Customer Reviews

Review #21 - Cable Speaker Invictus Speaker - Try a Ricable

Invictus Speaker Try a Ricable Nicola
nicola tries a ricable
From the Gazebo Audiophile forum

Nicola D.

Source: AMR CD77

DAC: Integrated

Amplification System: Preamplifier + Power Amplifier

Preamplifier: Einstein The Tube

Power Amplifier: GamuT M200 Mk III

Acoustic Speakers: Avalon Opus Ceramique

The following review of the cable INTERCONNECT Invictus Speaker is the result of the initiative "Prova un Ricable", born, in collaboration with listening groups or Hi-Fi forums, to collect testimonials from users, in their own reference Hi-Fi system. from the actual listening experience of the users, in their own Hi-Fi system of reference.
The following Feedback has been realized on the basis of a predefined questionnaire to which the user has returned his impressions, in a way completely free.
We thank Nicola for his time.

I begin this review...

... even before having "unpacked" the cables. The box itself (a cardboard box - with a dust jacket - containing the real box - with a hard paper dust jacket) tells us about the desire to keep with care a piece that for Ricable is apparently a valuable object. When the box is opened, Invictus appears as two impressive blue-grey serpentines of a certain weight (but also of considerable flexibility), equipped with expanding banana terminations. Unfortunately, the Opus Ceramique, speakers that have recently become a permanent fixture in my system, do not accept banana plugs, so I am forced to unscrew the connectors to use the simple stripped wires, which in any case are quite impressive with their 7 mm diameter.

At this point, being a musician (not that my opinion matters more than another, it just means I'm perhaps more used to listening), I'm curious to test whether the cables live up to their packaging. To help with the burn-in, as the Invictus 's are intact, I run Irrational, But Efficacious! produced by Ayre, about twenty minutes of annoying noise - glide tone, white noise, pink noise and more - that doesn't help the neighbourhood. Then I get ready to listen by putting in the player slot (AMR CD77) La Boutique fantasque (BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, Chandos) by Ottorino Respighi, the Italian composer best known for his Fountains of Rome. The cables previously in use were Siltech LS180 G5, certainly not mediocre cables, very detailed, with a very present bass.

avalon opus ceramique
Invictus Speaker Try a Ricable Nicola

Well.

The scene is extended, but it was already extended before (the GamuT M200 can do their job), both laterally and in depth. What changes immediately is the air, the sound is much more aerated. Not only that. The "tarantella" is much brighter than I remembered: the piccolo, the trumpets, the indeterminate percussions (the triangle, the tambourine and also the maracas), all are clearly more present and clear. Not brighter, more luminous. As if a window had been opened and a very pleasant breeze had come in. This does not mean that the music is softer, mind you. Live music (especially when listened to from the conductor's lucky "armchair") is never soft, it is rather raw, material, sometimes even tiring. A clarinet played softly in its middle register is certainly cozy, as the English say, but not a muted trumpet. So are the brass and percussion instruments that scream in your face with the frenzy of a can-can. A strong emotion mixed with slight annoyance; this is the trait of live music that sometimes pushes audiophiles to hide in their own personal lair, slowly imagining that the sound coming out of their system is worthy of excellence - even if in no way corresponding to the truth.

The sound of the bow scratching the strings, the sound of the bassoon keys, the crackling of the brass in the sforzato, the stick striking the wooden blade of the marimba, the light coming out of a triangle strike. All 'musical objects' that make the difference between the beautiful and the real. And that a Hi-Fi system, to be declared as such, dreams of reproducing. It happens many times that we audiophiles exalt only the "Hi" part, forgetting that "Fi" means fidelity, fidelity to what is evoked, and that the listener is supposed to know, before hearing it recreated. Forgive the outburst. Disc change: Between the Sheets by Fourplay. Track number two, Monterey.

The drumsticks on the cymbals are decidedly material, just as the sound of the Yamaha C7 piano is anything but insubstantial, the bass is very full (Fourplay have a tendency to load it slightly) but controlled, the sound of the guitar is decidedly spherical even when deliberately enervated by the touch. And all this always with that pleasant light we were talking about before, which pervades the drums and makes Lee Ritenour's guitar shine on track five: Flying East. If I had to find a negative, I'd say that they are a bit unbalanced towards the high region, maybe a bit immature, but I think we can talk about that after a few weeks of break-in.

If it is true, however, that cables cannot add, if anything they should not take away, these Invictus are truly remarkable. Despite having just been unpacked. I promise to come back and write a few lines as soon as a few days have passed, so that the cables have had time to 'burn in' properly and mould themselves to the rest of the system.

GamuT M200 Mk III
Fourplay
Two weeks later...

The Invictus played for at least three hours every day. And you can hear the result. The airiness has not diminished at all, on the other hand the cables have gained in roundness and softness, losing little by little that unripe note we were talking about. The mid-bass frequencies have gained in dimension, the bass has become more present, without losing compactness or balance. The Invictus are the top of the range cables of Ricable, the manufacturing quality is clearly at the highest level; it would be quite difficult to imagine negative reviews about them.

Having said that, the great strength of these cables lies in their extreme naturalness. At this moment the first movement of Lukas Foss' third symphony is playing, a complicated piece in terms of structure and orchestral timbre. Nevertheless, the music flows pleasantly, without fatigue. I already had this feeling a few months ago when I tried the Ansuz C1 Speaker , a feeling that I eventually had to part with - the wallet would have suffered from too much lightening. Congratulations Ricable, a product that fits into a high quality range while maintaining an affordable price definitely deserves; as they would say in the "Stereophile" reviews... a "highly recommended"!

What did you like?

- Cable ductility
- Naturalness of sound
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What would you improve?

- Nothing to report, fully satisfied
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