New speaker cable and interconnects required!

[d_a_n1979]

With the view of getting a new system in the very near future (i.e. NAD CDP and amp and B&W or QUAD speakers) I'll be after some new speaker cables and interconnects.

I like good, bassy music so copper cable is more than likely for me; I've owned the Chord Crimson interconnects and the Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cable before and found both to be VERY good indeed! Now I'm looking at a system close to £2k I think it'd be justice to get better cables.

The shop where I'm more than likely going to get my gear from love the Black Rhodium interconnects and they have the Prelude down to £40 for 0.5m which is all I need. I have heard this on the NAD gear with the M/A RX6 and RX2 speakers before and it did sound very good indeed. Any other suggestions though??????

Re speaker cable: The Atlas Hyper 2.0 gets rave reviews but so does the QED Revelation. Any other options or should I stick with the Chord Carnival Silverscreen as I think it will compete with the above cables and probably stand up for itself very well if not outgun them...!

 

[Anonymous]

I would have a close look at these Van Damme speaker cables on ebay... 6mm diameter LC-OFC .... selling at £6.99/m

 

[AL13N]

Silver High Breed cables get a lot of positive reviews on many forums.

Plus they come with a money back guarantee that even includes return postage. Worth an audition.

 

[MattSPL]

Ive been told by many people that a good OFC copper cable of at least 2.5sqmm is plenty good enough for all but really high end systems. The speaker cable is in some ways the least important cable in the system.

As for interconnects, they all sound different . Or to word it better, let more or less of certain frequencies through, giving them their sonic signature.

Ive used Ps audio interconnects of various types over the last 7 years and found them excellent value for money when bought over the internet.

Copper being darker tonally than silver and with less clarity but in the wrong system can sound bright.

 

[Anonymous]

MattSPL:

The speaker cable is in some ways the least important cable in the system.

 

[MattSPL]

dim_span:MattSPL:
The speaker cable is in some ways the least important cable in the system.

I prefer the pick n mix

 

[Anonymous]

I used Chord Carnival Silverscreen with my Linn Wakonda / LK140 / Katans for several weeks, and I found it a significant improvement over the generic 79-strand cable I had been using. Recently, however, I upgraded to a second-hand set of Linn K400, and I experienced an equally significant improvement. I must admit that I had imagined it would be a question of the cables having differing strengths and weaknesses but the Linn was better in every way, both musical and sonic, which was a pleasant surprise.

I should point out, though, that the Chord was single-wired with un-soldered plugs while the Linn is bi-wired with soldered plugs at one end, and this is likely to have contributed to the difference.

 

[Anonymous]

I would highly recommend Chord Chameleon Silver Plus I/Cs and Odyssey 2 speaker wire. People claim that they're bright but they're not. The I/C is actually quite warm and the speaker cable neutral. I tried the Black Rhodium Prelude and found that it was fine but the Chameleon had better bass. The Silver Highbreeds are quite bright but may tame the bass of the bigger B&Ws.

 

[d_a_n1979]

Any more suggestion folks re interconnects?

I've managed to secure 2 good lengths of Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cable so thats sorted but I'm still unsure re interconnects.

The demo I had last week was using the Chord Chameleon Silvers and I found them a little bright. Are the other Chord cables worth an audition (Cobra etc...)

I'm having another quick demo today with the Preludes so will see how they go!

 

[plastic penguin]

d_a_n1979:Any more suggestion folks re interconnects? I've managed to secure 2 good lengths of Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cable so thats sorted but I'm still unsure re interconnects. The demo I had last week was using the Chord Chameleon Silvers and I found them a little bright. Are the other Chord cables worth an audition (Cobra etc...) I'm having another quick demo today with the Preludes so will see how they go!

Merlin Chopin...

 

[Anonymous]

Atlas Equator mk2.....

 

[SonofSun]

dim_span:I would have a close look at these Van Damme speaker cables on ebay... 6mm diameter LC-OFC .... selling at £6.99/m

Good call, I have these cables and imo and PMC's, there is no point paying more.

Great cables at real price.

 

[crusaderlord]

Chord Silverscreen is great value speaker cable - i used to have on my main system until i upgraded to the expensive Chord Epic Supertwin which is an amazing cable for bass and clarity. For me any of the Chord speaker cables are worth upgrading to.

For interconnects whilst i like the Chord Chameleon Silver Plus i have now switched my cables to Van Den Hul which for me just edge out the Chord in a similar price comparison and are not so bright. The VDH D-102 III can be picked up for a great price (mine were £45 originals boxed) but be careful of copies. Another award winner is the green VDH 'Wave' cable.

I didnt rate the Chord Cobra 3 and sold it - the VDH 'Name' IC is better value with more zing to it and more dynamic.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, guys. I think the missing link cables are some of the best around. Got rid of the vdh and atlas cables last year, great improvement in sound after i did that. More open, better separation of instruments.

 

[stephennic]

Hi,

Just to let you know the chord chameleon are intially bright but usually settle down after some burn in time. I was told they require about 100 hours and I would agree. They become smoother more open and tonally balanced. On my system they are easily superior to the van den hul 102 III.

Cheers

Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to get stand mounters or floorstanders? If it is stand mounters then i would try dnm precision. It is a solid core copper cable. I like it better than chord odyssey, i felt it was on a par with odyssey in demo's but suited my system better as it is not as bright as odyssey, and it is considerably cheaper at about £ 18 a metre for bi wire which you can peel down the middle to make single wire.

The precision can't carry bass as low as about 35hz , so i was told by a dealer who didnt sell it and wanted me to buy something else, so if that's true it's not going to be so good if you have huge floorstanders with twin woofers looking for mega bass, but on standmounts or single driver floorstanders it is splendid and has a sweet sound that allows bags of weight,wallop and detail to come through.

 

[the record spot]

dim_span:I would have a close look at these Van Damme speaker cables on ebay... 6mm diameter LC-OFC .... selling at £6.99/m

I'd be going with this, or some similar cable from Maplins. Likewise an unbranded, or generic branded set of interconnects, double shielded OFC copper core, and banish the thoughts that by buying a bit of wire that costs £100 you're going to get a better sound from your system. You're topping up a pension fund in all likelihood. If you want something fancy, get the Gothams, my new set landed on the doorstep today, but it's no different from the Computergear or QED Qunex 3 I've also used.

The only thing which I think might be substantially different is using a silver based cable as opposed to copper. Otherwise, your total spend should be well manageable.

 

[Craig M.]

i changed from one copper interconnect to another, different, copper interconnect. different sound.

 

[d_a_n1979]

The new system has been bought; I've gone with the Black Rhodium Prelude interconnect along side the Chord Carnival Silverscreen speaker cable matched with Chord Signature speaker cable jumpers

Thanks for all your input folks