Magnum which conversely didn’t come across as dimensional and visceral as the Panatela, being of a more restrained persuasion.

I did try running the Panatela speaker cables with other brands of interconnects and digital cables. I had similar observations as above but was never quite satisfied until I popped in the matching Panatela cables. Synergy is always a tricky thing in audio and probably more so with cables. Having said that, a couple of traits stood out that I think were attributable to the speaker cables. Firstly the bottom end was deep and fulsome. Secondly I noted no trace of bloat or overhang. Bass flowed with a good sense of momentum and excellent pitch definition. I particularly enjoyed running the Panatelas with the Capriccio Continuo Admonitor 311 and Submonitor speakers I had in for future review. In fact I thought those speakers mated with Audiomat electronics and Sablon Audio cables made for one of the top two or three setups I have had in my home. The gear vanished to such a degree that I actually forgot about taking notes or listening critically for a good 2 to 3-week stretch.


It’s odd that us hobbyists generally consider the best audio components—and I consider cables equally important—as those which seem to aurally disappear best. And we’re willing to spend small fortunes to have them disappear. Recently a non-audiophile dinner guest asked why I spend so much on audio equipment. My answer was, “so I can’t hear it”. I don’t think he quite understood until I spun some tunes. Try doing that with Bose gear and Radio Shack cable.

Finally being able to wire up my entire system with Sablon was revelatory. All the good things I had heard up to now in bits and pieces meshed together into one synergistic whole for a fine example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. With the matching interconnect, digital and speaker cables together, the words filigree and shadow kept coming to mind. While that's the title of a pretty good This Mortal Coil album, it also aptly underscores the strengths of these cables. They excel at the micro, the nuance, the light and shade of recordings. Compared to MIT’s considerably more expensive Magnum M1.3 cables, the Panatela’s brought the soundstage a little closer along with a sense of greater upper-band detail and air. The Magnums were superior in giving up the macro, the scale and the textural layering of the music but not quite the same degree of nuance and upper-band detail of the Sablon cables. Perhaps the Panatelas spot-lit the upper end of the spectrum a tad but they certainly didn’t come across as overly bright or etched. In fact they were wonderfully silky with no bite or glare whatsoever. And keep in mind that I was comparing them to cables about three times the price.