warmest speaker cables you've heard?

@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.

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. 

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..

@docroasty… ‘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.”

Interesting you bring up headphone systems. Really good headphones simply reflect the nature of the signal which they are feed. Perhaps I can say something helpful. I have Focal Utopia and Sennheiser 820s among others. They take on very different sound depending on the amp and source equipment I attach to them converging to be nearly indistinguishable and absolutely perfect with my Massive Woo WA5 headamp. You can see my systems if you click on my user name.

What equipment are you using to drive your headphones?

Increasingly I am more convinced this is a system component issue. Your system components should sound perfect if the system is well matched and of high quality and Cale’s should simply make them sound more like they already sound.

I see your amp… did you mention your source components and preamp? I think a careful review of components would be worthwhile.

@cakyol .

I think you are on to a bright idea… maybe make it out of a more electrical resistant material and put it in a vacuum so it doesn’t burn up.

I would be really interested  in your impressions after they are broken in.