Rockness87-
I recently heard a system at Audio Concepts, Dallas TX, that consisted of the following;
PMC 2-way floor-standing speakers
Naim CD5i
Naim Nait5 integrated amp
Nordost BH cables/cords
Nordost QX4 line/power conditioner.
probably the most accurate acoustic music reproduction that I have heard to date. Those components place the band/artist right in front of you! Unreal.
Happy Listening! |
13 ft is a lot, my choice would be DH labs or AudioArt, sound good with about anything,easy to live with. IF you could find a pr of MIT AVT 1 that long be good as well. |
Looking on A-gon, I see a 12 ft pair of Analsis Plus Oval black SC for $450. If 12 feet would do, you would get a great souding cable overall with good soundstage and OUTSTANDING bass ! A+ as its called,is one of the very best audio companies with great service as well. |
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Agree with jmcgrogan. AZs should help in precisely the areas you mentioned. Best of luck. |
In MY experience, any cable provides different results in different systems. At one time I was using Blue Heaven with very good results. The only way to hear if a cable in YOUR system is what you are looking for is to put it into your system and listen. ...as an example, Cardas cables which are recommended by Ayre, are simply awful in my Ayre system, ...although I've heard them elsewhere and they can be quite good. |
I always thought the BH was over hyped
you may want to try Audioquest type 4 or Discovery 123
these have been known to be giant killers
otherwise the AZ is a good choice though may be slightly warm (not neutral)
I use Woods $6 extension cord (White Lightning) with amazing results but no longer available I am afraid
I have also heard Cardas sound terrible
system synergy is the key
good luck |
Something about properties/talents of Nordost cables. Nordost does not have the talents for a wide and deep stage. Blueheaven is more foccused on the mid and high freq. It does not go that deep in the low freq. it is fast and tight, but not that dynamic. It is not the most invloving cable in sound. They say; you will hear the sound of your equipment. I doubt this, after hundreds of Nordost tests. These cable have there own properties, and you have to use it wisely. It is not that easy to use, but it can give good results in some situations. Nordost is not a brand to be used for all situations. |
Jps labs superconductor fx might fix your woes. I have tried many of the cables mentioned and more in my system that is highly resolving and allows clear differences between cables to be heard. This cable gave my system the most without busting the bank. You can call the Cable Company and demo brands that you want. |
thanks for all the precious advices;
so far my choice would be between:
Acoustic Zen Satori
Analsis Plus Oval black
AudioArt SC5
Chord
Does anyone compared them?
How good are the AudioArt SC5 compared to the others on the list above?
Are the Acoustic Zen Satori bass light?
thank you |
Rockness,
The Satoris are definitely not bass light. I find them to be warmer, rounder, weightier, and more tonally full down there, but along with that they are not the fastest or tightest cable you'll find in that frequency range. Trade offs. The mids are very expressive and tonally complete, and I find the highs to be nicely detailed and natural (but a bright recording will still sound bright).
That's my take, but especially with cables ymmv. But I think in this case the deck is stacked in your favor with the Satoris given what you've currently got and what you're looking for. Hope this helps. |
Nordost Blue Heaven was too lean for my system. I use Acoustic Zen Satori. |
Rockness87, I have owned all the cables you mention except the Acoustic Zen which I have not heard.
Oval 9 is the best, in the base it might well be the best cable available. Chord is not great in bass.
SC5 is a great value, good all around , Oval 9 is a step up but I could live with SC5. |
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I moved from Nordost to Signal Cable Silver Resolution. I had the 4 Flats though. But I compared Blue Heaven ICs to Signal's and the BH were not as refined, to my ears. |
I have owned the Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8 and the Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun. Both are fairly similar tonally, good, solid bass, nice mid's and detailed high's without being overly agressive. They differ in their soundstage presentation though. The AP offer more immediacy, while the AZ has a deeper, more 3-D soundstage.
Which would work best is up to you. Some like that front row seat (AP) some prefer a mid-hall seat (AZ). I kept the Satori Shotgun, but I know others who prefer the Analysis Plus. Seeing that you are using Virtual Dynamics interconnects, I would think that you would prefer the Analysis Plus. As I recall when listening to the Analysis Plus cables, they reminded me of my experiences with Virtual Dynamics quite a bit.
I haven't heard the AudioArt or the Chord cables. |
@ Jmcgrogan2:
the truth is that I didn't really choose my VD Master Series II; at that price they were a bargain (200 euro) and sounded sooo much better that my former VDH I couldn't say no.
So theoretically I would prefer a big and 3dimensional soundstage. |
I agree with Soix regarding Satori sonic qualities, Hologram goes a step further in extension and a bit more neutral
fwiw
ymmv
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Hi Rockness87,I like to know the outcome here myself,there is so many budget cables out there,keep us posted on your decision and your evaluations on the cable you aquire,thanks,cheers! |
@ Audiolabyrinth:
I came to the conclusion that for not waste more money it would be better to try before buy. So this morning I went to the shop (umm it's more a showroom) in my town and the dealer gave me 2 cables to audition: "Audience Conductor e" and "Transparent Music Wave Super". Right now I'm listening the first one. Wow! these cables rise my system to all another level! very well balanced, neutral, tight and deep bass, good soundstage, and finally the foor trembles again. Also they are very musical, or better say that they tend to disappear letting the music be the leader. Good sense of PRaT also. |
Rockness87
you probably know this but try to listen to them for a few weeks to really know what they sound like then switch to the second pair
thanks for sharing |
Rockness87,
I had the same experience with the Nordost Blue Heaven, which I purchased the The Cable Company.
