Audience Front Row vs Cardas Clear

Has anyone compared the two cables?

No idea how these Cardas speaker cables sound. But I compared Audience Front Row to Audience AU24sx, Furutech DSS-4.1 and Nordost Tyr 2. The Front Row is still in my system. 

The only thing I can tell you is I really like the Front Row speaker cables. I do not like Front Row interconnects and USB cables in my system. 

The information I provided above is just as useful as the info from anyone who compared Front Row to Cardas with Magnepan. Means nothing. There are no two identical systems and rooms. Add personal preference to that and you’re back to the simple answer - try both and see which one suits your tastes better.

I use FrontRow cables with Magnepan Mini speakers in my office system. I use the FrontRow cable on the small panels with the speaker cable connect to the Magnepan bass panel.  The Schitt Wotan amp is connected to the bass panel with a different low-cost speaker cable.

At one time I had the low-cost speaker cable (forgot the brand name) on both the amp-2-bass and bass-2-mini panels. However, I was able to get my very short FrontRow to connect to the mini panels (using a stand for the bass panel) and I noticed a slightly cleaner sound. So, the FrontRow stays, though I would have sold the FrontRow cables and put the cheaper cables back since the difference is not that great.

On my Livingroom system, Yamaha NS5000 | CODA #16 amp. I also use FrontRow speaker cables, and it is the best I have tried. Easily better than the following, 

- Benchmark speaker cable

- Audience AU24 SX

- WyWire Platinum

- WyWire Diamond

- Low-cost cables I use on the Mini system

On the Yamaha system the cables differences are easy to hear. On the office system the improvement is there with the FrontRow but I could live with the cheaper cables. Since I was not able to sell the very short FrontRow speaker cables I am using it with the Maggies,

I use Cardas Clear speaker cables in one system and Audience AU24 (the originals) in another.  They’re both very good cable manufacturers.  With Cardas, even their newer cables, the flavor will be a bit warmer than most cables, including Audience.  The Clear are also much more detailed than Cardas was originally known for. The Audience AU24 seem more even handed than Cardas.  I would expect the Front Row to be more transparent than the Clear.   I’ve heard the Front Row in other systems and they are more detailed than AU24’s.  Side by side in the same system, I would expect similar results.  With your system, I think either one would be a good match so it really comes down to personal preference.

@audphile1 @yyzsantabarbara @marco1  Thanks, Cardas is a rare animal here in my part of the World but I will audition the Front Row.

Any experience with Transparent?

I am a long term fan of Transparent. Virtually all my wires are Transparent. If you have complimentary components that you want to hear unaltered… then I highly recommend them. I frequently recommend Cardas for lower level components… or detail scraping components. But for true audiophile equipment, Transparent is the one. I have tested them against a number of mid and high end wires over the decades and they have always come out on top. Unless you are trying to change the sound of your system.

@ghdprentice Is there a sweet spot in the Transparent line of cables? I notice the Reference is twice the price of the Ultra?!

I use Gen 6 Ultra. They get better with the cost. My choice was based on my components / budget. If it starts to be a major percentage of the cost of your component... then upgrading the component becomes attractive.... and of course with a much better component then it will be more sensitive to improvements in cabling. My average component cost is around $20K, so Ultra made sense. Generation 6 was a big improvement over Gen 5 and earlier by the way. The performance bump made the lower level Gen 6 outperform one tier up Gen 5... at least in some of the tiers.

Network boxes are a polarizing issue..   I am curious does the Townshend F1 Fractal cables use the same principal?  Are they Impedance matching?