Article by WL Low
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| KLEI Pure Harmony RCA plugs. |
I last raved about KLEI’s Copper Harmony Plugs sometime ago, and felt like they were the bee’s knees for what little out lay they require to purchase. I used the plugs, along side with a 0.5 meter length of Furutech FC-63 cable stock for an ambitious low cost, high performance co-axial cable, to transmit digital signals between my Theta Pearl CD transport to the BDA-1 DAC. It was a gem of DIY cable find.
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| DIY time! |
I was happily mind my own musical business when an e-mail from KL(Keith Louis)the very man who started the Eichman revolution in RCA plugs, asking me what my plans are with a 0.5 meter Furutech cable stock remaining which I had had initially plan to mate with a pair of Neutrik Profi connectors for comparison purposes but some how never got around to doing so, because I was super satisfied with the Copper Harmony plugs. KL suggested that I use the extra 0.5 meters on his flag ship Pure Harmony plugs instead, I agreed and within the next 3 weeks or so, a pack of 4 Pure Harmony plugs arrived in to my post box.
I raved about how easy it was to work with the Copper Harmony plugs and the Pure Harmony plugs were just as easy to terminate, due to the same smart V-shaped terminal design, for easy soldering. The Pure Harmony looks and feels exactly the very same as with the Copper Harmony plugs as I put them together side by side. I bet if I had mixed them up, it would be near impossible to tell the difference, except the Copper Harmony plug had a more matt coating finish to the connector pins. The Pure Harmony plug’s pins were a little more brilliant Satin finish by comparison. Read about the DIY work in detail on my previous posting of the Copper Harmony plugs dated 2nd April 2014, other wise carry on.
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| The easy soldering V-shaped spade terminals. |
In comparison to the Copper Harmony plugs, the Pure Harmony offers wider dynamic range and bandwidth. In comparison, the Copper plug may sound a little roll off on the extreme high end, causing the Pure plug to sound more airy and 3D in sound staging(the air between the musicians phenomenon). The Pure plug also sounded a little cleaner in the bottom end, although can sometimes be mistaken as leaner by less experienced listener, or in less capable systems. The mid range has the same roundness, and robust quality for fully fleshed out imaging. The Pure plug is even more transparent than the already superb Copper plug, letting thru more minute details in the music mix. In most other aspects, the same familiar sound of the Copper plug is carried over wholesale.
At the price point of AUD$135.00 per pack of four plugs, the point of diminishing returns is certainly near. One can spend more money to get more “bling”(WBT comes to mind, but I doubt one would get much more sound quality. In fact the Pure Harmony plugs betters the Copper Harmony by only a small margin, in terms of sound quality, but to some “kiasu” audiophiles who can’t even live without that much less music, then the Pure plugs can be a very attractive proposition indeed.
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| The finished article, included in the package is a cable end dressing on the top, which I did not use, due to the chunky shielding and jacket construction of the Furutech FC-63 co-axial cable stock. |
If one is willing to go all the way, and spend a little more $$$, my sincere advice is to go for the best KLE Harmony plugs to satisfy one’s upgrade crave, once and for all. The Copper Harmony plug is great value, but the Pure Harmony plug offers excellent sound quality with little or no compromise in sound, all packaged in an understated form. After all if cables are mostly plugged in to the back of the hifi equipment, who needs “bling” in back alley?
Article by WL Low
