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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 1 response by wdi

wdi
40 posts
 
I also have not tried the Cardas, but am using the Goertz MI-2 and am quite satisfied with it. I don’t consider the Goertz to have a hard midrange, but then compared to the Cardas…perhaps; but I would guess that you might be comprising elsewhere instead. There's an interesting article that's been over on Soundstage (old, but good) by Greg Weaver that talks about what to expect from different speaker cable geometries. I agree with his assessment of the Goertz cables, except that I’ve never noticed the roll-off in the lowest frequencies; but maybe my system isn’t linear down that low anyway. Here’s the link if you’re interested:

http://www.soundstage.com/pf02.htm
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