warmest speaker cables you've heard?

I understand that certain older Cardas cables can be very warm.

Wire is not a tone control - contrary to what the "golden ears" crowd claims! 

@devilboy 

thanks. am using some Cardas Clear Reflection xlr interconnects and find them quite pleasant. Previously using Golden Presence. Will look into their speaker cables.

Yes it is.

CARDAS,  best you wallet drain permits

you will get a much better result if you also upgrade the ICs to a matched CARDAS set

+1 jasonbourne52

Remeber the  Match Game....i had speaker cables so warm that ...girl friends would strip down to bra  and  panties while listening to my system..

Lol @chetatkins that is exactly what I'm aiming for. 

try cardas parsec iridium or older hexlink 5c

all roll off the highs a good bit, with all the attendant knock on effects

kimber 8tc is NOT warm

A small value capacitor across the speaker terminals can (may?) add some warmth. You can try caps from 100nf to 1000nf to do some fine tuning. As long as you keep the value small enough it will not attenuate high frequencies within the audible range, but filter noise that allows you to hear high frequencies w/o them being “shouty”. 

I normally use cheap orange drops to find the appropriate value and then change to a high quality film or polystyrene cap if I do see an improvement. That way I’m out $10 - $20 bucks at worst if it doesn’t work for me. 

Admittedly, I never had my girlfriend drop her pants because of them though … 😂🤣

Wire is not a tone control

Says who? Is that a “rule” you thought up yourself or did one of your narrow minded buddies tell you that?

People can do whatever they wish, they most certainly don’t need approval from the likes of you.

@docroasty
My Cardas Cross bi-wire set can be a little warm'ish and lush with less grain (on poor recordings) compared to some other AQ Type 4,6 Apature Silver over copper, many others I've owned and tried.  I'm looking to possibly compare them to Golden Reference this winter.    

Cardas Golden Cross on used market.

@jasonbourne52 Wire is not a tone control - contrary to what the "golden ears" crowd claims!

Disagree 100%. With moderate hearing, some (not all) interconnect and speaker cabling absolutely CAN function as a passive tone control, grain & edge control, even to the degree it can ruin and collapse a sound stage when using poorly designed cabling. Matching up good cabling can be rewarding in lieu of rotating through various amps or tubes like some people do obsessively. A good cable synergy can be truly rewarding when you hit the target, particularly when 50% or more of the recordings out there are not that great. Or do like some of my colleagues have and finally caved after decades and pick up a preamp with tone controls. Not for me, decent cabling can do the trick too! Home Depot zip cord ain't gonna cut it.

wire/cabling is absolutely a tone control, whether we like it or not

questions are more or less, in what sense, and do we know how to employ the effect to the benefit of the system in how it produces the music

Vast majority of cables get the tone control rap because they are dealing with signal resonance primarily by means of tuning them to sound less bad. Always thought they were getting better by eliminating distortions, and that is part of what they do. But what they are left with, they try and tune to sound the way they want. That is why all the different cable brands tend to have the same sonic signature or House Sound. 

Never even dreamed the extent to which they all do this until I tried Townshend F1. Sorry, they are not warm. They are just... right.

If you want the best SCs available, the Silversmith Fideliums.
Believe a 4’ pair are $795.
I replaced $6K cables that are now junk relatively. Warm, I guess so. But if you want to hear everything the SR1as are capable, 30 day trial. You will not return.

I’m curious they are Ribbon Headphones, you’re trying to voice?
You want the mids to be warmer and the highs tamed a bit?

Now you know what a TONE control is used for..

OFC, NOT OCC cable. HIGH stand count # 16-12, with PTFE.

You have to be VERY careful with silver over copper in SC or low strand count cable.

Even a #12 is to big for just headphones. OFC multi wire WEAVE with a high strand count. NO SILVER..  Use red copper ends crimped into place. NO SOLDER. Unless you tin correctly.. or use copper Allen heads.

30.00 usd.. If you want the best for warmth anyway..

Here is a tid bit.. hook up ONLY the left one, not both at the same time.. SEE if you hear the difference and voice the cable the way it sounds the best. In other words reverse the direction, it may help A LOT..

I'd try a contact enhancer too with the copper and let them settle.
In 50 hours, they are going to sound the way they are doing to sound..

Regards

Cables are components of a system; amps are also components of a system.

Few people would object to describing a certain amp as warm or cool; so why this knee-jerk negative reaction to this kind of enquiry about cables?

Cardas Golden Cross! These are the warmest cables I have heard. I used them for twenty years until I was able to improve my electronics. You can buy used for half price. 

If you want to warm things up a bit, try some good quality stranded copper or go even one step further and try some tin coated, stranded copper. You can even throw in a mix of silver plated copper to get that sound.

