Question About NORDOST cables


I got a pair of Red Dawn II speaker cables. I was really impressed by these cable; the speed, dynamics, vocals - it's transformed the sound of my system. unfortunately not all is good; the bass suffered from a major roll off, and to make matter worse it's also lost its definition. really bad.

if it wasn't for the bass I'd hit the jack pot with these cables. I really like what's done to the system. in fact, I just got a pair of Heimdall's IC's. there's a general improvement, and the bass has also improved a little, but I feel like there's some kind of imbalance between vocals and other instruments.

the Red Dawn has to go. that's clear.

what I'm not sure of is whether I should stay with Nordost, and upgrade to the Heimdall's speaker cables, or move to something else. I'd really like to get the Siltech 330L, but is out of my budget atm. I can get the Heimdall now, or wait until have enough funds for the 330L's.

I really could with some other opinions/thoughts on the matter.
many thanks,

Massimo

speakers: Paradigm S1v3(P-Be)
youngatheart
received the cables a couple of days ago, so these are sort of first impressions, and I'm having some difficulty in exactly putting what I hear into words.

more details, and I mean better details; better definition; better extension; the notes sound more polished - like removing noise from an image - more liquid sound. there's also this harmony in the sound which is real nice. did I say details? jeez...

there's an element of brightness, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm confusing it with details, liveliness, fast dynamics, instead of actual brightness, but it's there, which can result in listening fatigue. that was my biggest worry, but have not felt it, yet.

the bass is also better defined than the Red Dawn's, but I would really have to compare it with some other cables other than Nordost's to know for sure if it's still on the lean side, as it might be.

these are great cables, indeed. very, very pleased... so far. :)
The new Series2 Nordost Frey's have a lot more bass and are even more liquid sounding than the originals. But those are not discounted. I have the original Frey's for about 2 years now and just love them. The Series2 are even better with about a 10% increase over the original MSRP.
that's good news (to my wallet dismay); 10% is not too bad - I was expecting it to be more - not that they're not expensive already. having heard what the Heimdall's can do, I will probably upgrade to the Heimdall 2 once I've the disposable income, but I'm pretty satisfied atm.

I was hoping to see in your first impression of the Series2 the word *warm*, but I didn't...:D

something I forgot to say, which I think is worth mentioning, is that there also seems to be a quieter background (not really sure how to put it). I've been quite concise in my impression(for lack of better words), but I mean everything I said. to say that these cables have transformed the sound in my system is not an exaggeration.

you know when you listen to entire albums and songs that normally wouldn't... something astonishing happened.

Xti16, do you use jumpers with the Frey's? I'd like to get the Norse's set.

thanks all for the input, much appreciated.
Youngatheart, I think the marketing hype is getting to you a little bit, IMO.
Nordost is now saying that they do not recommend bi-wiring with their cables...IMHO, that's a bunch of BS. Adding jumpers to a speaker that can accept bi-wiring is IMO foolhardy and not the way to go. The best way to bi-wire is to have two separate cables feeding each speaker...( which I'm sure Nordost would agree with since they can sell twice the amount of cable).
I used to do this until I acquired my Nordost bi-wire cables. There is no discernible difference in my system with two cables vs. a bi-wire set up cable. OTOH, using jumpers, one can easily hear the loss of information. So, let's ask ourselves why Nordost is now saying that they don't believe in a bi-wire end and are no longer offering this option....Could it be that they were spending more labor on creating the bi-wire end and were not getting compensated for it. As I recall, the cost of the shotgun (single wire...they shouldn't get away with calling it shotgun as it isn't) was the same as the bi-wire ends. Does my theory make sense to everyone?
well, if I could afford two separate runs that would be my choice, believe me. fact is, I'm already using the jumpers that came with the speakers, so if the Norse's are better than the stock jumpers I've everything to gain.

at the end of the day what matters is what I hear; I don't care what Nordost or anybody else says. I wasn't happy with the Red Dawn, and I said so. my impressions of the Heimdall's have absolutely nothing do to with marketing, hype, or with what you or anybody else may say, at all. nothing.

there's no hype or exaggeration in what I've been trying to say... those are my exact first impression, pure and simple. I just cannot fault these cables, other that some brightness, which I may as well be confusing with clarity, and the bass possibly a little lean.

whether these impressions will change in a few weeks, I don't know, but I'm happy with the result atm.

thanks for the imput :)