Cables:Harmonic/Nordost/Cardas

This is a tough call. This system is very new to you and you are going to speculate on some final touches. The chances that the result is still going to be satisfying to you in even three months are low. On the one hand you could take the considered route and try everything before you buy and then pay retail (since this is the only honourable course, right?). Arguably this represnts good economics because you have improved your chance of getting a synergistic balance in your system. On the other hand, with the whole system being new to you, and ditto this level of performance, I could equally argue just buy second-hand and take the risk. After you have lived with it for some months you will have a better idea of what you need to change about this system, and the issue may not be speaker cables, but one of your components. In fact I wouldn't mind betting this system changes your taste in music! And even if you do need to flick the cables, buying second-hand means the loss is not great. On balance the second course seems best to me in both the long and short term, unless you feel confident in the first. Of the cables you mention I would tend to go for the Cardas Cross even though this risks the system being a bit warm. I am not a fan of Harmonic Technology cables, not from a taste perspective but because they are very over-rated, and believe the Nordost Red Dawn is too system dependent for taking a punt on.

You are welcome to your opinions Lost, but my negative reviews of the HT cables are due to six weeks with a full set of the cables, that the importer had used for two months previously. It is not fair of me to leap to conclusions, but my experience of cables led me to the suspicion that the purity of the HT sound was due to the single crystal structure of the conductors, but that the cable geometry, which appears to be very "garden variety" to me, was responsible for the phase errors that I heard in all of the HT cables. While the cables could be labelled promising, the phase errors, which in turn meant they had a less than even-handed presentation of all frequencies, mean that for me they do not belong in the high-end. I concede that these opinions relate to my experience in my system, and I am not going to claim that you are wrong about how they perform in yours. But I respectfully suggest that this forum is for the honest expression of personal opinions, and is not enhanced when someone attempts to disparage the opinions of others - particularly based on assumptions about the validity of those assumptions (such as - all those who don't agree with me failed to listen to burned in cables) for which you can not possibly have a factual basis.

Hi Bmpnyc. You flatter me. I really don't think I know a lot about these things at all. I just have this dreadful habit of stating my opinions in a very forthright manner. My, perhaps overly negative, reaction to the HT cables is borne of repeatedly falling for the hype around so-called giant-killer cables (previous examples include DH Labs and JPS Superconductor) only to find that they are somewhat wanting compared to the giants after all.... and after being disappointed, feeling the need to provide some negative comments to balance the hype. With respect to the HT cables - I really think they are reasonable value for the money. But they are not outstanding, and if you go up a price point, there are better cables to be had. I do not know how to explain to you what I mean by phase problems. For a start, phase problems are something you tend to feel. For example, in the extreme case of sound that is 180 degrees out of phase, people often refer to flatter images, weak bass and brightness - but these descriptions fail to convey the feeling I get when the sound is out in reverse phase. It is a kind of unnaturalness that I cannot describe, even if it is usually accompanied by a perceived tonal imbalance, but which I recognise when I hear it. The point is that I heard some of this unnaturalness in a certain narrow band, with most of the HT cables, the band affected differing from cable to cable. Experience tells me that this is usually a function of cable geometry. I could try and prattle on further but I doubt I can add much to this explanation. You mention bass frequencies Bmpnyc. My recollection of the characteristics of the individual cables is vague now, but I do remember that the single-wired speaker cable tended to emphasise bass purr over bass slam. Is this what you are experiencing? Finally, I don't think you should care much if someone else does not like your cables. All cables are system dependent to some extent. My experiences with cables could be entirely driven by my components presenting certain complex drive/load combinations that only certain cables work well with.