Something doesn't seem right about this...

Bruce - re: your cable specs and are they suited to your amp and will moving up the Kimber ladder be beneficial...

I did try Kimber 4PR and 4TC speaker cable for a DIY project and the 4TC was the better performer in that instance with those components. It was noticeable, but subtle and such improvements very much depended on the components used, which, with other components may not reveal any benefit at all.

Increasing the gauge however should improve bass performance and dynamics - e.g. moving from the 4TC to the 12TC - at least that was my findings with a similar upgrade with the Van Den Hul brand of cable.

Without knowing whether the designer of your amp built it to handle high or low capacitance cables, then the only way to know is to try them first.

Should you try a different brand?

Again, try to get some loaners to audition first before buying

Are your cables high capacitance?

They are approximately twice the capacitance of my Van Den Hul d-352 cables and as such would be considered high for Naim amps by Naim customer service.

For most amps Kimber speaker cables must be within acceptable operational limitations - I.e. just based on the number of members that find they perform very well.

Let's face it - if they presented anything close to a significant problem, it would be all over the WWW.

Do they sound nice to your ears? I.e. not harsh or grainy - then I would say they are most likely not impacting the performance of your amp.

I have not heard that low capacitance cables present a problem to any amp, so if anyone has experienced otherwise please post a response.

Regards

Thanks Willie .... as Al (Almarg) has mentioned in other contexts, technical specs and stats will take one only so far. Beyond some murky point, there are just so many variables in play, you gotta go with your ears. Seems like the same holds with cables, and pretty much equipment in general.

At the risk of starting a speaker skirmish, let me briefly segue to touchy subject. I've been reading reviews, member comments and bench test reports on various speakers.

One darling of the audiophile community is the Wilson Sasha WP. It's a Stereophile 2013 Class A Recommended component -- no surprise. What I find interesting is that based on just Stereophile's bench test report, I would not have automatically jumped to that conclusion. In contrast, the Sasha has a bumpy frequency response. Consequently I might have surmised that the Sasha's acoustic presentation is significantly colored. Yet I don't recall reading any comments to that effect.

So, seguing back to cables, I get that specs and stats alone will not tell the whole tale. Problem is there are not that many B&M stores around and even less dealers who are willing to allow home trials.

Happy New Year again.

Best

Bruce

OK Bruce - just took a look at your system and based on those components, upgrading speaker cables may well reveal details currently unheard.

But - If it were me I would probably opt for a different brand.

Here's my thinking - you are already using a 9 gauge cable that uses good quality copper with low resistance - moving up to the 8 gauge 12tc would probably result in only subtle improvements in detail and dynamics

Significantly improving on your systems current performance would probably require a change in materials and design used in the cable's construction

e.g. maybe a cable that introduces silver coating or a silver/copper alloy and/or a significantly larger diameter cable.

That would be the direction I would proceed.

Hope that answers your question.

Good luck with the search

BTW - what power cable do you use :-)

Thanks Willie .... btw, I think I mentioned that my speaker cables are the Kimber 8PRs. At this point, my power cables are stock ARC, which I understand are "good" PCs.

As a point of interest, when Stereophile reviewed my amp in 2012, the reviewer whose name escapes me switched out the stock cables for a Sain brand PC, which is the cable ARC supposedly uses when testing gear. I think Sain cables are "plaid" priced.

Until I hit the lottery, my next tweak is to improve power delivery by installing dedicated AC circuits to my system. Will probably do the AC circuit upgrade when I freshen up my basement/listening room/man-cave in early 2014.

In the meantime, I'll keep an open eye for some speaker cable inspirations that may do better than just improve my system by a subtle difference.

Thanks again,

BIF

Bruce - just looked at the Sain - that's a little outside my snack bracket :-)

BTW - Could you explain "plaid" priced please

Currently I'm using DIY Furutech 10 gauge to the amp and 13 gauge Furutech on the source components - all with silver-plated copper connectors.

I'm about to try (in the mail) the Silver Resolution power cable - a silver/copper alloy cable from Signal Cables, just to see how it compares to my Furutech's - recommended by a fellow Agoner with an amazing system who has also auditioned many of the boutique brands and prefer the Signal brand.

See - Silver Resolution Power Cable

Another Agoner highly recommends their silver-copper alloy interconnects also

I guess I'm just a sucker for the little guy :-)