Recommendation for an audiophile speaker cord that is not "bright"?
Thank you, everyone, for your responses. I do live in the U.S., and the following recommendations were made to me by Wilson Audio and the Cable Company: 1. Wilson recommends Transparent speaker cables; 2. Peter at the Cable Company (a great fellow!) recommended either Cardas Clear or Clear Beyond or Audience Research. |
As the OP, just saying that I loved the sound of my system before I tried the Nordost Frey 2, Valhalla 1 or Valhalla 2 speaker cables. I have Nordost Valhalla power cords, Nordost QBase and a dedicated main and ground, and a Nordost QPoint under my preamplifier. These were tremendous, incremental upgrades that really "lowered the noise floor." So, I love my Wilson speakers and the rest of my system. |
geoffkait- My system is great - it now consists of an Esoteric K1X (bought it in Japan this fall), Shunyata OCXO OP19 master clock, McIntosh preamp, ARC GS150, etc. It sounds great with my run-of-the-mill copper speaker cables. And the Nordost cables I tried were broken in and in the right orientation. I know a bit about the last detail from my experience in the OR. |
audiozenology- 1. I doubt that is the tube amplifier, but you could be right. These speakers do have an impedance problem at low frequency (e,g, 100 Hz). I now use an ARC GS150, 8 KT150 tubes putting out 150 watts into 8 ohms. That might be a problem. 2. The room was designed and built not as an anechoic chamber, but it took 2 years with the help of an audio engineer from the University of Michigan. I doubt that this is the problem. 3. Since the plain old copper wires sound much better (no "brightness"), with slightly less resolution, maybe I should stick with those. The system is: Dedicated mains --> custom-built audiophile wall receptacle--> Nordost Valhalla power cord --> Nordost Qbase --> --> earth ground-->Nordost Frey 2 power cords--> McIntosh C22 preamplifier, high current one into adjacent ARC GS150 amplifier. Since I live in a rural area where I cannot stream, I use ripped or downloaded files from my work, or my brand new Esoteric K1X (bought it in Tokyo this fall) as the CD/SACD front end for those hard disks. It has a Cybershaft (not Shunyata, my apologies) master clock synced into the K1X using a Shunyata 50 ohm Sigma clock cable. The interconnects are also Shunyata Sigma XLRs. The speakers are Shasha 2 / DAWs. I also use a Nordost QPoint under the McIntosh preamp (greatly improved the audio quality). I am open to suggestions... |
Quite an interesting discussion. A few things on my end: 1. My current speaker cables are labeled "Transparent high performance 10-2 10 AWG (upgradeable)." I was going to try some used Transparent REF RSC8 (MM2) ("high z", apparently designed for high impedance amplifiers), but the same dealer wants to charge me the full price for a tryout, so I decided against that option (it is not their fault, it is their business model); 2. I use the word "resolution" as in light microscopy. That is, the ability to discriminate 2 signals that are close together. So my objective is to increase the resolution of the system, but it may be that I need to change other components in the system as well. I try and change one variable at a time; 3. I do believe that changing speaker cables may represent the lowest priority in terms of audio reproduction; 4. My next step may be to using the lending library at the Cable Company. Oldhevymec - the older McIntosh preamps are good - my colleagues are from the Ann Arbor branch of the University of Michigan, not MSU FWIW... I live in rural Michigan...I do miss 30 years ago on the web with the first USENET groups...thank you for all of the advice and am always eager for the feedback! - the old OP |
oldhvymec- The Mcintosh C22 is a new version of an old model: https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/preamplifiers/C22 Online, others have been critical of the combination of this McIntosh preamp with an ARC power amplifier. It may be that a solid-state power amplifier is better (avoiding the controversy of A, versus AB, versus D, versus tubes). |
oldhvymech and others- My friend loaned me the Nordost Valhalla 1 and 2, and Frey 2 speaker cords. Since the Nordost power cables, QSource and Qpoint had performed so well in my system, I tried these speaker cables. Apparently they were not a good fit, whether it is my ears, the acoustics of the listening room, a mismatch between the amplifier (ARC GS150) and/or Wilson Sasha DAW, or for whatever reason, although the sound was "fuller" than the lower end Transparent speaker cables I have been using, on some recordings, high frequencies were unlistenable (way too "bright"). Yes, I do work in trauma surgery, although I am doing quite a bit more research these days (getting old). The most incredible time was working at the Washington Hospital Center ER (level 1 trauma center) during the "knife and gun club" era. Although I must say that some of my friends who worked in U.S. military hospitals in Afghanistan (e.g., Helmand Province) during those days came back with shattered lives. All of us in trauma like the "rush" - many of us raced sports cars (on the track) and did other dangerous activities for thrills. Listening to music can be thrilling as well...The OP |
