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Good, Neutral, Reasonably Priced Cables?

After wading through mountains of claims, technical jargon etc. I'm hoping to hear from some folks who have had experience with good, neutral, reasonably priced cables. I have to recable my entire system after switching from Naim and want to get it right without going nuts! Here is what I'm looking for and the gear that I have:

Looking for something reasonably priced-i.e. used IC's around $100-150. Used speaker cable around $300-400 for 10ft pair.

Not looking for tone controls. I don't want to try to balance colorations in my system. I'd like cables that add/substract as little from the signal as possible.

Looking for something easily obtainable on the used market i.e. that I can find the whole set up I need without waiting for months and months. I guess this would limit you to some of the more popular brands. Without trying to lead you, here are some I've been considering:

Kimber Hero/Silver Streak
Analysis Plus Copper Oval/Oval 9
Cardas Twinlink/Neutral Reference (Pricey)
Wireworld Polaris/Equinox

Here is my gear:

VPI Scout/JMW9/ATML170
Audio Research SP16
Audio Research 100.2
Rotel RCD 971
Harbeth Compact 7

I would really appreciate your help on this. Thanks, as always.
128x128dodgealum
driver's avatar
driver
750 posts
 
For IC'sChris VH Pulsar $150.00 new.

For spkr. cable, Luminous Audio Renaissance There's a ten foot set on A-gon for $145.00
ozfly
887 posts
 
Psychicanimal, I agree that neutral is neutral from an observational or judging perspective. However, for cables or individual components, I'd propose that "neutral in a system is neutral in a system".

Cables have differing inductance, resistance and capacitance characteristics so, from a listener point of view, they may not behave exactly the same in every system. Cables can impact different systems in different ways.
greh
134 posts
 
I second the VH Audio Pulsar ic's.
I would also recommend the VH Audio Flavor 4 pc.
Very good products at a good price.
theo's avatar
theo
2,681 posts
 
Audio Purist, contact Used Cable 1 800 fat-wyre and ask them for a demo.
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Dodgealum,

From my personal experience I'd recommend that you stay away from the Kimber Hero. The sound from this cable is bloated in the bass & rolled off in the highs. The mids are average (the best represented in this cable). There were many times when I felt that the upper bass/lower midrange was thick & a bit congested. I still own the Hero but it is now in my HT system where, I feel, that it does much less damage! I have heard the Silver Streak too for a long period of time & I find that it is too harsh at the high freq extremes. Maybe it's the fact that they use silver for the signal cable & copper for the return? There is something about this cable that is not sonically right. Personally, I feel that Kimber's good cables start from the KCAG & higher. The KCAG is not cheap tho!
No experience with the other 2 cables: AP & WW.
I have heard the Cardas Neutral or Golden Cross (I can't remember I'm afraid) with Piega speakers. Can't say that I like what I heard.

New or used cables I'd recommend are:
TARA Labs Decade or Master Gen II
TARA Labs Prism 5500i
DH Labs Air Matrix
VdH The First Ultimate
Discovery Plus
Straightwire - Rhapsody II from their category 3
or VirtuosoR from their category 4

Some of these are harder to find used than others. Additionally, some of them might blow your budget. However, they are all are very good performance cables (my opinion, of course!) & you could be a long-term owner of them. FWIW. YMMV.
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