⌈ LUNA CABLES is a company with a seat in Quebec, run by Mr. DANNY LABRECQUE. The cables are manufactured in a 19th-century, beautifully renovated and industrially adapted barn surrounded by nature. We are testing MAUVE series cables. ⌋

ONE OF THE CHANGES AND SIDE EFFECTS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE PANDEMIC, talked about by many journalists, commentators, bloggers and ordinary Internet users is the “great awakening” and a return to more sustainable life, as well as a change in our mindset to intensive environmental protection. It is impossible not to see the correlation between the more and more frequent zoonotic virus epidemics and the suicidal (for us as a species) aspiration to totally transform the planet in our image and likeness.

⸜ The surroundings of the Luna Cables manufacturing plant

Amazed at, or even shocked by the liveliness of nature that emerged during the first lockdown when the animals that we usually do not see were spotted on city streets and marine creatures, often considered to have been extinct, suddenly appeared in front of our cameras, we realized what we had done to ourselves – or at least we should have realized.

I am quite convinced that all the declarations made at that time, ejaculatory prayers, all the teary comments were (and still are) all but mulch, some “true human self” scraps that will instantly disappear once the vaccination process is over and we return to a relatively normal life. I will say more – it is not just my impression, but certainty – after it is all “gone”, we will be worse than before (we = society).

I think we are talking about a process here – understanding that we are part of SOMETHING bigger, something that we are, literally, connected with for life and death, and realizing that the biblical quote “to subdue the earth” does not tell us to destroy, but to take care of it – and even such extreme situations as the pandemic will not change it. This requires time and self-discipline. That is why the message sent by the people and companies that understood this a long time ago and have been living accordingly shines through so strongly. An example of such an attitude is the cable manufacturer LUNA CABLES.

| MAUVE

1. A pale purple colour.
‘a few pale streaks of mauve were all that remained of the sunset’
2. historical
A pale purple aniline dye prepared by William H. Perkin in 1856. It was the first synthetic dyestuff.

MAUVE = PALE PURPLE

Source: „OXFORD LANGUAGES”; access: 26.01.2021

Cables manufactured by LUNA CABLES are grouped into series that differ from one another by the color of the outer jacket; as the name suggests, products from the tested MAUVE series are pale purple. As we wrote in the test of cables from the ORANGE series, the development of their geometry and sound was based on research on NOS cables, but employed modern ecological solutions (HF № 175 ⸜ October 16th 2018 | read HERE). The instantly visible elements of this approach are the really nice cotton bags that the cables are packed into before shipping.

The dielectric is silk and cotton with rubber elements. The conductors are made of tinned copper, the material that was used by the first cable manufacturer, the Western Electric company, and is now being used by the Swedish SUPRA company. The cotton is unprocessed, i.e. it is not chemically treated, so it is 100% recyclable. It is used to make the packaging and outer cable jackets – their manufacturing takes place near the company’s seat, which makes it possible to economize on fuel.

All the cables are hand made by the company’s owner, Mr. DANNY LABRECQUE. Luna Cables offers five series of cables with a different inner structure, differentiated by, as has already been mentioned, the color of the outer, naturally dyed cotton layer: gray, orange, mauve, rouge or noir.

⸜ Danny in his workshop

The MAUVE series is thus exactly in the “middle” of the manufacturer’s offer. It includes a full catalogue of currently used cables: analog (RCA, XLR, DIN, mini-jack) interconnects, speaker cables, AC power cables, USB, RCA, BNC, AES/EBU and LAN digital cables, as well as DC power cables for PSU units.

INTERCONNECT Mauve interconnects are comprised of two tinned copper conductors, 0.812 mm in diameter each, varnished, as well as wrapped in paper and silk. Electromagnetic interference is minimized using tinned copper braid. The outer jacket is made of 100% raw cotton.

The cables are available with RCA, XLR, DIN and mini-jack connectors. The tested interconnects were equipped with RCA connectors – nice and small ones, manufactured by the American SWITCHCRAFT company. It was set up in 1946 and offers connectors, outlets and switches, mainly for the communications industry. After being acquired by the Raytheon Corporation, Switchcraft began manufacturing connectors for very demanding applications under difficult conditions. In 2011, the company was acquired by the HEICO Corporation and became part of its Electronic Technologies Group. Today, Switchcraft is one of the biggest American connector manufacturers for the industry and professional audio, as well as the broadcasting industry.

