Indonesia is an archipelago comprising thousands of beautiful islands (It consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited). Reading the history of Indonesia we learn that fossils and the remains of tools show that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo erectus, popularly known as “Java Man”, between 1.5 million years ago and as recently as 35,000 years ago.
Today Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and a member of the G-20 major economies and it should come as no surprise that the Audio scene is well developed there. On the island of Bali (a province of Indonesia) is located Vermöuth Audio, a cable manufacturer (they also make speakers and amps) whose products proved to be one of the nicest surprises lately. Bali is the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music.
From their website: “Vermöuth Audio’s humble beginning was born when a small dream met a huge passion and desire in 2010. Our philosophy has always been to provide the best high end products possible under a price which most can afford. We believe that quality should not be compromised and our satisfaction comes solely from when our passion is shared.”
Hendri Ramli, the Vermöuth Audio owner and cable designer has somehow managed to offer cables that look VERY expensive – for down to Earth prices. I was amazed by the massive and sophisticated cable construction that shows incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship.
The description for the Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cable goes like:
“We perfectly combined and harmonized our cables diameter with its geometry of the conductors by utilizing Ultra Pure OCC. Then we decided to advance the result by maximizing series of air tube layers which then wrapped in premium non-woven fabric to achieve the purest signal transfer without any kind of possible interference.”
– Multisize & Multilayer conductor in 2 different group
– Non woven fabric for extra dampening and protection
– Air tube spacer & suspension
– 21 mm High flexible design allowing easy installation
– Anodized sandblasted aluminum cable stopper
– Cold Forging Tellurium Copper Rhodium Plated Termination
– Carbon shell connectors
The Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables are flexible and easy to handle but also quite heavy. Being impressed so much by their looks, I really hoped they would not disappoint in the listening tests…and they really didn`t.
Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl in action…
The Black Pearl replaced the Tellurium Q Black Diamond speaker cables and I have had enough time to compare the two. The British set of speaker cables proved to be a transparency wonder; the amount of information it provided was huge, however, after prolonged listening sessions I have almost felt kind of..exhausted, like being too strongly exposed to excitement for too much time. I mean, the experience was certainly great but I wasn`t sure anymore if so much information is really something I seek in music reproduction. While listening to live music, the words like “transparency” and “resolution” never cross my mind, I just absorb the energy and the overall musical message, completely forgetting the “holy” audiophile vocabulary.
We may be light years away of true verbatim sound reproduction but in my view, we should still use the sound of live, unamplified instruments and voices as a reference to strive for. What are the most important aspects of live music? Pin point imaging? I would say pin-point imaging is not only the least important parameter of live music but it`s also non-existent. Holographic imaging certainly exists (not in the puppet theatre proportions though) but it`s not of prime importance unless we don`t care for the REAL musical values. Anyone ever went to a concert with the sole aim to “localize the performers” ?
Probably not, so why do we (or some of us) pay so much attention to this, obviously absurd parameter? Has it become the only excitement we get from music? Hopefully not, for music has a LOT more to offer – to put it mildly. We have become versed in the “analytical” (left brained) listening because our systems mostly fail big time in attempt to convey emotion, power, harmonic richness and hence…we seek for bogus substitutes.
Speaking of harmonic richness, this is one VERY IMPORTANT parameter the Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables excelled in. No matter what kind of music material I would put on, the sense of right tonality/timbre was always spot on. In general I would describe the Black Pearl as possessing an incredible sense of NATURAL warmth – across the whole spectrum, from the deepest bass up to the highest treble. Here, surgical precision is traded for a weightier sonic cloth as opposed to the skeletal one. The bass was absolutely impressive in its heft and depth but didn`t seem to aim for that last ounce of utter precision. It was still incredibly satisfying, overall. The kick drum in particular had a very nice punch and ensured great rhythmic capability. The critical lower midrange sounded full, authoritative and colorful – not colored though. The vocal range sounded very refined and natural; sibilants were held under control and this made even less than stellar recordings sound highly enjoyable. Same goes for the presence range; here nothing stood out, no annoying peakiness or unnatural hardness. The whole treble range wasn`t the last word in openness and transparency but in my view it is safe to say that many cables overemphasize this region, giving an unnaturally bright presentation. Sometimes, such cables give an impression that they reveal more details than one can hear under live circumstances but in the end, this is a step away from “the truth” not a step closer.
The Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables` approach could be described as the one which cares for the musical whole, as opposed to the one who highlights the details in an artificial manner. With Black Pearls, the music always sounded coherent and seamless and this is a long term quality not found in majority of loudspeaker cables. Most of them immediately try to impress with hyper realistic detailing but along the road they fragment the music itself which is never good and leads to listening fatigue.
Now, all that being said, I have never felt that some important bits and pieces of information were lost; the music still sounded transparent and resolute but perhaps the stage focus was shifted slightly backward which was very welcome in the end because it ameliorated any inherent forwardness in the recordings. Perhaps this will seem strange but the ability of the Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables to favor MUSIC over mere information was probably its biggest virtue. The albums of my favorite music which are mostly poorly recorded, now sounded enjoyable and inspiring but I`m not suggesting the Black Pearls polished the rough edges a bit to make it more listenable, no, the final resultant sound was simply perceived as more natural and right.
Black Pearls and Music…
One of my favorite guitar players, the late Michael Hedges was perhaps inspired by the Indonesian archipelago when he wrote “Java Man” a beautiful guitar instrumental:
Heard through the Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables, the guitar retained its resonating qualities while delivering wonderful natural overtones and harmonics. The micro/macro dynamic expressiveness was first rate and made the guitar sound very authentic and real.
While preparing this article, I have found a few Indonesian musical gems that URGENTLY need to be shared with you, dear readers. One of them is I Wayan Balawan, a jazz/rock/traditional/fusion guitarist and double neck guitar virtuoso from Bali:
He is best known as a Batuan Ethnic Fusion guitarist and his ability to play double neck guitar. Balawan has developed the 8 Fingers Touch Style technique, which also known as the Touch-Tapping Style. He is often regarded as one of the fastest guitarists in Indonesia. He is also called The Magic Finger guitarist among the musician community in the world.
Citra Scholastika is a female singer with an Angelic voice:
Dira Sugandi is another one:
Mocca – Good Morning Song – WOW!!!
Anggun – Yang ‘Ku Tunggu, her dark voice is enchanting:
This is simply good times music played in a heartfelt way…and I have become a fan of all of the above artists.
The Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables proved capable to extract exactly the very core of the musical performance, without exposing unimportant, distracting recording artifacts – I call this musicality. Everything that`s essential in music like emotions and energy, were delivered to the listener with utmost sensibility and effortless naturalness. In my view the Black Pearls posses a very balanced set of attributes that somehow direct the listener much more towards the music itself and away from the endless (and pointless) “audiophile pondering”. If that ain`t an achievement?
All of the above was evident on every musical genre I threw at them, from jazz, to classical, pop, you name it. Classical orchestrations especially sounded very smooth and sophisticated, with unrestrained dynamics. Long listening sessions with the Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables proved to be very enjoyable due to the lack of any hectic and nervous sonic behavior.
Conclusion
The variety of current speaker cabling offerings is nearly endless these days but the real standouts are not so common. Some cables look fancy but offer almost nothing in return, others offer good performance but lack in the visual/workmanship quality department and this goes for all price regions. The Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables excel in every possible regard, visually, sonically and in terms of the well thought-out construction and the level of craftsmanship. They don`t tend to impress at first sight but reveal their very strong qualities gradually.
Once the listener gets accustomed to this very balanced set of sonic attributes, he or she may well leave behind the endless quest for “newer and better” cabling solutions, instead concentrating on what really matters: the music. This is something I would like to see more among audio components.
The Vermöuth Audio Black Pearl loudspeaker cables indeed proved to be REAL PEARLS and especially in regard to their asking price, are worth of my highest recommendation. They are a true bargain and deserve the Mono & Stereo BEST BUY award.
http://vermouthaudio.com/new/?wpcproduct=black-pearl-2
Vermouth AudioJln.Gatot Subroto Tengah No.100X Kav.15
Denpasar
Bali – 80231
Indonesia