Speaker Cables for SET Amp

My experience is I like thin, generally copper, but silver with the right dielectric is the best I have found. Check out the Cardas website. He offers a special cable for SE amps which, btw, happens to be very thin. I bought their SE-15 based on Terry Cains recommendation.

auditorium 23 cables. relatively thin copper. particularly good for longer runs. i bought a pair earlier this year and couldnt be happier with them.

I went from thin (Mapleshade and Omega Mikro) to thick (shotgunned Home Depot 14 gauge outdoor extension cord). Cable cost went from $600 to under $20. The HD stuff is still there after amost 2 years, so it must be doing something right. My SET monoblocks have 845 outputs, EL-34 drivers, and ECC31 (6N7) inputs, for what it's worth. Good luck, Dave

I use the Cardas SE-9.

if you can swing it, transparent audio.

i'll be covering this in a review i'll have on dagogo.com, but the thing is that with any amp that does not have an optimal power supply (defined as 2x power as impedance is 1/2'd), the transparents "evidently" perform an impedance matching function, manifest as enhanced bass performance (depth / pitch). - the cables allow the amp to see an easier load (don't ask me how; my experience drives my assumption, but does make perfect sense), which is highly beneficial for less-than-current monster amps.

with a Wavac SET, the transparents were revelatory and indispensible. with a Belles 350a Reference, they were outclassed by anticables.

I find that tubes and silver cables work really well together. I currently use Ridge Street Poiema!! speaker cables with a pp EL-34 amp to great effect. Of course there is no one right answer, experiment. It is very easy with cables to just buy, try, and sell right here on Audiogon until you find something that you like. Another thing, you haven't specified a budget which makes suggestions pretty hard. So more info please.

Hi Jsman.

I'd like to try and help here too.

SETs are noted for their tangible, nuanced and immediate presentation. They don't necessarily sound "accurate" but they have an uncanny ability to sound real. To this end, if done with great care, silver based speaker cables will compliment SETs beautifully. Silver passes along space, air, dimension and "Pace, Rhythm and Timing" like no other metal in my opinion. The key is silver needs to be "done right".

Within the family of silver based speaker cables, I strongly recommend a topology that carries a low-ish AC Characteristic Impedance (Low Z). This isn't the same as a low resistance cable which is a DC measurement though low resistance is very desirable. Unfortunately, most low resistance speaker cables have pretty a high Z. Same with most speaker cables using small gauge conductors and higher resistance.

I believe a Low Z speaker cable that's very close to the output impedance of your SET amp ( I'm guessing somewhere around 4 Ohms if you're still using the Sophia Electric 300B MkII ) will allow the amp to shine beyond what you would experience otherwise.

Hope that points in a good direction for you.

Cheers!

Robert
RSAD

concierto speaker cables offer a delicate, natural presentation. Like the transparent, they can be costly. Finding them used is nice because they are not as well known as transparent. The cost comes down enough to give them a try. They are hard to find – limited supply out there. I have the concierto baby grands in my theatre; they were my mains until I picked up a used pair of concierto violin bi-wiress. They use quality material, and are built well. Bottom line is that they sound so natural with tube amps. They are nice with solid state in my theatre where I like a bit extra detail. For tubes and music, they bring detail without harshness. Very smooth… anyway…

Robert, thank you for your post. You suggest a cable with characteristic impedance about the same as the amp's output impedance. My understanding is that this will minimize standing waves and reflections. To achieve ~4ohm Zo the cable would have high(ish) capacitance IF a goal was to keep inductance very low. My understanding is that it is very important to keep inductance low with high efficiency speakers to minimize energy storage in the cable. My understanding is that higher capacitance affects some solid state amp's more (instability and oscillation) but not so much zero feedback SET amps, but that high capacitance may cause HF rolloff. Do I have this straight? What would be the max capacitance you would match with zero feedback SET and high efficiency speakers?

I have the Concierto Violin speaker cables,all the interconnects, and all the power cords,but I just have baby grands on my sub, but with that line up minus the sub a violin I can tell you that it's hard to imagine how much more can I get wright out of this system.These cables are true high end, and they make a 80g. system sound like a 80g. system. I wanted that anolog sound ,and i got stately presentation with no edge and a milk shake midrange. I just can't wait till I get the sub Concierto violin cable. Being in the game for 40 plus years, I can tell you that these cables are for that high end pallet that knows anolog sound , smoothness,great bass,and natural soundstaging. I'am proud of this system. Thanks Larry.