Cable technology keeps advancing, with new designs, windings, and insulation. When we purchased our Hafler DH-200 amplifier in the early 1980s, the instructions from Hafler were simple: “Select speaker wire of sufficient size to preserve the high damping factor (and excellent speaker control) of your amplifier. Standard 18-gauge lamp cord ("zipcord") is satisfactory for distances up to 30 feet for an 8 ohm speaker. As the distance increases, larger wire sizes are recommended. The next larger wire size is #16, and it is often preferred by perfectionists. If you have 4 ohm speakers, the maximum cable length for best results is halved.”
Nowadays, this is considered heresy by audiophiles, and exotic metals, castings, and other technologies, are commonplace. It probably does without saying that most folks who identify as audiophiles are in fact the “Perfectionists” referred to by Hafler. Accordingly, we were excited to test the legendary Kimber Kable PBJ Interconnects. Founded by Ray Kimber, Kimber Kable has a sterling reputation among audiophiles dating back to the late 80s.
Only a few cable companies stand out for their graciousness and warmth, and one of them is Kimber Kable. It’s a family-run business, who manufacture first-rate products, regularly topping the list of recommended components from respected journals, websites, and magazines. With good cause, because they offer consistently superb products at varying price ponts.
My first introduction to Kimber Cable was at an audio show years ago when founder and chief bottle washer Ray Kimber invited me to listen to some headphones with his cable and compare it to the stock OEM cable. The Kimber cable was an improvement in ways I struggled to describe, and I’m a cable cynic. There was an openness to the sound, a subtle clarity over the stock cable. I was also impressed by Ray’s gentle yet enthusiastic demeanor. I come from a science background, so I’ve always tried to have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to claims of improvement in the audiophile realm, most of the differences we’ve encountered are more subtle and nuanced - the hyperbole has to be kept in check with reality. There is probably no easier way to start an MMA match than to toss a few cable/non-cable folks into a ring, and let the fights begin. In the audio groups that I belong to on social media, the ranting and personal invective involving cables just about qualifies as a blood sport.
As for me, the first set of audiophile-quality speaker cables that I owned were sold to me personally by Noel Lee, founder of Monster Cable, at a sales event at Adray’s in Orange, California. I was in college, and at least with the demo in the store, one could easily hear a difference. I later learned that those demos might not have been all they claimed to be, but nonetheless, I began to think that having good cables were a punch list for me. Fancy cables, check. No need to revisit that again I thought, or course I later purchased some Vampire Cables for my turntable - so much for not getting sucked into the cable vortex.
Step ahead a few decades and cables are big news and still controversial. From expensive HDMI and USB cables, to $30K speaker cables from Nordost, and insanely blatant ripoffs from China from all the top brands, cables are hot, hot, hot. Last year when I was working with the electrostatic CRBN headphones from Audeze, I needed some help with connections, and Kimber came to my rescue. I was using an EarMen Angel DAC, which has a somewhat unique 4.4mm balanced jack that I needed to connect to the balanced input of a Stax amplifier provided by Audeze for testing. The cable worked perfectly, without a hint of noise or interference, in a very RF rich environment. The same was true for the Kimber supplied PBJ interconnects with Ultraplate RCA connectors.
Nancy and I were happy to see the always friendly Lonny Gould at the Capital Audiofest this year. We included coverage of Lonny and Kimber Kable at the previous Capital Audiofest in Copper Magazine, where he was demonstrating the Kimber Naked series in the PBN Audio room. As always the PBN room was one of the best-sounding rooms at the conference, assisted no doubt by Kimber.
With a large selection of cables, it’s often difficult to figure out what to purchase. The easy way is to see what your budget allows, but I’m not sure that budget is the best approach, it is far better to do A/B comparisons. However, in an age where Amazon has put a lot of retailers out of business, this means there are fewer dealers to do this at. Fortunately, audio shows come to the rescue allowing you to listen to carefully chosen systems, and wherever you look in the rooms at most shows, Kimber Kable is present. They also have a large dealer network available on their website. The key to comparison listening is that if you go with an open mind, you can figure out a) if you can hear a difference, and b) if there is a difference, is it better? and c) is that the best use of your money?
Lonny suggested we try their PBJ interconnects. These are their best-selling cables since 1989, and instantly identifiable by their red, blue, and black individual insulated strands of wire. Our cables came their standard Ultraplate RCA connectors. How did they sound? The truth is they didn’t have a sound, instead they sounded invisible, compared to the cables that came with our components which had a slightly muddy compressed tone. There was an evident clarity when we did our A/B tests.
At first, their design might throw you, after all one of the accepted designs of interconnect cables is an integrated shield with insulation over the assembly. And the PBJ don’t have either a shield or a plastic or rubber sheath. Kimber describes them as “The highly acclaimed PBJ interconnect exhibits simple, elegant construction incorporating proven tri-braid field geometry, VariStrand™, Hyper-pure copper conductors and extruded fluorocarbon dielectric.”
Back in my college days, I designed and patented a waterproof amplifier system for rowing, which I named the VoiceSaver. I was a coxswain, and no one had a waterproof system in the shells that could survive salt and fresh water, so I designed one. One of the key components was heat-shrink tubing. While you might take heat-shrink tubing for granted, I quickly learned there was an enormous variety, with differing quality levels, use cases, and more. We ended up choosing military spec materials, which were consistently very high quality, expensive, and exhibited the required flexibility needed for different conditions and temperatures.
As we were working on this review, I told Lonny that I was a heat-shrink geek, and he mentioned the site Heatshrink.com - Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of my favorite booths at CES was in fact owned by Ray Kimber! I had no idea they were connected, and one of my favorite business cards was actually a short length of heat-shrink tubing in different colors with the Heatshrink.com logo and info on it. The reason I mention this is that heat-shrink materials are very exacting, and use of the proper materials makes a difference in the end, and many cables depend on it for final construction.
Kimber’s attention to the dielectric insulation makes sense for even more reasons, as does the uniformly high level of fit and finish in their products. Most companies just order off-the-shelf material, but when you have decades of expertise, including the heat-shrink tubing utilized in designing custom cables, the reputation for quality that Kimber enjoys is easily understood.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention IsoMike, an audiophile record label started by Kimber. They have a selection of superbly recorded high-resolution recordings. One of my favorites is their “High Altitude Drums,” featuring the Blue Knights (2007) and Troopers (2008) Drum and Bugle Corps recorded in a Hi-Resolution Hybrid – 4 channel SACD.
The PBJ are very affordable compared to many other exotic high-end cables. When they were introduced the leading magazines all came to the same conclusion, which was that PBJ cables were one of the best deals in audio. I’m happy to say that still are. Whatever worries I had about RF hum were quickly squashed once we started to use them. Absolutely silent. To be honest, it still amazes me. The Kimber Kable PBJ Interconnects with Ultraplate RCA connectors come highly recommended.
For more information on the Kimber Kable PBJ Interconnects with Ultraplate RCA connectors visit:https://kimber.com/products/PBJ
Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, posted 12/8/2024
