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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.

agisthos

Showing 1 response by agisthos

agisthos OP
522 posts
 

I was intrigued enough to get a pair of the new White Lightning 3. Every few years I get something to compare to my current NLA speaker cables, the High Fidelity CT-1E.

These retailed for 7k USD and obviously nothing can really compete, but I was very impressed by this new Leif 3 series for the money. For starters it sounds nothing like I was expecting or remember from the multiple Nordost speaker cables I owned about 15 years ago.

They were fast but all had noticeable treble emphasis. Something I erroneously put down to the silver plating. I say erroneously because the White Lightning 3 is the same but it sounds balanced if not a touch warm. Its fast and open but no stereotypical brightness.

Looks like I have to put aside my anti-Nordost speaker cable bias, and investigate further up the line such as the Norse speaker cables.

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