Comparison: Cardas Neutral Ref vs. Goertz MI2 or 3


I would appreciate some input on a comparision of the relative qualities/benefits of Cardas Neutral Reference and Alpha Core Goertz MI2 or MI3 speaker cables.

I am in the middle of a speaker cable search for the following system:
Muse 9 Signature Generation 4 cd/dvd
Muse 3 Signature pre
BAT Vk500 250wpc amp
Alon V MkII upgraded to all alnico (Circe) drivers
Cardas Golden Reference balanced ic's

Unfortunately, my run is 16 ft or 5M, and the Alon's need to be tri-wired, usually with a heavier gauge wire to LF and the same (lighter) gauge wires to MF and HF. Therefore, this venture is not inexpensive.
I have a set of Alon's Black Orpheus and I am currently using tri-wired CC89259 with the quad version on the bottom.
I am familiar with the differences between Cardas ic's, having tried them all before selecting the Gold Ref., so I sort of know what to expect with the Neutral Ref speaker cables.
What I am interested in are any suggestions regarding a choice between these two, and answers to questions like, does the accuracy of the Goertz come with any penalties like a "hard" midrange, compared to the Neutral Ref? If I use the Goertz, I would probably consider MI3 to LF, and MI2 to MF and HF. With the Cardas, I would probably do an internal bi-wire run to MF and HF, and a single run to LF.
thanks for your help - Tim
mitch2

Showing 3 responses by mikesinger

you are in a tough spot....your alons are pretty revealing of anything in front of them...i have the model II's and i use different combination of speaker cables ( mit 750 plus s3 on top and van den hul revealation hybrid on the bottom.

i have tried tara, az, ps audio,etc. ( the van den hul is a awesome bottom end cable). i am still looking for a top end cable - i will hold off till i get my pre-amp back.
my current interconects are straightwire crescendo.

while at the ces show i spoke with carl (from alon) and the black orpheaus is still preferred speaker cable- and in some cases just reterminate them back into single spades for single runs. i havent tried the black orpheaus but i was very impressed with what i heard at the show on his proteus system.

a suggestion would be the new soundstring cables - carl was using their interconnectsn and power cords.

i heard the entire soundstring ensemble with alon speakers ( herron amps & pre& dcs converter)- and the system was the standout for the show imo ( it was a real world system that sounded great).

you may want to ask carl about the cables- i think they are pretty good and they are reasonably priced- they are one of the few cables i would try on the alons.

hope that helps..

mike
forgot to reccomend the discovery speaker cables... carl used to used them not to long ago. they are a very neutral cable on the slightly warm side of neutral.

mike
let me know how you like it....

btw, great refinsh on the v's...they look great.

if you ever want to move those...let me know !!

mike