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Kimber Carbon 8, Part 7

162.205.183.92

Posted on February 21, 2022 at 15:33:43
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7289
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000



For most of my friends, 1994 was their last summer of college. They learned from me and anyone older, that this was their last chance to get out and have fun. 'Cuz once school ended, and the workforce beckoned, you'd no longer have any free time.



I was making barely over minimum wage, but the Kimber 4TC speaker cable was priced low enough, that even I could afford it. It was so light, that we could easily carry multiple pairs, while visiting other audiophiles. But here's the thing. Since they were affordable, 4TCs were found at many of these audiophiles' homes. Scylla soon understood that, by using the 4TC in numerous systems, and against other speaker cables, she could come up with a list of the 4TC's sonic characteristics. That way, she could better predict, how the 4TC would react, in the next system. Scylla found the 4TC to be so good for so little, that she went out to the Berkeley/Oakland/Castro Valley/Hayward hills, and watched the low-lying fog creep in over the Bay.



That summer of 1994, we had Erasure's new I Say, I Say, I Say. By being open, resolving, and focused, the 4TC didn't mess up the music. We had the 4TCs with both/either Postmaster spades and/or SBAN banana plugs. Damned if we could hear a definitive and sizable sonic difference, between the PM and SBAN.



Our friend Kaye (UC Santa Barbara) called, and said she was not coming home to the Bay for that summer. So she told us to grab snacks, drive down, and spend some time with her in Santa Barbara. The current-production Kimber Carbon 8 speaker cable comes vacuum-sealed, just like snacks, LOL!



If you take the spectacular Highway 1, you will cross the Bixby Bridge in Big Sur. If you stop, and look down, there's actually a sandy beach at the base of the cliffs. Versus the 4TC, the Kimber Carbon 8 is quieter, and better maintains image focus and stability. By being less distorted, the Carbon 8's accuracy will, if the recording and system permit, depict the beach at the bottom of the cliffs.



Back in 1993-94, the Kimber 8TC showed us that floors, especially those with carpet, act as an electrostatic field. When you lifted the 8TC off the floor, listeners told you that the sound became less garbled and rolled-off. Just like most other speaker cables, the Carbon 8 is sensitive to carpeting. If you think of this as an elevated roadway or the Bixby Bridge, cool.



Again, the cable proper of the Carbon 8 is like a quieter and more accurate 4TC. But as we have brought multiple samples of the Carbon 8 to a plethora of homes, venues, and systems, we are still hard-pressed to hear differences, between the Postmaster spades and SBAN banana plugs.



And that's a good thing. Do not worry about connector sound quality, and go with the one, which is physically and ergonomically compatible with your amps and speakers. Kimber do offer the Carbon 8 with WBT connectors, but these are so expensive, you most likely will be better off with Carbon 16 plus PM and/or SBAN.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

 

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