Any suggestions for affordable biwire cables for around the $300 price point? I need a 5-6 foot pair. My related equipment is an Onix SP3 integrated tube amp, a Eastern Electric Minimax CDP, and Vandersteen 2ce speakers. I'm looking for the typical traits: detail, soundstage, more weight, and cleaner imaging. Bass could be improved too. I currently have decent DIY biwire cables. Have researched MIT, Nordost, Cardas, and others, but the cost is where I'm stuck. Any low cost wonder cables that you all would recommend? Thanks for the feedback!
Isn't it amazing how system sensitive cables are...on my bi-wire Vandersteen 5A's the Anti-Cables are not rolled off at all. I also found that twisting them decreases sound stage width and air...but try...
Have you tried twisting the Anti-cables? Do a search on that here on Audiogon, your current set-up might have the +/- spaced too far apart, impacting the "inductance???"
Thanks for the responses! I actually have anti-cables that I tried in a biwire configuration with my Vandys and they did improve bass response somewhat, but the highs were rolled off noticeably and decay on notes seemed to be missing. I've tried to burn them in (100+ hrs?)but they still sound compressed and rolled off compared to my other DIY cables. Do they need more burn in time? Again, suggestions regarding the ACs or other recommendations is greatly appreciated! And to you all who recommended the Reality cables, I did some research and am greatly intrigued. May need to start saving my pennies...
Both anti-cables and alpha core Goertz MI2s are great with all the Vandersteens I have heard. I prefer them to audioquest mont blanc cables that are much more expensive.
I'm running a pair of Audioquest Bedrock bi-wires with AQ spaid terminations. I'm not sure if you can classify them as warm, as I've had to gear everything else in my system to the warm side (golden reference ICs, Musical Fidelity A5 integrated). I may have inadvertantly geared my system around these cables due to their brightness, but either case I've no real complaints about them. Very revealing with great low end response.
Kimber 8TC and Analysis Plus Oval 9 are as transparent as I have heard. Save money by buying single runs instead of biwire, and just use jumpers on the speaker side.
Also try the Clear Day speaker cables. I have a pair of his double shotgun wires that I've been comparing with some high dollar Nordost. Clear Day has a 30 day money back guarantee, but be aware that these cables need close to 100 hours to open up. At 200 hours they get very good. They are made of solid core silver wrapped around a center tube, providing a mostly air dielectric. They sound clear and detailed while providing excellent bass control.
Search Audioquest on ebay. You can usually find a pair of Slate, Granite, Bedrock or Type 8 at good price. I like the sound of the solid core wire for soundstage depth and detail.
Good suggestions above. There's a guy on eBay selling Audioquest Midnight cables cut to length (Hong Kong?) These are an excellent, vintage type cable which have a warm signature. It is one that I keep in my collection. Good luck.
A set of Gregg Straley's Reality speaker cable is still in one of my systems where it unveils every subtle change when a tweak is tried or a component change is made. His companion analog IC's are great, too. You will really hear what your system can deliver. The amount of natural detail revealed in recordings throughout every part of the frequency spectrum is very impressive. The name of his product line is not merely hyperbole.
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