KRAUTWIRE Fractal

MJ21.03.2009

Speaker cables

It was a piece of cake for the Fractal to precisely locate the position of a talking man within the soundstage. Well, it was in the stage's center, right? The Fractal, however, shared also which side of a microphone the person was facing and delicately drew the hyperspace nuancées like his mouth moving around the mike.

100% reference

Function and form

100%

Ease of use

82%

Sound

95%

Appearance

The Fractal is the top loudspeaker cable in the company’s hierarchy. The flagship cable of Krautwire, the pure silver braided ORG (currently available at ca 10,000 euro)falls into heavenly fellowship of wires like Shunyata Aurora, Nordost Valhalla or Acrolink Mexcel 7N.

The workmanship of the Fractal is top-notch and reminds you of a piece of jewelry rather than of a high-end cable. The design is the hybrid one and features both silver and copper. In my opinion it is the wise choice and one can make a use of benefits of both materials. True to its name the Fractal is a cross-braided in a ‘fractal’ fashion – i.e. the geometry of single wire is repeated in the geometry of the braid. There is 8 braids of 8 wires of pure silver with copper core (means 64 paths for electrons with the total of 2x6,3mm2). The geometry is resistant against RF noise and speaker cables could be laid e.g. in parallel with power cables. Teflon is the dielectrics.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

The pattern of black and silver conductors gives the Fractal feeling of luxury. It makes it easier to explain your girlfriend why you spent so much money on wires. You miss the visual effect when you put the Fractal behind the equipment rack – buy some additional meters instead and let them crawl around the room to impress visitors.

Thanks to its loosely braided design the Fractal is sensationally pliable and quite heavy too, so it rests with assurance on the surface and you can save quite a money – it is easy to make turns and bends with Fractal so you will need less meters than with stiff cables.

Krautwire uses only high quality terminations from WBT (locking 0644 a 0645), or spring loaded spades of WBT respectively. The contact is reliable, fast and safe even with repeated connecting and disconnecting. Of course, on request, there is a option to have any other termination you prefer.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

Rebecca Pidgeon’s Spanish Harlem (Audiophile Vocal Recordings, Chesky SACD) is one of my all-time favorite cuts when it comes to well-recorded female voice. Apart from the rich and husky tonal quality the Krautwire not only correctly positioned Rebecca to the right of the microphone, but it also projected her virtual silhouette in the listening room, not restricting the image to only a voice without the physical attributes: the body and height.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

When it comes to the Kyung Wha Chung’s solo violin (Saint-Saens, Charles Dutoit, Philharmonia Orchestra, Danse Macabre, Decca), Johnny Frigo (Live from Studio ´A´ in New York City, Chesky) or complete orchestration of Shostakovich (Symphony No.8, LSO Live SACD), it’s clear that we are listening to real instruments in a real space. The Krautwire does not use the colors so generously and euphonically like e.g. Cardas Golden Presence which is (despite some other drawbacks) extraordinary in that sense. Fractal was a touch more laid-back and initially not so appealing. Only through the prolonged listening I started to realize that the Fractal is not laid-back but rather provides excellent grip and control across all frequencies.

A bowed violin can be an example. Some overly analytical cables may render it like moving the hack saw across a thick wire. Other, too euphonic cables, have a tendency to transform this delicate and complicated sound into smooth and silky act, as though the strings were based on Teflon and the bow was made from Nylon fibres. Neither of these extremes is correct. The Krautwire was completely free of such artifacts, which is the rare sign of excellence heard only with the best.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

At all times the Fractal exhibited authority and control.It was firm as a rock and stayed firm at even extremely high loudness levels. Everything remained resolved and well laid. Hardly anyone listens to the music at the full volume, so for practical reasons it was even for impressive that with softer than soft volume levels the soundstage of the Fractal did not shrink and the instruments kept their wooden nature tonality without being replaced by something made from indefinable plastic.

Price as reviewed:85 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Krautwire, Ing. František Kraut, Praha, tel. +420 724 076 707

Manufacturer's website: http://www.krautwire.cz

Associated components

Sources: Van Medevoort CD transport CT460 and DAC DA466, Accuphase DP-78, Accuphase DP-700
Amplifiers: Van Medevoort PSQ/CAQ/PAQs, Accuphase A-70, Luxman L-590AX
Interconnects and speaker cables: Tara Labs ISM The 2EX, Stealth Dream Petite, Krautwire Fractal, Nordost Valhalla V2, Cardas Clear, Audioquest Wild
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond, KEF LS-50
Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified)

Gallery

39%

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