QED Speaker Cables - do they have to be terminated?

[admin_exported]

Hi guys,

Hoping to get some help on cable choices and I know WhatHiFiers have lots of experience with QED and Chord.

My system upgrade is almost done and the next step will be to buy the cables. I am considering QED cables (QED Reference Audio 1 interconnect and QED Revelation speaker cables). The thing with the speaker cables is that they use this QED X-Tube design, with the actual copper running on the outside of an air tube that is in the middle of the cable. From the looks of it I have no idea how I could use bare ends. I'd rather not pay extra to have them terminated, I would just use the bare ends and might end up using some QED Screwloc banana plugs that I've got lying around.

My other option is Chord Rumour 2 speaker cable and Chord Chameleon Silver interconnects. Going for a detailed and maybe slightly bright cable as my system will probably lean towards the warm side. Wharfedale Evo2-10 speakers, Arcam DV135 source, and YBA YA201 integrated. The speakers and source are on the warm side and the amp is neutral.

Any advice on cables is appreciated, and specifically with the QED is termination the only option? Pictures of the QED is below, courtesy the futureshop.co.uk website.

 

[shooter]

If you went for the Qed Revelation and to get maximum performance out of it you would probably need to use the plugs designed for it.

The Chord would be the easier/cheaper option.

Have you had the chance to audition said cables in your system? How do they sound?

Is their any reason you've gone for Qed & Chord and no other i.e Atlas & Ecosse?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. Actually the QED interconnect is cheaper than the Chord. I think overall the price would be about the same because I already have some Chord Rumour 2 speaker cable, so if I went with Chord I could use that whereas if I went with QED I'd be buying some new speaker wire.

There is no specific reason I've opted for QED or Chord. Van den Hul was the other make I looked at but it is generally considered a warmer cable - maybe not as great a fit in this system. I'm not familiar at all with Ecosse. Atlas is an option though.

 

[bigblue235]

I asked about this a while back, as I have an amp with BFA connectors, and someone mentioned that a friend of his used these cables in his system without terminations.

I also prefer to use bare wires, as I think terminations are just something else in the signal path. I know you need to re-do them from time to time, but I don't mind.

I emailed QED about it too, but didn't get a reply. If I had received a definitive answer it may have put my mind at rest, but I'm still a little wary so will probably go for Atlas Hyper instead.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, my (limited) experience with audio component manufacturers is that they typically prefer people ask their dealer about how a product should be used. Not sure why they even give out email addresses, and the least they can do is respond back saying the dealer is better equipped to handle the request - but usually an email simply goes unanswered. This is no slight towards QED, I find that many companies do this for whatever reason.

Anyhow, I think I'll send an email to the cable retailer, I'm sure I'll have better luck with that and I'll let you know what they say.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I sent the question off to hificables.co.uk. They recommended termination, as it's one of the toughest cables to use bare wire. I guess more or less what I thought.

I'm actually leaning towards Atlas now. The Equator Superior interconnect and the Equator 2.0 speaker cable. Been reading a little bit about how silver coated copper isn't the way to go. Atlas uses copper alone in their cables. They get into their whole design philosophy on their website and I have to say it just seems to make sense, about how all cables lose something in the sound and the best ones lose the least. This is what they try to do: preserve the sound, not add or subtract anything to/from it.

A company called Pear Cable actually gets into the science of silver coating more in a PDF document, if anyone is interested. Their site is www.pearcable.com. But they are a way out of my price range. They make one speaker cable (3 foot costs $2750) and one interconnect (1m costs $1600).

Safe to say I won't own any Pear cable.

I'll post what they say about silver coating:

Don't buy plated conductors!
Many audio cable companies plate or clad their conductors with a different metal than the one
used in the core. Usually this is either silver or tin plating on copper. All metals have different
resistivities. Because the skin effect will push high frequency information to the outside of the
conductor, it will encounter the different metal on the outside of the conductor. In the case of
the silver (which has a lower resistivity than copper), the high frequency signal sees a lower
impedance than the low frequency information. This will cause a distortion in the relative
amplitudes of the high and low frequencies of the audio signal.
In the final analysis, it doesn't matter what combination of metals is used. It is not a good idea
to allow the high and low frequency information of the signal to see different impedances. The
reason why silver and tin plated copper was invented was to reduce the corrosion rate of the
wire. Do not be fooled into believing this relatively cheap wire was developed for some special
audio application.

Anyways, it's food for thought. I wouldn't mind hearing what some people here think.

 

[bigblue235]

Funny you should mention the difficulty of getting a decent response from some hi-fi companies, I've had similar problems myself.

But... they're not all bad, thankfully! The main reason I settled on Atlas is because of the fact they gave me fantastic advice by email. They couldn't have been more helpful, and their responses went way beyond answering the simple questions I asked. Big thumbs up!

Still trying to decide between the Hyper 3.0 and Hyper bi-wire though

 

[Anonymous]

I actually just sent Atlas an email. I'm sure they will reply, they basically beg you to email them (big sign on their website asks you to email them to get their advice on what cables to buy for your system).

Similar to the QED issue, I asked if the Hyper 2.0 can be used bare wire, since on their site they've got a picture of the Hyper cable. It is terminated and the material before the plug is some kind of fabric, not the usual type of insulation. I don't mind settling for the Equator MKII if it cannot be.

 

[Dan Turner]

The Hyper 2.0 is fantastic stuff, I can highly recommend it. I got mine terminated with air-loc plugs, but it could certainly be used bare wire. I have a feeling that Atlas will recommend you go for the plugs though.