Saying goodbye to copper
 

My solid solid silver Wel Signature IC's and speaker cables have finally arrived! They are at the store. I haven't seen them yet and won't until they are brought to the house for installation. I don't want the cables installed without supporting risers. I have been using KK select copper speaker cables and IC's for many years and I have really enjoyed them. I wonder what listening through solid silver will be like? Of course my subwoofer system will remain copper. The upgrade to the Thor was adding a much more powerful amp in the form of a Mac 1.25KW. It improved the quality of my bass significantly. Does anybody have experience in comparing the sound of silver to that of copper provided both are of the same high quality? I realized that I really needed a cable upgrade to get the best out of my Alexx. It seemed that if I wanted really really fine cables and IC's silver was my only option, especially with Audioquest. My dealer recommends AQ so that if I wanted to use some other cables I would have had to have gone beyond my dealer which I did not want to do.

Audioquest silver interconnects are as good as it gets IMO. I think you'll get a smoother, more detailed and spacious sound than with the KK copper.

I have been told by my dealer and also by AQ that because the Alexx terminals are so close to the floor, I will not need risers (cable elevators) for support. They say tug on the terminals due to weight will not be a problem. The cables would be laying on a very solid clean hardwood floor as my KK cables have safely done for years. I am not well versed about this issue. Tentatively the installation is set for next Tuesday or April 10.

I was under the impression straight silver adds considerable brightness and AQ does do a good job with those. My gut tells me they will compliment the McIntosh, looking forward to reading your findings.

I was under the impression that "brightness" is not a good thing. I have looked at the Alexx speaker terminals and they are quite close to the floor. These KK cables are quite heavy because of the way they are terminated with a big heavy stainless steel looking collar but the speaker terminals are so close to the floor the collar lays on the floor so its weight tugging on them is not a problem. Funny I never thought of about this before. I add that these KK cables seem extremely well made.

The WELs speaker wire used to have a metallic collar as well, but they realized it added some distortion to the sound, so they changed it to a plastic collar.

Congrats!

Let us know how it sounds

Be patient with AQ silver...give them cca 300 hours of music before evaluation! If you have a cheaper system...use them there before the Big system. I have several Wild and Wel cables and in my experience, they are the best.

Yeah the Wild and WEL cables are awesome, I have several of them as well. I can feel your excitement, and I think you'll love 'em. Definitely no trace of brightness or stridence anywhere with these cables. You do get a lot of detail and spatial information, as you move up the line. I run all PSS silver in my main system, start to finish, with the exception of 3 power cords.

I finally got my 2 WEL interconnects back from AQ and into my system, but the Wilds they've replaced aren't going anywhere. I'll keep them for my high-end headphone system. I already REALLY regret having sold my Wild LP cable.

You are correct. I really am excited. I have never been much of a "cable guy". Years ago a young man I really respected told me that copper was "warm" and silver was "hard". So I bought KK copper select cables and IC's and stuck with them for all these years. They have proved to be excellent faithful friends. But that was years ago. Much has changed and my equipment quality has greatly increased over that time. It's time for a change and man this is really a change! I'm going from KK copper select to Wel in one big jump. I will still have one Wind in my main system running from my D1100 main to my C-1000 high level input but that will be replaced with a 2m balanced Wel in a few months. The Wind will then run from the second main output of my C-1000 to the inputs my Watch Controller that controls my Thor. It will replace my KK. I have no plans to replace the KK 24 foot copper balanced IC running from my Watch Controller to my 1.25KW or my 12 foot copper KK speaker cable from my 1.25KW to my Thor. I'm going to have a lot of really high quality copper laying around but I want to keep all of it. Have no plans to sell it. It's wonderful stuff.

I don't have a cheaper system. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. And I thank you so much for the reassurance and advice. It's a big jump, probably the biggest I have ever taken since I have been buying audio gear. It's almost like going from a Sabrina to an XLF. I will post a lot of pics of the installation. I wouldn't dream of doing it myself. If I broke one of these things I'd be in the hospital!