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Review Date
January 28, 2002
Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months
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Reviewed by: Brian
Miller, Audio Enthusiast, from Gobles,
MI USA
Product Model Year:
2001
Summary:
I compared this to a JPS Superconductor 2. As is
discussed by many in Audio circles, system synergy seems
to be quite important; I put that disclaimer first
because my comments reflect my system, which I will list
at the bottom. I was comparing the Cables between the
preamp and amp.
The LAT quite easily beat the JPS SC2 from top to
bottom, lows, mids and highs. I enlisted the help of my
wife and she agreed 100%.
The LAT had a greater soundstage, with the JPS more
forward and in your face; I found the same thing to be
true when comparing their speaker Cables. My wife was
sitting off to the side and she said with the LAT the
music carried out further past the speaker. I was
sitting in the center and could also easily hear the
difference as well.
The timbre of the LAT was much better with the JPS. The
LAT was more pleasing and accurate; the JPS were deader
sounding than the LAT.
I am very impressed with the LAT interconnects; at $189
they easily outperformed the $699 JPS in my system.
Forgive me for not having the correct audio lingo. In a
nut shell, it was very easy for both of us to choose the
LAT over the JPS Super 2’s. I had been using the JPS
for a couple months, plus they were used, so they were
fully broken in. LAT recommends 100 hours of break in
time, I am not sure if they had reached that at the time
of the comparison.
A five star rating means you are happy all the way
around with a product, actually according to the
description rating you are beyond happy, which is what I
am with these; the quality is top notch as well. I hope
I have given enough information as I feel you have to
sometimes take these reviews with a grain of salt. The
more reviews and information can help you come to an
accurate conclusion.
(On a side note, as an example of people getting
different results, there is a review on here under LAT
IC-200 D where the person said they replaced all their
LAT with Coincident, although they praised the LAT. I
have used a Coincident cable and found it a decent cable
but it to be laid back. I have no idea if the difference
between the Mark II and Mark D is dramatic or not, but
from my experience, I would easily choose the LAT over
the Coincident, but bear in mind that I did not do a
head-to head with these.)
My system during this comparison:
Moscode 300 amp (Heavily modified by Stephan Sank)
Hovland HP-100 preamp
Meridian 508.24 also with a LAT IC-200 Mark II IC
Strengths:
They are an excellent product all the way around,
especially at their prices in comparison to others. In
actuality, LAT's price is where others should be!
Weaknesses:
As the price is a strength, it "could" be a
weakness, as they may get overlooked. (Not really a
weakness of the product.)
Similar Products Used:
JPS Superconductor 2 (I have used other Cables, but
these are what I compared with.)
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Review Date
July 4, 2001
Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months
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Reviewed by: Harvey
Fiorella, Audio Enthusiast, from Los
Angeles CA U.S.A.
Product Model Year:
2000
Summary:
First, this is one beautiful cable. Transparent blue
outside sheath with high quality construction and
expensive looking locking connectors. I don’t how they
do it at that price. The also use a proprietary
conductor that they call Silverfuse which they say is a
fusing of silver and copper into an alloy- not silver
clad. See their web site. They talk more about it there.
The sound of this cable matches its looks. I was floored
when I put it into my system. The sound stage opened up
considerably from what it was with my Harmonic
Technologies Magic One. Inner detail is superb. It
creates a bloom and imaging that comes oh so close to
what I hear at live concerts. We all know that no cable
no matter how good, can sound like the real thing. But
this L A T Intl. Cable comes a close as any cable I have
listened to. It is very musical and it is super fast!
The timbre is right on. In fact everything is right
about this cable. It is absolutely accurate in
reproducing what is on my sources – that includes CD
and Vinyl. I had been auditioning a lot of high priced
Cables against the LAT to make up my mind. Harmonic
Technologies are good but they do not have the wide and
deep soundstage, openness and accuracy that the LAT has.
I found Wire World to be excellent, but overall not
quite up to the LAT. Straight Wire is definitely too
bright. The Kimber models I compared, regardless of
their price, while some were accurate, they all lacked
dynamics. Cardas I think is highly over rated especially
for the price. MIT and Transparent Audio have those
boxes on their cable that I think are a crutch they use
to try and cure some ills, but I find that they only
causes distortion. I am a firm believer as are many
other audiophiles that the less there is in the signal
path the better. I am sure that’s one reason why the
LAT sounds so clean and so open. I am real happy I
decided to audition the IC-200 Mk II. Now I can relax
and enjoy the music.
Strengths:
Completely neutral from top to bottom. Treble to deep
bass.
Weaknesses:
Not enough dealers carry it in my area
Similar Products Used:
Cardas -Straight Wire -Wire World -MIT -Harmonic
Technologies
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Review Date
May 28, 2001
Overall Rating
5 of 5
Value Rating
5 of 5
Used product for
1 to 3 months
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Reviewed by: Harrry, Audiophile, from Chicago,
IL U.S.A.
Product Model Year:
2000
Summary:
I purchased them on the recommendation of a friend. He
had just stepped up from the model IC-200-D to the newer
IC-200 Mk II. He raved about them so much I had to try
them. Nothing to lose with their 45 day money back
guarantee. I had been using two pairs of Harmonic
Technology model Magic One ($700 for one meter) and was
quite satisfied with them, until I heard the L A T
Cables. When IC-200 Mk II were burned in (after about 80
hours of burn in). They suddenly came to life. Wow! Did
they ever come to life. They are super fast and reveal
detail on the recording you never knew was there. But it
is not the kind of etched detail that is sometimes
annoying. But rather the detail they bring out is as
smooth as silk. The sound stage width and depth was far
greater than all those we compared them to. Your walls
seem to expand out and back. It’s like being in
spacious concert hall or an intimate nightclub depending
on what’s on the recording. Yes, you get what’s on
the recording- all of it – nothing more, nothing less.
There is no artificial hyping up of treble or mid range
“in your face” that you get from DH Labs and
Tributaries. They do get some getting used to if you
have been listening to Cables in your system that are
not accurate. If you are looking for tone control Cables
theses are not it. Imaging is precise. You can pin point
the location of just about every musician on a
recording, if the recording wasn’t botched by an inept
mixing engineer. We also compared them to the pricey
Transparents, Kimber Select, Cardas and my friend’s
Nordost Quattro Fill Reference costing $1400.00. Not
one, not even the $1400.00 Nordorsts beat out the IC-200
MK II. They all sounded a little different but the
Nordosts came closest to the LAT. Actually I would
probably call it a tie but at $189.00 compared to
$1400.00 what would you do?? I don’t own the Nordosts
but, needless to say when I bought the IC-200 MK II, the
$700.00 Harmonic Technology interconnects went bye bye!!
Strengths:
Their best strength is the fact that they have a
relatively low price, yet they beat out every other
Interconnect we compared them to; and I am talking about
the top of the line “sky rocket priced” models from
Transparent, Kimber, Cardas Nordost and Harmonic
Technology.
Weaknesses:
None, except that they are too cheap. The manufacturer
is missing out on lots of bucks. They could easily sell
for what the top dollar models of those other high end
companies I mentioned sell for.
Similar Products Used:
Harmonic Technologies ($700.00 a meter !!!)
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