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Art Dudley Listening - Stereophile Dec '09 Nordost

Reading this month's issue of Stereophile, I came across Art's monthly column - Listening. The overall theme was building a foundation for a given system, whether it be physical, mechanical, electrical, etc.

The Nordost boys came to his house with platforms, quantum field resonators, and Nordost cables. At the moment, I do not have the resources to investigate platforms or quantum field resonators even though in the article, they do work to some degree.

My question is concerning cabling. More specifically, Nordost cabling. The folks from Nordost recommended using cables within a similar line and performance specifications. For example, not using Valhalla speaker cables with Blue Heaven interconnects. What caught my attention, and seemed counter-intuitive, was the cabling they chose. From memory, they used Tyr Speaker cable, don't recall the IC, and Vishnu power cables. Basically, the highest, and therefore most expensive, cable was the speaker cables. Cheapest was the power cords.

When assembling my system, it seemed to me that I would be better off moving up the Nordost IC line, then SC, and finally PC's. Am I missing something here? My interconnects are Quattro Fil, speaker is Red Dawn, and PC is Shiva. Should I have gotten better SC and lower line IC's?
gherrera1
rsrex
45 posts
 
Actually, if you look at what was used, it does make perfect sense. The speaker cables and ICs were both TYR - the 3rd series from the top - Odin, Valhalla, TYR. The Vishnu power cable is 4th from the top - Odin, Valhalla, Brahma, Vishnu. So there isn't that large of a spread. All Nordost was trying to explain was the advantage of consistancy across components, there was no need for an all Valhalla "loom" to explain that.
gherrera1 OP
88 posts
 
Rsrex, you are correct sir.

The "spread" of cabling in my system is rather wide, but I'm happy with the way it comes together. Quattro fil IC, Red Dawn SC, and Shiva PC.
r_f_sayles's avatar
r_f_sayles
872 posts
 
With all due respect to you Rsrex, it may make perfect sense to you, I can't
say, and I well understand Nordost's Roy Gregory and Joe Reynolds objective.

Is it an advancement in the listener's enjoyment of music (in his/her system)?
Not for Art Dudley, and maybe, just maybe not Gherrera1 either. I couldn't
say.

What I can say, in fact, is that Art and I like our completely different Hifi
systems sound, consistently loomed with completely different cables,
whether or not perfect sense has anything to do with it. I think we agree with
Nordost in theory and practice. And maybe we just like different looms from
what they have to sell.

I get the feeling that we sometimes decide there is logic without proving with
our ears that there is something, that's all. Logic and audiophiles are
sometimes strange bed fellows. There is nothing like trying gear in our
system to hear, if in fact, it works for our ears. That's the only caution I
would offer to Gherrera1.

Happy (looming) Listening!
r_f_sayles's avatar
r_f_sayles
872 posts
 
Gherrera1, a must read issue for you... Hifi+ Roy Gregory reviews an entire loom of Odin vs. a full loom of Valhalla in his system and comments on his "power first cable logic" that he has been establishing in issue 62 before leaving Hifi+ as editor to join Nordost as VP of marketing. If you can't find the issue e-mail me.

Happy (reading) Listening!
jvitez
10 posts
 
Thought I'd add my 2 pennies. I spend oodles of time and money until I found Nordost heaven. I love them. I found the biggest difference was their power cables in accordance with Roy Gregory. I have all Valhalla power cables, and with each addition the sound steadily improved, though the least difference was from the wall plug to my Furman IT-Reference 15i. I tried Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, then Valhalla power cables. Shiva were terrible, very thin and reedy compared to much less expensive Grant Fidelity PC's. Vishnu was nice, but Brahma gets you the good stuff, and the Valhalla, ahhhhh.

For IC's, I tried Baldur, Frey, and Tyr. Baldur were terrible. Glorious highs and no bass. It was a very unbalanced sound. Frey was where the good stuff starts. Tyr is better, but not a huge difference, though it's there. For my money, Frey and Brahma would be the best price/performance balance, though Frey/Vishnu would be good too. Source IC's were the most important. Speaker cables the least.

My system: Martin Logan Summits, Simaudio SuperNova CDP, Sonic Frontiers line stage preamp, Ayre V5-XE amp, Thorens TD166 Mk II, Blue Circle phono stage.

My all Nordost system sounded faster, with fabulous airy highs. I can see it being too much if you like a warmer, more rolled off sound. All Nordost with Krell/Bryston might be too much. YMMV.
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