Mark Tunis Audio Cable Review

Last month at the Suncoast Audiophile Society meeting, several new members appeared and as luck would have it I had the great fortune to meet Mr. Marcus (Mark) Tunis. Mark is a new entry into the high-end mix presently constructing high-quality interconnect cables and speaker wires in his living room, but do not let this modes garage-style beginning fool you about what lurks (or lures you) behind the curtain.

After a brief but engaging chat regarding esoteric materials and interconnect technology, Mark loaned me two pair of unbalanced 1-meter interconnects that I agreed to review. But this is not the only style of cable Mark currently produces; in his repertoire are balanced (and unbalanced) interconnects terminated in your desired connectors, and an interesting-looking speaker wire.

Mark is a believer that – to a certain degree – history in the audio realm repeats itself. Engineers and enthusiasts have bantered back and forth different technologies and applications yielding to new materials and innovations basically taking a good idea and trying to make it better. However, the original idea is grounded on solid science and this is where he steps in. He uses proven technologies in cable design and upgrades the connectors.

Mark likes the sound of silver (as do I) and is also a huge fan of air as an insulator. Air is a proven and widely used technology – just look at the electric transmission lines or high-tension wires your power company used to bring electricity to your home as a classic example. His next favorite insulator is Teflon, and I must say that after adding small Teflon shunt capacitors on my signal-path crossover network capacitors, I must completely agree with him. Mark uses high-quality copper plated with silver for both the multi-stranded center conductor and braided shield of his interconnect cables and multi-stranded wire silver-plated copper wire for his speaker cable.

As it is with anyone promoting their own goods or services, Mark started out (as anticipated) stating that his cables had been reviewed by others claiming they were better than those costing 10s and 100s of times more (…and do I have a deal for you on a bridge in Brooklyn…). Needless to say, I was initially skeptical but intrigued by his sincerity. So the cables sat on the shelf at home for another day or so until I connected them to my system. When someone claims to have a better cable than the mainstream sells for a tiny fraction of their cost, it is a lot to believe as I am certain that most of you would agree. But although skeptical, I was hopeful and gave them a chance.

Putting it mildly, I expect a lot from interconnect or speaker cables. My current hand-made interconnect cables possess a phenomenal soundstage in all three dimensions and unmatched smoothness from all but the best I have ever auditioned. But two of my quad-wired (think of them as bi-wired times two) hand-made speaker cables use Teflon-insulated silver-plated OFHC copper each wound in a star-quad configuration. Each segment of my crossover network (sub, bass, mid, and tweet) is isolated from the other (no shared signal or ground paths) and each requires its own speaker cable (no shunt straps). Yup, you read this right: four discrete speaker wires run from the amp to each speaker.

The 1-meter unbalanced cables I auditioned used the WBT gold RCA plugs, very high quality plugs without a doubt. And the attention to assembly detail was equally as impressive since Mark uses 5% silver solder at the termination points. The cable itself is VERY thin; with an external diameter on the order of 3/32” (2.4mm) it is the smallest diameter cable I have ever tried. But tiny is anything but the way I would describe their sound. These are some amazing interconnects and what they do, they do very well.

 

First, the top two octaves just open up and become dynamic, detailed, accurate, and seamless. Most cables favor one band or another and as a result the sound is unbalanced from top-to-bottom. These are the exact opposite. What I realized after just a few minutes of listening is what my other reference cables had left out.

I use a ribbon tweeter (super tweeter) that crosses over at about 9,500Hz. After a long series of experiments with the selection of crossover network capacitors, I assumed that the sound from this driver was as good as it was going to get – until, that is, I auditioned Mark’s cables. They allowed more sound to come through unaltered; just un-emphasized, un-compressed, and un-damped neutral music from source to speakers. Everything I suspected as an issue in the crossover network was instead an issue with my old interconnect cables. I was relieved, excited, and really started listening to their uncanny ability to reveal nuances.

Spinning my favorite reference disks found new life, new information, and new clarity in almost every measure. Performances with which I was intimately familiar now resounded with life-like realism unachieved before. Saxophones sounded like saxophones, not sort of like saxophones. Pianos had that inner detail of the felt on the hammer striking the string prior to its resonance; then the resonances of the sound board can be heard as it blooms; I listen in total awe. My mouth literally dropped then and it still does today regardless of what I play.

My worst critic, my wife, even admitted that these cables were thrilling and incredibly realistic sounding providing– so to speak – a seat at the mixing console. These cables eliminate one more layer of grunge between you and the performance, something I find exhilarating. To me, sitting down to a sound system and having that “being there” experience come to life is the Holy Grail of audiophiles. Like having a concert in your listening room, these cables do the job.

