Cable selection for SET.


Hia Guys,
I've just ordered a Yamamoto a-08s to use with my Avantgarde duos and I'm wondering about matching speaker cables. My current cables are Kimber 8tc(5 metre pair). I was wondering if anyone had any advice to share on silver vs copper, length etc when using low powered SET.

Thanks for your help with this,
Myron.
borg7x9
Congratulations on your purchase!

I think the best thing to do is to listen to your new amp with the Kimber first before making any prejudgements on what to buy next. Who knows, you might not need a change at all. It really depends on to what degree the Yamamoto shifts the balance of your system and how much you want to compensate for it.

When I went from a solid state amp to a SET amp substituting some silver interconnects and speaker cables in place of the copper ones was a good thing. But I still have a lot of testing, mixing and matching, and evaluating to do.

Enjoy your new amp with your current cables for awhile then decide whether you need a change.

Good luck!
A good cable to start with are the Speltz Anticables ($80 for 8ft pair). Better
than any Kimber, Nordost, etc. I tried in my system. Alternatively the
Audience Au24 are excellent cables, but the Anti-cables are very close at a
fraction of the cost. The best cable I found for my combination of Fi Super X
(2A3 SET amp) and Cain Abby.

To achieve better high frequency extension, tightly twist the cables and keep
them of carpets etc. Also, since you are currently using 5m pairs of speaker
cables, there is no problem using long runs of the Anticables as long as you
keep them off the floor. I am using 12ft runs myself.

Enjoy your new SET.

Rene
Paul Speltz cables work great with SET. Best I have heard with SET. $10 per foot and hard to beat. Killer with my Wright 2a3 amp and Cain & Cain double horns.

Bill
thanks Guys,
I've noticed someone local here in NZ selling the speltz anti cables. I kind of dismissed them as gimick. From what you guys say though they seem like they might be a good match. I'll give them a try and compare them with the kimber.

I was thinking silver myself, NZ made slinkylinks are good value here and I've got a friend with speaker cables and inter-connects so I can try those too.

Gunbei, I think the advice to try the kimber first is a good idea. I can always upgrade at a later point. That way I can enjoy my upgrades one by one instead of making wholesale changes.

Thanks All.

Myron
Myron, if someone local is selling the Anticables I would give them a try. In my system the 12ft "Anti-Gimick" ($120) replaced a pair of 12ft Audience Au24 ($900 used). The Audience are excellent as well and have a slight edge in detail, however in my system I just could not justify the cost ot the Audience.

I am curious on how well the Yamamoto will work with the Unos! Drop me a line when you had a chance to listen to them.

Best wishes from across the pond,

Rene
Thanks Rene,
My local avantgarde dealer(amazingly there is one in Auckland) has used the original Yamamoto a-08 with his Duo's and said that he had very good results with them so I'm very hopefull that the new version a-08s will be a huge improvement over my arc vt100. I've allready sold my Arc to fund the yamamoto so at the moment I'm music-less(sounds of teeth gnashing). It'll be another couple of weeks before Shigieki-san (shameless name dropping there) has made my amp but once its here I'll be sure to post my findings on the the amp and the differences the cables introduce. Thanks for your time and thoughts.

Myron.
I doubt if there are cables that are specific to SETs. I do suspect that what we each listen for greatly affects our satisfaction with cables. Presently I use Cerious Technologies cabling because they do not have the splash or glare of metal cables. Also, unlike the other form of non-metal cabling, carbon, they have very low resistance. I have friends with similar systems who do not like the Cerious cables, however, so I know peoples' preferences vary.
>>they do not have the splash or glare of metal cables<<

And they roll off severly after 10hZ which makes them useless with any high end speaker.
as i believe i've just sold them, and not wanting to appear a shrill, i decided to wait until now to post.

i had excellent results using transparent MM speaker cabling w/ my former Wavac SET (i sold both). if speaker efficiency is less than ideal, and if bass control / depth is an issue, these networked cables are a boon. not sure if they'd be necessary w/ true horns though...but w/ monkey coffins they were a big help.

rhyno
I doubt if there are cables that are specific to SETs

Going through the arxives on Agon and Asylum, you will see many people preferring smaller AWG solid core wires with SET/high efficiency setup: Audience, Speltz, 47 LAbs OTA, even some recommend 18-24 AWG pure silver cables.

Due to higher sensitivity of speakers and lower power of SET amps, the current requirements for speaker cables are lower, opening up possibilites of using smaller gauge solid core wires.
Restock, I have tried small guage wires including the Crystals and 47Labs and not liked the results. Perhaps I should have tried others.
Hey guys,
I think the message i'm getting is to give it go and see what synergys work best for me. I'll be trying the silver slinkylinks, the kimber 8tc and I may as well give the speltz a go as its pretty cheap.

What about length ?? (ooo errrr). I think I've read in a review that low powered SET prefer shorter length, lower resistance cables. Is this right ?? if so my 5m pair of kimbers might not be ideal.

thanks all.

Myron.
Maybe one of the doppler radar preamplifiers and some discontinued ceramic cable are what you should consider.
Stan, you are so lame. First no one here knows what you are talking about, and second, you are wrong as usual about the cables being discontinued. I thought you were in hibernation; perhaps you should go back to dreaming about buying equipment that sounds good.
Hi Stan,
thanks for your very helpful comments, but I dont think that I could live without remote controll and I've not come across a doppler radar preamp with full remote function yet. (radar amplification seems very interesting tho)

Wishing you all well,

Myron.