Cardas Golden Cross vs. Golden Hexlink 5C

Kurt, your idea is good, but I'm not sure Golden Ref is the best choice. It is more neutral than Golden Cross for sure, but compared to just about anything else on the market it is a warm sounding cable. Cardas' own Neutral Ref is a more neutral cable, but lacks the nth degree of resolution. Why don't you try several good cables from the Cable Co. and decide for yourself? Kimber Select 1030/1130 are good choices as well as Nirvana SX and Synergistic Resolution Reference. Audience AU24 may also work. It has a slight treble roll-off but is quite neutral across the rest of the band.

A lot of this is going to depend on your speakers. Do you really want a neutral IC? If your speakers are a little hot on the high end you may want to take a little of the edge off. Golden Ref can make a system with a hot high-end and a lean bass sound more neutral, but the cable itself is NOT neutral. It does have pretty good resolution, however, so it can be a very useful compensatory type of cable.

Kurt,
I'm a pretty hardcore Cardas person...have just about every Cardas cable made. Like most of them but not all. I've been in the audio field for 31 years both professionally and as a hobbyist so am no newbie. The Cardas Golden Reference is simply an outstanding choice between preamp and amp. You'll probably love it but one good thing about that cable...if you don't like it you can quickly sell it on Audiogon. Don't pay more than about $450 for a 1m pair simply because you don't have to. I just posted the original thread to get some opinions; as you know,everybody's got one.

i have had better luck with cardas speaker cable.

the interconnects did not work well in my system no matter how hard i try to to like them (and i have tried them all).

the neutral reference speaker cable is quite good imo.

take care,

mike

Hi everybody,
I am using Audioquest Clear biwired speaker cable for my Krell KSA250 and Merlin EXL IV. The sound is too clean and clear. I heard that Cardas Hexlink 5c is warmer. Is that right? How much does it cost for a six-foot bi-wired pair (new/used).
Thanks for your help,
Lou

I have a Quad amplification + Marantz source & B&W 805s ..and this can really sound shrilly on that 'slightly higher' volume level that we may want to listen on with most cables. Despite vdh 102 i/c running behind the rack.

Something XLO-Ultra6 had to be taken out of the system despite good staging, imaging ..it was just in the face thatn smooth. Golden Reference was a straight addition, which could tame the brightness tad bit, as was needed and made for effortless fit in the whole chain. A definite audiophile medical treatment. Its the one of the doctors for bright systems. And yet stands for what this huge brand is known.

Sid
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