Recommendation for an audiophile speaker cord that is not "bright"?
A friend has loaned me the Nordost Valhalla I and II as well as Nordost Frey 2 cables. They are wonderful speaker cables but do emphasize the "brightness" of my system including my Wilson audio Sahsa 2 speakers.
Any suggestions? Would used Transparent cables provide a richer bottom end? What about Audience Reference?
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. - Thank you - Gerry
The amp adjusts itself to the wire not vice-versa . The speaker can only play what the amp sends it .
Which is why one guy thinks a wire is garbage and another thinks it nirvana . Only real advice is from a guy who has the SAME amp as yours .And is using the same type preamp you are , tube or SS ...
The review was like the "Sonnets of Shakespeare", WOW.. I never understood a word of it. These sound good, 500.00, these sound better 1000.00, these sound the best 1500.00 Take it, or leave it. There how's my salesmanship.
I recently audition some amps and speakers. Nordost Frey 2 speaker cables sounded bright with a major brand SS amp. We switched to Luna and the brightness disappeared. Switching to another ss amp and the Frey 2 speaker cables sounded better than the Luna. Tone control via cables. Who knew?
i am using audience 24sx ever since, i have tried the cardas (2nd below top of the line) which made by system bright, my purpose was to upgrade from audience sx24 which is almost perfect for my taste if not for a slightly thin vocals (i want more meat to the bones). Right now im trying out a 2nd hand transparent reference xl ss, a goliath in term of size and weight compared to any cables i have tried, if i judge by size alone this would be a clear winner especially compared to my mal nourished audience 24sx but........my audience just sounds better to my ears, better more airy highs, better seperation of instruments, bigger wider soundstage,better dynamics and although transparent has more “meat vocals”, i find the audience vocals more natural.
i think a lot of people will prepare the transparents presentation, after all, it bettered the audience since it has a lower noise floor, deeper soundstage, and more bass . Note that transparents ad- vantages percentage wise is quite small as compared to the audience advantages which is more glaring. Also forgot, if i may add; audience is faster with more prat while transparent is smoother
note: from my forum search, transparent reference xl needs To be recalibrate based on your existing components.
I think that nursing professionals are the most over-worked and under-appreciated healthcare workers. Also - everyone blames "big pharma" for expensive drug prices in this country, but it is actually the drug distribution companies and the insurers who are to blame.
I made a Mogami speaker, and am XLR cable (trying to revive my soldering skills). The first job I had at 14 was at A.F. Mossberg & Sons, and my great-grandfather, with home I was very close as a kid was a master tool and dye maker at Fisher autobody.
For your consideration, from almost twenty years ago:
Under FAQs on the Nordost website, they say the following:
"Question: Are the cables directional? Answer: Nordost cables are not directional when they are manufactured. However once they have been used for 70 to 80 hours in one direction they will sound better when they are hooked up and used in the original direction of break in.”
A question: obviously shielded cables are directional but that’s a separate issue from the directionality of wire. Which is worse - the inherent directionality of wire OR the directionality of the shielding? Shouldn’t they both be controlled during manufacture, you know, like Audioquest does? I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears Nordost dismisses or ignores wire directionality. That explains why Nordost cables sound too bright in many systems.
Nordost cables are directional, at least they have an arrow on the end that the booklet says should be towards the speaker.
oldhvymec - Will you sell me a pair of your cables? (sans boxes). Also, physicians do not receive the $$$, it is the insurance companies and the health systems, especially the private ones, that make the dough.
Let’s see. I’m betting Nordost doesn’t believe in honoring the inherent directionality of wire. That means that just by chance 50% of the time Nordost cables will be connected backwards. Thus, 50% of the time they will sound too bright. Hel-loo! Case closed!
oldhvymec The capacitor and resistor on the output end of the Transparent cable is just a
Zobel network. If you connect them directly to the speaker terminals it would simplify things. Just stick them in the holes where bare cables go or maybe use spades.
I finally decided to make my own speaker cables from Mogami wire as per the YouTube video- they sound the best of everything I have used, except that I lack enough bass (probably the ARC tube amplifier? I do not know).
I did not follow the plans on how to make a Transparent Audio reference speaker cable, which are also online, because I think that is unethical, and frankly, I do not have the skills.
An expert at my dealer suggests switching my McIntosh preamp for an ARC preamp. Any thoughts?
P.S. - I also made an XLR cable using a YouTube video - it was a big accomplishment for someone like myself, although I used to build Heathkit amplifiers as a kid.
Well all I can say is the recording engineers whose work you want to accurately replicate used plain old copper wire and none of this fancy garbage sales people have talked you into. Have you tried a blind test on these things to figure out efficacy? Get some plain old zip cord and then get your fancy cables. Have someone blindfold you and then in no particular order switch things around and just see if you can identify what is being used.
I recently purchased a pair of Canare 4S11 speaker cables from Ram Electronics for 106.00 for the pair. Still breaking them in but they have already bested my $1500.00 speaker cables I was using before the switch.
