warmest speaker cables you've heard?

So here is something inexpensive and will make your rig any coloration or brightness or lack off for 150 usd schiit Loki+ Tone control, But it only comes with rca so if you run balanced you need a converter cables. It has a bypass so you only use it when you want without any affect I’ve tested it so have many others. I’m a headphone nut. Have 15 HP’s,8 IEM’s I use it to add +3 db bass on my sennheiser hd 600, which are famous for great vocals but lean on bass. You don’t need a lot to improve. You can trim your high a few db or raise lower mids  as you want when you want. Like I said with it bypass use it when you want. I only use when I want a little more a little less every once in while. Only problem is they’re so popular that it took 2 months to get mine. It maybe easier now. Good luck from a brother Audiophile.

Get on the merry go round. I stayed for a year, lost my deposit after giving up on every trial cable sent my way. Those cables did not give the rise I was looking for and finally I was pointed to Iconoclast by the company that took my deposit money. I read on this forum it's all about the geometry but did not entirely grasp what that meant. Geometry balances frequency, capacitance, resistance and inductance. 

Happy hunting

@czarivey lol I wish there was a way to upvote your post! It should be an industry standard for manufactures to put your warmth rating for cables on their websites.. Haha! 

@tubegeek1950 oh i most definitely agree.. i love the sound a tube amplifier brings to the table. i do have a tube headphone amp with pre capability; it is in my other system, but am able to move it around to hook it up into the intended Raal chain. Will see if it "warms" the sound up much.

@pauly thanks! your sentiments on cables and EQ echo mine. 

@twoleftears i have the cardas clear reflection in the system between the pre and power amp, and it is one of my favourite interconnects. i had the golden presence, and also stupidly sold off a set of unused golden reference. i will look into their line of speaker cables.

@ troidelover1499 i do have a spare set of Canare 4S11 star quads lying around somewhere! need to go dig those out from the store room... i used those to test some speakers briefly and then put them away. at least i will have something to compare with.

All speaker wires must come in the following temperature configurations:
Warm
Medium-Warm
Medium-Cold
Cold.

what a great idea - hehehe...

where is consumer reports when you finally need em??

@ghdprentice 

i have two systems up and running.

Roon Core on intel nuc

system 1
sotm snh10g
uptone etherregen  + afterdark clock
sotm sms200ultra neo + afterdark clock
innuos phoenix USB
Singxer su6
Rockna Wavelight
Woo Audio 33 JPS edition

system 2 (with which i will be using the RAAL)
sonore optical module deluxe
sotm sms200ultra neo + afterdark clock
Holo May KTE
Apollon stereo 1et400a purifi

both systems with AQ niagara 1200, as well as Keces P8 and Farad Super 3 lps.

Hello to all enthusiasts…

I have heard discussion about cables and RCA interconnects for years. And I know there are those that swear by a particular brand name interconnect or speaker cable. That’s perfectly fine with me, everyone has their own desires on where  they want to spend their money. 
The Immediate answer to the question of sounding “warm” would be that I would suggest you look into vacuum  tube amplifiers. The “warmth” you are speaking of will be more apparent. Even with my old ears that signature is evident.
With  a 35 year electronics career and 12 years of building amplifiers there are some technical differences in cables and that would be “capacitance”. If you wind two insulated  wires together and not shorting anywhere along its length there is an apparent measurable capacitance. That capacitance albeit very very low, is the only characteristic that could possibly affect audio. Cable Manufactures try to get that as low as possible mostly in RCA interconnects. When it comes to these large gauge speaker cables the capacitance is almost immeasurable! 
So if you can tell the difference between a 50 picofarad or 250 picofarad cables, more power to you!

I buy good components and build all of my own interconnects and I buy a reasonably priced medium gauge speaker cable and put good quality connectors on them. But, then again that’s just me and not all people can build their own.

I think it comes back to the concept of a Maserati sitting in your garage impresses people a lot more than Chevy.

Of course that’s just my opinion! Tubegeek

Wireworld mid-price Eclipse.

Dull might even be a better word. They do great at enhancing imaging but you pay the terrible price of immediacy and high end output. This possibly makes them good matches for B&W and Focals

All speaker wires must come in the following temperature configurations:
Warm
Medium-Warm
Medium-Cold
Cold.

I have used the Canare 4S11 star quad cables with my Epos M22 speakers in biwire mode and the sound is very smooth, but also well detailed.  They are quite inexpensive as high end speaker cables go. 

I have had these great Epos flagship speakers for some years and they sound really sweet but their metal dome tweeters can sometimes be a little too sharp.  The Canares do a very nice job taming the highs when needed and replaced Kimber and Audioquest cables I had tried before.

The previous generation of Cardas (that includes Golden Cross, and the other "Golden" models) is generally a little warmer than the current generation, as the prevailing taste was moving in that direction (more "neutral").  The Cardas Golden ICs and SCs are sought after on the used market and still command decent prices--check USAudioMart and ebay.

The Puritan 156 is excellent and the one power "conditioner" (whatever you want to call it) that made a significant and totally positive improvement to the system.  But it didn't make it warmer--to fall back on a hoary cliché, there was overall just more there there.

Like fb5 says, GR Research cables (if you can solder and heat shrink) will perform well above the price point.  

My question is why would you want "warm" speaker cables? Don’t you want accuracy?

If a system sounds a little cold, a warm sounding SC may get it to sound neutral - I.e. a more accurate reflection of the original sound. Or get it to sound more to your taste even if not necessarily accurate.

If you want warm sound, just turn the treble tone control down or use an EQ.

Tone controls don’t have the same effect a cable swap. You also need to consider an EQ means adding an additional component and an additional interconnect which will definitely reduce accuracy vs. a one-for-one trade of speaker cables which probably won’t reduce accuracy.

That said, many folks do use tone controls and EQs, so they are viable alternatives

we all want our stereo rigs to sound good to us

how we get there, any of a myriad of ways, is fair game

but some ways are smarter and more practical than others

there is no right or wrong

@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.

My question is why would you want "warm" speaker cables? Don't you want accuracy? If you want warm sound, just turn the treble tone control down or use an EQ.

I was using Monster Power Line 3 cables.  But I noticed a big difference when I auditioned Vampire Wire continuous cast copper.  I ran them between to KEF Reference 104.2 speakers and an Onkyo Integra M 504 amp. 

I guess the idea is they can stretch the copper crystals to be up to 20+ feet long so that on a short run, you are never going through more than two copper crystals at a time.  

When friends came over I would do a blind A/B/A/B type demonstration and each person could tell a difference and preferred the Vampire Wire to the Monster Power Line 3 cables. 

Even  people who did not care much about Hi-Fi preferred the sound with the Vampire Wire cables.  

I don't know how these would compare to the cables you mentioned but, for me they definitely warmed up the sound.  I had tighter bass and smoother midrange and treble.  

You want cables that are neutral.

Why? Is there some kind of "audiophile" rule that we need to comply by?

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

Ok, so rather than swapping out cables to solve a possible brightness issue that would cost him $500 - $1,000 to change, you suggest swapping out speakers that may cost $1,000 - $10,000 or even more to change?

Not an economically prudent approach.

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/

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..  

@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.

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

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.?

@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.

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. 

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

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 , 

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. 

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 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! 

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..

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. 

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. 

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

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.
 

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.  

@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.

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.

" 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.

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

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

@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.

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 

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?

@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.

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

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. 

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?

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