What Interconnect from this list would suit me and my system?

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lastcoyote

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Nov 22, 2008
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Russ Andrews Crystal CU
Ecosse Nu Diva
Clearer Audio Copper-line
Nordost Blue Heaven
Chord Company Chameleon Silver Plus
Merlin Bach

The first 5 are around the same sort of price range and all get 5 star reviews. The last one is less expensive but maybe still be worth considering considering it's good review?

The interconnect is to go between my musical fidelity x-ray cd player and my musical fidelity x-a1 amp which is biamped with the x-a50 mono blocks. Speakers are the B&W CDM1SE's.

I actually currently have the original DNM Reson cable (the one without the bullet plugs) which i've been quite happy with but as one does have always wondered if I can improve the sound even more with a better cable. I'm guessing that I wouldn't see much of a difference with upgrading to the newer DMN cable so I've sort of dismissed that one.

Things that matter most to me are clarity, seperation, 3d imaging, detail, but must still have good warm bass though, can't be thin and too bright.

I'd like it to be good for classical music as I listen to a lot of that. Piano, Violin, Orchestral.

So what do you reckon?
 
Well the Nordost Blue Heaven doesn't have warm bass compared to many other cables and in fact sounds a little bright and hard. The Chameleon SP is great and certainly has a characteristicly strong bass, perhaps on some systems it would sound relatively warm.

Might be worth researching the Atlas Titan available from Moorgate Acoustics for a good price of £149 (instead of over £200). They also have the Atlas Elektra for £249. I know it's a lot but they're normally £200 more! I wish I had some spare cash to try one!
 
silver high breed for £30 ... if you dont like it, you get a full refund ... kept mine
 
igglebert:Well the Nordost Blue Heaven doesn't have warm bass compared to many other cables and in fact sounds a little bright and hard. The Chameleon SP is great and certainly has a characteristicly strong bass, perhaps on some systems it would sound relatively warm. Might be worth researching the Atlas Titan available from Moorgate Acoustics for a good price of £149 (instead of over £200). They also have the Atlas Elektra for £249. I know it's a lot but they're normally £200 more! I wish I had some spare cash to try one!

Yeah I think from what ive read that the nordost may be too bright for my liking. Though I'm equally concerned that the Chord Chameleon may just be a bit too bassy for me. Everyone mentions the bass. Thing is I guess it would be ok if it doesn't muddy the rest of the sound. Can it be both bassy and yet clean and detailed sounding at the same time? I guess I need to give it a demo. Would possibly go well with my Chord Carnival SilverScreen speaker cable.

I'll look into the Atlas Titan. The Elektra is too much for me to spend on an Interconnect..at least in my current setup.

What about the other cables in the list? Interested to know if anyone has had good results with these...especially the russ andrews and clearer audio ones.
 
igglebert:Might be worth researching the Atlas Titan available from Moorgate Acoustics for a good price of £149 (instead of over £200).

igglebert why does moorgate acoustics have two listings for the atlas titan? one as you mentioned at £149 and another at £249? is the cheaper one an older version or something?
 
lastcoyote:Yeah I think from what ive read that the nordost may be too bright for my liking.
Yep, took me about ten minutes to eliminate this one from my selections.

lastcoyote:Though I'm equally concerned that the Chord Chameleon may just be a bit too bassy for me. Everyone mentions the bass. Thing is I guess it would be ok if it doesn't muddy the rest of the sound. Can it be both bassy and yet clean and detailed sounding at the same time?
Yes, it's lovely and clear. I find the bass to be ideal but I only have little speakers! I think the only way to tell is demo as your kit, room and tastes will all impact the result. The CSP is nicely balanced and seems to have a great bandwidth.

I have two Silver High Breed Coherence LEs and love them. I originally had them on pre/power and pre/CDP duties but the balance was a little too forward. They remind me of the Blue Heaven but perhaps a little less hard. The forward balance makes it sound very detailed and the etched treble is enjoyable.
 
igglebert:I can only see one Titan at £149

if you use their search box at the top of the site and search for atlas titan it comes back with 2 results.

think the chord chameleon is good value. best i can find is on 'audio affair'. may give that a go.
 
£108.50 with free delivery for a 1m CSP. Seems like a good price and it's definately a good choice
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Hi,

Not sure if i am aloud to mention another hifi mag on this site (Jan 2010 edition). A comparison was made of interconnects between 65 pounds and 125 pounds. The chord got 76% for sound quality, merlin chopin Mk III 82%, Atlas Hyper 84%Townshend DCT100 88%. 12 interconnects were reviewed ranging from 68% to 88% for sound quality.

I got the Nordost BH it works well with valve gear as its a warmer sound, brings out the detail and does take awhile to burn in (lose some of that that hardness/brittleness and does become quite musical and fluid sounding) but can be bright on the wrong equipment. The eichmann express 6 is a nice cable too - detailed, fluid,dynamic. open and neutral but is fairly laid back too.

