Nordost's new Leif Series 3
It’s no secret that in each line of Nordost speaker cables the only difference is number of conductors. I found it interesting comparing total gauge size of the old Lief vs new Lief Series 3, using VH Audio’s combined gauge calculator.
White Lightning (old) 19.06 AWG / 0.64 mm^2
White Lightning 3 16.27 AWG / 1.23 mm^2
Purple Flare (old) 17.61 AWG / 0.90 mm^2
Purple Flare 3 15.03 AWG / 1.64 mm^2
Blue Heaven (old) 17.03 AWG / 1.03 mm^2
Blue Heaven 3 14.53 AWG / 1.84 mm^2
Red Dawn (old) 16.07 AWG / 1.29 mm^2
Red Dawn 3 13.56 AWG / 2.25 mm^2
The old series speaker cables are very light on gauge. The old White Lightning is only 19 AWG, this is interconnect gauge and you would struggle to get any bass or drive a difficult speaker load. Anecdotal reports bear this out.
But the old Purple Flare and Blue Heaven are also too light being around 17 AWG.
The new White Lightning is 16 AWG, which is the same as the old Red Dawn!
Purple Flare Series 3 looks to be the price v conductor value in this new range, going by my local RRP.
