MIT Cables Home Theater Series HTS1 (click for full view; click “x” to close and return to article)
MIT Cables’ $37k Oracle V1.3HR speaker cables have been in my system for over a year, and I acclimated to its exceptionally dynamic and luxuriously refined musical presentation on day one. Currently, the MIT Cables in my system consists of the $26,999 Oracle Matrix Super HD 120 speaker cables, the $21,999 Oracle MA-X SHD XLR and the $12,999 Oracle MA-X Proline Balanced. Recently, I have also received the company’s latest entry-level cables called the Home Theater Series, or HTS1 for review.
According to the company, the Home Theater Series utilizes the latest generation of audio interfaces from MIT Cables utilizing their patented Multipole tm Technology, now a miniaturized version of the networks in the form of a microchip located inside the XLR or RCA connectors at the sending end. These networks are engineered to deliver more controlled energy to the speakers to enhance the Home Theater experience. Voice tracks are supposed to be easier to understand while the audio becomes dynamic enough to match the special effects onscreen. Room boundaries should disappear as the viewer becomes immersed in the events as they unfold.
MIT Cables maintains that all cables have what they refer to as a single “Pole of Articulation”, named after the fact that every cable has a single point in the audio frequency range where it is most efficient and will articulate best, resulting in the sonic signature for that cable. For example, some cables often have their Pole of Articulation located at a high frequency, and will sound “bright”, at the expense of bass response. Conversely, some cables have their Articulation Pole located at a lower frequency and will sound “warmer”, but at the expense of detail. The Home Theater Series interfaces employ multiple Poles of Articulation networks tuned to specific frequency points where they make the most impact on sound reproduction.
MIT Cables Home Theater Series HTS1
For instance, the $258-per-pair HTS1XLR operates on three evenly spread articulation poles, namely the bottom-end, midrange and highs. The HTS1’s 3-pole iteration supposedly produces higher levels of sonic refinement than comparably priced non-network interconnects. For the technically curious, ample info is available on their home page at mitcables.com.
Rounding out the system is the $298-per-pair HTS1S-08 speaker cable, this time featuring two small network boxes, one located near the amplifier connectors and the other near the speaker connectors. As quickly as I plugged the two pairs of HTS1XLR into the system comprising the Esoteric K-03 with the rubidium clock, the Pass Labs Xs Preamplifier and the XA-100.5 power amplifiers, with the HTS1S-08 speaker cables between the amplifiers and the Tannoy Westminster Royal SE speakers, it became obvious that the electronics were of a higher resolution than the HTS1 was designed for.
While it is fun to be spoiled by Bruce with his top products, I don’t mind keeping my feet on the ground, from time to time, by refreshing my ears with fundamental products. Even though the Home Theater Series cables are now the most affordable among MIT Cables’ products, they are not cheaply made. Though costing only $258 for a balanced pair of interconnects, the HTS1XLR feels and looks decisively high-end through its use of beautifully finished, high quality connectors.
MIT Cables Home Theater Series HTS1
MIT Cables Home Theater Series HTS1
I could’ve recommended another Dagogoan for this review, maybe one who can put the HTS1s into a real home theater setup as they are intended for, and he could appreciate the difference more readily. But I would be passing up the fun. This shy little cable series is the most exciting MIT Cables product to date! I used it for nearly a month, and the simplicity of its physique and the sophistication of its personality grew on me. It is not as fast in conveying the dynamic transients or as definitive in producing the scale of the Bolero XRCD24 K2 disc from Hi-Q Records (HIQXRCD22), nor was it as 3-dimensional in realizing the voice of Esther in her “Kinderpiele” from the FIM K2 HD demo disc This Is K2 HD Sound! (FIMK2HD078). For this track, I found it amazing that the purity of the voice was just as unscathed as if the Oracles were in. But, in my encounters of innumerous budget cable systems, I’ve never heard a sub-$1,000 cable, or a sub-$5,000 cable system to get the harmonics this correctly.
The multi-layered bottom-end and multi-dimensional spatiality of the $100k+ Oracles were sorely missed. But neither did the HTS1 assume the big Oracle’s tremendous clutter and thick cables on the floor, behind the equipment racks, around the speakers and behind. My room not only felt positively 50% more spacious, I found my ears not resisting the change in sound, and instead liking a tonality startlingly reminiscent of the Oracles.
If I were listening to a less revealing pair of speakers, say a $5,000 pair of speakers, I bet I wouldn’t even hear differences of such extent. Of course, if you took my advice in my previous reviews and invested in cables, good for you. For the readers who have the upper-echelon MIT Cables in a mega system, you know I’m right. But for the rest of our budget-minded readers, the HTS1 series of cables with the miniaturized Multipole tm circuits is going to be your biggest discovery for years to come. In this economy, I felt a shade of uneasiness when putting the Oracles that were laying around back in the system. It thus becomes mind-boggling and positively uplifting now that even an entry-level product from this industry leader will allow the listener to discern better musical presentation.
Founded in 1984 by Bruce Brisson, MIT Cables is the world’s premier high-end audio cable manufacturer. Bruce Brisson and his team at MIT Cables have been innovators at the forefront of high-end audio cable technology for over three decades. His network cables have become reference tools of major industry players and perfectionist consumers, including Goldmund Audio, Jeff Rowland Design Group, Magico, Martin Logan Electrostatic Loudspeakers, Spectral Audio, Wilson Audio Specialties, et cetera. This innovative enterprise has now taken lead once again in a new direction towards creating the perfect link between equipment, this time in the most timely form of a lowest-priced new cable series, the Home Theater Series. For the readers who aim at spending no more than a few hundred dollars on a complete cable system, this is the only way I can recommend.
Just as there can be nothing more exciting than seeing an automotive giant like Mercedes introducing the Millennials-friendly CLA Class, so is the new HTS1 line from MIT Cables.
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