˻ WORLD PREMIERE ˼

⌈ WK AUDIO is Witold Kamiński's company was founded in 2017 in Plichtów, near Łódź. An architect by profession, music enthusiast, author of columns in "High Fidelity" on broadly understood culture, he offers a record clamp, an anti-vibration platform and three AC power cables. We are testing his latest cable, and currently the most expensive one in the lineup, TheRed model. ⌋

HE PANDEMIC dealt with audio companies in different ways. From the conversations I had with dozens of manufacturers from around the world, a certain pattern emerges - based on my guesses, but one that proved true. Apart from random events and simply bad luck, the rule seems universal: those whose business was based on solid foundations, who had good products at good prices, not only survived this time, but used it to significantly expand their business. It is no different with the WK AUDIO company, whose AC power cord we are testing this time.

During the lockdown, Witek Kamiński, the head of WK Audio, sent me photos from time to time with new products, or with products that he sent to distributors, mainly in Asia. And they were not small packages, but whole pallets. Witek also used this time to finish work on his most advanced and expensive AC power cable - TheRed.

One can quickly realize that the designer does not stick to one solution in his search, but rather adapts solutions that in a given case meet his assumptions. The basis are Furutech NFC plugs, they can be found in all WK Audio cables, but the materials used for the production of the cables and their topology are different. And there is probably no more distinctive topology like the one in TheRed.

| A few simple words…

⸜ WITOLD KAMIŃSKI
Owner, designer

⸜ TheRed cables in Witek Kamiński system

POWER CABLE AC WK AUDIO TheRed is currently the top model in the company's offer. It is designed to power reference devices in audio systems. However, its design features allow it to influence the performance also when used with loss expensive components.

I won't reveal any big secret when I say that the mechanical structure of a power cord is as important, if not even more important, than the selection of the conductor material itself. The geometry of the conductor winding, its cross-section, and the quality of the material are not all. Due to the nature of the operating environment of the power cable, the use of various types of damping and/or absorbing materials is crucial.

The power cable has to cope with many adversities: the impulse nature of the current causing it to vibrate, the response from the transformer of the powered device. All this causes noise, which has a very negative effect on the "purity" of the current supplied to audio devices. The issue of the electromagnetic field around the conductor under high voltage is also important.

Designers have to face all these issues and none of them can be ignored if they want to achieve an intended effect - the reference power cord. I emphasize the fact that they cannot be replaced with any kind of "conditioner", or - as they should be called - power filters, because these devices do not eliminate all the phenomena described here. The most important stage in the transmission of electricity to audio devices is the power cable.

⸜ Audio System in RCM’s showroom in Katowice

Another key issue is listening sessions conducted during development process. Or rather the environment in which they are made. They ruthlessly verify our "engineering knowledge", uncompromisingly issuing a verdict about the next solution applied to the project. They clearly show whether the next "step" "works" or not. From my point of view, it is impossible to design a good power cable with piece of paper and pencil or on a computer screen.

Just as scientists in research centers need highly specialized research and measurement equipment, audio designers also need access to high-quality reference audio systems, which in this case are a direct reference to the apparatus used by scientists. The result of the experiment will depend on its accuracy and sensitivity, and the collected data will be the material useful for further work. It is impossible to collide neutrons in a barn or win F1 race driving „Fiat 126”, regardless of the driver's talent.

While working on the WK AUDIO TheRed cable, courtesy of Roger Adamek, the owner of RCM, I had full access to this distributor's assortment. The cable was therefore designed using reference devices from manufacturers such as Vitus, Gauder, Thrax, TechDas or C.E.C.

I also had the unique opportunity to listen to music from professional Studer tape recorders, with the first copies of the master tapes. Honestly, this experience probably had the greatest impact on the creation of TheRed cable. Music (yes, music, because it is not sound anymore) played this way has a huge range of features typical of live music. It is presented in an incredibly smooth and unobtrusive way, and at the same time full of energy, colors, contrasts and emotions. In my opinion, building such a presentation through audio systems is the only right way to develop this industry, because we all care, or at least should, precisely about music.

