I had a chance to hear one tonight between my KRDS and Naim 52 preamp.
By tunedem this hasn't worked for me surprisingly. Yes it had more detail and openness to it and revealed more of what the players/singers sound like, but I found myself tapping my foot less than with my old interconnect.

Surprisingly, this is the complete opposite of The Chord Signature tuned Array which I heard on my system over Christmas. The signature whilst not revealing quite as much as the Sarum, did it in a much more musical way. The tune flowed easier and effortlessly and I kept putting on a track to just listen to a few bars but found myself listening all the way through it was so seductive and captivating and as an added bonus it sounded so much More sweeter and natural. Where as the Sarum whilst much more detailed sounds hmmm, artificial, more hifi'ish

Looking on the web, lo and behold, the Sarum is made of silver. Now to be honest, I've never found a silver interconnect that I liked. Everyone I've tried has a house sound. It would not surprise me to learn that the signature is copper.

Anyway he's asked me to sell it for him so he can upgrade to the new Chord Music. (Dennis you've more money than sense)!

Tried it again today. But my opinion remains.

No other opinions then?

Nope. Sorry. I've been racking my brain, but can't think of anything to say.

Haven't heard them but if my reading is correct they are both made out of silver-plated copper conductors.

Hi The FlatEarther,
I can confirm your impressions, I have a Sarum Tuned Aray and I find it clearly less musical than any Linn Black cable I own. Anywhere I have used it in a Linn system it has made the music much less meaningful, involving and informative. A complete nonsense if you ask me.

I sincerely cannot undestand all the praise this cable gets from people on other forums.

All the best
Paolo

Is this the cable with a huge profit margin? If so, then it might be pushed by some dealers for that reason.

Is this the cable with a huge profit margin?...

Good point Tom, aren't they all?

It's pronounced tuned Awry :) It's where it's tuned to impress sonically; not musically. The cost is also meant to impress: if it's that expensive, it *must* be good... That's the corollary to Charlie's question: pushed by dealers due to the margin; praised by buyers because of the price. (self sustaining)

tokenbrit wrote:It's pronounced tuned Awry :) It's where it's tuned to impress sonically; not musically. The cost is also meant to impress: if it's that expensive, it *must* be good... That's the corollary to Charlie's question: pushed by dealers due to the margin; praised by buyers because of the price. (self sustaining)

Surely you could say the same about any piece of expensive kit?

Absolutely - that's why tunedem & homedem. It's easy to be biased in favour of a change if the expectation is that it is better - that expectation can be established by a number of things, including price.

tokenbrit wrote:Absolutely - that's why tunedem & homedem. It's easy to be biased in favour of a change if the expectation is that it is better - that expectation can be established by a number of things, including price.

We're in complete agreement! But there could still be some expectation bias when you're doing a home dem (though you won't be influenced by any dealer "encouragement")

Hopefully the homedem would be for long enough for the expectation to subside - to just listen to the music rather than being impressed by the sound

Well what a crazy weekend! As Dennis has left the Sarum with me to try and sell it I thought I'd have another go. Having read a lot about the need to burn this interconnect in. As much as 600 hours! So I left it since Wednesday connected withe the KDS at 80db running into the Naim 52 with the power amp off and set to play my whole NAS (1.6TB). I've resisted listening to it and just played LPs. So with now with over 96 straight hours in my system the cable will supposedly have now burnt in and realigned itself to my system.

So couldn't hold out any longer. Had a listen tonight and first thing, wifey remarks, "wow that sounds really good this evening have you changed something?"

I now have to take back everything negative I wrote above. The Sarum Tuned Array is now a completely different beast. The artificial sound has completely gone. The musical coherence is now bang on. I love it when I can identify and sing along with the backing vocals having sung in a few bands and sung in choirs, tune dem is perfect for hearing the sweet cohesion of really good vocalists singing not only in tune but with the precision timing necessary for the flow of a musical piece. Now couple that with a massive increase in dynamics, nuance, musical insights to how the musical instruments are being played, the clear rythem of gentle brush strokes unheard before, along with a much improved soundstage and black acoustic background and you understand what I mean. It's at least as enjoyable as a black box upgrade!

Damn it Dennis you might have just sold your Sarum. Now, will he do mate's rates? LOL

Interesting. For how long has your mate owned these interconnects, and how much play time did they have on them apparently to need another 100hrs or so of burn in? Do they need to be warmed up, like electronics? Is there any imdication that they go 'off' if they're not used for a while, and need to go through another burn in? Curious how such unfavourable 1st and 2nd impressions turned so favourable - sounds like a fun session. Always good when "wifey" notices an improvement - do you you think it was just down to the 'quiet running' since Wednesday, or could anything else be at play as well?

Hi Toke, all I did was left it P owered up with music playing through it. I'm sure Dennis had broken it in as he had it in use on his streamer. That said, he is an out and out Vinyl nutcase. So although he may have used it. He may not have used it consistently enough. No matter, he's coming round on the weekend to talk crisp bank notes. LOL

It's officially mine at £750! I'm happy, Dennis is happy. Good times! It sounds supernal. Dennis brought his KDS 1 / Chord Cobra when he came for the money on the weekend and left a bit shocked when my KRDS 1 / Sarum sounded better. I'm a bit surprised as myself how much difference an interconnect can make as well.

Not bad at all when you consider that the KRDS1/Sarum has cost £4K and sounds markedly superior to a KDS at nearly £10K more!