Integrated amp recommendations for harbeth 30.2 XD

uncle paul helps with some important definitions and explanation of 'current vs watts'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfNoGVahHKg

I presume the H390 is considered a high-current unit, but do we have a measurement of how many amps it puts out?

“ …… I just bought the comparatively modest strata CHORD RUMOUR speaker cables to purposely test drive Mr. Shaw’s theories / assumption in the coming weeks in a direct A-B shootout against my incumbent FREYs. (There is a BIG difference in price point deltas…) …”

“ ….. Please share your impressions on the Nordost Frey vs Chord Rumour speaker cable on this thread. Personally I don’t think the Rumour will sound better than the Frey. I used to have Chord Epic on the Harbeth SHL5+ . The Epic is a higher range cable than the Rumour and it does sound quite respectable with the Harbeth. I now use Chord Signature XL and it made the Epic sound colored and slightly congested. The higher range Signature XL’s clarity is quite a step up from the Epic. For this reason I don’t think the Rumour will surpass the performance of the Nordost Frey in your system. In short, cables do matter with the Harbeth or any other speaker in my experience. …”

HANDS-ON UPDATE:

Yup….cables matter …full stop,…no big surprise here . The litmus test is in.
My take: I don’t get Alan Shaw’s stated agnosticism that cables don’t matter.

(1) Comparatively, the CHORD RUMOURs are a big step down from my NORDOST FREYs comparatively in an A-B direct bake-off. The CHORDs sounded congested, thickly veiled, and solely lacking the same resolution and finesse that the HARBETHs are capable of performance-wise on all levels.

(2) I put the FREY speaker cables back in and I borrowed CARDAS CLEAR XLR ICs for an in-house audition and direct A-B bake-off against my NORDOST FREY XLR’s.
Wow …. An expensive $$ upgrade pathway for me now, because these CARDAS CLEARs are now a keeper for me.

In brief, they simply performed “better” at about a 10% - 20% add resolution. / added finesse / added open airiness audio improvement level, with further notable eliminations of any occasional harsh “edge”, depending on the quality of the recordings.

The FREYs are very good contenders and no pretenders by any measure , but the CARDAS CLEARs are the clear winner (no pun intended). Simply put, they open up the HARBETH’s to a higher audio performance and resulting music appreciation level across the whole spectrum. ‘Nuff said.

No way the CARDAS CLEAR ICs are coming out. They excel with my HARBETH 30.2 XD’s. Full stop.

The complimentary assault on my wallet is that CARDAS CLEAR matched speaker cables are now next as leading candidates for a further upgrade path on the Yellow Brick Road to audio OZ.

FWIW

@akg_ca 

Which Cardas Clear cable are you using? There are several variations.

Thanks.

The 2nd in line model CARDAS CLEAR interconnect in the “Clear” line …the one immediately below the very top model CARDAS CLEAR BEYOND .

http://www.cardas.com/clear_ic.php