Price: $4300 per 2.5m pair (discontinued).
Website: www.shunyata.com
Design: The Shunyata Research Alpha SP speaker cables are constructed with the highest-purity OFE 101 copper available, and are imbued with what the company refers to as its ArNi technology—the conductors are formed into “virtual hollow tubes eliminating skin effects and eddy current distortions.” Shunyata also states that its Zitron technology gives the Alpha SP cables their “ability to measurably lower dielectric distortion and preserve the original signal’s integrity. It requires a special type of conductor that has two signal paths and an electric field compensation circuit that creates a cancellation signal that prevents the insulation from developing a charge.” Lastly, the Alpha SPs are subjected to Shunyata’s Kinetic Phase Inversion Process, which is described as a processing technique that eliminates the need for burn-in and cryogenic treatment.
Why I chose them: Shunyata’s speaker cables have always sounded sublime in the various systems I’ve had through the years. They tend to have a big and bold, yet quiet and resolute sound that always seems to enhance the performance of my system, and never detracts from the music played through them. I love the construction quality, too—the Shunyatas are always rugged enough to withstand the constant handling that occurs in a reviewer’s system.
I appreciate the quality of the spade connectors, yet the cables themselves aren’t so bulky that they become cumbersome during installation. Shunyata’s Alpha cables sit right below the Sigmas in the company’s product line.
. . . Jeff Fritz
jeff@soundstagenetwork.com
