Hi Phil. Symo, sure I remember that. Nice cable, remember all the Apogee guys went that way. Isn't it nice to get a spkr cable that works and stop thinking about that? I have the same sort of situation. I had Omega Micro's for years - the copper ribbons with mesh covering - but let them go when I simplified and got tired or the battery boxes, et al. I've run Kondo copper for quite a while now. I've been tempted by more expensive wire, but ithe Kondo is very nice - open, open to being warm, harmonically complex, when called on - so I've stayed with it. I like the approach of open spkr cables and harmonically complex ICs. I look at system construction as akin to bringing together a nice sauce; complex and simple all at once...hard to explain if you don't already hear it. I don't know much about Nordost the last 10 yrs...I was a reviewer many moons ago and Joe R. was nice enough to send me a loom of SPM - the purple stuff - and, unfortunately, I found it thin; harmonically denuded, space not dimensional or pressurized, but more of a void spotlighting sound sources within it; a spatial/source imbalance. Joe was so nice I never said a thing about it. I gather they have addressed a lot of that since then. I saw they grabbed the Electroclear tech and incorp'd it in their conditioners, so they must hearing something.
On the SF Cremonese: went back and looked at some reviews. Tellingly, a reveiwer, a fmr Shindo guy, raved and raved...then ended by saying the tweeter was intense. Same thing with a reviewer at Soundstage with the newest 2-driver floor stander Maxima Elector, raved then ended off, at the end, saying the tweeter ain't shy.
Once this plague passes sufficiently I'll head out and hear for myself, but I remember 4-5 yrs ago I heard both the Cremonese (standard) and Aida at AXPONA. The Crem was in a too-small room, but you can still hear a tweeter. I remember thinking it was trying too hard to sell; trying too hard to be exciting, especially up top. I don't hold spkrs to too much from a show, but the memory is coming back to me. And, again, that is why I asked you about the ex3mes' because I didn't hear any of that. And you - a listener with nice VAC ahead of Jadis - didn't hear it either.
Not sure what to do. But I have a year to figure it out. I think that I'm backing off the standard Cremonese. I could try to balance the tweeter energy - I've got an early series I NBS Pro that would most likely do the trick - but that becomes a trap at some point.
We'll see. Thanks again for your help. Mark