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Cardas Cables

After having an amazing experience with a Cardas headphone cable for my Focal Utopia headphones, I am really getting an itch to replace my existing speaker cables (XLO UltraPlus) with Cardas cable.

Anyone familiar with Cardas speaker cables?

Based on current lineup, I really like the "Clear" version, but I cannot afford it, so looking for used.

I see several used cables for sale from Cardas, but they all appear to be previous models. And I have no clue which ones are the equivalent with current "Clear".

I see Neutral Reference, Cross, Golden Cross, etc.

Any help is appreciated!
128x128thyname

Showing 2 responses by williewonka

williewonka
3,072 posts
 
A couple of Cardas speaker cables (not all of them) have high capacitance values.

This does not have any affect when used with tube amps

However, some High Current design solid state amps will self destruct due to oscilation
- Ayre and Gryphon are two that a friend "fried" with his Cardas cables
- he had no idea of this issue when he fried his Ayre
- he then fried the Gryphon, which was on loan
- even the tech that repaired the Gryphon was not aware of the issue

NAIM warns of this issue on their web site - not many brands do that

I only know about it because I have a NAIM amp - so I looked at their web site before choosing speaker cables.

So, do your homework first - or it can get expensive :-(

Regards - steve
williewonka
3,072 posts
 
@Thyname - It would appear that only the top of the line Cardas cables suffer from high capacitance due to their advanced geometry.

Clear Bewyond is 446 pF/ft
Clear Speaker is 278 pF/ft

The other models seem to be in the range 30-55 pF/ft


Kimber Kable speaker cables are higher than most, but their best cables (12TC adn 8TC) are around half the capacitance of the TOTL Cardas

But it is interesting that Ayre "recommends" them

Regards - Steve
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