Slightly Warm Speaker cables
- Thread starter joeling
- Start date
Joe,
Easy, except on budget - try the warm, but full of detail, Crystal Dreamline. IMHO it is sounds better than the Cardas Golden Presence in my system - I have no experience with Cardas Clear. As they have now the Crystal Absolute Dreamline you can get the older version for nice prices.
Try to audition the 2014 Harmonic Tech Pro-9 SE speaker cables
PS
I have no association with Harmonic Tech
PS
I have no association with Harmonic Tech
Joe you might be able top find a pair of Jorma Prime sc's for around that price if you're patient. Jorma cables are natural and organic sounding which fits your Mephisto & the Primes are a bit warm as well. They are great cables.
Cheers,
Bodhi.
Cheers,
Bodhi.
I have tried Cardas (Golden Reference), MIT, Shunyata Zitron Anaconda and Transparent Reference and to my ears the Transparents were hands down the most "warm" and musical sounding. There is a decent used market as well. You can buy current generation MM2's used at limited risk.
Good stuff, Edorr...have you compared Ref XL to the 2 higher levels, RefMM and Opus by any chance? I have the RefMM ICs and have heard Opus but not A/B's directly before. Thanks for any insight!
I also like Transparent a lot - but IMHO usually they mix poorly with other cables. Surely YMMV on these subjects!
My budget max'ed out at standard reference level (current MM2 model). Other have commented there is still a lot to be gained from moving up the foodchain.
I tend to agree...but I had an EXCELLENT experience with Sablon Audio IC in between my CJ and Gryphon amp for the longest time...TA everywhere else. Eventually, I came across a 2nd hand TA RefMM (MM2) that happened to be calibrated for my system and it was a very nice upgrade...but that SA cable is pretty special.
Man, do I have the perfect speaker cables for you. They sound so warm you will take your shirt off in the winter time and they come in well below your budget. I have a 10' pair of MIT Shotgun S1.3 bi-wire cables that retailed for over $4k when new (and I bought them new). You can easily switch between using spade lugs or banana plugs and I have all of the connectors. Yours for only $1,275.
In case anyone didn't realize it, I was just kidding. I have no idea how my speaker cables would sound with the combo the OP listed.
Contact the "Cable Company" aka "fatwyre". They have an extensive supply of wire from many manufacturers that you can audition in your system including all the uber stuff.
GG
GG
You don't need to spend $5k.
Any cable with a high inductance will give you the impression of a warm sound. High inductance, meaning anything higher than 0.1uH/ft. You can also increase your inductance (and capacitance) by running longer cables.
Another cable that is excellent and liked by the "warm" guys
http://www.parts-express.com/wired-home-skrl-14-50-14-awg-ofc-speaker-wire-50-ft--100-020
This is stated to be "very low inductance and capacitance" however no specs are given. Regardless, it was tested along with other fine cables on very expensive systems and although not the top cable (a lot of very expensive cables were at the top), it was so dam close that it replaced all the top cables.
Well yes, if your definition of 'warmth' is a rolled off treble. And subjectively this might well be perceived as a 'warm' sound at the expense of treble extension and resolution. I'm unsure as to whether its the rolled off treble specifically providing 'warmth', or that it could (also) be the perception of a 'denser' midrange.
Alternatively, there are speaker cables that excel and providing a subjectively dense midrange, but not at the expense of extension and resolution. Examples would be -
Jorma Primes as mentioned above by Bodhi (its the Bybees)
Stealth Dream
my own GS mk3 cables
But just as important as your choice of speaker cables is your implementation of jumpers and speaker cable connections if you don't bi-wire. [I generally dislike bi-wiring] I inevitably prefer the speaker jumper and binding post connection, which I perceive as 'warmer', as recommended by AudioQuest -
The jumpers hooked us as normal, +treble to +bass & -treble to -bass. Then be sure to put the speaker cable's red connector to treble + and the cable's black -/ground connector to bass.
There are only 4 ways to hook up speaker cables to bi-wireable binding posts on speaker with jumpers. One will give you the most cohesive presentation, denser midrange, and overall mo 'betta
YMMV
FWIW,
Paul
Personally, I think it is absurd to try and correct equipment weakness with cables. Cables should be neutral, not some type of tuning device. Of course, very few cables are capable of being neutral, which is why people try to correct gear problems with cables.
I think some people get the wrong idea of what is meant by Joe when asking for "warm" sounding. Considering he targets at the sound of Cardas Clear I think he is looking for a cable with detail, but avoiding the clinical and incisive attack of cables such as the old and great sounding Nordost Valhalla. But surely not a mellow or syrupy cable that just softens treble.
Paul,
Disclaimer: I like your power cords very much, so much so, it is an upgrade offer on the VERITAS Monoblocks and I became a reseller. We also used them at Axpona 2014 to great success.
Rolled off treble, pumped up mids, slowed transient response, which ever it is called is really changing the frequency response. Another "warmer" sound is to even order harmonic distortion.
Now your power cord that I like does not change the tonal balance but it certainly improves the clarity, and markedly so.
I won't pretend or intend to define "warm".
I certainly have found that when something is described to me as "warm" or "more liquid" it typically translates to slower transient speed or even order harmonic distortion. I have lots of stories here. This is by no means absolute as I have not heard or compared every audio component in the world. Add to that a subjective preference to have the "warmer" or more liquid sound.
Unless we are in the recording engineers head and have heard the concert live (with no edits), it is really difficult to say what is true to live music. And that is our audiophile quest! Well that and to really just enjoy our systems with a good cigar (or cigarette in your case paul) and a glass of scotch. (with your power cords of course!)
Merrill,
If you make the statement that higher inductance speaker cables sound warm, my assumption is that that specific 'warmth' is due to the fact that the inductance is forming a distributed lowpass filter, nothing more, nothing less. If the 'Newtonian' in me made an incorrect assumption, my apologies....
FWIW,
Paul
If you make the statement that higher inductance speaker cables sound warm, my assumption is that that specific 'warmth' is due to the fact that the inductance is forming a distributed lowpass filter, nothing more, nothing less. If the 'Newtonian' in me made an incorrect assumption, my apologies....
FWIW,
Paul
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