2. cables
  3. 1119283372

Audience AU24, are they good?

Hi,
I almost have my system complete, just need a pair of good and affordable speaker cables. My system (budget system):
Jadis JD-3 CD
AudioNote DAC2 (old version)
Sonic Frontier SFL-2 (upgraded some tubes using Siemens & amperex)
Krell KSA-250 (i know it's a very old amp, but no $ yet)
Dunlavy Aletha
Cardas Golden Ref ICs
Cardas Quadlink speaker cables (this may be the weakest link in the system).

So, my wife plan to visit to Singapore, and here is my opportunity to get a pair of good speaker cables (I live in Indonesia, hard to get use stuffs here). Thus, I won't be able to audition whatever I will decide to buy.... I got some offer of:
Audience AU24, Nordost Red Dawn Rev II, Audioquest (forgot the model), and some other. But from all, the Audiences seem quite affordable, about US$525 (single wire, spade ends). The question: how good are they compare to Red Dawn, etc or even my old quadlink? I mostly listen to some pop and light jazz music.

Thanks in advance..
Regards,
Adinata
atjandra888
artmaltman
769 posts
 
AU24 speaker cable is extremely good in my experience and well regarded. Very well balanced cable, in terms of sound. (Red Dawn by contrast would be leaner, perhaps faster). AU 24 Seems to be holding it's resale value. Looks great too!
Art
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,711 posts
 
I agree with Art.
desmondjim
67 posts
 
I switched from Quadlink to Au24 speaker cable last year. The biggest difference was the bass. With the Au24 the bass was faster, tighter, and less bloated. The high end was more extended and the overall sound was more integrated. It was a good and worthwile upgrade. I tried the Au24 in my friends system, replacing Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables. He has Bryston amps and pre and Muse digital front end with Golden Cross interconnects and Vienna Acoustics Mahlers. The same changes in the bass and top end were there but in this case it was just different and not so much an improvement. He prefered the Cardas and I liked the Audience. I think that the Audience speaker cable worked well with the Cardas interconnects, I do like the Cardas sound but I can't afford the price of the higher quality Cardas cables.
stanhifi
224 posts
 
Red Dawn is clearly inferior to Au24 in all respects. Au24 is a reference quality wire; Red Dawn is not. Actually Au24 has a much more "natural" and "musical" character than Valhalla in a high resolution system and can be fatiguing.
mikesinger
572 posts
 
the audience au24 is a very, very good cable and sounds even better when combined with the power cords... hence, would also suggest upgrading your power cords if you havent done it yet(it is a night and day difference)

the real question is how will it sound in your system..
More to discover