Kimber Kable Carbon Series

SPEAKER CABLE AND INTERCONNECT

- MARTIN COLLOMS

For thoughts about cables generally and reviewing methodology, see Martin Colloms's essay “Colloms on Cables” at stereophile.com/content/colloms-cables.

Ray Kimber founded his enterprise¹ in the late 1970s, and for the last half-century has withstood the ravages of this difficult market. He first got involved in cable technology while addressing the problems of induced interference in audio connections where high-power installation lighting was involved, especially early thyristor-controlled systems.

He found that standard braided shielding was effective with regards to induced noise but that such methods impaired sound quality. As an alternative, he began trials with variations on the classic twisted-pair conductor geometry, which is self-screening to some degree, avoiding the need for an external shield. This approach proved promising for sound quality and was the first step on the road to novel, more complex braided constructions where both sound quality and electromagnetic noise rejection could be improved.

Here in the UK, distributor and sometime audio designer Russ Andrews has hosted the Kimber product range for decades, with judicious selection and occasional fine tuning of the cable recipe tailored for local market circumstances. Russ is a good listener, and he has been able to choose from a broad range of Ray's designs those that are most applicable to the UK, satisfying picky, critical purchasers. I checked Russ's online catalog and noted no fewer than 149 Kimber products or products that utilize Kimber technology.

Ray Kimber’s recipe for good cable sound is based on insulated, geometrically well-defined copper conductor bunches in carefully chosen braided, noise-rejecting formations. Both insulator and conductor quality are important. Examples are the proprietary “VariStrand” and related braided conductor topologies.

Back in 1995, I reviewed Ray’s then-current flagship loudspeaker cable for