Speaker cable - smoothness required

[admin_exported]

Hi All,

I have the chord oddy 4 in my system, but was looking for a bit more of smoothness in the speaker cable. It is not bright now, but feel that it could be a bit better. Dont say that it is the fault of the cyrus kit I have ;-)

Was going to look at Kimber 4tc but was told it would not really be an upgrade.

If I sold 10m of oddy, then I would spend that and a bit more to get somthing smoother, so was looking at the atlas hyper bi wire or the ecosse ms 2.3.

Does anyone have anyother ideas or would one of these be a little smoother?

People rate the kimber 8tc, but I could not justify spending that much on 10m or the stuff (or well 8 metres of it)

Phil

 

[Anonymous]

Try moving your speakers to find a position with less reflections from walls and furniture (or more bass extension, if that's what you want). Then you'll experience real differences in sound quality.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no side walls at all, they are well over 3 metres away either side, but the rear wall is 8.5in behind the speakers. They are toed in to try and negate the speaker sound reflections.

The room is well furnished, but I cannot move the speakers from their positions as it is in the bedroom, and at the end of my bed so the lady and me listen in bed etc. There is no where else to move them, as if I move them from the wall to give more room behind, she will walk into them when half asleep and going to the toilet in the middle of the night, hence why I was asking about new smoother all copper cables (which should reduce the siblance from silver plated ones)....... To me I am not after more bass, as it is fine how it is and gives a full rounded sound at the moment, just want smooth. I know, buy a valve amp with Proac and listen to them sing.... That is way down the line from now though!

 

[aliEnRIK]

Van Damme UP LC-OFC if you want all round natural detail

Van Damme studio blue if you think your kits a tad too bright

 

[ESP2009]

Aren't VDH known for a richer, smoother flavour (oh, sorry, that's Gold Blend) - why not continue your VDH theme? Get down to Music Matters (or whoever) and see if they have a few lengths of assorted cable to try out.

I have to say that my own experience of Oddy is that it is great, providing a fuller, smoother sound over others I tied without sacrificing the clarity and detail I enjoy. I used two pairs of Oddy 2 as a substitute for Oddy 4 and have only recently replaced them, having tried and liked the Van Damme that Rik the Alien raves about - brilliant value. To my ears there is very, very little sonic difference.

 

[bluebrazil]

i use some old mission/cyrus solid core copper cables, these really tamed down my system when i used "bright" speakers in the past. i think cyrus still use solid core in their own cable and the dnm is the same

 

[SonofSun]

Here is JCVD quality checking his incredible value cables.

 

[aliEnRIK]

SonofSun:
Here is JCVD quality checking his incredible value cables.

I believe those cables have plenty of 'bite' in them

 

[Triggy]

Back in July I demo'd three Chord speaker cables at home. These were Carnival Silverscreen, Odyssey and Epic. I preferred and bought the Epic as these gave a smoother sound than the Odessey. I also bought Chord Signature links as I have single wired my Monitor Audio RS6s. These are powered from my Cyrus 6XPamplifier. I hope my comments are useful.

 

[Anonymous]

dnm precision. i had qed x tube 400 and wanted a smoother sound and thats what the precision helped with. i also compared it to odyssey.

 

[Anonymous]

I had some dnm stereo when I had some epos speakers, but with the proacs it sounds a bit thin.

Might try the ecosse or atlas bi wire. Has anyone tried either cable?

 

[JoelSim]

Atlas Hyper 3.0 was much smoother and deeper than the Chord Odyssey 2 I had before it. Just bought some Kimber 8tc as it happens for when I move house (only need a couple of metres either side so the Atlas is now much longer than I want).

 

[Anonymous]

do you think the atlas was very bass heavy? Whaen I tried it, albeit in another system (spendor speakers and arcam cd player, cyrus integrated) it was heavy handed.

Thats why I was looking at the bi wire atlas. Did the hyper 3 come across as an alround cable, no part of the frequency range stand out?

Im thinking of trying it as I will be cash neutral on selling the chord, so wont cost me a penny I hope.

 

[JoelSim]

Not at all, I have found it very good across the full range. Detailed treble, great midrange and firm bass. Never found it heavy handed.

 

[JoelSim]

If you can hold out for about a month you are welcome to try mine before taking the plunge on a pair if you can cover postage. One is 5.5m and one is 4m.

 

[Anonymous]

Might take you up on that, but my speaker cable is already on the bay, so might have to buy some more in a weeks time lol

 

[JoelSim]

lol, I can't remove mine until I move as the new stuff is too short for current positioning.

 

[ESP2009]

If you want (as I recall you live not too distant) we can arrange a meet and I can loan you some to try:

VDH Teatrack bi-wire

QED Revelation

If I'm feeling really generous, I could swap out the Van Damme stuff and you could try that for a few days. I will just have to conduct another grubbing around behind the hi-fi session and wrestle the carpet!

Of course, I'm assuming approx 3m is long enough?

 

[stephennic]

Hi,

I also recommend kimber 4tc or 8tc. A nice smooth detailed cable. I found van den hul smooth but a bit dull. Kimber is quite balanced tonally, full solid bass, natural mids, and a top end that dosent grate. They seem to image pretty well too.

I use Kimber 8tc after trying various cables (chord, QED, IXOS, Eichmann,Supra). I also have used 4tc and 4vs. Actually about a year ago kimber 4tc was reviewed by what hifi and gave it 5 stars. Eichmann express (Aussie made) are about the smoothest Ive used but they lack a little top end extension and not quite as detailed as the kimber - but still an excellent cable.

Cheers

Steve.