The product
The tryptic of Liutanie Audio connections, recently introduced here, includes a coaxial digital cable, two pairs of interconnect cables with RCA ends – suitable to connect, as in my test, to a source, a converter, a preamplifier and a power amplifier – and a pair of power cable in mono-wiring configuration. The kit is inside two luxury guitar boxes in golden fabric. The boxes have support feet, an automatic release with lock and safety key. On the top are the elegant metallic plaques with the Liutanie Audio fine logo.
Amazing the glance at the opening of the boxes. One contains the interconnect and digital cables, in the other are the cables for the loudspeakers. On a soft orange moquette lie the cables in a shape that reminds us a guitar. The metallic sheath is 24-carat gold plated and tick. The big diameter gives them a regal look.
Besides, the containers are made from solid wood and closed with six gold-plated Allen screws. They contain the clamp to connect the wire of the semi-balanced earth.
On one side is the name of the manufacturer, on the other one an arrow showing the direction of the output signal for a correct connection, the sign certifying the artisanal realization, the geographic origin of the product, and - mounted – part of the movement of a mechanical clock. It would recall the concept of a time machine and underline a return to the analogical sound of the past times.
The connectors belong to the high range of the German WBT. They have been modified to receive the generous diameters used for all the conductors. They are 24-carat gold plated with high thickness. The banana plugs are very efficient in seconding the diameter of absolute relevance of the power connectors. The conductor of the signal is ten square millimetres for each pole. It can be moved easily, because very flexible, without affecting too much the connecting clamps of the loudspeakers.
The overall look gives a sensation of exclusivity and preciousness that only a no-compromise realization can do.
We also find two pairs of white cloth gloves and the “jewellery” – since completely gold plated – to suspend the cables so to avoid stressing the connectors of the devices in use or, in the worst case, considering the heavy weight, their upsetting. I would exclude this last option since they hardly can be used to connect very light integrated amplifiers!
The guy
The user’s manual - in electronic format – is in a USB pen drive in bullion shape. There is also the luxury 24-carat gold-plated paper version. Actually, more than a manual we can talk of a book with about two hundred pages. Roberto Borgonzoni told me that it is possible an extended version in the future. In here, he talks about technique and technology, but also about himself. The personal part is the most intriguing. Believe me. It is about the story of a thorough passion. It is about public acknowledges and bitter disappointments, about failures and rebirth. The dissertation on a product, like the cables, is nothing but technicism.
When I purchase a product, anyone, independently from its cost – we are not talking, of course, of budget products – I want to know what is behind the product itself. I like to understand its designing philosophy, meeting the manufacturers, knowing the history of the brand. When I buy a product, I share the choices. I feel part of a group with the same ideas. Sometimes, it means belonging to that group.
Generally, I distrust the manufacturers whose catalogues have everything and the opposite. Vacuum tubes and transistors, solid cores and Litz plaits, multiway and broadband. Whatever product cannot have too many declinations. I prefer people who firmly believe in their own ideas. I like people that improve continuously their creation with maniacal perfectionism aiming to excellence. I like those brands that, for an excess in coherency and traditionalism, become iconic. This is the case of Mr. Borgonzoni.
It is not a secret that I do not like very much dealing with connecting cables. I told several times to our editor. I have changed my mind because their creator stimulated my curiosity. I always use to say that the passion for music and for the machines that reproduce the sound is very important but subordinated to the pleasure of meeting the people around it. This is what has happened this time.
Roberto has an exuberant personality, sometimes excessive. At the same time, he is capable of great introspection and sensitivity. He has always dealt with music, every day of his life, from recording to broadcasting. If you ask him how his passion was born, he simply answers “Passion? You have it or not”. Then, he says, with compliance, that the love for music is already in the embryo stage, being a part of the genetic inheritance of every person. Music is life reason and, at the same time, purpose and goal. Many times during our meetings, music has been compared to a mantra. In my opinion, also his path can be a mantra. A path with thousands of repetitions to come in the end at what he is and what he can do.
Technologies and functionality of the armours in the Liutanie Audio connections - Editor’s note | Although Roberto gave us the complete description of his cables, we have decided to not report the description of the adopted solutions, for reasons of intellectual property.
It is not very funny reviewing cables, because you cannot dismount them. You cannot cut up them to see what is inside and then give them back to the owner. Often, you do not know very much about them. Sometimes you know but there is not very much to say. This time things are different. I have touched every material, the precious metals of the alloys, the insulators, the untreated natural fibers used in some windings. I have seen many tricks to avoid degrading – during the manufacturing – the physical features of such materials. In fact, they can be submitted to dynamometric instruments used for winding at the soldering benches with heat dissipation, or to specific tools made to customize the connectors. Everything is Handmade in Italy, as printed with proud on the connectors. The most impatient reader would now be saying, ok but how do they sound? Following Roberto’s thought I would say that they, actually, “do not sound at all”. A cable should not sound. It has to be the most transparent possible. I do not believe in the system equalization through its connections.
At this point I leave the pleasure and the duty to Roberto Rocchi
– most the pleasure I would say – to deepen the issue. I just add, without any doubt, that we are facing a set of connections with top performances in all the parameters. What has stroke me has been the spontaneity in the reproduction of the musical message. There is absolutely no listening fatigue, independently of the volume, the musical genre, the amplifications, and the capacity of the loudspeakers. Personally, it is the first time that I feel so much pleasure in listening four tracks in succession of the splendid CD Carioca by Stefano Bollani.
After two weeks of listening session and some raid at Borgonzoni’s to listen to Another Brick in The Wall with half kW in impulsive running per channel, I can affirm that this has been a great experience. If you cannot afford them, like me, think about it, because it is better not listening to them at all. They could become part of the row of your personal gallery of impossible loves.
Hence, my FI* for these connections is 5.
* The Farewell Index, FI, express the pain for the reviewer when he has to give back the tested devices. The values of this scale go from a minimum of 0 or “no regret” to a maximum of 5 “if I can afford it I will buy it”.
Reference records
Greta Panettieri - Shattered-Sgretolata - Greta’s Bakery Music GBM003
Rachelle Ferrell - First Instrument - Blue Note 72438 27820 2 5
Petra Magoni - Musica Nuda - Radio Fandango 0171232RAF
Roberta Gambarini - So In Love - Groovin' High - 060251 7960107
Lucia Minetti - Jazz Nature - Velut Luna CVLD 294
John Patton - Boogaloo - Blue Note CDP 7243 8 31878 2 9
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals - Nothing Records IND 90273
Eric Marienthal - Crossroads - GRP 96102
Diane Schuur - Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra - GRP 9550
Steely Dan - Katie - MCA Records MCD 01800
Skunk Anansie - Post Orgasmic Chill - Virgin Records 2881 7243 8 4714 0 8
Bran Van 3000 - Glee - Capitol Records 7243 8 23604 2 1
Official technical specification:
zero jitter digital cable
solid core signal cables with typical bandwidth of -0÷>40Ghz
power cables range >100A
Official Italian dealer: direct sale, click here for Liutanie Audio website
Official current price in Italy: download here the official price list
Associated equipment: to Paolo Mariani's system
