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The company is led by Edwin van der Kleij with a passion for metallurgy and cable design in general. In fact van der Kleij’s unparalleled transmission technology experience has resulted in contributions to the medical and aviation fields, both areas where exacting science is mandatory (no quarter for snake oil merchants here). But it’s via sustained research and development that Siltech flourished whilst establishing a culture of generational product evolution. The current series of cables have evolved to Generation 7 (G7) and feature the summation of Siltech’s extensive research into electromagnetic inductance and RF interference. The company claims these G7 cables to be "10.000 times quieter than the best-tested cable contenders". I can’t contest the validity of 10,000 times quieter but suffice to say that on a subjective level even if I questioned the magnitude of the measurement, I find no reason to dispute the claim completely. These cables were tomb quiet indeed. I’ll explain anon. I conducted a long video interview with in fact both van der Kleijs when a couple of months ago they visited Australia and our local distributor, the affable Boris Granovsky from Absolute Hi-End (Part 1 can be seen here).

Gabi van der Kleij is the head of the very successful—and in these pages well reviewed—Crystal Cable company. Siltech and Crystal Cable share the same manufacturing facility but have distinctive product lines that are quite different in aesthetics and design (thick twisted pairs for Siltech, thin coaxial for Crystal). Seeing how a number of important elements of Siltech's design philosophy have been thoroughly covered in the interview, I’ll provide less intense commentary today albeit still cover the design of the subjects at hand – the Siltech Classic Anniversary 550i RCA interconnect and matching 550L speaker cable.

As this is the element one encounters first when receiving these products, I must  mention the superb presentation, packaging and accompanying documentation. The cables come with a product engineer’s report card filled out upon assembly completion. It is individually signed and the cable allotted a unique serial number. The cables themselves are jewellery perfect so there is some serious quality and pride-of-ownership craftsmanship involved. Yes it should be all about the sound (and that’s there too, consider yourself ‘hinted’) but I’ve seen some pretty serious-money cables that looked like the dog just threw them up. The 550i and 550L are tie-a-knot flexible—a big bonus in my book!—exquisitely finished and aesthetically highlighted with a conical chrome collar engraved with the company logo, model name and unit serial numbers. Termination was via custom high-quality spades and RCAs for my review samples. Banana plugs and XLRs are available too.