All WK AUDIO designs are proprietary solutions. The design work on the cable took almost a year! TheRed is made entirely by hand. Each of its runs has a different structure so as to meet the needs of the current flowing through it in the best possible way. While working on the cable, various solutions are tested - both in the terms of "electrical", as well as the mechanical structure and geometry of the cable.

The cable uses very high purity copper. The total diameter of the wires is as much as 18 mm2. Particular attention has been paid to vibration damping. The used anti-vibration materials effectively protect the conductors against the harmful effects of vibration. The physical separation of all cable "runs" significantly reduced the mutual influence of conductors of different nature and role. WK

FROM THE ABOVE one can conclude several important things. The first is that it is a cable made of high purity copper, possibly from Furutech. The second is that it is extremely important to properly insert the Schuko plug into the socket (strip), because the phase and "neutral" wires have a different structure. What is also very interesting, is the very characteristic appearance of the new WK Audio cable: these are three separate runs connected in several places by aluminum beams that maintain their geometry.

The individual wires run PARALLEL next to each other rather than coiled around each other. This changes the electrical parameters of the cable - inductance and capacitance. Because, remember, each cable has three basic parameters - capacitance, inductance and resistance - which are closely related to each other. Changing each of them also changes the others. The cables connect only in the plugs.

And now - this type of geometry is used by the Danish company ARGENTO AUDIO, in the Flow Master Reference series. Interestingly, however, it is found in the Danish interconnects, not power cables. Reaching for a third-party development is normal in audio, as long as it is not proprietary or patented. This is not the case here. Historically, parallel cables are the oldest way of transmitting signals and electricity. Replacing them with cables of a different design is a relatively recent "invention".

In the 1.5-meter run, TheRed uses three aluminum "beams" spacing the individual strands, and at the ends two large elements with the company's logo on it. They are all to dampen vibrations. It is obvious that the conductors will not always run parallel to each other and it is impossible to keep perfectly even spacing between them - just bend the cable to change this. An additional system would be needed, for example made of plastic brackets, placed quite densely to make this work.

The cable looks very nice, it is professionally made. It comes in a wooden box, which could use a proper filling to keep the cable in one position. The cable is terminated, as already mentioned, with Furutech plugs. They are used by many top manufacturers, for example by Siltech in our reference Triple Crown model.

The metal elements of the contacts in the Schuko I-E50 NCF (R) plug are made of non-magnetic, rhodium plated materials (OCC copper) subjected to the Alpha process (demagnetization and cryogenic treatment). The body is made of multiple layers: it combines a non-magnetic stainless steel and a silver-plated carbon fiber braid and a damping layer made of an acetate copolymer. The IEC FI-50 NCF (R) plug has a similar design.

▌ SOUND

˻ HOW WE LISTENED The WK Audio TheRed power cable was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system. It powered the Ayon Audio SACD player CD-35 HF Edition (№ 01/50) and was compared to the Siltech Triple Crown Power reference cable.

TheRed was plugged into the ACOUSTIC REVIVE RTP-4EU ABSOLUTE power strip, and the latter through the 2.5-meter Acrolink Mexcel PC-9500 cable to Furutech's wall sockets. These sockets are powered by a separate line leading to the fuse box, which contains the HPA fuse. This line is made of a 6-meter section of the Oyaide Tunami Nigo cable.

Recordings used in the test | a selection

⸜ JOHN COLTRANE, Giant Steps, „Deluxe Edition 60 Years”, Atlantic/Warner Music Japan WPCR-18311/2, SD 1311, 2 x SHM-CD (1960/2008).
⸜ NAT ‘KING’ COLE, The Nat King Cole Love Songs, Master Tape Audio Lab AAD-245A, „Almost Analogue Digital”, Master CD-R (2015).
⸜ MIE JOKÉ, 11 Songs for Music and Soud Lovers, Ultra Art Records UA-1001, UHQCD (2017).
⸜ DEPECHE MODE, Ultra, Mute/Sony Music Labels SICP-30543, Blu-spec CD2 (2007/2014).
⸜ ANNIE LENNOX, Medusa, BMG Ariola München/Sony Music Entertainment Hong Kong 430868021, Limited Edition ⸜ No. 0123, K2HD (1995/2014).
⸜ LEONARD COHEN, Popular Problems, Sony Music Labels SICP-4329, CD (2014).

