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Cable upgrade

I was contemplating a cable change as I recently purchased new speakers, Focal Sopra 1’s. I am running McIntosh MC275’s (mono-blocked). I currently have Goertz MI 2 Veracity cables. I wonder if anyone has experience with Nordost Frey2’s in a similar type system, i.e. tube amps? As the Goertz’s are also of a ’flat wire’ build type, they might be somewhat analogous and carry similar characteristics, with the Nordost doing so at a higher level?

I made a huge jump in speaker capabilities and wonder if I should also upgrade to a higher-level speaker cable also. The dealer listened to my system after we set the speakers, and he stated knowing what he knows about the Focal’s, he felt I was leaving something on the table as to the highs with my current cables. He felt the highs sounded ’ truncated’ and not as open/airy. Yes, I know he’s probably trying to upsell, but he’s been pretty honest in my dealings with him.

I have read many threads here regarding the Frey2's, and they appear to be well liked.

 

TIA

tonydec

Showing 2 responses by decooney

decooney
1,896 posts
 

@tonydec .. I’m just going through "itchitis," these speakers sound good, can I make them better? : )

Yes, as already suggested, give your speakers, drivers, woofer surround, crossovers inside - 200hrs a real chance to settle in. Everything is stiff right now. Similar to @ghdprentice spent thousands of hours with different cables. imo, it's still premature right now to be swapping a bunch of different cables in/out, to later find out sound changes again. While your amp/tubes are known to have a softer sound, this can be quite nice too, so give yourself time to settle in with the sound too. 200hrs plus some speaker toe-in for now, maybe. In time, you might even find yourself toeing speakers back out once settled in. Then, If still not satisfied, get loaner interconnect & speaker cables from a dealer to try for a week or two, at least. Initial break-in and settling can be agitating, yes, give yourself time. Best of luck. 

decooney
1,896 posts
 

@tonydec good work giving yourself and your speakers time to settle in since new. Also, taking the time to test out different positions, toe-in vs toe-out too helps of course. I noticed a while back you had been using AQ King Cobra ICs and such. Among many I had those years ago and let friends borrow them when they wanted to test if they could tone down the highs a tad and they do take the edge off, I do not think of them as the most transparent cables, fwiw.  I've found it's helpful to place the best cables you have at the front end source, on the devices you listen to the most first. After the Cobras I had Apature silver-over copper, Analysis Plus Crystals, various Clear versions of Cardas, and others - all which were more transparent and revealing than the Cobras - IF that's what you are looking for. There are many other ICs you could try to open up the sound a bit more if that's what you seek. Good cables can make a difference on well appointed systems.   If you want to try many different cables before deciding, we sometimes recommend TheCableCo demo program to folks who want to try 4-5 different ICs pair then buy the ones you like, or simply return them all to the library. Some good options here for you to consider.  Best of Luck. 

 

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