Speaker Cable Survey

[cma29]

Originally Posted by Justlisten2

I'm currently in limbo with speaker cables. I just sold my Nordost Heimdall, currently using Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8's, but they are up for sale now too. Next up, I'm awaiting delivery of a pair of Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun. I wasn't expecting this much work to find some speaker cables I can live with. I really wanted to try a pair of Purist Audio Venustas, but I can't bring myself to pay that much $$$ for speaker cables.

Try "borrowing" some cables from The Cable Company. They stock many, many brands. You pay a 5% fee of the retail price and get to test burned-in cables in your system for two weekends. Later you can use the 5% towards a purchase.

[SCAudiophile]

Waking this thread up...

Have 2 9-foot runs of Elrod Statement Gold custom built. One run is a full range pair with additional and wider ribbons that came immediately before development of the Master Series,...used these to drive Legacy Aeris, then TAD R1 Mk2. Now used as a dedicated midrange+mid-bass cable on Legacy Valors.

Also now have another custom built matching pair of Elrod Statement Golds designed specifically to drive an innovative concentric tweeter and super-tweeter array in the Legacy Valor speakers.

[Coppy]

Nordost Valhalla 2, two meters. About $12K I think. Worked my way up through their cables. These are the only ones that really give you the full range of sound. Happy now. And they look cool.

[restock]

Nordost Valhalla 2 - within the Nordost lineup it really is only the Valhalla and Odin that provide the full experience. The V2 provides a rich balanced and very fast sound, lively, upfront with large scale images. You can hear instrument air and concert hall ambiance like no other cable I tried.

Audience frontRow - my favourite next to the Valhalla 2. The frontRow bridges the gap between the traditional Audience sound of very delicate instrument images, natural tonality, and integrates the lively and up front sound of the Valhalla. The frontRow is a significant step up from the Au24SX.

[PHC1]

Still using my favorites speaker cables ever. The Transparent Audio the Wave. At $175, (they have probably gone up since then to over $200) they have served my system for many years now and have withstood the assault of attempted upgrades over the years.

At this point I am not even going to attempt to ever upgrade them. They are wonderful cables with a creamy, dreamy, smooth response while giving up just a touch of air and bottom weight compared to some much more $$$ cables and even that part was so slight that it could have been a figment on my imagination since I could not A/B back to back. These cables get the all important midrange just right without a trace of harshness up top, which are my personal priorities for musical enjoyment.

I am still not 100% convinced after 30 years of being in this hobby that cables make a difference but if one hears it, then it doesn't even matter why or how.

These Transparent Cables do have a network box with a filter so they are not just passive cables and as such it would not be fair to say that cables don't make a difference. The Wave features the noise rejection circuit as well so far from a passive length of wire with a fancy conductor and geometry.

If it works, it works. The very inexpensive speaker cables I am using simply work for me.

[Macuser]

I use MIT Shotgun MH750 bi-wires which retailed for $4,500. I like the MIT house sound and have all MIT Shotgun interconnects as well to keep everything in the same series. I'm very pleased with the results

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by Macuser

I use MIT Shotgun MH750 bi-wires which retailed for $4,500. I like the MIT house sound and have all MIT Shotgun interconnects as well to keep everything in the same series. I'm very pleased with the results

The MIT Shotgun were legendary in their time. I remember vividly when a friend was picking out cables for his system and we were both very surprised how much they seemed to stand out and complete the synergy he was looking for. That was late 90's. He is still using them.

[SAM992]

Listed in my signature block... a little known but AMAZING brand in terms of quality and audio performance is Gutwire... small shop out of Canada.. I've transitioned to 100% Gutwire power cables and using their 4-BAR conditioner between the wall and the system.

[nirodha35]

Elrod Master Diamond. :-)

[Imapo]

Transparent Audio Ultra speaker cables (Gen5).
I really enjoy the TA sound. These may well be my forever speaker cables as I do not see the joy increasing in relation to the increase in cost.