Not to be outdone, Kent Loughlin of MIT (Music Interface Technologies) staged 5-minute cable comparisons in the MIT room on the 2nd floor of the Marriott’s Tower. Using a Cary CD player and Cary monoblock amplifiers, and Polk Audio monitors with Custom Sound Anchors stands, Loughlin initially chose the beautiful, albeit oft-played soprano solo from Reference Recordings’ superb version of Rutter’s Requiem to let people hear the difference that MIT’s AVT Speaker Module ($149), which added up to 10 poles of articulation, brought to MIT’s custom installation cable (80 cents/foot for 12-gauge cable with two conductors).
When someone in the room asked, “Do you have anything other than classical?” Loughlin switched to a beautiful recording of a female singer/songwriter on the Blue Coast Records label. It was easy to hear how the AVT module brought more warmth to the sound, and conveyed far more information from the piano.
Then Loughlin switched from between different levels of cable in its “affordable” Matrix Series. (MIT’s Matrix 18 Speaker Interface, which seems to be a fancy name for speaker cable, costs $999/pair) In this case, I heard far more depth and air. In addition, one of the other people in the room noted that he heard more realistic decay on the piano. “Far more presence,” I wrote in my notes.
It’s easy for people who do not experience these tests in person to dismiss them. It’s a bit cheekier for people who sit in the room with others to tell those who hear differences that they are delusional, and that only double blind testing can tell for sure. Not that saying this will stop anyone from switching into auto-dismissal mode. Moving on. . .
