Cable Asylum

Posted by Luminator (A) on April 19, 2022 at 18:23:17

An audiophile said he was from Dearborn, MI, and emailed, "Wasn't the Kimber PBJ the first thing you put on the Cable Cooker? But I searched, and I don't think you've reviewed the PBJ itself." He added, "I like all of your writing partners, but Kuma is my favorite. She looks like she wants to do the right thing. But when people do what they do, she says, "F-- it," and joins in."

I wrote back, "You're in luck. Kuma actually has experience with the PBJ."

Let's go back to summer of 1993. Kuma was then entering her junior year at UC Davis. Due to Davis' heat, Kuma said, "F-- that," and opted to come home to San Francisco. Meanwhile, her sister Maddie, who was my age, had spent three years at JC's, and had completed one year at CSU Long Beach. That summer, Maddie stayed in Long Beach, to work and take summer classes.

Kuma introduced me to her and Maddie's friends, Serena and Daisy. See, most of my friends were nerd girls. But Serena and Daisy were from UC Davis' "pretty girl" sororities. Yup, that type. As an audiophile, you had to be careful. Although dance music and lite rock were the girls' favorite musical genres, they could bust out the heavy metal. In the car, Serena would squeeze lemons, and belt out Def Leppard's "Animal." Daisy would rock out to Aerosmith's "Young Lust." And, years before moving to Sea/Tac, Kuma loved Metal Church's "Badlands." But set aside the heavy metal. All four of us loved OMD's "Everyday." To this day, Kuma is incensed, that "Everyday" criminally did not become a hit.

That summer, I did not have a permanent full-time job. In the July 1993 Stereophile, Corey Greenberg wrote his over-the-top review of the Kimber PBJ. With either Switchcraft XLR or UltraPlate RCA, the PBJ was merely $48 for termination, plus $14 per meter pair. Instead of fancy and pricey packaging, the PBJ simply came in a Ziploc bag, with a printed insert.

I went to San Francisco's Ultimate Sound, to check out this Kimber PBJ. It was so affordable, I actually bought a 1-meter RCA pair. Meanwhile, Kuma, Serena, and Daisy were shopping in Union Square. They went to Victoria's Secret, where my girlfriend ACS was working, but alas not on that day. Kuma wasn't into that sort of thing, but Serena and Daisy were. The latter did buy lingerie in red, blue, and black - the colors of the tri-braid Kimber PBJ.

At my house, my Muse Model 100 power amp, which I had bought in Fall 1991, used the PBJ as internal wire, to go from the chassis RCA to a circuit board. As for the Kimber PBJ itself, we used it on electronics from Adcom, B&K, Kenwood, Muse, NAD, Sony ES, Toshiba, and Yamaha. CG's histrionics aside, we found the Kimber PBJ to be (a) a mixed bag on our electronics, and (b) cleaner than almost all of the similarly-priced interconnects we had tried.

Without much planning, Kuma, Serena, Daisy, and I called Maddie, and decided to drive down to Long Beach. Since we had an economy subcompact car, we couldn't pack much. And besides, with SoCal being warm/hot, we didn't need a lot of clothing. Maybe the Kimber PBJ's red/blue/black planted subliminal messages, for us to bring Red Vines on the ride. It turned out that Red Vines' parent, American Licorice Company, was headquartered right here in Union City.

Daisy sat in the backseat the whole way, and kept fidgeting. "No, I'm not having my period," she declared. "And no, I'm not pregnant!" Again, because anyone could afford the Kimber PBJ, plenty of audiophiles bought it. And, if you read their comments over the decades, the PBJ wasn't as almighty superior as CG wrote, and could be fidgety.

For me, because the PBJ was affordable and good-for-the-money, I was satisfied, and mentally was free to enjoy the roadtrip. Instead of getting fast food we looked for a diner-type burger joint. I have no idea, which Central Valley town we stopped, but Daisy wanted to have the "California experience," and had a chicken breast sandwich with avocado. Now that we are in a pandemic, we cringe, that we shared ice cream and shakes. Sorry, we don't have any photos from 1993, so you'll have to make do, with this from Three Twins, shortly before COVID put them out of business. On the leg from the diner to Long Beach, Daisy and I sat in the backseat. She kept listing side to side.

Kuma giggles, "As soon as we checked into the hotel, Daisy [FWIW, she was lactose intolerant] made a beeline for the bathroom. Whatever she ate, she blew it out of her ass." We'll not only be reviewing the PBJ itself. We also still have other Kimber interconnects, so some comparisons are in order. Alas, the PBJ is no longer the affordable phenomenon it once was. In either Switchcraft XLR or UltraPlate RCA, PBJ is now $84 for termination, plus $48 per meter pair. Thus, a 1-meter pair is now $132, more than double what it was, back in 1993.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

• Everyday   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 04/20/22