Kimber 4PR with VariStrand™
Hi-Fi Choice review
Wednesday, 8th March 2023
In the first review of Kimber's new entry-level speaker cable, Hi-Fi Choice magazine take a listen to 4PR with VariStrand™.
The launch of Kimber’s new 4PR and 8PR speaker cables back in the Spring of 2022 made an immediate impression, with the website Audiograde giving 8PR a 'Best Value' award, following up with their prestigious ‘Best Loudspeaker Cable’ plaudit at the end of the year.
Now, in their February 2023 edition, Hi-Fi Choice magazine has followed this up with the first review of 4PR, and it would seem the smaller sibling is an equally impressive performer.
4PR with VariStrand™, to give it it’s full name, replaces Kimber’s longest-standing speaker cable, 4PR – the cable that started the company back in 1979. Improvements to conductor copper purity and design over the PR range, means that the new cable offers significantly improved performance, while maintaining a sensible price tag.
Not least, is the introduction of their VariStrand™ conductors to the PR line. As Neville Roberts, reviewing, explains “the use of variable thickness wires is designed to ensure that the cable has an even frequency response across the audio spectrum”.
The results of this work on improvements to the design of the original PR line are clear to hear (so much so, that we are happy to apply our Upgrade Scheme to purchasers of 4PR and 8PR with VariStrand™ to existing owners of the previous PR iterations – click here for details).
“I am very impressed with the sound quality from the cables” says the reviewer, adding that “they deliver very well controlled and sophisticated music”.
Listening to David Bowie’s The Next Day, he observes that the vocals are well balanced with the instrumentation, ensuring that they “are in no way overpowered by the pounding drums or guitar accompaniment”, adding that “the bass in particular is very well controlled, extended and punchy”.
The ability of the cable to bring out the best of the music is not limited to the pop and rock genres either, as he also auditioned the cable with Classical music.
“A powerful recording of Rimsky- Korsakov’s Scheherazade” he writes, “reveals a sound that is full, open and very detailed, and I don’t have any sense that the cable is restricting the signal to my speakers in any way”.
In conclusion, and perhaps unsurprisingly given the above comments, he finds that 4PR with VariStrand™ represent
“excellent value for money and punch above their weight with sound quality”.
Magazine: Hi-Fi Choice
Publication Date: February 2023
Verdict: Five Stars Recommended
Click here to buy 4PR with VariStrand™
Read the HiFiPig.com review of 4PR & 8PR
Read the StereoNET review of 4PR & 8PR
Read the Hi-Fi+ review of 4PR & 8PR
Read the Audiograde review of 8PR
Written By Simon Dalton
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