New Speaker Cable.

Despite many upgrades to my system over the years, I have kept faith with my trusty Kimber 8TC/4TC biwire for what seems like eons.

Simply put, compared with many others tried, including Kimber Select, Goetz, Townsend and Nordost, they gave me music Their combination of space, detail and smoothness was a very difficult act to follow.

But finally they have been usurped......and from an unlikely source

Firstly I discovered that I actually preferred the integration of single wiring my Merlins, using the Cardas jumper leads that Merlin sell. Quite a shock to me, always thought I should biwire.

Then I switched out the Kimbers for the new beasts, the "response" speaker cable from of all people Proac Suddenly the Kimbers seem so limited, the Proacs expanding the soundstage, offering up more detail, and whack to spare. Plus by virtue of a delightfully balanced treble, they are just so musical

So what is this "wonder design? Simply a couple of 2 guage high purity copper conductors suitably encased. Doesn't seem to be any snake oil here, just huge amounts of copper. The result for me is musical heaven.

Only problem appears to be the possibility of tripping over the stuff and the spades failing to fit properly into the large WBT terminals on the amp

One certainly worth checking out for the serious music lover, particularly if yoursystem has a slight edge or mild thiness in the midrange.

 

Well well, who'd have thought it!

I must admit when I saw the proac cable at the bristol show I was highly sceptical. Still, just shows that you mustnt pre-judge things.

How much is it per metre?

Cheers, Robbo

 

Hi !!


Have you tried the Townshend/Goerz and the others with the jumpers in?

Just wondering how much of it is a preferance for single run of cable (I prefer it that way too)..... and how much the new cable...?? just curious... dont know what youve tried already etc


Chris

 

Neil,

OK, it's not cheap @ GBP120 per metre But, I reckon you can't put a value on musical enjoyment, and a 3.5mtr set will cost a similar amount to say biwired Isolda and things like AZ Hologram 11.

I think the Kimber retails for about 550 quid now , so I feel an extra 300 quid or so represents reasonable value, plus it's British and looks really ridiculous

Just what the 1SC's ordered

 

Merlin,

The speaker cable can wait, I've got to do more work on the mains first!

BTW, as I biamp, I would need 2x3.5 M sets. Thats getting into silly money territory. Unless of course thay can throw in a set when I buy a new pair of D100s

Robbo

 

My Audio Physics don't have bi-wire terminals. Apparently they don't believe in them !! I presume its all down to the crossover design.

 

Chris,

The other cables I have tried over the years have all been single wire variants, using the Cardas jumpers, hence my belief that the Merlins needed biwiring.

The Proac stuff offers similar characteristics to many of their speakers, subtlety, body, warmth, and a slightly rolled off treble. I guess that's what you would expect from large amounts of copper, still quite impressive.

The reduction in treble glare will of course lead to some loss of air, they tend to just mellow everything out nicely, painting in broad strokes rather than offering filigree detail and that leading edge transient attack synonimous with silver cables.

Robbo, be warned, I might just bring them over to Bracknell one day (if I have the strength to move them ) I agree though, mains first, the speaker cable is very nice, but not night and day.