What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
25 SEP 2009
Atlas Element
A fine budget upgrade, but you don't have to spend too much more to do quite a bit better
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If you peruse the speaker cable review section of this website, it's apparent that less than a fiver per metre spent on speaker cable doesn't give the very best results.
Atlas's fiercely priced Element cable, a slim, unassuming design, is aiming to offer a bit of authentic quality to the owners of micro-systems, cinema-in-a-box set-ups and the like.
It gets most of the way there, too. John Robinson's I Am Not For Sale sounds well-organised and potent via the Atlas, with a briskly attacking, nicely textured top end.
The midrange in general, and voices especially, sounds intimate – there's plenty of detail on display and a pretty agile way with dynamics. It times well, too, the first hit, pluck or breath of notes packed with information.
Great as a micro system boost
Switching to Gang Starr's Full Clip exposes the Element's slightly tentative low-frequency reproduction. There's no shortage of detail or tonal variation to bass sounds, but the outright weight and punch the music demands is only partially present.
There's a soft centre to kick drums and so on that leaves us hankering after a bit more substance.
Still, the Atlas Element is in an entirely different league to the speaker cable your micro-system came with, and an upgrade from that to this reaps real rewards.
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