I've used Kimber cabling in and out of my system for many years. Like anything else in your system, it's all about synergy.

This is what I have noticed as a generality about Kimber. They are a little cool sounding because of the use of Teflon dialectric. There is a slight mid/bass hump with a little leaness in the midrange. They have excellent detail and are a tad bit forward sounding. Provide good punch and dynamics. One thing about Kimber is they take an extremely long time to break in before all its characteristics jell together, especially the highs before they smooth out.

One thing that you could try with your 12TC is single cable bi-wiring, with 8 leads for the bass and 4 for the highs. When I was using 8tc I used 6 for bass and 2 for highs with better cohesion from my speakers.

Don't give up on them.

mjcmt December 23, 2011 13:18

Nice rig. Looks like you put a lot of thought into purchasing the-best-bang-for-the-buck components. Ahhh...NAD 372 integrated & tuner, CA 840 cdp, Wadia Dock, iPod Classic, Polk LSI 15, Audioquest cabling. I'll bet it sounds mighty fine indeed, and better than it should for the $$$. Wonderful system.

mjcmt July 05, 2011 21:18

When I took my first step into tubes I did it because of what I've read from owners, not on auditioning equipment. My first step was a tube preamp because preamp tubes last a very long time, it adds body, size, and the human element to recording, plus they don't generate the heat of a tube power amp. If your NAD has preamp input on it it is a painless first step and if you don't like it you can sell it and get your money back. For me it opened the door to another musical dimension.

Incidentally, I like your well thought out system. Though the pix don't show its beauty the black on black look is very nice with a great choice of gear. Congrats!

mjcmt December 19, 2009 02:21

Even w/ your Polk sub, the 840c still sounds light in the bass?
CA gear is not robust sounding, but detailed w/ great PRaT like Linn. I have the 640A V2 amp and find this to be true, but it has outstading detailed and PRaT. Lean interconnects don't work well with them.

If you like NAD I can see how you may not like CA. You may like tube gear. I like tube gear for music and fast SS gear for movies, hence I have 2 systems (well allmost)

mjcmt December 18, 2009 13:08

Can you qualify how the Onkyo DX-7555 sounds better than the 840c? I'm considering the 740c, but have thought about the 7555 in the past.

mjcmt December 17, 2009 03:09