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With Sonny Rollins being a guest artist on the above record, it prompted me to pull out his classic The Bridge [RCA APL1-0859, reissue]. On the title cut, Sonny plays at a frenetic pace. The Liveline captures this energy and speed while allowing the full harmonic bloom of Sonny's saxophone to shine at the same time. This is no easy task in the world of audio. Don't get the idea that Liveline is only good on fast-paced music. Not at all! The next cut on this album is Sonny's version of "God Bless The Child". The slow tempo and tonal subtleties of Sonny's playing are revealed with a quality that is totally captivating.

I would be remiss not to discuss how the Liveline cable portrays drums in a way that is standard-setting in my personal experience. On Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section [OJC-338, S-7532), drummer Philly Joe Jones plays a solo two-thirds of the way through "Tin Tin Deo". The weight of the impact coupled with the retrieval of all of the decay nuances gave this a realism that had my girlfriend Mary just repeat Wow! Indeed!

While I had the Liveline cables in my system, I had a number of visitors. Everyone who sat down to listen didn't want to leave. Thankfully, one of them is Mary. She just loves to sit and listen to music for hours, an audiophile's dream come true. She and other visitors sit on my couch and utter gasps, cooing noises and all manner of shocked and startled reactions. Audio is a lot of fun again! Records are spinning all day long and I'm finally getting through all of the tag/estate sale record purchases I have accumulated. I've got my groove(s) back!

In the waning days of this review, I decided to have one more extensive listening session. I invited my friend Dan to bring along his Bastanis Epilog I interconnect (which was cryo-treated for those of you who believe this is of benefit). I thought it was worthwhile to do a final comparison of the Bastanis Epilog II and Acoustic System Liveline cables, using each of their respective interconnects.


I fluxbusted the Cardas Heart Reference cartridge, cleaned the stylus with Stylast and my electronic stylus cleaner and selected Peter Gabriel's 1986 album So [Geffen GHS 24088]. I played both sides of the album all the way through, switching between Bastanis and Liveline cable sets. The WSS power cord was on the amplifier. Throughout, the Liveline had slightly more presence, bloom and harmonic richness. However, it also emphasized the sibilance on Peter Gabriel's voice to a distracting level, which the Bastanis cable did not. This is a flaw of this recording but the Livelines revealed it to a greater degree. You could argue that the Liveline is more revealing and thus reveals flaws better as well. However, the Bastanis cable is very revealing, too.

Both Liveline and Bastanis speaker cables have equally exemplary bass extension as demonstrated on the bass line near the end of "Don't Give Up". Switching back and forth confirmed that the Liveline was consistently fuller and richer. Still, the Bastanis is excellent and portrays a huge soundstage with lots of detail. It also does something better than the Livelines that is very important to me. It is more natural on vocals. This was clearly evident with Peter Gabriel's voice, which is hardly one of the great voices of rock. It is also smoother in the critical upper midrange and makes for a more relaxing listening experience. With the Livelines, there is always an undercurrent of excitement/tension. At times, this is what you want. Other times, it isn't.


What happened next was an eye opener and certainly a case study for the single-manufacturer approach. Dan and I were getting a bit restless listening to the Bastanis Epilog I interconnect/Epilog II speaker cable combo. I commented that it was great except for a lack of dynamics. Dan agreed and suggested that we put in the Bastanis Epilog II power cord in place of the WSS. Eureka! This made as big a transformation to the sound as any other cable switch made during this entire review. Yet when I used the Epilog II power cord with my Tannoy Cornettas/Red Rose amp/Tel-Wire speaker cable combination, it imparted an edge I disliked. The same was true when the Bastanis power cord was used with the Liveline interconnect and speaker cable.


Getting the cables right in your system can be a delicate balancing act. There are almost innumerable combinations to try. This is part of what was so vexing during this review. What worked best for me was to stay with one manufacturer's interconnect/speaker cable combination (if they voluntarily sent an interconnect) and then switch between power cords to optimize. The importance of the power cord to the amp cannot be overstated. I have read that small changes can make more audible differences with SET amps due to their simpler circuit, however I found the power cord results to be equally important with my Red Rose tube amp.


In the interest of fairness, I went back to the Tel-Wire cables, putting in the complete set of power cord, interconnects and speaker cables. Playing the Art Farmer Quintet LP You Make Me Smile [Soul Note SN 1076], transients were not as clean as with the much more expensive Bastanis Epilog II speaker cable. In the Tel-Wire's favor, its strength of tonal balance with perhaps the most natural midrange tonality came through on Art Farmer's flügelhorn in the title cut.


Going back to the Bastanis cables, soundstage depth increased markedly as did soundstage bloom in front and to the sides of the speakers. The Bastanis cables also provide twice the detail, air and dynamics. Hey, they are also way more expensive than the Tel-Wire! One great 1976 recording I played for Dan was Betty Carte's Now It's My Turn [Roulette SR-5005]. Dan commented that it sounded like we were in the front row at this live performance, with the sound all around us. Indeed, the soundstage seemed to extend so far out in front of the speakers that it was almost like we were part of it.

The fair question though is whether the Tel-Wire provides good value at the price. While I am not familiar with a lot of cables at this price point, I would imagine it is probably up against some stiff competition. Its best application might be with vintage speakers whose emphasis is often more on tonal balance and presence and less on ultimate detail retrieval. This could be why Jonathan Weiss of Oswald Sound Mill recommended these cables to me. Jonathan's own speakers are based on vintage RCA compression drivers.


In the end, I found the combination of the Bastanis power cord, interconnect and speaker cables to be most to my liking. However, the Liveline speaker cable offers high performance at a lower price. (The Liveline interconnect is great too but I never got the power cord to benefit my system.) Since I listen to a lot of vocals, the better performance of the Bastanis cables in this area was a deciding factor. The Acoustic Revive is cleaner sounding than the Liveline especially through the midrange but its lighter harmonic balance and weaker bass performance could render it less satisfying in many systems. The AR does compete well with the Bastanis and Liveline in the area of dynamics.


The only question that remains is how the Prana Nataraja speaker cable would compare to the Bastanis now that I have optimized for the Bastanis cable with its matching interconnect and power cord. Since I had to send the Nataraja back for use at CES, I can only speculate. I will say that it is a very impressive speaker cable definitely worth investigating if you have that kind of money to spend. In my early auditioning, it outperformed the Bastanis speaker cable in soundstage depth, bass extension and dynamic nuance. However, at that time I was not using the Bastanis speaker cable with its matching interconnect and power cord. On the other hand, I did not hear the Prana speaker cable with its matching interconnects and power cord. That could be an entirely different story. In reviewing as in life, there are always unanswered questions.


As for John Potis' skeptical email about whether I thought cables could make or break a system, I have to say that I am a believer! In my case, it is the full complement of Bastanis cables that makes my system.

Acoustic Revive website
Acoustic System Int. email
Bastanis Audio website
Tel Wire website
Prana Wire website