OI have had some time today to try a new cable for@mcru my SME IV.V with the Koetsu Rosewood Signature. The IV.V is a version made for Kiseki when they were the US distributors for SME, it’s a Series IV with the damper trough, bearings and internal wiring from a Series V. In my opinion and that of Sugano-San, Koetsus perform better in static balance arms, rather than positive pressure, spring loaded ones, Kiseki were always trying to mimic Koetsu, hence this variant of the arm.

I already have two cables available for the SME, the Van den Hul it came with and an Origin Live Linear Flow 2, both are more than OK with the OL being more detailed but harsher and the Van den Hul slightly veiled I decided to try another cable and got a Vinyl Adventure Corvette from David Brook The Brookmeister  At just over a ton, this costs a fraction of the price of the other two connectors, so why think it might be better?

This is not by first Corvette cable, I have one for my Jelco 759D, which I use with my AT MONO 33 carts and with these it really impresses. The Corvette has four independently screen runs of pure silver cable per channel and mechanically its really well made with silver plated RCAs and in this version a really high quality right angled mini DIN plug. Sound wise the cable is very open and detailed, with more detail than either of the other cables, yet with a very smooth presentation, without a hint of harshness. Jeff Goldblum’s Live at Capitol Studios has a truly layered and detailed presentation, with a real “In the room” feel and the 1985 album Sea of Air by the sadly underrated singer Katie Perks had the most amazing pace and verve.

There was a great fluidity and melody to all the tracks I played today, and an already good information retrieval system was given more “air and space” and a totally out of the box sound,  not to mention better timing. If you want or need a new tone arm table that punches way above its weight, give the VA Corvette a try.

Rest of the system:

Trichord Dino with Trichord NC PSU
Silversound RCA Cable
Art Audio Composer Solo TT
Art Audio VP1 Pre Amp
Art Audio Veloce
Tellurium Q Black 2 speaker cables
Tannoy Monitor Golds in Lockwood cabs