THREE ALBUMS LISTENED TO AT THE BEGINNING OF this test, although belonging to the broadly understood jazz idiom, containing various music, were recorded and released in different ways. They were: MIE JOKÉ and 11 Songs for Music and Sound Lovers, NAT 'KING' COLE from The Nat King Cole Love Songs and JOHN COLTRANE’s Giant Steps. I am talking about the differences because the influence of TheRed cable on the sound turned out to be clear and did not depend on a specific recording.

What I heard with all three discs was, above all, throwing out "details" and "subtleties" beyond scope of my attention. I don't know if it was a deliberate procedure or a measure leading to something else, but the effect was clear and reproducible. Instead of the multitude of details building the sound we get a finished picture with Witek Kamiński's cable. It is deep - both in terms of the stage and tonality - it also has a lot of shades. However, it is not selective.

Therefore, it will be difficult to "sell" it to someone in a short demo, be it at the exhibition or in the store. The Polish cable belongs to a special, elite, one could say group of products that develop over time, bringing us more and more as they accommodate themselves in the system and as WE accommodate ourselves to its presentation. We have to forget about something like the "hi-fi" with it. I am not saying that this is a bad thing in itself, because "hi-fi" - understood as attention paid to the technical aspects of the sound - is essential, without it we wouldn’t be here.

What I am saying is that TheRed encapsulates all these elements in something more, in music. Therefore, when listened to at the very beginning, the Coltrane seemed to me very dark. Despite the fact that my system is "dark" by definition, the 60th anniversary remaster itself has such a character. The WK Audio cable took it even further, showing a performance in which the energy shifting between the musicians counts, where the drums, heard in the right channel, far away from us, also have exceptional energy.

In Nat 'King' Cole's recordings, I noticed that the cable did not extinguish the energy of the so-called "pops", it is the letter "p" in the vocals, which distorts the microphones and putting a separate mesh between the performer and the diaphragm is done to protest microphone against it. The Nat King Cole Love Songs, copied to a CD-R disc straight from an analog tape by the Chinese company Master Tape Audio Lab, probably from a production copy, has preserved this error. But it is precisely such errors that make the recordings alive and credible. Cleared of them, they sound unnatural.

The tested cable showed this relationship perfectly, because not only did it not extinguish them, did not obliterate their energy, but also added a wonderful depth of the stage. I talked about percussion earlier on the Coltrane’s album, and here I heard something similar, with the orchestra being part of the recordings (after all, it is a compilation disc) located in the right channel. It had a large volume, although it was shown far away, it was not selective, and yet its "presence" was credible.

The cable achieves this not only using vividness, but also by emphasizing the mid bass. That's why the sound is big and strong with it, that's why the vocals of MIE JOKÉ and Cole were big, although they were not pushed in front of the loudspeakers. In this way also space gained - extending far into the stage - but also bass instruments, in this case a large percussion drum and a double bass. It was a full-blooded, dense sound. Without clear details and subtleties, slightly calmed down in its overall dynamics, yet lively and energetic under the skin.

| Our Albums series

⸜ ANNIE LENNOX Medusa

BMG Ariola München/Sony Music Entertainment Hong Kong 430868021

Limited Edition ⸜ No. 0123
K2HD ⸜ 1995/2014

The Medusa IS THE SECOND SOLO album by Annie Lennox, half of the Eurythmics duo. Released three years after the hit Diva it received mixed reviews. It included only covers. As the singer emphasized in interviews, she chose them both because they were her favorite songs and for them to combine into a whole. She told Billboard that she did not want to improve them musically, because that was not what she meant, but that she had to "rediscover" them, emphasizing their "structure and lyrics" (February 18, 1995, p. 120).

