Ibis Loudspeaker Cable
Zu Ibis launched 2002 and was in production without change for a decade. Superseded by Zu Event-LC.
Original Ad Copy
Zu Ibis, despite its normal cable size, is a very high conductance loudspeaker cable intended to be used for all loudspeaker/amplifier applications. It excels in applications as diverse as very low power vacuum tube setups, as well as ultra power hungry high current combinations. Ibis has a very linear and uniform tone response, note however that due to its high resolution it will reveal problems in a system that may be masked by your current “high resolution” cable. If you are very satisfied with the sound and timbre of your system but would like the to find the limits of full bandwidth resolution, better stereophonic recreation, and possibly increased dynamics and texture, you should give Ibis a try.
A common abuse in hi-fi is to use cable as a form of tone control. Doing so leads to frustration, further loss of real fidelity and missing cash. When cable affects timbre it affects timing, phase, frequency response and so on. Timbre problems are usually solved with good, properly setup loudspeakers, driven by an amp that mates well with them-—as well as your room. If the cable has good properties relative to phase, gain, group delay, impedance and bandwidth, it will likely convey with fidelity the transmitted emotion and color from the amp to the loudspeaker—what your loudspeaker does with it is anyone’s guess. Improvements that will be noticed from well engineered cables should include bass depth and resolution, system noise floor, drive, harmonic structure and timbre, attack, stereophonic realism, easy of listening—simply a lot closer to the recorded event. [Event, a great name for a new cable.] If you can hear the effect of your cable from recording to recording, you have a cable problem— effects are for guitarist, DJs, and mastering engineers.
Zu Ibis Ad Copy + Tests & Measures PDF Download
Price is for a matched pair (one left/one right). Please let us know connector needs with your order. Singles are simply half price.
Burn-In
Ibis will require a good bit of play before it’s fully burned in, roughly 500 hours—a healthy use of Teflon® equals slow burn-in. We do not recommend any burn-in devices or special recordings. We do recommend music you enjoy, preferably upbeat full spectrum recordings: rock, roots, full orchestra, big band.... For the possible how and whys about burn-in please see our Answers section.
Ibis Maintenance
No maintenance is required for the cable or the connectors save for the annual copper spade cleaning. If your connector contacts are nice and bright, don’t worry about it. However, anytime you are making an electrical connection make it a habit to inspect the contacts and clean them if they are tarnished or dirty.
IBIS History
Ibis remained unchanged since introduction: 2002–2012.
Ibis was our third loudspeaker cable to feature our ZuB3™ E&M cable design; the first was Wax which was introduced a year or so prior, back in 2001. Wax was an all copper conductor design and didn’t use any exotic insulation materials; Libtec followed it and had a hybrid make up. Ibis was our flagship, superseded by Event loudspeaker cable in 2011.
Q: How about the name Ibis, where did that come from?
A: Adam Decaria came up with the name; along with Varial, Oxyfuel and other classics. No great story behind Ibis the name, we just thought it was cool.