Blindly deafly? bought Purple Flare cables...


Blindly (deafly?!) bought Nordost Purple Flare cables yesterday for my Rotel RA-1062 integrated amplifier, RCD-1072 CD player and B&W DM602 S3 speakers that I bought almost a deacde ago and never used (long story)...

I bought the analog interconnect, the speaker cables and the power cord for 2 dollars shy of a Grand after tax!

PLEASE tell me I did alright!

This exact system is no longer in stores and I don't think many places would let me bring my gear in and switch out cables...and it would have been a total hassle even if they would.

And I'm eager to finally start listening to my stereo.

I called A BUNCH of Rotel dealers yesterday, to try to get advice on what cables would pair up well with my equipment and I got a different answer out of everyone -

Audioquest, Nordost, Transparent, Tributaries, Kimber...

But a few mentioned the Nordost White Lightning.

I decided to take a drive to northern New Jersey to a BEAUTIFUL shop that claimed that they had all levels of Nordost and Transparent cables.

But when I got there they only had the whole lineup of Nordost cables and a few Transparent cables lying around.

The guy highly recommended the Purple Flares for my equipment - swears I'll be happy.

I could have gotten the White Lightning cables as a few people recommended, but I figured since I'm buying without hearing I'd 1) be safer moving one up the line, and 2) spending that kind of money on cables I'll have less doubt and worry that I didn't get good enough cables.

Please express your thoughts!
timothyd11
Thanks Zd542.

How about with regards to biwiring? Should I lean towards biwired cables if my speakers have that capability? Seems that the majority if people (elsewhere) seem to think it has its benefits.
Biwiring is a tough call. The difference it makes varies for each system. Most audiophiles, myself included, feel it makes more sense to go with one run of better cable than to buy 2 pairs of lesser cables. There are exceptions, however. In my main system, I use Vandersteen speakers. Biwiring those speakers makes a big difference. More than any other speaker. B&W's are known to benefit from biwiring, but nearly as much. My advice, given your system, would be not to worry about it. If you happen to come across cables you like and they are biwired, get them. Otherwise a single run should be find. If, at some point, you upgrade to more revealing components, it will be more important.

I don't know if anyone has brought up The Cable Company yet. If you don't end up using Audio Connection from my last post, give them a call. They'll send you a bunch of cables to try in your system so you don't get stuck with something you don't like. I use them all the time. Its a great resource.
What is currently bothering me - ELECTRICALLY, single wiring or bi-wiring appears to be the same. Either the low frequency portion and the high frequency portion of the speaker is joined at the speaker through a jumper (single wire) OR it's joined back where it goes into the amp...so I'm having a hard time figuring out just how it would sound different - we're talking electrons - electrons move FFAASSTT!! Like speed of light fast. So please explain HOW bi-wiring improves sound, IF it does.
So I returned the Purple Flares and bought an internally bi-wired 8 foot pair of Kimber Kable 8TC and a KK Silver Streak interconnect.

I liked the fact that there is a lot of positive information out there about the 8TC and did not like that the jury was still out on the Purple Flares.

I received the cables the other night and was only able to listen a few hours last night...

Sounded terrific to me!

But I don't know if they sound slightly better or slightly worse than the Purple Flares because I was not able to compare them side by side and too much time has passed since returning those other cables.

I think I'm done and satisfied.

For one thing, I have a VERY modest low end setup in the world of hi end stereos. Does it make sense to spend as much on cables as each component? I'm reaching that point.

Another thing, my speakers are small and, I understand, quite efficient - would I benefit from or need bigger gauge cables of better quality or is what I have enough for my small, modest but good speakers?

My only concern / curiosity is that I am "starving" or "short changing" the woofer by splitting up the 8TC through internal bi-wiring, and adversely affecting the sound because of it.

I may look into "renting" an internally biwired 12TC from The Cable Company and listening for any differences. If I hear none I'm done.

:)
"My only concern / curiosity is that I am "starving" or "short changing" the woofer by splitting up the 8TC through internal bi-wiring, and adversely affecting the sound because of it.

I may look into "renting" an internally biwired 12TC from The Cable Company and listening for any differences. If I hear none I'm done."

You're not starving your woofer with the 8TC's. Its easy enough to check, though. Just but the jumpers back and connect everything to just one set of binding posts.

No reason to upgrade to the 12TC. Your equipment is very good but when you start to consider cables that cost more than the equipment, it makes much more sense to upgrade active components. Don't get sucked in to the cable trap.