Cables matter in the sound of your system. You should get cables that are commensurate with your companion gear, or… perhaps go a step UP- knowing that your system will evolve as your wallet gets fatter.

With this in mind let’s evaluate the three echelons of Kimber Kable that make sense, each hitting the law of diminishing returns for the price.

Tier One: Kimber Carbon

In a word, CARBON. Carbon is a conductive material. Ray Kimber worked over 20 years to find a way to employ carbon as a wrap for his wire. You can see by the diagram that carbon envelops the wire, and Teflon surrounds the carbon.

Carbon provides you about a 6% bounce in dynamics and transparency. Before Kimber figured out how to incorporate carbon into the design, he wrapped the wire itself in Teflon. Teflon is excellent, but doesn’t provide the extra lively dynamic contrast that carbon does.

Kimber’s carbon factor is used in interconnects and speaker wire. It measures 6% conductive and provides a noticeable improvement in clarity and dynamics. It breathes a bit more openly if you have electronics revealing enough to show it. If you have speakers and electronics that are highly resolving, please consider Kimber Carbons to get the most out of your gear.

Which electronics are WORTH Carbons? Anything Bryston is a perfect fit for Carbons. Bryston’s noise floor and immediacy are screaming for Carbons to unleash all they have to offer. I’d say the same for Atoll’s upper end electronics as well. Specifically, Atoll makes the IN300 and IN400 integrated amps. These two models with companion Atoll CD200 CD player or Bluesound Icon steamer are right in line to allow you to benefit from Carbons.

Carbon Interconnects

• .5m $510

• 1m $620

• 1.5m $730

• 2m $840

Carbon Speaker Wire

Carbon 8: 2m $1320, 2.5m $1540, 3m $1760

Carbon 16: 2m $2520, 2.5m $2960, 3m $3400

Carbon 18XL: 2m $4000, 2.5m $4550, 3m $5100

All three levels of Carbon speaker cables provide noticeably superior dynamics and definition than non Carbon cables.

Carbon 8 makes sense with most speakers.

Carbon 16 is double the amount of wire and delivers a bit more muscular bass. If your speakers (like Bryston towers) are capable of truly deep, tuneful bass, then consider Carbon 16.

Carbon 18XL makes sense for high performing Big Boy towers like Bryston Middle Ts, Model Ts and Model T10s.

Tier Two: Kimber Hero Interconnects & 8 Pair Speaker Cable

Tier two is the sweet spot for most systems. The performance is open and smooth. This level of detail and warmth are ideal for most of us. While Tier Two won’t give you the state of the art dynamics and translucence of Carbon, it gets you about 90% there for half the price.

Hero Interconnects

• .5m $231

• 1m $296

• 1.5m $361

• 2m $426

Hero is a 4 wire braided cable, wrapped with Teflon insulation, finished with exquisite Ultratike RCA or XLR heads. The wires are VS as described in the 8 Pair speaker wire discussion below.

8 PAIR Speaker Cable

With Bananas (or spades)

2m $312, 2.5m $350, 3m $388, 4m $464, 5m $540

8 Pair features 8 jackets of red Poly coating, and 8 jackets of black Poly coating. Within each of the 16 jackets are 7 wires of Variable Strand (VS) technology. Kimber has discovered that every thickness of wire has a given sonic signature. By using three different thicknesses of wire you can ameliorate the tendency of a given thickness to impart its character to the sound.

Braiding the 16 jackets into a cool looking snake, eliminates RFI and the skin effect that are endemic to parallel wires. Remember in the 70s when all we had were Monster and Fulton cables? They were simply many strands of wires running parallel- creating antennae for RFI. The Kimber 8 Pair actually sounds more CLEAN, sans foggy RFI artifacts.

Which electronics and speakers are best suited for Tier Two cables? Well, if you’ve broken the bank buying great speakers and electronics… you might find the cupboard a little bare.

We have many customers running these Tier Two cables with Bryston. Bryston and high level Atoll pieces certainly justify the Kimber Carbons. But I get it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If your wallet is a little light given that you sprung for state of the art electronics and speakers, Tier Two cables make sense.

Where Tier Two finds its sweet spot is with ANYTHING less than electronics and speakers in the nether regions. Consider Kimber Hero with all of the Atoll integrateds with dual transformers (IN100 on up) and matching CD players.

Kimber 8 Pair speaker cable makes sense with any towers. We’re especially fond of the Brystons and Axiom models from Canada. Pricing runs from about $2-12k per pair. Having said this, we have many customers who buy 8 Pair for stand mounts with respectable bass, knowing that they’ll be moving up some day.

Tier Three: Kimber Tonik Interconnects and 4 Pair Speaker Cable

Kimber Tonik Interconnects

.5m $96, 1m $108, 1.5m $120, 2m $132

Kimber’s Tonik is a 3 wire braided cable ensconced in a Polyethylene jacket, using Kimber’s outstanding Ultratike RCA heads.

Tonik is the best choice for getting more open, airy sound than the world of generic interconnects that sound dark, due to their foil shielding and poor quality wire. We have found many a moderately priced system where Toniks save the day, providing a more fresh, open window to your music. Tonik is ideally used from CD players and streamers to your integrated or preamp.

Kimber 4 Pair Speaker Cable

With Banana Plugs (or spades)

2m $186, 2.5m $205, 3m $224, 4m $262, 5m $300

Kimber 4 Pair is half the man Kimber 8 Pair is. If you read my commentary on 8 Pair above, 4 Pair is the same, but just half the quantity.

When does it make sense to run 4 Pair? If you buy literally any system from us, you should run at least 4 Pair. 4 Pair sounds more clear than any parallel wire configuration out there. Yep, buy 4 Pair at its modest price instead of a jacket of parallel wires as thick as your thumb!

If you have stand mount speakers or a less than prodigious tower, 4 Pair is the right choice. For example, 4 Pair is plenty of cable for the Axiom M5 stand mounts and M50 towers. But if you’re stepping up to the M60s towers or bigger (Brystons hopefully!)… NOW you have a speaker that can truly benefit from Kimber’s 8 Pair.