What to replace Nordost speaker cable?

The more I think about it, the more I would rather stick with Nordost as I don't want to significantly change the sound of my system. I'll have a look at Heimdalls and SPM.

I'm using QuattroFil XLR between the DAC1 and 400xi, so I think my interconnects are solid as well.

IF I can find 3 meter lengths, that should make cable management quite a bit easier.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Funny you mention the Heimdall's because I'd been looking at those as well. I may just move up. I think if I get 3 meter cables, with more slack, the wiring would be more manageable.

Jmcgrogan2, I'll have a look at Stealth as well.

Xti16, would you say the difference between the heimdall's and frey's is worth the few extra hundred?

Even with heimdall's, I'm quickly approaching the price of my integrated amp on cables alone.

I'm from the school of thought that there is a bigger difference between speakers than with amplifiers. I'm not saying all amps sound the same, but the difference between them is less significant than with loudspeakers. How speaker cables factor in remains to be seen, but as I mentioned before, the star quad was sonically inferior to the red dawns.

If I save my pennies, I may be able to pick up frey's used.

Thanks for the recommendations. I think that at the moment, a move up the Nordost line would be best.

I'm in the middle of a move, going to be about a month before I set my system up again.

Heimdall or Frey is what I have in mind.

Finally ended up ordering a set of Heimdall speaker cables. Not in my system yet, but I did upgrade a pair of Black Knight RCA's and Quattro Fil XLR's with Heimdall RCA's and XLR's.

The Black Knight cables were used from a phono pre to the Krell and moving up to Heimdall, the increase in detail, bass, and focus was tremendous! The XLR's, not so much since the Quattro Fils are pretty good.

Can't wait until I swap out the speaker cables.

Hi Ozzy, your speaker cable construction is very similar to Nordost. They use silver plated conductors in teflon.

And most of the reviews I have read parallel what you hear. Well designed silver/teflon cables do not sound bright at all.

Moving from Canare star quad to Nordost Red Dawn cables, I heard a bit more bass and overall clarity. I'm hoping a move up the line will add even more clarity and maybe a touch more bass since Heimdall's have more conductors than Red Dawn.

New Heimdall cables arrived in the mail today. First impressions are mostly positive. Highs are quite a bit more refined than the Red Dawns. Image focus and soundstage is solid. Not that it wasn't good before, it's just that much better with these cables. These cables seem to really balance the entire frequency range, as odd as that sounds. I think that's what reviewers mean by Nordost being "neutral."

The one thing that's worse than the Red Dawns is the bass, or lack of. They sound relatively thin, but then again, I only have about 30 minutes on them. I do recall the Red Dawns took a few hours to fully break in and I'm hoping the bass improves with break in. The bass guitar and kick drum are there, they just don't have the same impact as they did with the Red Dawn cables. The Heimdall's are also 4m long vs 2m. Not sure if that's contributing though.

Xti16, the 4m length is what made me jump on them. I was waiting and waiting until a 4m Heimdall in shotgun with bananas came up for sale.

I actually thought about putting the Red Dawns in real quick, but from what I've been hearing, these are staying regardless. There's more resolution and top to bottom balance has improved as well. The bass is starting to fill in as I get more hours on them. Besides, it's a pain to get behind the rack to switch out cables!

How do you like your new integrated? Next upgrade for me will probably be my amplifier. Current integrated is a Krell 400xi.

Go4Vinyl, are you serious? You liked them that much? I never auditioned the BH, but maybe I should have! These Heimdall cables have transformed my system into something special. I'm not sure the BH would have the same effect though.

Xti16, funny you mention tubes and a sub. I've thought about both, just haven't upgraded. I really like the the Nagra VPA mono blocks, but 50 watts per side may not be enough. The Krell puts out 200 a side and sometimes I use every last watt is seems like.

A sub would fill in the very lowest notes I suppose. The Focal's do ok, but there isn't any deep bass. I'll have to look into Rel. I've heard good things about their subs.