Rolling In the Deep
Let's talk about deploying AudioQuest BASS cables
"Dragon gives you the spit."
David Penrod, director of sales at AudioQuest, laughed at that and said, "There's a great marketing campaign we can never use."
It had all started at a recent in-store AudioQuest speaker-cable education session, when one of our team members commented that as we went up from Robin Hood through Thunderbird and Dragon, he was "hit by Chris Stapleton's spit." We laughed because we knew exactly what he meant: We were getting such fine detail and microdynamics that we could hear, forgive us, the pops and clicks of saliva as Stapleton sang his impassioned track 'Death Row' from the album From A Room: Volume 1 LP.
The Bass Channel
David was visiting to demonstrate a very specific upgrade; at every level, a good speaker cable was made better by adding a dedicated bass cable, creating two wire runs per channel. But why?
David reminded us that a speaker cable doesn't just carry a one-way signal. It's forming a circuit between amp and speaker, with a return run as well. By creating a separate channel for the high-level bass energy, the mids and highs don't have to, as it were, swim through choppy water, losing their fine detail and dynamics.
We heard these improvements at each level of cable, all the way up to the mighty flagship Dragon, aptly named because it hoards a lot of silver. For most of us, Dragon is the F1 car of the brand; $60,200 for an 8-foot bi-wire combo is more money than we'd ever spend on a cable, but what it means is that all of the experience and learning from blank-check R&D trickles right down to whatever floor your budget elevator opens up on.
And if your elevator does go up to the top floor, the only way Dragon's performance would impress you more is if it actually breathed flames at you. Even in our (relatively!) humble test system, we could clearly hear what this cable was doing, or rather—per AudioQuest's Do No Harm philosophy—not doing.
Are AQ Bass Cables for You?
Before you go anywhere with this, you need to have bi-wireable loudspeakers, that is, four connectors on the back (that are linked with a jumper for single cable runs). On the amp side, if you want separate cables, it's better to have multi-connectors so you can use a banana for one run and a spade for the other. You could double up spades, but that's not recommended, and there often isn't enough room for two of AudioQuest's fat, hanging-silver shovels.
If you are moving to a new level, say from a single Robin Hood to a double Firebird (in AQ terms a ZERO plus BASS) you can buy the bi-wire combo which has one connector pair of your choice on the amp side, and two pairs on the speaker side. David recommends spade over banana as you can really tighten them down.
AudioQuest offers separate cables for people on a journey. You can always buy the full range ZERO version first and add the BASS later. Either way, there are many variables and possible paths here, so make sure you call, email, or chat with one of our sales team members to discuss what will work best for you.
Don't get stuck in the sludge! The AudioQuest All About That BASS promo offers 50% off BASS cables only to January 5.
A High-End Coffee Table Book
"I never understood why audio wasn't being acknowledged as a distinct artistic or industrial art form. [Instead,] it was relegated to hobbyist or audiophile circles, but rarely perceived as a beautiful form unto itself, which can be proudly displayed in someone's living room."
That was author Gideon Schwartz in a March 2024 interview with the Library of Congress about his book Hi-Fi: The History of High-End Audio Design. Published by Phaidon, this 270-page hardback with over 300 illustrations is now on sale at Upscale Audio. Hi-Fi: is a beautiful tribute to high-end audio design for collectors, audiophiles, and design fans.
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$89.95
New Video: Monitor Audio Studio Speakers 89
Jordan from Upscale Audio spent a month with the Monitor Audio Studio 89 speakers, living with them day-to-day and testing how they perform across genres, volumes, and moods. The Studio 89 is a compact powerhouse, blending advanced acoustic technology from the Platinum Series 3G and the flagship Hyphn speaker, wrapped in a sleek, high-gloss black cabinet with gold-colored drivers—a nod to the iconic Studio 15.