This cables made my system sound very thick. I tried to return them and the salesman at The Cable Co. (John Pharo) said they needed to settle in. Well, after 200+ hours, the sound was still as thick as day one.
I tried to return them again and John Pharo @ The Cable Co. never returned my emails or my phone calls. Other salespeople always forwarded my phone calls to his voice mail.
After many tries to return them, I ended up selling them at a lost.
I'm glad you found a dealer that's willing to work with you and that the new cables work well in your system.
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If your using Virtual dynamics ICs, why not stick with the same company. When new, I think they were ludicrously overpriced, but now they are quite reasonable. I use single wired Revelation cables. They were about £5000 new, I got them for £600. They really are excellent, neutral, but really punchy, great base and treble, without being bright or etched.
I am getting rid of mine, having said that, after 4 years. They are so stiff and heavy, they are difficult to connect and dress. |
David, yes they sound ridicously good, bud as you said they are stiff and difficult to manage. Also I have little room around the Solidsteel deck..
@ Philjolet: sure! thank you for the advice |
Isanchez, sorry to hear that..btw last week I sent them a mail kindly asking for advices..thay never reply.
For what I learned, Nordost entry level products are shit, if you want the good stuff you have to go up on the scale, but it will cost you a fortune. |
I'm using a pair of Nordost Blue Heaven Rev II Biwires 2M long. They soundas good as the SP4 Morrow Audio Biwires I had, and also the Kimber Kable 4,8,and 12TC single wires. I got them mint with the box for only 165.00. They also perform as well as the Audiometallurgy AG-0's that I used for about 6 months. |
As always in audio, there are horses for courses. I keep every piece of wire I ever bought in the last 30 years.
You may be SURE what sounds crappy on one system will sound good on another.
Your Mileage won't vary. |
What's ironic is that I communicated to John @ The Cable Co. that I wanted to move up the line to the Red Dawn II or perhaps the Tyr line. I never got a replied.
In the end, I got a set of Sterevox SEI 600 cables from another dealer, which were really great.
These days, I'm in the DYI bandwagon. I got very curious to find out if the Stereovox cables sounded so good because of the special materials used or by design configuration. Well, being that the Stereovox cables were a coaxial design, I found that MIT sells a DIY kit for interconnects based on a coaxial cable. To my big surprise, the MIT cables sounded as if they were from the same breed as the Stereovox cables. They certainly sounded different, but I wouldn't say one was better than the other in any aspect of their sound reproduction.
The MIT cables have a miniaturized version of their networks to use with the DIY kit. To see if the "network" compensated for the lack of exotic materials, I'm currently experimenting with a set of Belden 1505F coaxial interconnects I got from Blue Jeans Cable. I tried them cold and I can tell that the sound is from the same breed as the Stereovox and MIT DIY cables. They Belden cables are on the Cable Cooker for a few days.
Let's see what happens.
This page from Wikipedia has some technical information regarding a coaxial cable and its applications in audio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable
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thank you for your feedback Isanchez; very interesting, especially the DIY part. Keep us update |
I'm right now listening to the "Transparent Music Wave Super" sc. They are good, but not at level of the Audience. I have to say that if I haven't heard the Audience, I would probably stick with the Trasparent. Don't get me wrong, they are good, very good: smooth, open, but a bit artificial (probably due to the "network box"), equalized. Maybe more detailed in the upper frequencies but a bit leaner in the bass than Audience. The fact is that the Audience cables are really superior, in my opinion, due to the tonal balance and neutrality, they let the music speak. |
Interesting comparison Rock.
Individually, I have heard the Audience and Transparent cables/cords. I was not able to compare both lines at 1 retailer/dealer though. Keep us posted... |
Rockness87 just like you I had the audience conductors in my system and it bettered everthing else I tried including AZ satori then I used the JPS labs sc fx and it is very much like the audience cables with better base and less expensive. Might be worthwhile. Best |
I loved the Flatline II with some (very bright leaning) B&Ws...better in my application that Kimber. The Flatline sounded live and rich; however I've had the Heimdall (first edition) and found that they were VERY amp dependent. This was kinda odd...too lean and didn't really dig 'em. |
Tara Labs RSC Prime 800. You will not be disappointed. Solid low end punch, present and accurate mids, detailed highs without ANY harshness.
I got mine about 2 weeks ago and they are not going anywhere. Aside from my speakers, they may be the best value in my system. |
I had a pair of Zen Satoris and they have excellent bass and mid range performance. The Tara Labs take it one more notch up and provide better high end response.....to my ears at least. Both are great cables.
I almost went back to the Zen had it not been for recalling an older pair of Space and Time cables I bought second hand and used briefly.
I took a chance on the RSC Prime 800 and have not been sorry for an instant. |
I've been in that shop lots of times but the first time I remember so clearly with one of their Naim rigs....yes they specialize in amazing...really in the room with the musicians..wow have been chasing that experience ever since |
Sorry thought my previous post would appear as a reply to Jafant's Audio Concepts Dallas TX instead of so far down the list. Yes! Naim Audio Concepts Amazing |
May worth a look at Elf cable. It works very well on my system. |
