The Clarus Aqua Power Cables are a product I hadn’t planned to review, but felt I should. I had been asked to review a full flight of Clarus Crimson Audio Cables, but when it was time to ship them, they were temporarily out of Crimson power cables and sent me the less expensive Clarus Aqua power cables.
First, for some of you who may not know much about Clarus Cables, the man who inspired the company was Gordon J. Gow of McIntosh fame. The company is Gordon J. Gow Technologies, Inc. They also have a less expensive line of cables called Tributaries. Clarus is their high-end line.
Now, here’s the story behind this company. Both Joseph C. Perfito and Gow worked for McIntosh, In fact, Perfito worked directly for Gow from 1975 until 1989. Gow met and married Perfito’s sister, Pam, in 1978. Perfito left McIntosh in 1990 and, along with his wife Pam, started Gordon J. Low Technologies in honor of Gordon who had died the previous year.
Clarus is located in Orlando, FL. The people who work there are very open about the company’s designs. You can click here to read their white papers and here to watch their cable designer, Jay Victor’s, videos on cables. Victor, pictured below, describes himself as “a musician and life-long music fanatic.” The build quality of the cables is really nice, and while fairly big, they are not overly stiff or heavy. Though if the Crimson power cables were considerably stiffer or heavier, that could be a problem for me.
Listening
The Clarus people asked me to start by putting the power cables in the system and then adding the speaker cables and last the interconnects. So, that’s what I did even though they were the Aqua cables. I replaced my Audience Au24SE power cables with the Clarus Aqua power cables and listened. The Clarus cables had about 100 hours on them, so I left the system playing 24/7 for the weekend before settling in listen for this review.
With the Aqua power cables in my system, it sounded relaxed with beautiful rich harmonics. The system had a wonderful low-end harmonic with real tonal colors. The midrange was sweet and as smooth as velvet. The top end sounded well extended and silky smooth. Voices and instruments had beautiful timbre and bloom like a 300B tube amp. The decay and wood sound of a cello or standup bass was simply beautiful.
So, how do the Aqua power cables compare with the best from Audience, High Fidelity Cables, and WyWires. Well, they don’t in certain areas, but those cables cost five, ten and even fifty times more. The areas they fell short in were rhythm, drive and allowing me to hear detail. As good as they were in reproducing decay, they dull the leading edge just a bit; this could be a blessing on many of the systems I hear.
Concluding Thoughts
I was very impressed with the Clarus Aqua power cables, and I can’t wait to hear their Crimson power cables. Still, the Aqua cables stand on their own as power cables that let you hear and enjoy the music. I didn’t know there were power cables that are this good at anywhere near this price. Highly Recommended!
Stay tuned for Part II which will cover the Clarus Crimson speaker, interconnects, and digital cables.
Price: 6-foot power cable – $299.00 each
