[ylee]

The Benchmark Speakon cables (6' pair) arrived today. Before I get into details about them, it helps to give an update on my experience over the past few days while listening with the AQ Oak speaker cables in place.

The tonal balance on older recordings ripped from CDs seemed shifted higher toward treble. The bass extension was all there - at least as much as my Classe CA-2200 that has twice the rated output. Newer recordings sounded mostly fine - exceptional in most cases. A lot of what I listen to however come from the 60s - late 80s period. I suspected the jerry-rigged method I had devised to connect two pairs of very stiff Oak cables may have had something to do with this tonal shift.

Now, plugging in the $250 dollars worth of Benchmark cable which cost 1/20th of my AudioQuest wire was bound to be interesting one way or another. I played some John Mellencamp files first to see if the Speakon connectors would restore the tonal balance. Much to my relief I could immediately tell that they did. Everything I played had the tonal balance I was used to hearing with my CA-2200 except with better resolution. Soundstaging to my surprise also seemed slightly better with the new cable. That said, the price point of this cable was bound to show itself one way or the other. The primary detriment I can discern is that the Benchmark cable sounds grainier than the AQ Oak, which are very smooth.

In having experienced this, my next task is to see if I can get my Oak speakers terminated with Speakon connectors with each channel pair connected to a single connector per polarity. I suspect that will yield better sonic benefits. The Benchmark cable is very good for its price, and is far better than the 1/20th price would indicate vs. the Oaks.