shall i upgrade my speaker cable?

[Psilocybin]

hi everyone! i'm just debating on whether or not to upgrade my speaker cable (i thought this would be the right place to ask such a question). im currently running the QED Silver Anniversary XT.... but not sure if i should be aiming higher!

at the time, i bought the anniversary due to its low(ish) price and good reviews (from here), but now im earning a bit more money i'm thinking a possible upgrade could be on the cards. i'm thinking of maybe going for the QED Revelation wire, but im just not sure on whether or not i will notice a difference considering my current setup. I have a cambridge audio 550a with mordaunt short mezzo 1 speakers, and a pro-ject audio DAC.

i like my setup, its maybe a touch bright at times...but certainly nothing of major concern. shall i just stick with my Anniversary cable? or can my setup be improved by switching to a better cable? obviously my setup is bordering on a budget level, so i've no idea if a more premium grade cable is going to make a difference or not.

any help would be massively appriciated! Alex 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there, personally my advice would be to save your money as there is nothing wrong with the quality of your cables, stick with em. Cambridge and Mordaunt Short together do produce that sometimes overly bright/lively sound (i should know used to have them together too) but if you don't mind it that way then who cares.

 

[gramps23]

The Silver Anniversary XT is a bright cable, no two ways about it, many would say steer well clear of it because of that quality... Used with components that are also bright it's only going to make things worse, naturally. Try some of the IXOS XHS-253 OFC cable that you can buy on fleabay for £30 for a 15m real, it's actually quite good, especially for the money.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Id definitely change it

Personally I recommend Van Damme UP LC-OFC (less grain than standard OFC and sounds FAR better than the horrible QED)

 

[Anonymous]

Some good suggestions but i doubt they will make that much of an improvement to tame the brightness of the cambridge/mordaunt paring but could be worth a try. It may well be an idea to audition some other amp or speakers together depending on which way you want to do it but since the Mezzo's are more expensive than the amp i would try another amp first maybe a NAD or even Arcam.

 

[Blackdawn]

I don't think the cable will make much difference. If you want to try a change go for some thick copper cable that is cheaper to see if you notice any differences.

 

[Psilocybin]

thanks guys! i dont mind the brightness to be honest! its not too bad. My pro-ject dac actually beefed up the midrange slightly, thus matching the brightness. i was more concerned about getting the best out of my system (i.e. can sound quality be improved by upgrading to a different cable).

i was having a look at bi-wiring, but again im not sure it will be worth it considering my system. I dunno, i think im getting to the end of my audio obsession journey....and i'm missing the days of trying new things and upgrading (i.e. ******* around with things).

any thoughts with bi-wring condisering my setup?

Alex