SPEAKER CABLE The Mauve series speaker cable is inconspicuous – not too thick – and it only includes one common +/- conductor per channel. The conductor’s diameter is 1.82 mm and it is wrapped in the signature Luna Cables Neo-Vintage (LCNV) material, i.e. waxed cotton. The conductors are made of tinned copper, just like in the interconnect.

Mauve speaker cables are available with one of the three connector types: BFA, spade or SpeakON; Luna Cables also offers jumper cables based on the same cable. We tested the version with BFA (BRITISH FEDERATION OF AUDIO) connectors. That was an organization of British audio manufacturers, set up in 1965. Due to the diminishing contribution of its members, it stopped functioning in 2011.

BFA banana connectors have the form of a springy tube cut on one side. On the other side, there is an ø 8 mm opening for conductors with a cross-section of up to 10 mm² (7AWG). They have proven to be much better than standard “banana” connectors, even though they seem to be very simple elements. The BFA connectors used in the tested cables were made of gold-plated copper.

| THE LISTENING SESSION

THE WAY WE LISTENED Luna Cables were tested in the “High Fidelity” reference system. The MAUVE interconnect was connected to the RCA output of the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player and compared to the CRYSTAL CABLE ABSOLUTE DREAM. MAUVE speaker cables connected the output of the Soulution 710 amp to the input of the Harbeth M40.1 loudspeakers. They were compared to the SILTECH TRIPLE CROWN cables.

That was an A/B comparison test, with both A and B known. I compared the interconnects after each individual track, while the speaker cables – after four, as swapping them in the system required a little more effort and time.

Albums used in the test | selection

⸜ BASIA, It’s That Girl Again, Universal Music Group/WHD Entertainment IECP-10168, HQCD (2009)
⸜ DAVE GRUSIN, Discovered Again! Plus, Sheffield Lab/Lasting Impression Music LIM XR 002, XRCD24 (1976/2003)
⸜ DUKE ELLINGTON, Duke Ellington Live! At The Newport Jazz Festival '59, Nippon Phonogram | EmArcy 842071-2, CD (1989)
⸜ GEORGE KAWAGUSCHI, The Big 4, Three Blind Mice TBM XR 0066, XRCD (1976/1997)
⸜ N. MAEDA, N. Maeda Meets 5 Saxophones, Audio Lab. Record/Octavia Records OVGL-00026, SACD/CD (1976/2012)
⸜ STING, The dream of the blue turtles, A&M Records/Mobile Fidelity UDCD 528, Gold-CD (1985/1990)
⸜ VANGELIS, Blade Runner, Atlantic Records/Audio Fidelity AFZ 154, „Limited Edition | No. 2398”, SACD/CD (1998/2013)

INTERCONNECT The difference between the Luna Cables interconnect and the reference cables, i.e. the Crystal Cable Absolute Dream, was immediately audible after they were swapped. This is not too frequent – you usually need to get used to new sound in order to determine what has changed about it, but it was different this time. The thing is not that the Canadian cables changed the sound to such great extent or that the much more linear cables from the Netherlands showed that – not at all.

Even though the sound of the Mauve interconnect did differ from the sound of the Absolute Dream cable, the incremental change of perception that I am talking about consisted in changing our perspective on the events in front of us. On the one hand, the Canadian cable shapes tone color in a manner similar to Japanese cables, e.g. those made by TiGLON, as it delivers unambiguously warm sound. On the other hand, we cannot talk about warming the sound up, as in the case of the Mauve cable the attack was marked much more strongly than in the reference interconnect.

It was like this with the album The Big 4 of the Japanese drummer GEORGE KAWAGUCI, released by the Three Blind Mice record label. This is quite raw sound, with the sound of the saxophone set quite far away in the mix. The Mauve cable kind of remastered the whole thing, as if the material had been mixed using a tube console, not a transistor one. The foreground was closer to me, while the background – further away from me. The midrange was clearer thanks to strong mid-bass, but also the attack of the percussion plates was more sonorous and their decay – longer.

It was similar with DUKE ELLINGTON’S concert recorded during the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959 – with the Mauve cables, the sound was more vivid and colorful – even though we are talking about a reference cable here that virtually defines these two elements! It is not that the tested cable is better, but its sound is so engaging that such things as the stronger saturation of the Crystal Cable interconnect with harmonics and its higher resolution were not as domineering as one might have expected judging by the difference in price. To tell you the truth, I did not miss that too much.

| Our albums

⸜ DUKE ELLINGTON
Duke Ellington Live! At The Newport Jazz Festival '59

Nippon Phonogram | EmArcy 842071-2 (1989)
COMPACT DISC

THANKS TO THE ALBUM ELLINGTON AT NEWPORT from the year 1956, Duke Ellington became popular again, after a time when his career had seemed to be coming to an end. The album is available in many formats and it was released on a “silver” LP by the Mobile Fidelity record label. In 1996, a radio recording of the concert was found in the Voice of America archives and it was found out that the album had been a made as a compilation of a live performance and studio recordings, with added audience. It is estimated that only 40% of the material was recorded during the concert.

