2. cables
  3. 149660-79040

Kimber KCAG versus Nordost, newer Kimber interconnects, etc

I have been trying out various speaker cables between my Coda No.40 amp and my Martin Logan CLX's.  I recently purchased a pair of Nordost Heimdall 2's which to my surprise were a good match.  I am now turning my attention to my interconnect cables which are all Kimber KCAG with XLR terminations.  I previously had Audioquest Niagara interconnects which are also excellent.   I currently have a heavily modified Wyred 4 Sound STP SE preamp with Level 2 mods as well as an additional custom mod by EJ.  It replaced an ARC Ref 5SE.  My digital source is a Marantz SA 10.  The Coda No.40 is a very pleasant surprise to me as it interfaces extremely well with the CLX's which are very fussy; it is tonally neutral, dynamic, transparent and quite detailed.  I prefer it to a number of solid state amps that I  have had recently including Pass Labs 100.5's and a Krell 402e; the ARC Ref 150 I had could not adequately control the CLX's, particularly in the treble.  I would appreciate if others have had experience comparing the Kimber KCAG's to Nordost interconnects - particularly the Leif series, newer Kimber interconnects as well as other high quality interconnects.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
soundhound

Showing 2 responses by soundhound

soundhound OP
46 posts
 
Elizabeth and jond,

Thanks for the suggestions.  I do remain interested in the Nordost Leif series given my experience with the Heimdall 2 speaker cables.  There are  a number of  more current interconnect choices and often it comes down to specific interactions which is why I enumerated some of my equipment.  
soundhound OP
46 posts
 
I would like to thank all who responded to this post.  I probably should have been a bit more focused in my initial statement.  My standard for tonal neutrality and transparency were my previous Quad ESL's powered by my highly modified ARC tube amp.  In this setup I used a Placette passive line stage with short KCAG interconnects which worked exceptionally well and with all the ARC tube amps/preamps I have used.  As I now have the Martin Logan CLX's which are nearly as transparent A the Quad ESL's but with a larger listening window and much greater dynamics, I needed a very different amplifier - think a very transparent powerful solid state amp.  The KCAG's did not match as well with the solid state amps I have used as delineated above.   I was surprised how well the Nordost Heimdall 2 speaker cables worked between my amp, the Coda No. 40 - an extremely stable 400 wpc amp, and the CLX's.  My more focused question is what are the optimal interconnects to be used with solid state amps and preamps of high quality feeding the Martin Logan CLX's.  I suspect that there are few who have examined this narrow question, but if you have I would value your observations.
More to discover