Thanks for the continuing feedback. I realize now that the quality of the power to my house may be a problem - we live in a rural setting, with 300 yards of a buried power line to the house (adjacent to a state forest, although I doubt the animals are problematic). So, I am trying out some pre-owned Transparent Audio RSC8 Reference speaker cables. First impressions- 1. Much more punch to the lower mid-range bass frequencies (not the very lowest frequencies); 2. Less searing high frequencies; 3. More "musical" (whatever that means) but "darker" (whatever that means) - loss of some midrange resolution compared with the expensive Nordost speaker cables, but at least I can tolerate the sound of an electric guitar. Now, these have the "Hi-Z" filter on them, apparently to compensate for the high impedance output of my ARC reference power amplifier (although it is a GS150). I wonder if this is a low pass filter of some sort - cutting off high frequencies. I have no idea. Still on the search for a better speaker cable, although with some great recommendations from you folks about how to proceed... ...the OP P.S. - I realize that the transparent boxes have a somewhat minimal configuration of an inductor, capacitor, and resistor in the boxes on the speaker cable (see the following web sites): (1) How to Make a Transparent Audio Reference XL Speaker Cable: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Transparent-Audio-Reference-XL-Speak/ (2) What is inside a Transparent speaker cable box: http://web.archive.org/web/20051227043038/http://cable.tcnerd.com/whymit.asp |
oldhvymec and many others- I had an engineer from DTE (local power company) check my house, and an engineer from my son's department at the University of Michigan (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Engineering (EECS!)) come out and independently check my power to the house and my audio system - his opinion is that the power to my system has very low noise and is excellent, and he is an audiophile and has a warehouse-based listening "hall" with a high-end system located near Ann Arbor, MI. I have a great deal of paper and electronic results from the University engineer's analysis - I do not understand most of it, but I can post some of the results if there is interest. I have been concerned by this process, and am thinking about making my own speaker cord using Migomi W3104 music studio cable as is shown on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqx6VhWq9E8&feature=youtu.be I am good with my hands, but unfortunately, this will take time, and I am pretty busy. Still open to solutions...sorry if I am extending this thread...The grateful OP |
Impressions from the OP: 1. The Transparent Audio RSC8 reference speaker cable does sound good with the ARC tube amplifier ---> the Wilson Sasha speakers combination. This realization came after several days of listening; 2. The Wilson speakers seem to love vocals, especially opera, and the more recent crooning from Diana Krall and similar artists that audio dealers love to use in demonstrations. I don't like opera or the Diana Krall, Norah Jones and/or Frank Sinatra genre all that much - I much prefer the Beth Hart (and old Joni Mitchell) genre of female vocalists, string-based classical music, orchestral music, hardcore improvisational jazz including bop, bebop, and fusion, and rock; 3. I realize that I eventually should get rid of my tube power amplifier and get a powerful solid-state amplifier, but then these Transparent Hi-Z speaker cables may not be a good fit...jeez! I would like to thank everyone for their great feedback...I am still searching...The grateful OP (as in "Long, Strange, Trip") |
From the aging OP: I finally decided to make my own speaker cables from Mogami wire as per the YouTube video- they sound the best of everything I have used, except that I lack enough bass (probably the ARC tube amplifier? I do not know). I did not follow the plans on how to make a Transparent Audio reference speaker cable, which are also online, because I think that is unethical, and frankly, I do not have the skills. An expert at my dealer suggests switching my McIntosh preamp for an ARC preamp. Any thoughts? P.S. - I also made an XLR cable using a YouTube video - it was a big accomplishment for someone like myself, although I used to build Heathkit amplifiers as a kid. |
From the OP- Nordost cables are directional, at least they have an arrow on the end that the booklet says should be towards the speaker. oldhvymec - Will you sell me a pair of your cables? (sans boxes). Also, physicians do not receive the $$$, it is the insurance companies and the health systems, especially the private ones, that make the dough. Cheers! |