That is why I would like to attract your attention to a real performance of the artist, the recording of Ellington’s and his band’s concert that took place at the same venue, but three years later. The recording had been kept on a shelf for a long time, as it was first released in the year 1989 and only on CD. Perhaps the reason for it had been a bad technical condition of the tapes – which can be heard already in the first track – or there had been other reasons, while the tape was perfectly fine – we don’t know that.

I recommend that you buy the Japanese edition, as its sound is the warmest and fullest. And the music is worth listening to – it is strong big-band sound, with a large audience having good fun and full swing. Very good tonal balance has been maintained at the same time, so even the strong sound of the wind instruments does not change that.▐

THE MAUVE CABLE WONDERFULLY PRESENTED THE ALBUM, as it builds a large soundstage into each dimension – wide, deep and high, showing the large volume of instruments, creating a lot of space. It does that with each music genre, also with the quite compressed material from Basia’s album entitled It’s That Girl Again. With the tested cable, the foreground was close to me, because of which it seemed bigger. What is interesting, even though warmth was clearly audible, the sound of the percussion plates was strong and clear, perhaps even clearer than with the reference cable.

However, the sound was not emphasized, but brought closer, which yielded the impression of strong bandwidth ends. In fact, both low bass and high treble are a little withdrawn with the Mauve cable. You don’t hear it instantly, as color saturation that goes with this cable gives you a fascinating “full package”, because of which it is more convincing. We obtain it all by focusing our attention on the emotional aspect of the musical message, i.e. low midrange, as well as on slight compression of the soundstage.

This seems to be in contrast to what I said about the size of the soundstage earlier – but it is not. After a few albums, you can hear that the swing I mentioned is real, but this is probably more about emphasizing instruments a little, making their presence clearer within smaller space – hence the impression of “swing”. This is something fascinating, at least for me, as we are talking about comparing cables that cost less than 5000 PLN (Mauve) and over 50,000 PLN (Crystal Cable). Everything should be “clear” after the first track, but here I listen to one after another and wonder how the manufacturer did this or that, since it all sounds so good and convincing.

It is similar with Sting’s Moon over Bourbon Street from the album The Dream of the Blue Turtles. The artist plays the double bass, which is electronically processed a little, as well as the Synclavier here. The Canadian interconnect made it possible to detect these nuances, but not by isolating them from the mix, but by bringing all the remaining elements to an equally high level, as well as through excellent tone color differentiation and tangibility.

SPEAKER CABLE The Mauve speaker cable goes even further in all this. If the interconnect from the series brings the foreground closer, the speaker cable does a little more of that; if the interconnect makes the musical message more vivid by showing tangible sound sources, the speaker cable goes a little further in this direction.

It sounds as if I was talking about disadvantages, which is not the case. In reality, the world proposed by the Luna Cables speaker cable, as well as by the whole set of the tested cables, is fascinating and incredibly interesting. The volume of the musical message is large, as if from a high-quality turntable, thanks to which the events in front of us seem scary real. However, this is not due to literally sticking to the technical aspects of sound reproduction, but boosting the emotional ingredient, making mid-bass stronger, through “golden” and at the same time clear sound.

That is why it is not the best differentiated musical message that I have heard. Differences will be shown better by Nordost, Wireworld or Siltech cables. These will also be more selective and will have better control over bass. The Mauve speaker cable does it all well, but not SO well and this is not where its strength lies. It consists in skillfully showing music as a whole, convincing the listener to listen to another and then yet another album.

| CONCLUSIONS

THE TESTED LUNA CABLES SEEM to sound warm. They are vivid, dynamic and give us a really large volume of sound. In reality, the musical message that they help create has broad frequency response. It is not as broad as in the case of the reference cables, but much broader than provided by other cables from the same price range. There is also the wide and deep soundstage, made even more prominent thanks to the above-mentioned scale that the cables have mastered.

The Canadian set offers sound that is “round”, but at the same time very vivid and open. The foreground is close to us, it is even brought closer, so that is why it is worth confronting the sound with our expectations. For those who are looking for it, it may be the Holy Grail. ■