Speaker Cable Suggestion

Thank you for your reponse.

I'm primarily looking for a smoother highs and better mid section. The highs and mids are currently grainy and metallic. The mid section is lacking and a bit muffled. I know the kimber 4pr are aiding the metallic sound because it was introduced when I installed it in my older system. I also wish the soundstage was better but that may just be my equipment. The amp is only a week old. I hope that makes sense.

I'm not sure how to budget this wisely. I not looking to spend more than $500. I've seen used nordost red dawn speaker cable for about $400 on here, but I've never heard them. I agree with idea of changing the interconnect. I'm going to do this one at time so I understand the effect each change is adding or removing to the sound quality.

without knowing your budget it is hard to make a recommendation.
But got to start somewhere.....here goes it.....
beleive it or not, the Monster M2.4S bi-wire speaker cables are not bad at all.
But if you want to step away from the Monster brand, consider Audience(conductor or maestro models could be had cheap used) and Acoustic Zen.
With B&Ws, the Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun speaker cables would be a good choice and a good deal on the used market, depending on the length you need and of course if your budget allows.

FWIW, I think the interconnect upgrade may be more beneficial. At some point I had M950I interconnects and when I replaced them with Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II the improvement was huge. On the absolute scale, the improvement brought by the AZ interconnects was bigger than upgrading a speaker cable from Monster M2.4S to Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun.

In my mind, starting by upgrading your interconnects makes more sense.

Audphile1,

That's an interesting point on the interconnect. I do recollect that when I installed the Monster M950i Interconnects some years ago it was an upgrade to some older $40 monster cables. At 4x the cost, I did'nt notice a major difference.

These are newer components though so I probably do need to put some more thought on a better interconnect match.

As for the speaker cables, I'm looking for standard 8ft and hopefully spend no more than $500.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mglennyc, I went from M550i to M950i and don't recall dramatic difference. Not the same going from M950i to AZ Matrix RefII though, where the difference is very noticable.
The soundstage just exploded with the AZ interconnects. And I still had the Monster M2.4s speaker cables!

The reason I suggested going with an IC change at first is because this is in the input stages to the amp. Changing the speaker cables will result in an improvement, but the new sp cables will only pass what the components before the amplifier supply through a set of M950i interconnects. So that is limited to the resolution of the M950i, which unfortunately is not that great.

If you are looking for an 8ft pair of speaker cables, at this price, attempt to find a used pair of AZ Satori Shotgun. If you are looking for smoother highs and increase in soundstage, the Satori is hard to beat in this price range.

I do not know what support/rack you have your system components on, and this could certainly have an effect on the highs and mids. Assuming that that is ok, or at least not significantly contributing to the sonic problems you describe, some past experience suggests that at least some of the mid-range muddle may be due to the IC. However, I would not accuse Monster ICs of grainy or metallic highs (unless suffering from corrosion / oxidation).

I would not immediately suspect the NAD CD player of the grain and/or metallic reproduction. To improve the midrange I would ensure the equipment and speakers are well setup, and try a different IC from the CD player to amp. You do not have to spend tons of money to exeriment: order an inexpensive pair from Signal or Audio Art or something. This would allow you to determine the effect on the sound, and you can always use it in a less critical area if you decide to get better ICs later.

For speaker wire, I would recommend Analysis Plus Oval 12. It is a good all around cable, is affordable, lacks any sins of commission, and would seem a good match to the rest of your system.