What music sounds best? All of it! Even those tracks you thought were so-so you may again find to your liking. Classic rock has never sounded so good and the music I relegated to the “boring” category is now at least revealed to its fullest. The ability to notice differences between MP3, SACD, DSD, and higher-resolution recordings is easily brought to bear as the size and depth of the soundstage, the detail improves as do the dynamics. No matter what I listen to it now sounds good and those esoteric discs are to die for. One person – a newbie into the high-end realm – dropped by a few days ago and after hearing these cables said “Thanks for ruining my CD collection.” What he meant was that he now had to invest into higher-quality recordings since the Red-Book 44-16 standard of CDs was now in his own words “grossly inadequate.” I agree but I still listen to them because sometimes there is no other format choice available and I like the artist.

With every improvement in your system, you begin to notice other issues. Like peeling back an onion, there are layers upon layers of issues that until you achieve a certain level of refinement you may have been totally unaware of their presence. This was my case for my line filter. I use a Hospital Grade differential toroidal line filter (a PowerVAR ABC-1200). I have already changed grounding to a true single-point scheme but the introduction of these fine cables caused me to rethink something about this grounding scheme. While the internal wiring reflected a single-point ground, the metal outlet frame is connected to the ground wire terminal. Attaching standard mounting screws to the frame therefore introduced more ground loops (Oops! Overlooked that one.). Adding electrical tape to the front and back of the outlet frames, enlarging the mounting holes on the frames, and adding insulating sleeves to the mounting screws created a true single-point grounding scheme on the unit.

The results were absolutely astounding. The sound stage expanded exponentially allowing live recordings in large rooms to reveal the ambience nuances associated with long reverberation times. For example, on the SACD album “Missa In Nativitate Domini” by Kåre Nordstoga, track 19 Orgelimprovisata (Deilig er Jorden ) clearly revealed the position of the organ ranks along the walls and enhanced the low-level information in the performance literally thrusting you into the balcony (one wonders how far off the floor the microphones are placed). Outcome: one more layer of the onion peeled back and one step closer to the audio Grail. Other well-recorded music yields identical results: you just hear more detail and realism than you did before.

Apparently made from a MIL-Spec stranded coax cable (RG-178, RG-179, RG-316, etc.), these cables are a delight and at their modest cost well worth the investment. Although there is a little sibilance introduced in some productions (mostly discerned when viewing live video), this minor downside is easily overlooked considering all of the other benefits achieved. Below is a description of the RCA interconnect provided by Mark:

Silver plated Coaxial Cable

Constructed with stranded silver plated copper conductors insulated with an extruded PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) dielectric. The outstanding electrical and mechanical properties of silver and PTFE over a broad range of frequencies makes this coaxial cable outstanding for audio applications.

Extremely transparent, clean and clear with solid soundstaging, pleanty of bass, and does cymbals better than I’ve ever heard. Silver wire gives realistic, natural and organic sound with both solid state and tube gear, and takes the edge off of digital that wears me out. Teflon insulation and silver braided shielding for the best EMI/RFI rejection,

A summary of product offerings from Mark Tunis Audio is provided next:

Style	Type	Plug Style	Length	Price	Additional length
Interconnect	XLR	Neutrik, silver tip	1 Meter	$130	$20/meter
	RCA	WBT	1 Meter	$130	$15/meter
	RCA	Switchcraft	1 Meter	$90	$15/meter
	RCA	Wood	1 Meter	$90	$15/meter
Power Cord	10 AWG	Cryo Rhodium	6 foot	$200	$10/foot
Speaker	10 AWG	Banana/Spade	6 foot	$250	$10/foot

Custom configurations available for most models upon request. For ordering, Mark Tunis Audio products are available from any of the following methods. Paypal is the only payment method currently offered:

Telephone: 770-212-0865

Email: superglide35mark@live.com

Yours for higher fidelity,

Philip Rastocny

I do not use ads in this blog to help support my efforts. If you like what you are reading, please remember to reciprocate, My newest title is called Where, oh Where did the Star of Bethlehem Go? It’s an astronomer’s look at what this celestial object may have been, who the "Wise Men" were, and where they came from. Written in an investigative journalism style, it targets one star that has never been considered before and builds a solid case for its candidacy.

My other titles include:

·  Extreme Audio 1: House Wiring	·  Build an Extreme Green Hot Water Solar Collector
·  Extreme Audio 2: Line Filtering	·  The Extreme Green Guide to Wind Turbines
·  Extreme Audio 3: Chassis Leakage	·  The Extreme Green Guide to Solar Electricity
·  Extreme Audio 4: Interconnect Cables	·  Meditation for Geeks (and other left-brained people)
·  Extreme Audio 5: Speaker Wires	·  Althea: A Story of Love
·  Extreme Green Guide to Improving Mileage	·  Build an Extreme Green Raised Bed Garden
·  Extreme Green Organic Gardening	·  Build an Extreme Green Rain Barrel
·  Extreme Green Organic Gardening 2012	·  Build an Extreme Green Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
·  Build an Extreme Green Composter	·  Extreme Green Appliance Buying Guide

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