All the best,
Nonoise

@decooney  @jjss49 @ghdprentice 
thanks! quite a few recommendations for Cardas. I will look into the Golden Cross but it is a legacy item and i dont think my local dealers have it; may need to source it from overseas and/or second hand mrktplaces

@oldhvymec that is interesting info! thank you for sharing. yep, its the Raal SR1a ribbon headphones.

@mglik thanks! i've not come across them before but will go and look through their website.

@nonoise 

thanks for the suggestions! the only company i (think that I) know that uses tin coated copper is Final Touch Audio (i may be wrong..). could you point me in any other direction for this metal combo?

Supra cables are the ones I used to use that have the tin coated copper wiring. Warm sounding with a relaxed top end and a nice, rounded bottom end. Not the last word in detail but they'd do the trick. 

Madisound is one site that carries them stateside: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/supra-cables/

And for overseas, there's :https://www.av-connection.com/?ML=350

and their own site: http://www.jenving.com/products/sword-3
off to the left is a "catagories" section to view the other lines as well, besides the Sword, which can be expensive.

And for about the same price, over on eBay you can bid on some Zu Audio speaker cables and get a great deal with a low, winning bid.

Good luck and all the best,
Nonoise

@nonoise 

soulds like you are not in the US. There are lots of online used cable places… prices are half or less on older cables.

Oh, I'm here, stateside. It's just that when the OP asked for a specific sound, the Supra sprang to the fore in my mind. That's why I also mentioned the Zu Audio cables. 

But you're right. Lots of cables out there at used prices that would more than satisfy, and considering his needs, it should be an easy solution.

All the best,
Nonoise

Any high inductance speaker cable will do. Longer is warmer. Price is irrelevant. 

" Says who? Is that a “rule” you thought up yourself or did one of your narrow minded buddies tell you that?

People can do whatever they wish, they most certainly don’t need approval from the likes of you. "
  Yes I agree. People can fantasize about non-existent capabilities and then project them onto an object and through the art of solipsism realize their dreams.
 I think rubbing Carolina Reaper peppers on your cables will warm them up too.

Schiit Loki, $150, very effective.  Fancy snake oil wires, $700, no effect at all.  You pays your money, you takes your chances.  The only way a speaker cable will make the kind of changes you want is if it is 100' long.

@jnorris2005 yes i did consider the Loki, but my system is fully balanced and i'd prefer to stick with XLR connections since all my cabling is as such already.

@nonoise thanks for the help and the links! will check them out.

I've had the Kimber and wouldn't call it warm.  I played around with various wire doing the DIY thing briefly and came across Polar Wire Products (www.polarwire.com).  I was told a pricey power cord used their copper wire in a doubled up configuration so I gave it a try both as power cords and speaker wire.  It's quite warm alright with pretty good detail and lots of body.  And it's cheap! cheap! cheap!  Just for the hell of it, why not buy $20 worth of the single run cable and see if it meets your needs?  It may not be aimed at audiophiles but its pretty good.  

I believe the new (as yet unseen) Loki will support balanced cables.  Better to wait for that then flush your money away on tricks.  To be honest, any cable that has any kind of audible effect with the miniscule length you're considering MUST be defective, purposely or otherwise.
 

Acoustic Zen or harmonic technology, OCC single crystal is the best wire for audio.

If your system sounds somehow harsh, maybe you should start addressing the core of that problem.

If you have a good music source (analog or digital) and decent cables, I wouldn't spend money on new cables. I would try different inexpensive tweaks that will help "cleaning" and improving resolution, leading to a more real and warmer sound. I mean antivibration pods, ferrite cores, tube damping, etc.

Also consider AC treatment, a big source of noise and harshness. Of course, AC power filters or AC regeneration is not cheap, but maybe a dedicated AC line is cheaper. All of them will help a lot. 

Actually, my system is far from harsh..
I built up my system around the Susvara and I think it is just about right.

I have demoed the Raal in my system twice now, and have decided to go ahead and purchase it (traded with a dude from Canada who is taking my ZMF Verite in exchange).

So I'm aware of the sound of the Raal and, with all else "equal and optimized" (or so I think..), the only other component which I do not have yet are the speaker cables. And since I have to purchase a set of speaker cables no matter what, I'm taking this opportunity to try and get a set with the "warmest" sound possible. 

On a side note, I've really no issue with folks saying that cables can't sound warm or be used as tone controls etc. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I figure, no harm trying. If anything, expectation bias and placebo do definitely exist as well, but as long as it manages to increase enjoyment of the hobby, I don't see why not too. 

Here is the thing… if your system is well balanced tonally and you add warm cables you will loose the details and end up with a system that is warm and emotional with a marked reduction in the high frequency end. I mentioned I used Cardas Gold Cross because they warmed up my system a lot. I had ribbon speakers and an overly detailed solid state preamp. The cables brought proper balance to my system, but by subtraction. My system sounded properly balanced with them.


