Kimber Kable KS 1136 Balanced XLR Interconnect

KS 1136 is the all-silver balanced interconnect at the top of Kimber’s Select 6000 series — the reference tier that arrived in 2010 and has held its position at the reference end of the market since. Select’s numbering makes the range legible: the last two digits describe conductor material (36 = pure silver, 26 = silver-and-copper hybrid, 16 = all copper), and the 11xx prefix denotes balanced XLR while 10xx denotes RCA. The 1136, therefore, is the silver balanced interconnect at the top of the range.

The Select braid is identical across the three material choices — only the metallurgy changes. Each conductor is a mix of VariStrand (multiple strand gauges within one conductor, since different gauges favour different parts of the frequency band) and solid core, braided in Kimber’s counter-rotating weave so each conductor’s position relative to its neighbours changes continuously along the run. That geometry cancels the fields the conductors would otherwise induce in each other, doing the noise-rejection work a foil or mesh shield would otherwise be asked to do. Studio-grade XLR connectors with silver-plated contacts terminate both ends.

Silver conducts roughly six percent better than copper, and in the Select geometry that shows up as low-level detail retrieval and spatial precision rather than as brightness. Copper (KS 1116) and hybrid (KS 1126) alternatives sit at the same construction level — different tonal decisions rather than lower tiers. This is the interconnect for a fully balanced reference system where the source deserves everything the braid can pass. Its loudspeaker-cable counterpart is the KS 6068, and the single-ended RCA sibling in silver is the KS 1036.

KS 1136 is the correct starting point for a system where the electronics are fully balanced end-to-end, the source is resolving, and pure-silver voicing is the deliberate tonal choice. Comparing silver, copper, and hybrid Select cables against the same source material in the same system is the honest way to settle the metallurgy question — and it is a decision worth making with your actual electronics in the room, not from a specification comparison. Walk in during business hours or book ahead if the audition needs your specific source and preamp in place.