Despite mixed reactions, the album debuted at # 1 on the UK Albums Chart and # 11 in the US, and spent 60 weeks on the Billboard 200. It also became Double Platinum in both the UK and the USA . The album was nominated for a Grammy in 1996, and Lennox won it for the single No More "I Love You's".

The album features well-known songs such as Whiter Shade Of Pale by PROCOL HARUM or Waiting In Vain by BOB MARLEY and Take Me To The River by AL GREEN and Train In Vain by THE CLASH, but also short-lived hits like No More "I Love You's" of the little-known duo LOVER SPEAKS. However, in her hands, they changed beyond recognition, and No More…, selected by the label for her first single, turned out to be one of her best songs in her entire career.


The Medusa was produced by STEPHAN LIPSON, with whom the artist met earlier when working on the Diva. A four-time Grammy Award winner and multiple times nominee, he has produced and co-produced albums by artists such as Jeff Beck, Paul McCartney and Hans Zimmer, as well as Propaganda and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In addition to producing, he is also known to play the on albums he works on.

Pre-production, i.e. - probably - programming synthesizers and preliminary recordings - was carried out in Spain, at the artist's house. The disc was recorded in AQUARIUM studios in London - hence, perhaps, its "maritime" title. HEFF MORAES is responsible for the sound and mix. Interesting fact - in April 2018, he joined PCM, a loudspeaker manufacturer, as a "Business Development Manager".

The sound of this album is not perfect, because with the forte, when there are many tracks, the whole blends in a bit and there is no good support in the lower midrange. But it is not bad at all, because the sound is saturated, and the bass - splendid. In the K2 HD version, which I would like to recommend to you, there is a nice panorama and the depth of the stage. And the album is numbered :) ♦

→ SONYMUSIC.com.hk
→ more about K2HD HERE

AS I SAY, THE EFFECT OF THE TheRed CABLE on sound is clear and easily recognizable. Therefore, changing the repertoire and listening to DEPECHE MODE from Ultra, ANNIE LENNOX from Medusa, and finally LEONARD COHEN from Popular Problems, changed nothing in me perception of it. At least when it comes to the description of the changes it introduces.

Only that the use of the WK Audio cable and playing material with higher compression, "complex" in digital systems using it, brought out their advantages - because we are talking about advantages. These CDs sounded extremely nice. High treble withdrawal usually works like that, but we rarely get the saturation that TheRed provides. This "recovered" plasticity is associated with a slight inhibition of energy, but only on a macro scale. This is a more toned down sound than with the Siltech Triple Crown and other cables that I have heard recently, to make it clear. But it is not extinguished, because the energy in the aforementioned recordings was there, underneath, driving the presentation.

And the BASS… I use this phrase every now and then, but I do it less often than I would have dreamed of. The Harbeth M40.1 that I use, powered by the Soulution 710 power amplifier, can really do a lot in this regard and show a lot of it. So with TheRed they gave a fleshy bass with a warm attack and not too long decay. It was a great basis, both earlier in jazz recordings, i.e. in acoustic instruments recordings, and now, when it was generated electronically.

▌ SUMMARY

THE LATEST AND MOST EXPENSIVE WK Audio cable is the best one from this company I have heard. You could say this is normal as it is also just an expensive cable. Life teaches, however, that all that is good is expensive and that little that is expensive is really good. In this case, we have a very good combination of these two features: it is an expensive and good cable.

It has a distinct character of its own. It shifts the center of gravity of the recordings down the scale and bases it on the lower midrange and mid-bass. The upper treble is withdrawn and dark. "Darkness" is a good term in this context - it is the effect of getting rid of unwanted distortions and noise, characteristic of high-end audio.

TheRed is not particularly selective, it doesn't show too many details, and it's not very dynamic either. But this is the price we pay for its incredible smoothness, silkiness and vividness. I will say even more - this is a price that seems ridiculous when listening to your favorite albums. The fullness of sound this cable offers is something rare and extremely desirable in audio. The most important thing, however, is the naturalness with which TheRed presents the music. So I am sure that Witek is already preparing new pallets fro shipment, and the recipients are waiting impatiently for the delivery of the "red gold" from Poland :) ■