Speaker cables for Vandersteen 3A Signature?


I'm thinking about getting a pair of Vandies so the question is what cables do you guys use and how do you overcome the nightmare of small non-standart spades on the Vandies?
antonkk
Richard Vandersteen doesn't talk about wire much these days, at least expensive wire. I can tell you he was big on Audioquest wire and Audioquest used Vandersteen speakers. Install smaller spades or use bare wire. All spades have a sound character. Let me say that again because I am sure someone doesn't believe it. All spades have a sound character and in many cases I prefer bare wire.
Just have your new speaker cables made with barrier strip (aka terminal strip) spades at the speaker ends. Most of the major cable makers are familiar with this term and have these smaller spades available.
I have had excellent results with both Audioquest and MIT speaker cables for my Vandy 2CE speakers. Last summer, I had to replace one of the 8 inch woofers because the rubber surround got unglued from the woofer and when I opened the cabinet, all the internal wiring was by Kimber.

In that regard, Kimber may be your best bet.

Bob
Yesterday a guy told me that if you remove the screws from the connectors on Vandies than you can stick the bananas right in! Is it true?
After much experimentation with almost all the high priced top of the line cables, I found Anti-Cables to my liking the best...Cardas the worst. I have an all Ayre system with Vandersteen 5A's.
I have gotten great results on my Vandersteens using the old Music Meter solid core wire, which seems to provide a nice balance between crisp solid lows, and clean highs. Music Meter is out of business. There is a company called Clear Day Cables making solid core wire, both copper and silver. I haven't tried their cables, but they get good user reviews, and they are pretty inexpensive, but then a lot of cable is ridiculously expensive. Plus they make sets that are made up for biwireing.
As far as the spade/banana plugs go yes, you can take the screws out of the speaker inputs and stick the banana plugs in. I just upgraded to 2Ce Sigs from 2Ce, which is a significant upgrade, and am inputting with banana plugs. Viva Vandersteens.
Hi,
I was using Mogami 8 cond.cable(which is currently for sale)for the longest time.A great cable at a resonable cost.It bested many more expensive challengers in my system,most notably Mit S1 biwire.IMHO,I think MIT with Vandy's sucks.Finally,based on the recommendation of John Rutan from Audio Connection I bought (2)stereo pairs of Kimber 8VS,and my search for speaker cables is over for good.Going with two stereo pairs instead of a internal biwired cable makes a significant difference.I considered 4/8tc,but the 8vs costs a lot less.I would suggest you talk to John regarding your system.He's the largest selling Vandy dealer in the country,and knows cable /system matching extremely well.My system consists of Vandy 3A's with McIntosh amplification,&Wadia digital.
Denman speaks the truth about not using internally biwired cables with the Vandies. Richard V. is quite adamant on the benefit of running two stereo pairs.
The spades on my Cardas Golden Cross bi-wired speaker cables fit nicely within the barrier strips of my Vandersteen 3A's. They have the CCMS R1 spades (see Cardas' website).
Goertz silver on my 3a signature with Conrad Johnson premier 140 and after many years with vandersteens this is the best sound I have ever had . You can purchase direct from Goertz.
Agree on the Goertz The silver is cleaner, more reolving, and more extended. The copper is fuller and warmer, especially from lower midrange down.
Anti-cables, solid core wire with almost an air like dialectric coating. Very clean and transparent.
I just bought 20 feet of AudioQuest solid core speaker wire for Bi Wiring. I paid $5,00/foot. It's now hooked up to my new 2CE Signature II.