Copper or silver?

[admin_exported]

Hi all

Hi all

Im currently using chord odyssey 2 and chord chameleon silver plus with a yamaha A-S500 and Monitor audio RX2 speakers. The sound is very detailed but Sometimes i feel that the sound is a little bright with certain tunes as all the cables are silver.

Would it be beneficial if i swapped my cables for chord carnival and a chord cobra plus interconnect which are copper? Would i lose alot of the detail? I listen to dance music mostly and music which is bass heavy. Based on my amp and speakers would you say copper or silver is better for my setup?

Due to where i live i cant demo anything

 

[audioaffair]

All things being equal, silver is considered to generally offer a brighter sound than silver. Odyssey 2 is a fantastic cable, but if a little too bright, try Silver Screen and this should sound smoother. Having said that, Silver Screen isn't quite as good as the Odyssey 2 so you may lose a little in detail - its a question of whether you prefer the smoother sound over detail lost. Give Silver screen and Cobra 3 a try ideally if the dealer has a money back guarantee and you can give em a try at home?

 

[matthewpiano]

I'm using ChameleonPlus interconnect with the Carnival Silverscreen speaker cables and it works really well. I know it is mixing silver interconnect with copper speaker cable but it works for me. Plenty of detail but it never veers into being overly bright either, and I'm using the same amp as you.

 

[Anonymous]

You're falling into the trap of thinking that cables can act as tone controls, which they can't. Silver and copper are the same, in terms of sound. If you want to change the balance of the sound, then go for a graphic equaliser - they're pretty common and not that expensive in the pro or secondhand market.

 

[gwynne61]

According to Chord's website Odyssey is copper,and Chameleon plus are silver plated. So the problem as Matthewpiano says may well be something other than cables

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO you should probably stick with either solid copper or solid silver (very expensive).

It is my understanding that silver coated can sound bright, as the signal which passes through the silver/outside part of the cable (ie the trebble),travels quicker than the signal that passes through the copper part (ie bass) due to the different conductivity of the two metals.

There are more knowledgable folk on here that may be able to elaborate further.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the replies guys.

Has anyone compared a cobra plus against a chameleon silver plus and what were your impressions?

 

[Anonymous]

IMO you should probably stick with either solid copper or solid silver (very expensive). It is my understanding that silver coated can sound bright, as the signal which passes through the silver/outside part of the cable (ie the trebble),travels quicker than the signal that passes through the copper part (ie bass) due to the different conductivity of the two metals. There are more knowledgable folk on here that may be able to elaborate further.

Unfortunately a signal passing through a wire isn't that intelligent. Either silver or copper wire is fine, there's no difference until you get to 20 ft or above lengths, and even then its not the conductor that may cause a degradation in sound.

 

[ear]

loudness to -1,5

 

[gwynne61]

thanks for the replies guys.

Has anyone compared a cobra plus against a chameleon silver plus and what were your impressions?

I've compared the Cobra II against the Chameleon, the Chameleon was to my ears better, especially in terms of bass and timing. However, I prefer the Silver High Breed Avatar to both.

 

[Inter_Voice]

I agreed that interconnect and speaker cables will not be able to make a big change to the tonal quality but certainly they can provide you with some degree of fine tunning.

Sometime ago I used to have Chord Cobra Plus and Odyssey 4 in my system but now I have changed both to Van Damme ICs and speaker cables. I found that they produce a bit more 'warm' sound than Chord without lost in details. You may have a try on them and Van Damme is relatively cheap which you can find them easily in eBay.

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO you should probably stick with either solid copper or solid silver (very expensive). It is my understanding that silver coated can sound bright, as the signal which passes through the silver/outside part of the cable (ie the trebble),travels quicker than the signal that passes through the copper part (ie bass) due to the different conductivity of the two metals. There are more knowledgable folk on here that may be able to elaborate further.

Unfortunately a signal passing through a wire isn't that intelligent. Either silver or copper wire is fine, there's no difference until you get to 20 ft or above lengths, and even then its not the conductor that may cause a degradation in sound.

 

[Big Nads and Woofer]

I would say it's an uneven match with the Amp and the Metal Tweeter on the MA speakers. You can always fiddle with Copper wires and the tone controls on the amp to reduce the harshness, but I think you'd be better off swapping either the amp or speakers IMO for a more balanced sound.

Maybe you can try your mates speakers?

 

[Anonymous]

I would not recommend using silver cable, and in particular odyssey, with mon audio silver range speakers.I have tried it and the combination was overly bright bright imo. I would move to a copper speaker cable such as dnm precision or atlas hyper. Although generally i would agree that you cant make a big difference in tone by changing cables, i found this not to be the case when changing from odyssey to dnm precision while using mon audio rs1 speakers. I lost none of the detail but the treble was far more controlled and the speaker had a much better balance.

DNM precision is not the weightiest cable around but still has plenty of bass and should be fine for standmounters but perhaps atlas hyper would be your best bet, depending on cost.

 

[Anonymous]

re the interconnect, is there not a version of the chameleon that is non silver plated? i tried one a few yrs ago and seem to remember that, it was quite rich and weighty though and prob not the best match for mon audio speakers. The old chord chorus version 1 is a belter and can be got seond hand for not too much money. It is weighty and snappy and although silver plated does not have a harsh silvery sound.