Need Opinions for Different Cable Manufacturers/Cable Designs


I have a McIntosh 200wpc receiver [MAC7200] and Focal Sopra 3 speakers - and am using low-grade cables. I'm looking to vastly improve my system with a complete cable upgrade. I like a warm sound with lots of clarity and detail and naturalness. I have been reviewing tons of literature and am intrigued by Cu/Ag and Cu/Ag/Au combinations. I will probably buy used, and look at offerings in the midrange to lower high-end range of products. Cannot afford the best each manufacturer has to offer. Looking to spend up to $2,000 for 3m speaker cables and up to $700 each for RCA and XLR cables. Again, I hope to buy used.

 

I am interested in opinions on the following manufacturers:

AUDIENCE

DH LABS

PURIST AUDIO DESIGN

SILNOTE

SNAKE RIVER

Please feel free to offer your opinions on these and any other recommendations you may have. I really appreciate your time and advice!! Thanks!

kinarow1

Showing 1 response by gbmcleod

Well, I have Shunyata, Nordost and Transparent cables. Of those, the Shunyata has the lowest noise floor (so that I can hear the subway moving underneath the concert hall on The Nutracker Suite (Mercury Living Presence). All the cables reproduce the subway train’s movements underneath the concert hall easily enough, but the Shunyata does it the best. Transparent cable is richer - tonally speaking - and Nordost is UBER transparent, but it’s midbass is not better than the other two.

And people, you DO want the best midbass possible on your system, because a superb midbass will make music sound more "real." Ask anyone who plays in an orchestra or band. Most components have a decent midbass, but it is rare to get a magnificently correct (like certain concert halls) midbass. When you do, the instruments will sound closer to real than you EVER heard before. And no, most integrateds, solid state AND EVEN the tube amps do not have "superb" midbass. Very good? Yes. Magnificent? NO.

In my life, the only amps with phenomenal midbass were:  the conrad johnson Premier 1 (1981). Audio Research D-150 (1970s), the Carver Silver Seven (1990) and then the dazzling Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes (2004). Other than that, amps are "pretty good" or even "very good." But these are the kind of amps that would demonstrate how good your cable is, and its capabilities.

It will also be hard to hear a "better" cable if all you listen to is pop and rock. They will NOT demonstrate what these (ridiculously priced) cables can do even remotely effectively, if at all. Go get three superbly recorded classical or jazz cds, listen to them and use THOSE for evaluation, not a 1990s recording of Nirvana (whose recordings were not particularly good) or NWA (even WORSE recordings). A stellar recording on a good system with very good electronics should enable anyone to hear the differences in cables.