Hope that helps a little.
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Cheers,

Steve.
 
thanks for that steve.

would be interesting to know what else they said about each of those cables tested. i can't see it would be breaking any rules mentioning the name of the magazine.

i'm not familiar with the townshend cable. anyone else rate it?
 
i've just seen the Atlas Titan on ebay for £139.99 with free postage. which almost seems too good to be true.
thing that concerns me is that i can't find any reviews on this cable at all.
anyone know if it's good?

Fairly good prices on the Atlas equator superior and Atlas Hyper at the moment too.

Decisions decisions....
 
igglebert:£108.50 with free delivery for a 1m CSP. Seems like a good price and it's definately a good choice
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Yep, the CSP is excellent for the money. Solid sound, tight good bass and very accurate vocals.
 
right i've made a decision now. went with the 'Atlas Titan all Cu' interconnect. such a good price considering how much it used to retail for. i've read some good things about it too. plus Atlas seem to know what they are doing when it comes to cables.
anyway if i find they are not right in my system i have the 30 day return policy to fall back on. hopefully i won't be needing it.
 
will do.
read somewhere that it has similar qualities to the van den hul 'the orchid'. in that it's a fast, dynamic cable. should be good for classical music..which is what i was after.
 
lastcoyote:

thanks for that steve.

would be interesting to know what else they said about each of those cables tested. i can't see it would be breaking any rules mentioning the name of the magazine.

i'm not familiar with the townshend cable. anyone else rate it?

Hi,

It is the Hi fi news mag jan 2010. It is quite comprehensive (8 pages), the most Ive seen for years on comparisons for interconnects in a mag. The three cables that perform the best were Atlas hyper, QED signiture audio and Townsend audios dct 100. They did say the atlas was crisp and detailed and may tend towards brightness on the wrong system, the townsend was the most relaxed sounding of the three.

Hope that info is helpful.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
Ok I've now run in the Atlas Titan Interconnects and can truthfully say I'm blown away by them!
Before I ran them in (72 hours with cd player on repeat and volume down as recommended by Atlas) I gave them a quick listen. Even then I could tell that these cables sounded completely different from my current DNM Reson Interconnects. Immediately apparent was the impression of more space around the instruments. I could tell though that they definitely needed running in..things were slightly muddled and bass wasn't really happening too much.

...72 hours later which was last evening, I sat down to give it a good session. Boy had they changed. The bass was totally there and really nice and taut. previously bass on my dnm cables seemed to encroach on the rest of the sound making it hard to isolate individual instruments and voice...which is the exact thing that the Atlas Titan does so well. Everything just sounds really..well just..'correct'. Well balanced I guess you would say. There' a real nice sort of dryness about the midrange which particularly gives vocals real solid..reach out and touch the singer type sound. The treble is really nice and crisp with an airy feel to it again adding to a realistic space around instruments. Big soundstage too....really breaking free from the speakers and filling the room with sound. Again the bass is just right..wouldn't want any more or any less..just real nice and warm when its actually supposed to be in the music your playing. Also what really impressed me was the versatility. I went from really loving what they did to Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' album...hearing stuff i've never noticed before...to being stunned by the presence of Harry Connick Jr's vocal and band on his jazzy album 'To See You', and then particularly pleased to the point of having a daft grin across my face while listening to the sound of Janine Jansen's Stradivari violin on her Tchaikovsky Souvenir D'un Lieu Cher, Op.42. I was really hoping they'd be great for Classical and was told they would be..so glad it turned out to be true.

Wow is all I can say....actually i've said a bit more than that but you get the picture. I guess for an Interconnect with an RRP of £325 I shouldn't be too surprised. I would definitely recommend people in the market for a new Interconnect to give it a go. The Atlas Titan and the Elektra are both being discontinued which is why I was able to get the Titan for the bargain price of £139.99. I'd say grab them while you can. Be absolutely certain though to be patient and run them in for at least 72hrs they way I did and then check them out. I went from thinking..I hope I've chosen the right interconnects...to oh boy have I chosen the right interconnects
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lastcoyote:

Ok I've now run in the Atlas Titan Interconnects and can truthfully say I'm blown away by them!
Before I ran them in (72 hours with cd player on repeat and volume down as recommended by Atlas) I gave them a quick listen. Even then I could tell that these cables sounded completely different from my current DNM Reson Interconnects. Immediately apparent was the impression of more space around the instruments. I could tell though that they definitely needed running in..things were slightly muddled and bass wasn't really happening too much.

...72 hours later which was last evening, I sat down to give it a good session. Boy had they changed. The bass was totally there and really nice and taut.

good review and am delighted that you are happy! ....

am also delighted that you have found that after 'running in' the cables, they sound better .... I found the same with my interconnect, and many people said that 'running in' was merely a myth ... mine took approx 40 hrs
 
thanks!

yep definitely..running in cables is not a myth. Some people say that its just that you 'get used to' and therefore begin to like the sound of the cables more. well i listened to them for about 20mins from brand new and thought...yeah they're ok..have potential. then didn't listen to them again, not once.. until 3 days later after they'd been run in over that time with the sound down and cd on repeat. Immediately I was blown away and the stupid grin came out
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