What is the best speaker cable for Wilson Sabrina X?

Oh boy... opened that can. Really, look at what you can afford, maybe find a vendor that has demo cables, The Cable Co is a good start and go from there. Used might be a good way to do some demo’s. Where did you buy your speakers? If a dealer, then perhaps demo from them. There is way more to it other than the speakers and the cables, though. The entire system has to work together. Interconnects, power cables, speaker wires, all of it. Transparent is a good start as Wilson’s and Transparent play nicely together. Minimally the Plus line or higher. You can try Shunyata Research Alpha’s. They are a great cable. The Chord Company has a great lineup too, some of the best out there. Purist Audio Design is another good try. The list is truly endless... you will have to try some for yourself and keep what you like.

If you’re using tubes, Try Nordost first. Low-power tubes can’t cope with garden hose speaker cable. BTW, Harmonic Technology is making speaker wire now that looks like Nordost’s cousin...

Throw a dart.

Purist Dominus get them asap be a sport.

+1 to Transparent, a little out of the box but give ‘The Wall Premium’ and ‘The Wall Reference’ a listen.  Reasonably priced, and for me at least an excellent match for my WATT Puppies.  I ended up choosing the Premium and preferred the sound bare copper right to the binding post.  Otherwise yeah, what MC said, spin the wheel.

Not only for just the Wilsons but for almost ANY speaker up to about 1000W RMS handling.

http://www.knukonceptz.com/home-theater/speaker-wire/karma-ss-speaker-kable/sp/karma-ss-8-gauge-spea...

$1.65 per foot 8 AWG OFC wire. Incredible value to beat.

Thanks all....I think I should have a start with either Transparent Ultra or Shunyata Research Alpha first and perhaps Nordost as other options but taste would be different against Transp. and SR.  

Try asking Michael Fremer for recommendations. He uses Wilson. Also Jason Victor Serinus. 

I think you will find the Nordost to be flat and unexciting with your Sabrina’s. But, everyone hears differently, thus the challenge.

I use Morrow Audio MA7's with my Sabrina X's. They seem to work well with them, although I have heard good things about the Transparent Audio wires.  I listened to the Sabrina X's with some Transparent cables that supposedly cost $65K, so that is   a stupid comparison, and. stupid waste of money.  Not to foray into the cable price/performance argument, but intuitively, it seems pretty dubious that 65K speaker wires sound appreciably better than less silly-priced cables in the $5-10K range.

When I bought my Sabrinas (non-X), I grabbed a pair of Nordost Red Dawns because I needed spades for those speakers.  I was moving into a league (ARC+Wilson) that was arrogant enough to insist on spades.  And those speakers sounded glorious when finally installed.  Freakin' glorious.  Fast forward a few months and the thought wafted into my brain that "these cables may be a smidge edgy to my ear, in my room, with my sources and amps, etc etc."  I replaced them with Shunyata Alphas.  (And then a pandemic hit ... and ... lockdown ... and more speakers and cables and cartridges and ... but that's not what you asked).  I've since used various Shunyatas with various Wilsons, currently using the Sigma V2 with Alexia 2s.  And I've infrequently tried other speaker cables.  I really like the Shunyata sound.  Some cables you mentally classify as edgy, or too hyper, or too relaxed, or muddy, or dense, or thin, or whatever.  The word I like for Shunyata is "open."  As in the proverbial open window/door.  Totally chill dude, just holding the door open.  No bling, no colors .. big strong undistracted dude holding a door open.  That kinda thing.

 

But this is like one chef asking another which bespoke, batch-made, impossible to find, made-in-Brooklyn olive oil she likes to use.  Big picture, those Sabrinas will sound killer with lampcord.

MIT Matrix HD or newer Rev.

NOT the SL line.

MIT Matrix HD or newer Rev.

NOT the SL or Proline.

No single correct answer other than those who own the Sabrinas with similar gear.

I have older Sashas with Silversmith Fideliums. Apples and oranges I presume.

I can't believe all the Nordost recommendations, awful awful choice. I own Wilsons and wouldn't recommend those cables to my enemy on these speakers. Entirely too accurate. 

 

Call Dave at Zenwave audio he's making some of the best cables next to Siltech for the money, similar if not same or better sound. And Siltch would be my recommendation of cost no object for Wilsons. 

@jc51373  I agree with the recommendation to call Dave at Zenwave, he makes superb cables.

Why do you think the Nordost cables are too 'accurate' for Wilson Sabrina X's? 

@mawashi 

I own and use Transparent Ultra through an Linn based system with Dynaudio Special 25's.

That being said, every time I have listened to a Wilson speakers it was with Transparent cable and they do have a good synergy. I would offer that if you can audition listen to a particular level, go not the next or drop one and see how you feel. For example, I listened to a set of Watt Puppies back in the day and felt it sounded best with Reference vs. Reference XL with the system being demoed by the Wilson rep.

I am a bit of a Wilson cheerleader thought and your milage may very.

 

 

@daveyf

 

Nordost cables are a notoriously fast, accurate (albeit bright) cable. Wilson is a fast accurate speaker. Fast+Fast is not really a good combo for my listening ear anyway. I wouldn't choose Nordost for anything but the slowest or tube based systems. Unless one prefers super bright and fast sound, then have at it. 

@jc51373 Nordost are fast and accurate, although i don’t think they are inherently bright. If your tweeter is a metal dome of some kind, then yes, the speakers can sound bright with Nordost ( which the older model Wilson’s did indeed). The new silk dome that Wilson uses is also quite accurate and I think the combo is very nice together. Nordost has a number of different cables, you do need to use a full loom and IMO you do need to choose which model works best with your gear, but if you are hearing brightness...this is typically a problem elsewhere, IME. YMMV.

mawashi

 

Transparent is a sonic match. Start here. If you do  not like the synergy, check out a different brand.

 

Happy Listening!

@mawashi - a Here’s a couple of brands

• Zavfino- great cables and great product range - to suit most budgets
  • Zavfino thread
• In-Akustik - exceptional cables that are reasonably priced, but getting up there
• Hijiri - one of the best sounding cables available, but a little pricey
  • Audiogon Discussion Forum.

They all perform exceptionally well, but some are more "refined"

Hope that helps

 

I second @williewonka ’s recommendations. I tried out many cables during the last 2 months, I have yet to hear a cable loom sounding as natural as the Zavfinos. I have a loom of Zavfino Prima mk.II, Fusion RCA mk.II and Highlands mk.II phono SME DIN to RCA playing right now. Among all the cables I tried on my system, only the high end Audioquest loom had better results. BUT these were AQ William Tell Zero & Bass cables (€5k in bundle price)and Audioquest Earth RCAs for a total of €6.5k excluding phono cables. I hesitated a bit on the purchase, but just in principle, paying more than half of what my speakers are worth for speaker cables and RCA cables seemed almost indecent and I returned (grudgingly I might add haha) the cables to my dealer.

Just my two cents ;)

daveyf

 

Nordost is a lightening fast cable (accurate) as is Wilson Audio speakers. Too much of a good thing in presentation and sound. Yes, this phenomenon does exist.

 

Happy Listening!

Silversmith Fidelium sounds glorious with my Watt Puppy 8’s

Since my post above, I have switched from the Morrow SP7 (which was a good cable) to the Shunyata Alpha speaker cables.  There is a noticeable and very positive difference with my Sabrina X's.  I highly recommend that combo!