After swapping out some Cardas Golden Reference Interconnects and Cardas Golden Reference Speaker Cables in the Merlin, Joule-Electra, Cardas Audio show suite at the 2009 International CES with the new Cardas Clear stuff, it immediately brought certain things to light. (note: I work with Merlin at every show, helping set-up, tweaking, and dialing in their shows systems). Here is a summary of my thoughts during the first few days of the show:

"We initially swapped in the Cardas Clear Beyond Speaker Cables and one long Clear interconnects between the Joule-Electra Preamp and OTL power amps.  My immediate impression was It is as it names implies, very clear and pure sounding cable. Pretty amazing micro and macro dynamics. The Cardas Clear speaker cable is just downright goofy good. In comparison to the Cardas Golden Reference, its more dynamic, quieter, and more extended at the frequency extremes. With all this clarity, you would think the cable may be all "HiFi" and no music, but it's tone, pitch, decay, body are all there and very pure and natural. With only one Clear (at this time) interconnect in the system, it is a bit harder to get the same beam on the interconnects, but I am hearing very similar things to what the speaker cable did when we swapped in the one interconnect."

Some interesting facts about Cardas Clear... pricing is about 1.6x what the Golden Reference cables cost. In addition to the Clear speaker cables there is also a Clear Beyond speaker cable which is bigger, bi-wire-able version of the Cardas Clear speaker cables (Cardas Clear speaker cable is ONLY available single wire only). While these cables are expensive (not as crazily expensive as some other companies offerings I will add), the performance improvement over Golden Reference is NOT subtle. Termination on the Cardas Clear and Cardas Clear Beyond cables uses no solder!!! Very high pressure crimped connections (using custom connectors and tooling developed by George Cardas) make for a perfect copper to copper connect between wire and connector. I am also very proud that we (Signature Sound) have been asked by Cardas Audio to be one of the very few select retailers of the Cardas Clear cables! You current Cardas cable owners out there should keep in mind that we will gladly accept your current Cardas cables on trade towards any purchase of the new Cardas Clear cabling.  We are one of the less than a handful of dealers in the USA authorized to sell Cardas Clear cabling.

As of this writing (summer 2009), I have had a few customers who have given Cardas Clear cables a try, most upgrading from their Cardas Golden Reference and a few moving up from other brand top line cables. So far, all have been very enthusiastic about the cable. One customer has started calling it Cardas Crack... telling me, "Rich. . . after buying one pair, I just gotta have more!" 

For those of you who have to know how much these cost, here are the Manufacturers Suggest Retail Prices for some common lengths of Cardas Clear cables: