I have used the Alpha Core MI-2 speaker cables in my system on and off for years. It would be appreciated if anyone who has used these cables would provide the name and model of moderately priced cables that they have upgraded to and felt there was an improvement. There is little about the tone or clarity of these cables I do not like. Except that I just purchased a new amp and I don't want to even think of the possibility of it going into oscillation, even if it is remote due to the Zobel networks. Prefer under $500 new or used for 10 foot pair.
Sorry, I don't have any recommendations for you, but I use MI-3 cables in my system and my Classe CA-200 does not have any problems without zobels. I bought a pair from Geortz just in case, though, and they were only $20. Is there any reason why you think your amp will oscillate with the zobels? What's the new amp?
That’s strange ketchup my ca200 goes into protection mode without the zobels.
That is strange. Which CA-200 do you have? The one with the heat sinks on the back or the later one with the heat sinks on the sides? Which Goertz speaker cables do you have and what are the speakers?
ketchup, I deleted my last post just because I didn't want to advertise my new amp. But the last sentence of it was that there is absolutely no degradation of sound from using the zobels, so I was surprised you are not using them.
@pops- That might be the difference right there. My CA-200 is the later one with the heatsinks on the sides. My Magnepans are basically a resistive load, though. I’m not sure if that has something to do with keeping the amp happy with capacitive cables.
I used to own Thiels that I drove with my CA-200, but I didn’t have the Goertz cables back then!
ketchup, I hate to sound like a broken record, but I guess I am. Why don't you want to install the zobels on the speakers anyway?. They say there is absolutely no impact on the sound, and could prevent damage to your amp that may be occurring slowly over the long term. I'm done.
Hi jetter, You don't sound like a broken record at all. I just installed the Goertz cables a couple of weeks ago. I can install the zobels, but I don't see any reason to right now. I never heard that an amp can be damaged slowly by using capacitive cables. Do you have any references regarding that? I was under the impression that if it doesn't work, it will be immediately apparent. My amp runs nice and cool without the zobels and sounds pretty damn good, so I don't think there are any problems. The Classe has protection cicuitry built in, so if there were a problem, I think it would go into protection mode as pop's amp does.
I tried to look up whether oscillation can occur and have no sound impact on your speakers. Things got very technical, very quickly. I believe what I am reading is that the oscillation can result and impact only the sound that is above our hearing threshold. Sorry, its above my pay grade.
The best speaker cable I’ve ever owned was the old Townsend Isolda. These were based on your Goertz flat ribbons (zobels and such) but different insulation and cryo’d. Imaging was huge, treble was sweet, and the bass was un-be-lie-vable. Like adding a subwoofer. It was ridiculous! I regret selling them years ago. They’ve been replaced by the Fractals which I presume are even better, but they’re much more expensive.
Anyway, some time ago but more recently, I did a huge cable loom loan from fatwyre and tried out the MI2 hoping that they might be similar to the Isolda yet cheaper. But they couldn’t be less similar. I found them lousy with almost no standout qualities! I compared them to similar priced cables from Zu, Cardas, Kimber, Nordost, DH Labs, Black Cat, and Audience AU24. Audience and Black Cat (Morpheus I think) were top of the pile, sounding quite similar but I got RF interference from the Black Cat where I lived so went with the Audience.
So a long post to affirm finding the Goertz unimpressive, but I’d be curious to see if more recent Black Cats might retain those good qualities. Vouching obviously still for the Audience (though more expensive). All the others I thought were forgettable. It's hard for me to say what impact the Zobels alone had on my old system, but my current amp and speakers (both ATC) for sure don't need these impedance circuits on speaker cables.
motokokousanagi, interesting post regarding the Goertz. Mine have been stored in a closet for years, I just didn’t want to fool around with the oscillation problem with my aps.
There must have been some mismatch with your gear, as your post was the only I have noticed that did not think the cable were pretty good. On the other hand, there was nothing but praise for the upper level Acoustic Zen cables, which did not sound good in my system.
I am in the market for new cables, maybe I will give the Audience a try.
I’m a longtime promoter of cable as a legitimate audio component. Interesting that so many deniers will cite placebo effect but apparently ignore the same arguments in reverse. If I have sufficient motivation to hear no difference in cables, who’s going to dispute me? It’s certainly easier than investing in a reference quality system and the hours of critical listening required to evaluate the results of your efforts. Or the recording. Or the tonearm. Or the cartridge, phono preamp, dac, etc. I’m so glad my placebos sound so good! Pity the folks whose placebos never become audible.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
