Final Report, Canare 4S11 Speaker Cable


I posted this in the original thread yesterday, but it is so buried that unless you were following it, you would never see it.  At the end I will add a few more comments.   

This is the final report on the Canare 4S11 cables.  I let the 25 foot pair break in on my secondary system for almost 19 days 24/7.  At the 445 hour mark, I reinserted them into my main system.  I first removed the $1500.00 Groneberg Quattro Reference speaker cables and coiled them up under the floor in case I decided to go back to them. After my son helped me install the Canare cables (I had to make larger holes in the floor for the banana plugs to fit) and routing them perfectly, I am happy to say my system now sounds much better.  I no longer have the softness in highs I had with the Groneberg cable and the bass is tighter and deeper.  I was always under the impression that the higher the price, the better the cable.  The fact that a $130.00 pair of speaker cables bested a $1500.00 pair should be a lesson for everyone regarding price VS performance.    Now I have the Canare in both of my systems and I am one happy audiophile. 

A few more thoughts:    The cables sounded good when brand new with a slightly ragged treble and loose bass. I was told it could take up to 500 hours to fully break in.  For myself, I did not hear any changes after the 300 hour mark.  I let the cables cook longer than planned because I needed help from my son as i had to drill larger holes in the floor to account for the locking banana plugs.  My son lives in another state so I had to wait for him. The construction of the terminated cables is as good as many of the more costly brands.  I purchased 2 pairs of these cables in 15 foot and 25 foot pairs.    My secondary system now has the 15 foot cables back and I am continuing to break them in as I removed them from the system at the 250 hour mark.   A lot of people bash McIntosh but my McIntosh MA6600 integrated amp and McIntosh tuner never failed in 19 continuous days of 24/7 service.   The heat sinks were never more than slightly warm to the touch.    
That’s all folks.    
128x128stereo5
I have Canare bi-wire speaker cables. Really nice low end and mid-range but they sound slightly rolled off and washed out on the top end.  I inserted Legacy bi-wire cables in their place.  The Legacy are not rolled nor sparkly on the top end but are rather smooth and balanced.  Neither cable costs very much.
The Canare line of cables have excellent fundamental designs and are built for professionals. The quality and consistency of their product are among the best I've seen, they are not designed to be a tone control like many high-end cables. It is very likely that your $1500 speaker cable was designed to sound that way and would have been better served in a slightly cool or tilted up system.
The Groneberg cables were purchased with a Odyssey Kismet stereo amp and Odyssey Kismet Reference speakers which I ran for about 5 years. Both the amp and speakers were internally wired with that cable and that is why I purchased the same cables for my speakers.  Once I sold the amp and speakers, the magic was gone.  The cables then seemed to restrict the flow of the music with the Mac equipment and GE speakers.  The Canare cables really opened up my system, the bass isn’t muddy and the treble is pristine. 
After reading here about the Canare 4S11 I decided to give them a try, at that price why not. I'm running them bare wire on my Pass 250.8 and banana on my Maggie 3.7i all I can say is wow these please in every way, great dynamics, separation within the sound field, depth and overall presentation. These are keepers thank you to stereo5 for bringing them to my attention.
Johnto, What speaker cables were you using before the Canare 4S11?
 I ask as I have the same amplifier as you and am running Lessloss CMark cables now. Just curious, as you say, at that price it is worth trying.