Biwire Spk. Cable & Inter. Advice


Need suggestions for speaker cable(biwire) for Vandersteen 2CE's and RCA interconnect cable to run from my Muse 2 to my DVD player(Pioneer DV 05) which I am using until I buy a dedicated transport. My budget is 500-700 on the speaker cable and 200-300 on the interconnect, any help from you Vandy owners or others will be greatly appreciated. By the way I am using an Acurus A250 amp. Thank you for your help. Rick
rlambertaa54
In my experience, it's better to budget more for interconnect, than for speaker cable. It's better to have the interconnect one or more performance levels above the speaker cable, in order to get the most out of everything downstream from it (amp, speaker cable, etc.). In my system using a Krell amp, I like the MIT 330 Shotgun proline, with the cheap Terminator 2 speaker cable, even better than with the corresponding 750 Shotgun speaker cable.
Vandy's tend to be a smooth neutral speaker that never offends over any part of the audio spectrum. For a speaker like this ( I had an old pair of 1's), I think you might like a Tara Labs Prime 500 bi-wire, with RSC Prime, Master, or Reference interconnects for a smooth, detailed, and well extended top and bottom. These interconnects out-perform Straightwire Maestro's, Kimbers, Nordost's (mid-end) in every system I've compared them in....and they are generally cheaper. Give em a try...you will be surprised and you'll save a few bucks.
Rlambert same advice as Carl I give you since my system has T2 biwire for speakers and higher level interconnect...
I've used Vandersteen speakers(1/2/3) quite a bit in the past. I always found MIT cables to be one of the poorer matches you could find. Their products, while great in many cases, do not EVER allow the Vandersteens to open up and sing. Tara and AQ are more in the middle and are a much better choice for you(as you're using an SS amp). You may also try StraightWire or Kimber if you prefer more jump. These speakers are not prone to brightness, fatigue, etc. Also, while the question as to interconnect or speaker wire being more important will not be settled today, in your case my initial opinion is that you'll see more differences with speaker wire. All of this comes from past experience with this speaker. Other speakers have given me much different results. And don't be so quick to change the speakers, while you may add in one area, you'll often subtract in others. Enjoy the Vandersteens, they'll give you many years of pleasure.
Carl and SOL322- I currently have the latest MIT shotgun interconnect, with T2 biwire speaker cable. I was going to upgrade my speaker cable- "to match". Is it not worth it? How does the shotgun speaker cable sound?