When I retired my ribbon speakers and preamp for a ARC Reference 5. When I turned the new equipment on i just turned red with embarrassment of what I had done… all the cymbals wheat from the mid soundstage to back behind the wall… barely audible… it was not good. The leading edge of a snare drum disappeared. I think I listened for less than a minute and ran into my storage room and pulled out my 20 year old Transparent speaker cables. I switched them and instant, perfect sonic balance. Just perfect.

Years earlier my system was harsh, unforgiving, with a somewhat high noise floor. This was really well communicated through my ribbon speakers. So with Transparent, it sounded terrible. With the gold cross perfect.

The components in my system today are all compatible, of outstanding quality and of perfect tonal balance. So when I get cables and interconnects I want as transparent and non-existent as possible, so as not to get in the way. A really warm tonally balance cable, by definition is getting in the way and accomplishing this by subtraction..

I think, if you get the chance, you really have to try the Raal SR1a ribbon headphones for yourself to understand what I'm trying to achieve.

That thing is accurate, sharp, precise, like a surgical scalpel. Some blunting would actually be good lol! 

People can fantasize about non-existent capabilities and then
project them onto an object and through the art of solipsism realize their dreams.
I think rubbing Carolina Reaper peppers on your cables will warm them up too

I have no idea what you are trying to say … if you’re claiming cabling does not have a sonic imprint on the sound you’d be wrong.  

I highly recommend  Clear Reflection  bi-wire.  They do a 2/3 split for bass and 1/3 high.   They are wonderful and will not over priced. 

Cardas Clear reflection is a combination of the old reflection
and newer clear , what good  is having warm without the detail.

the warmest cable is the cotton oiled Duelund cable  it’s warm 
but it’s soft on theleading edge detail ,I compared them 
with my 7-9s Occ copper Wire world 8 Cables. The dielectric has Everything to do with how fast the signal propagates and warmth.
the Wireworld has Opsilex dielectric which is now better then then Teflon ,and ovoid stranded wire ,robs detail that's why litz was invented.or in Wireworlds case,  independent various size wire isolated and straight to  prevent eddy currents ,stranded has micro arching -strand to strand ,in power cords not as critical but in system cables very important. That much has been proven , 

@docroasty, Audioman58 beat me to it. Duelund tinned copper in a oiled cotton jacket, can be bought by the meter https://www.partsconnexion.com/

Hello,
Stay away from Silver coated copper. Also, try a thicker gauge of wire. You might want to call Straightwire. You can tell them you whole system and they will let you know how to fix your sound. Personally I don’t agree with fixing sound. You should go back to basics. What does not match in your system. Or is this the sound you get from those components. When you add an item it should compliment the basics or you need to get rid of that component. I just demoed a $14k DAC that did not sound as good as it costs in my system. The key is I am also not buying it. I understand sometimes we love certain components so we make sacrifices. https://www.straightwire.com/mobile/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.straightwire.com%2FI have talked to them a few times and they know their stuff. Add a thicker gauge power cable to your components. It really works. If you live near the Chicagoland area and want to try some things to help out your system or want to add to your existing system this company lets you try before you buy. https://holmaudio.com/Also, Try a different power conditioner. The Puritan PSM156 can help with this too. Try the power cable. It works. Stick to 100% copper. 

@audioman58 @rushfan71 thanks for the heads up on the deulund. I was not aware of that brand until you posted. I have purchased from partsconnexion before, but mostly tubes and cardas cables.

@hshifi yes the puritan 156 is on my radar. I'm currently using AQ niagara1200. 

essentially, my system is pretty much setup just the way i want it. i have several headphones (utopia, susvara, abyss 1266) which all sound really good on the system. I would post my whole system here, but it is rather convoluted, and really, besides the point; I am only adding the Raal to the lineup just for variety and a different flavour, and as the Raal is already a confirmed buy, all that is left is to choose a speaker cable.

By what mechanism can a speaker cable boost or attenuate signals selectively within specific frequency bands?

I suppose that in a particular room, music might sound very subtly warmer or brighter when you introduce a slight change in gain solely due to a change in cable length or gauge. Even so, couldn't one manage those effects more effectively via DSP, tone controls, room treatments, speaker placement, etc.?

Don't know how DIY you are, but this might be of interest:  https://www.gr-research.com/cables.html

@tk21 the speaker cables are for a Raal speaker adaptor box. To SR1a headphones. These are extremely resolving headphones and from what I've read from other users, the headphones will reflect upstream cables and components.

If there is even the slightest chance some cables are going to give me a "warmer" sound, rather than accentuate/cause brightness or harshness, well it is a chance I'd be willing to take and spend on.

You want cables that are neutral. If you have overly bright speakers then maybe buy a warmer sounding speaker such as a British made speaker, wharfedale, tannoy, spendor, harbeth, etc..  

i appreciate the good intentions! really, i do.

again, the speaker cables i need are for hooking up to the following item:
https://raalrequisite.com/product/ribbon-amp-interface/

which in turn hooks up to:
https://raalrequisite.com/product/sr1a-earfield-monitors/