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I.C. 5 cables by EWA

CJ14

O.H.
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With Silver plated plugs.
See review by our Mr. Brown on PFM.
 
Elsdon-Wonfor Audio seem to be taking over my music system! With
the addition of interconnects to the range it’s possible to have
everything EWA, barring source and speakers, and I just received two
pairs of EWA IC-5 interconnects, sleeved in electric blue with silver
plated locking RCA Phono plugs. I’ll try to explain what the do in my
system, but I’ll talk mostly in terms of what I think you might hear in your
system as well, rather than discussing the personal and subjective
matter of listening to music. That’s up to you!

After a while playing in the system on background music and TV duty I
sat for a first ‘serious’ listen. I’m familiar with and a fan of the EWA
house sound, which I'd sweepingly summarise as “turbo charged class
A warmth and imaging, with huge bass impact and lightning speed”.
Some products major on the class A warmth (most notably the SECA
amplifiers) while others are speed and detail freaks. All are
magically good but the real art occurs when they are combined.

Where do EWA IC-5 fit into the range them? I should explain by
building on my previous experience: I’ve had EWA LS-25 loudspeaker
cables for a while, which are capable of stupefying bass impact and of
projecting a 3d image that feels so solid one could drill a hole in it and a
hang a picture on it. These qualities jump out at the listener straight away. On further listening the subtleties become evident, which should
be properly attributed to the amplifier. The cables are allowing the
amplifier to project all the minutiae and filigree textural details well out into the
soundstage where they are now distinct and palpable. This is the sort of
detail you might only hear with a high end headphone setup. Yet here
it is, large as life and hanging right in front of you.

So yes, the LS-25 are very good, and the IC-5 build (and build) on this
foundation.

First major impression from the IC- 5 interconnects then: Imaging and treble,
without a doubt. The top end shines and projects like I’ve only heard in
live settings, particularly with definition of percussion and cymbals. Brass and
woodwind instruments really show their tonal character, rasp and timbre. It’s of interest to note that the treble never becomes remotely
‘hot’ or harsh at even extreme volume, which I thought was a rare
quality.

Imaging (which was already great) is more notably deep front
to back and apparently taller. Those instances where an instrument might
appear from outside the speaker’s boundaries, now common. The
image somehow remains solid as a monument regardless of volume and
seems intact even when sitting seriously off axis. However it’s that
presence of the image, it's impact which is just something... else. I’m
talking about the power projected right from the centre of the image.
How to explain?..

By way of illustration, imagine a large planar speaker all the way across
in front of the listening position, literally metres wide which could project image and soundstage. Now if such a
thing really could image correctly, it would project evenly and powerfully at the listener, left, to centre, to right, and do it seamlessly. That sort of
projection is what the IC-5 have bought to my system across the space
between the loudspeakers. Musical impact and power from the line between the loudspeakers to the listening position is stunning, and is uniform in
strength from left to right.

That presence and bold presentation at lower volumes is a treat, but more interesting is what happens at anti social volume. When playing
loud (90dB ish and above), I held my fingers out in the air
and felt it vibrate. At the same time I carried on a conversation with
someone next to me without either of us needing to raise our voice at all.
That’s part of what makes the presentation so good in my opinion,
which in turn allows extended listening without the slightest listener
fatigue.

There’s a lot of musical atmosphere presented here as well, vivid
recreation of the recording venue. Patti Larkin’s The Cranes is most
evocative and dripping in details; the impact of a strummed, plucked or
brushed string and it's timbre, the sustain and delay, the slight tremolo
and the intricate timing subtleties Ms Larkin strokes into her guitar. It’s quite
emotional and draws a listener right in, as if for the first time
ever with a decent music system.

There’s undoubtedly more to come from the EWA IC-5 cables. I’ll need
time to get used to them but I’m already very impressed. These are
cables which are not bright in their presentation, nor particularly
warm, but stunningly detailed and beautifully open. In any system
(best thought of as a single circuit) cables and matching them will be
best conducted personally rather than by strength of the opinion of
others. In my system, which is filled with EWA designs and earlier work
by Colin Wonfor, the IC-5 have found a new home.
 


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