Interview with Israel Blume of Coincident
VIDEOHIFI.COM Issue 16
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Tell more about you and about your entry in cables "game"

I got involved with audio cables because the only cables that I could recommend with our speakers sold for as much if not more than the speakers themselves.

The history of your involvement in hifi industry and research…

I then spent the next 2 years conducting extensive research into all aspects of cable design and manufacturing. As reference, I obtained samples of all the finest interconnect and speaker cables from the top producers. It was only when the Coincident cable exceeded the performance of all these other cables AND at a fraction of their price, would the cables be offered for sale.

The Coincident CST IC and CST1 speaker cable was released in 2000 and has proven so successful that Coincident now does as much business in cables as it does selling speakers. We have just released what many have called a breakthrough in cable performance, the Extreme speaker cable and interconnect. Both sound like no cable at all. They represent the closest approach to a direct connection.

More about the beginning of your Firm

I personally have been an audiophile since 1974 and have been in the industry at one level or other since 1984. I started Coincident Speaker Technology in 1993 for the same reason I started designing and manufacturing cables, namely to develop state of the art speakers that were affordable and could be driven by anything from SETs to large power solid state. We have been recognized for our efforts by most of the most prestigious magazines. The Absolute Sound , for example has given our Total eclipse the Golden Ear Award, the Partial Eclipse II is listed in the Editor's Choice as the best speaker under $5000 and our reference Total Victory has been selected by the father of high end audio,HP, in his esteemed Super Components List.

The "question" of cables prices and the understanding Cable Pricing

As for cables, they represent the most overpriced, highly marketed area of high end. Most $2000 interconnects cost less to make than the Coincident $300 CST IC. The consumer is being taken advantage of with the faulty thinking that " you get what you pay for". Sometimes you do but more often than not, when it comes to cables you do not. Furthermore, most cables are not scientifically designed to pass as much information with the least coloration. They are designed to be aesthetically pleasing and to appear expensive looking. Often this actually is detrimental to the sound. For example, we discovered that the less in the way of dieletrics, filler and shielding a cable has, the more transparent it will sound. For this reason, the Coincident Extreme IC and speaker cable have no outer jacket, filler, shielding etc. This makes for a cable that looks thinner, more flexible but less superficially impressive( re:expensive). We chose to ignore marketing considerations in favor of superior sonics. At Coincident, the sound is EVERYTHING.

We have been responsible, albeit on a modest level, for demonstrating that the best audio components do not have to be the most expensive.

 

Source: videohifi.com