I agree with audioman58. Triode Wire Labs cables are very natural sounding cables. I replaced much more expensive speaker cables with the American Speaker cable. In fact, I recently took delivery of a pair of speakers with dual binding posts and am currently breaking in the American bi-wire version. Pete is a great guy to deal with and will give you a trial period. On a side note, his phono cable is fantastic and works well with my Lyra cartridge.
OK, your right. I feel like Eeyore the donkey in Winnie-the-pooh, I lost my tail, could you please pin it back on. O K !!!!
Superman OK I'll bite...
The first one, dove out a window, the second one, (horrible) broke his neck. Superman is a good analogy. Please audiozenology, don't jump out a window, or BREAK YOUR NECK. Take the cotton out of your ears and put in your mouth. That would work for me.
Those who refuse to learn from the past are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. Those who accuse others of rhetoric perhaps should read their own posts every once in a while.
oldhvymec"Again with respect to ALL , YOUR WRONG...Your information COULD be helpfull, but your rhetoric, makes it pathetic.
40, 1 year jobs, does not make a person with 40 years of experience. Can you offer anything other than "stir the pot, the pot of WHAT?
I watched the video ... the one where he does not tin the stranded copper wire. Tinning the stranded copper wire is a bad idea. It will loosen. Even if you tighten it again, it will loosen. The solder flows very slowly under pressure, even with a lot of pressure. It is best just not to tin the ends where the screws are coming down .... so yes, my suggestion how to make it better = Follow the instructions in the video where they do not tin the wires. Ignore advice to tin wires that will be compressed with screws. I understand you said you prefer to solder them in place, but you keep trying to justify tinning the ends when they are screwed down.
w.r.t. AC, way back early in my career I did a short stints in industrial electronics and got to see the end results a few times of someone tinning the ends of wires, right up to melted terminal blocks.
This is a well known issue, and unfortunately you can find a thousand threads on the web discussing it and a thousand wrong recommendations. In any environment with properly trained staff (not to mention say a UL inspection) it will never be accepted.
Leaded solder is even softer than lead-free, so it flows even more. With speaker wire, it just means your screw contact will loosen up and your contact resistance goes up. The average power is normally low, so no biggie. When people do this with AC wires, it can lead to arcing and fires.
1. The Transparent Audio RSC8 reference speaker cable does sound good with the ARC tube amplifier ---> the Wilson Sasha speakers combination. This realization came after several days of listening; 2. The Wilson speakers seem to love vocals, especially opera, and the more recent crooning from Diana Krall and similar artists that audio dealers love to use in demonstrations. I don't like opera or the Diana Krall, Norah Jones and/or Frank Sinatra genre all that much - I much prefer the Beth Hart (and old Joni Mitchell) genre of female vocalists, string-based classical music, orchestral music, hardcore improvisational jazz including bop, bebop, and fusion, and rock; 3. I realize that I eventually should get rid of my tube power amplifier and get a powerful solid-state amplifier, but then these Transparent Hi-Z speaker cables may not be a good fit...jeez!
I would like to thank everyone for their great feedback...I am still searching...The grateful OP (as in "Long, Strange, Trip")
Wilson’s generally like Transparent. As mentioned, it is what is used internally. I’m not sure how much it matters which ones particularly. Might be worth a call to either company. Power is definitely a consideration, I’ve kicked up my power lines with Cardas power and replaced my primary outlet and use Furman conditioning. I was VERY surprised at that change of these “tweaks”. I didn’t buy it at first, but power can make all the difference in low end delivery. Just more juice... another is placement. Have you played with that much? Moving them, even a little, can make a pretty remarkable difference.
What "interference" in stranded wires? Is it possible your tests were flawed and hence your conclusions not accurate? .... or your tests were very specific to the wires, speakers, etc you were using at the time?
Tell me what the resistance change will be and how that relates to the ops speaker impedance in the mids to upper base.
----------------------- Interesting case this. Based on calculations a.k.a. theory nothing changes, stranded wires are claimed to be just as good as any singlecore.. But do a test and you might* hear what in audioterms is called a huge difference.
One obvious reason is the ammount of intereference in stranded wires, but there will still be a difference even if all conductors were isolated & the interference is eliminated. I do not have all the answers here, just the knowledge after messing with this fome decades.
audiozenology"If you are putting your cables into any sort of connector that is not spring loaded then you should never tin the ends"
Once again this reflects a deep, substantial, significant misunderstanding I really do encourage you to acquire through purchase or your local library an introductory text on electronics so that you can "connect the dots" as Americans would say regarding you're incomplete knowledge base.
Tell me what the resistance change will be and how that relates to the ops speaker impedance in the mids to upper base.
unfairlane102 posts12-27-2019 6:57pm" The change in resistance of the cable will be minimal from the ones you have described so that punch is not from improved current flow which will be minimal to 0." --------------------------
If you are putting your cables into any sort of connector that is not spring loaded then you should never tin the ends. Solder flows under pressure and as soon as you tighten it, it starts to loosen.
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