Stay away from Monster IC's. I've had bad experiences with them. What does your dealer use? Maybe try a few out there if you can.
A warm sounding cable might help tame the metal tweeters on your speakers. I'd be open for some suggestions too. |
Someone in a different thread just recommended AudioQuest cables for B&W. I've never heard these, myself. I'd be interested in someone else's response here. |
For sure try to find a warmer sounding cable to tame down
the tweeters on those speakers. MIT cables usually work
well with those speakers.
John |
Synergistic Research Alpha Active are good if you are on a budget. The Signature 10 active are where I would go for the next step up. |
When I was a B&W owner, I tried hard, very hard to get B&W to answer this question for me. No real luck. I asked the question in many ways including what equip. B&W used @ shows.
Thru some painful digging of info, I found that B&W had/has a soft corner for Kimber. I *think* that there is collaboration between Kimber & B&W in England (maybe even Europe).
I personally used TARA Labs Master Gen II with great success. I still own these cables & use them with my present speakers. FWIW. IMHO. |
kimber speaker cables works very well with B&w. I've tried audioquest slate, acoustic zen hologram ii, synergistic 10x, bifocal xl is the best. detailed, smooth, lots of texture. |
I second the Tara Labs recommendation. I too own B&W speakers and Rotel equipment. I've used Tara Labs, Monster Cable, and Acoustic Zen. The Tara's gave me a bigger soundstage, and much better bass response and fullness than anything else I've tried. They also tamed any kind of harshness to be said about the metal B&W tweeter, without rolling off the top end or ruining the the 'air' or openness in the treble region. |
Using cables, or any component as tone control is futile endeavor, the 'connoissseurs of coloration' notwithstanding.
If you love music, and want to hear, as accurately as possilbe, what the artists created on their insruments in a given environment through an electronic playback system in the privacy and comfort of your own home, find transparewnt speakers, apporpriate to the space they will operate in, power them with as low distortion amp as you can find (appropraiately sized to the speakers), and work on the setup and room acoustics.
You will then hear an annoying variety of sonic characteristics among the various source material in your collection. Even from track to track. The degree of distortion of many will now be intolerable.
I believe the only rational approach from here is to be selective of the recored source material you play. After all, now you can hear the difference.
Rather than use your system in a futile attempt to mix out qualities you do not like recordings, what, generally? For instance, you get it right for one recording, how are you going to adjust for the next? Absurd. And all the while you are tuning your system to mask the sonic superiority of those few recordings that are so life-like that you do not wonder why you are an audiophile. |
I was a long time owner of B&W 802 Matrix III's. Before that I had 803's as well. B&W did and always will like Audioquest cables better than anything out there. I listened to many many other brands of cables and I can tell you that nothing beats the sound of Audioquest with B&W. If you go to stores carrying B&W, you will probably see Audioquest often in room setups. Choose wisely however. Audition these cables through Cable Co. or get a loan from a dealer. When I owned my 802's which were the #2 B&W at the time, I found that Audioquest's middle priced cable sounded better with my set-up than their most expensive cables. |
If you ask a dozen different people you will get a dozen different, and equally ethusiastic, recomendations. That tells us something. Are we listening.
I have about as 'hi-end' a system as is possible, and use Radio Shack Megawire for speakers, and Cobalt Cable interconnects (after several Radio Shack pairs were found to have loose connections ---bad weld, or something).
I traded in $3,000 worth of wire fearing it would be an audio train wreck, but found the system just sounded more real.
The different cables can sound different, but then any 'sound' that any component contributes to the recorded signal from the source material is *distortion*.
The best you can say about any component is, 'I cannot hear it', it is therefore 'transparent'. The 'connoisseurs of coloration' who use their system to further mix the music beyond the damage the producers have already done with their room size 1/4 million dollar mixing console toy, notwithstanding.
If you want to see those self proclaimed 'connoisseurs' run and hide, just say, 'blind test'. They know what it means, and fear it like Dracula fears light.
Anyone can use reference quality earphones (Shure ER2 $100) to hear the turth of a recording, then compare it to the system/setup to see what the effects are that deter from 'true to the original' in the electronic playback of music. |
It's true that sweet & sour does not mean tasteless but no component is 100% true to the source. Like most things, balance is the key. True to the source does not always equate to realistic either.
Experiment with cables that you can get your hands on. One man's trash is the other man's treasure at the GON |
Says the nasayer, who would have you contiue the futile attempt to achieve anything worthwhile with the wire that connects two components together, rather than focus on the components, especially speakers, their setup and room conditions, and the lowest distortion (which is measurable) amp you can find.
All, of course, contingent upon the sonic quality of the source material.
If you have the funds, and nothing better to do, before you get to listening to the music. |
For what its worth...my local dealer...who carries B&W and rotel...offer Nordost,MIT,and a few others...I prefer the NOrdost line...not for everyone...but very open, fast, and detailed...good luck.. |
I started out in my comeback into "Audiophile-dom" about 3 years ago and began my new re-listening with a Rotel and B&W set-up. I tried many cables and power cords. One speaker cable I found that was very synergistic with the B&W's is an older Stealth Audio Premier. You can sometimes find a used pair on the Gon for @ $225.00-$250.00 8ft. Try a pair out and hear the wonderfully warm and "alive" sound that they reproduce for you. I have since upgraded but my aural memory still misses my old system. Have fun experimenting and I hope you find that synergistic match of cables. |
For what it's worth, Audioquest is listed on B&W's New Zealand website (along with Classe and Marantz). http://www.bwspeakers.co.nz/
I've read many owners using either Kimber Kable or Audioquest with their Rotel/B&W gear. They usually recommend using "solid copper" cables with B&W. |
