Kimber Kable Neo interconnect cable
Russ Andrews is introducing the Kimber Kable Neo interconnects to the UK market, bringing the pinnacle of Kimber’s interconnect design to audiophiles who demand the unaltered truth from the music they are playing.
The Kimber Neo analogue interconnects lean on everything that has gone before in Kimber’s 45 plus years of cutting-edge audio cable design and is the first all-new family of interconnects it has released in over 20 years. Making it instantly recognisable as a Kimber product is the braided geometry and lack of traditional shielding materials in the construction of the cable.
This braided construction method harks back to the very first cables developed by Ray Kimber when he discovered the powerful RFI noise rejection of the woven conductors. Inside the dual-layer braided Neo, eight signal conductors – four solid-core and four multi-stranded – are woven together and run through the centre of the cable, surrounded by a high-performance fabric braid. They, in turn, are surrounded by a further eight multi-stranded, braided cables which act as the ground and, thanks to the construction, also act as a passive shield. A second braided fabric jacket completes the cable by providing additional mechanical damping and a protective layer.
Neo is the first analogue interconnect cable from Kimber to feature both solid core and stranded wire, a technique previously only seen in the flagship Select speaker cables, and one which brings the benefits of mixing conductor types that are better for certain frequencies, for the best balance across the audio frequency range.
The Neo cables are available in three different variants: the Neo-AG, Neo-HB and Neo-CU. Each follows the same design and construction, with only the conductor material changing. AG is the flagship, with eight silver conductors (four solid core and four stranded) for the signal and eight stranded silver conductors for the ground/shield elements.
HB is a hybrid cable, which follows AG in the use of eight silver signal conductors, but these are surrounded by eight, stranded copper conductors for the ground and shield. An entirely copper construction is found in the CU version. Only Kimber’s highest purity copper and silver wire is used in the Neo cables.
On auditioning the three cables, Russ Andrews, chairman and technical director, says, “Kimber has built a very successful business on the use of braided cable designs, and the reasons are entirely obvious when you listen to the results when using Neo in a high-end system.
“The Kimber signature sound, or to be more precise, the lack of any discernible detrimental effect on the sound of the music, is all too apparent. The rejection of RFI and the free flow of the signal, and the music it carries, surpasses any Kimber Kable product I have heard in the 40 years we have been distributing them. People with exceptional audio systems and a critical love of music are really going to benefit from the most detailed, dynamic, accurate and realistic cables Kimber has ever made.”
Pricing
Neo is available now, direct from Russ Andrews Accessories, in a variety of lengths and with either locking WBT RCA plugs or balanced XLR connectors.
1m RCA or XLR terminated CU £5,400
1m RCA or XLR terminated HB £11,180
1m RCA or XLR terminated AG £17,760