Speaker cable recs.?

Adventures In Hi-Fi in Wigan do Mogami by the metre too, I'm using 2972 and am very happy with it. Hugely better than NAC A5 in my system.

Tony.

 

Jason/Tony: how would you characterise the Mogami as a speaker cable, as compared to things I'm familiar with (like the A5 I'm using, or Nordost Red Dawn, or DNM Reson)?

John

 

A pic of the Chord? Its not in place if you wanted a piccy of that, its now redundant and sulking in the corner.

 

I was meaning the 'latest stuff' you referred to!

 

I can't believe people pay for chord stuff when you can buy the same cable from RS. The power of branding.

 

Oi! My Chord Odyssey is special I'll have none of that talk.............until Ive sold mine.

I'll take a pic when Ive the chance, at the moment Steve Irwin is trying to catch it.

 

Is the Mogami 2972 really that good? It looks like an interesting cable.

 

I was seriously considering Chord Odessey as a sensible choice for Exposure amps. Exposure guys themselves say Chord and Nordost and this is echoed on the Exposure forum by users. Also many hifi guys on forums heartily recommend Odessey. A guy at Spendor I was talking to uses Odessey (S8e I'm using). Dealers do swear that Signature does transform the sound but the price is so high I won't do it. So Odessey seems a sensible compromise.

Now, this business of RS wire. I thought Chord cables are made in house. Indeed they give dealers hands on tours to show the care that goes into cable manufacture. But if Odessey really is this stuff by RS I would certainly be interested.

1) What is the cost?
2) How do I get hold of it?
3) Would they terminate it? ( I doubt if local dealers would as they happen to be Chord dealers.

Cloth-ears says, seriously, cables make a difference but they are over priced. Its the latter that should be argued over. Of course they make a difference and I am actually thinking of changing to Odessey. So what about the value RS alternative then ?

 

I'd say the 2972 is a touch warm and bassy but basically neutral; detailed and grain-free. Superb vfm, sounds like double the price of Isolda rather than a fifth (and I quite liked Isolda).

 

In my system the Mogami simply revealed the A5 had a distinct sound of it's own – the slight grain and tizz that I'd put down to everything from the DL103 to metal dome tweeters just vanished and the sound now had much more scale, depth and naturalness, though thankfully with no sacrifice to the Naim's tight and groovy sound. The Mogami is just very obviously better all round, there was no need to recheck with AB testing – as soon as it went in it was a no-brainer. FWIW I have never liked Nordosrt cables at all, they sound overly forward and as a result coloured to my ears. The Mogami doesn't try to impress, it is certainly not a boom and tizz cable and doesn't try to play the 'detail' card (i.e. presence region lift) to sucker gullible audiophools, it is just balanced and even.

Tony.

 

Cloth Ears: The RS isn't EXACTLY the same as chord, chord uses slightly more strands per piece but just stick a few extra runs of RS in to make up if you like. If you want EXACTLY the same stuff as chord (I see no reason to bother) phone Audio-Links and they'll sell it to you but its a bit more than the RS wire.
You get hold of it by ordering from RS www.rswww.com
Can't remember the cost, its just silver plated wire with PTFE insulation. I'd use the largest diameter. You have to buy a reel, 25m I think but by the time you've run lots of strands of it thats not as much as it seems- its thin cable so you need more than you think.
Would who terminate it?
To use it don't waste your time platting or anything, it won't work as well, just VERY loosely twist it so it stays together. For a nice finish maplin do some computer cable tidy stuff which happens to be the expandable black mesh stuff that chord and kimber etc. use.

Dunno about this chord in house business, don't think so, the Audio Links guy reckons its exactly the same, its looks identical to the chord inside and out and sounds identical too (friend of mine bought some cheap chord then built it up to a more useable size with a mixture of audio-links and RS). I like the fact you can buy some to get going then build it up over time.

 

Interesting. But Chord do day they don't just buy in cheap stuff than market it on, and Odessey isn't one of their cheap cables either.
The Spendor S8e works very well with my Exposure New Classics amplifiers. I like the effortless, non-shouty style of the Spendors. However I sometimes want a bit of a lift in the treble, not too much, but the kind of thing that is achievable with cables. I did think the Odessey could do that.

I'm currently using thick copper multistrand from about a decade ago ( re-terminated ) callled Absolute Swiss Wire, from Absolute Sounds, described at the time as being as having a civilising influence on a system, which is what I needed at the time.

Do you think changing to Odessey or Odessey substitute could give me that extra sparkle? At the same time though, I wouldn't want bass to become thin. Does Odessey maintain bass fullness do you think ?

 

Hmmmm 2972 looks like it might just be compact enough to run in the underlay of the carpet. £10/metre is roughly what I was looking to pay, plus termination. I suppose I ought to read the termination thread now to see what method of termination is best (I'm using bare wire for the A5 at present as one of the bananas fell off one day and I figured bare wire would be ok)

 

Its not cheap cheap stuff, not the cheapest you can buy but its a hell of a lot cheaper than buying from chord. I'm sure its not cheap stuff they buy either but I'm sure they do put a hefty markup on it.
Afaik all the chord cables are the same, they just stick extra runs of the cable in. Its all small guage cable so you just get more conductors the more money you pay. Apart from possibly the signature which may be something different though I'm not sure.
As for the sound, I have no idea if it would but I achieved similar effects comparing it to Kimber 4 and 8TC which are copper, the silver stuff gave better treble so it sounded bigger but my system is all tube so its probably darker sounding anyway.

 

Try Microphonic Audio speaker cable, it's superb and not much money at all.

 

Cloth: yes it'll do anything you want, try and find some 2nd hand 5m pairs if you can....................

 

Ah-ha, you're selling aren't you ? Is it the full flex style or the install version you have ?

 

Mines er, eh? Its not got that big pvc cover if thats what you mean, its not thick at all and goes round corners etc.

 

Phongraphy sell good spades to go with the Mogami. I use most of mine bare wire - really don't see the point of paying for termination if you don't need it.

 

I'd be surprised if you can fit 2972 under the carpet, even at the edges of the room, it's 10mm diameter, so A5 is easier to hide but harder to bend.
I replaced A5 as the last Naim component in my system with 2972. I also found it to be an all round improvement, but mainly terms of clearer more extended treble.
The amp end has some fairly standard banana plugs which were very well crimped on by Ponography, the speaker end I left as bare wire while I experimented with bi-wiring against single wiring with paired conductors, and is now finished bi-wired with Eichmann plugs.