Nordost Red Dawn revII vs SPM

I agree that the Red Dawn is more system specific. The Blue Heaven is an excellent all around cable. Does not match the Red Dawn if the RD is in a system it is matched well for. By the way, I no longer have my Red Dawns, I have Siltech.

On the subject of red dawns, does anyone know what Harry Pearson's objection to them was? In his TAS review of the Valhallas, he praised the entire Nordost line "except for the red dawns". I notice lots of Nordost wire for sale-- from blue heaven on up to Quattro Fil, presumably as people are moving up now that the Valhalla is out-- and I was thinking of replacing my Flatline Mk. II speaker wire (Sunfire Cinema Grand voltage outputs to Legacy Focus woofers) with some used Red Dawns as I'm quite happy with the RD interconnects I'm using from my lexicon dc-2 processor to the cinema grand's front channels. I'm looking for tighter bass. Any suggestions would be appreciated since I'm relatively new to this hobby/obsession. (My front ends are a CAL cl-10 changer and a Sony S7700 dvd/cd player). Thanks in advance.

Red Dawn uses extruded silver over clean copper (and more of it) than the silver-plated Blue Heaven. Maybe the extrusion process results in more transparency in the upper octaves, which may lead to a more ruthlessly-revealing character that doesn't flatter all systems. I'm using RD throughout, and find my satisfaction varies enormously as a function of the software. With great recordings it's wonderful, but....
Before I isolated my CDP with a Neuance platform I was getting pretty fatigued by RD's vivid
portrayal of upper octave junk. I'm still seeking a less-lean IC to switch in for too-bright recordings. I've just tried Harmonic Tech Pro-Silway MkII, and am amazed how similar it sounds to RD! (FYI Note that RD revII speaker cables are approx 13AWG, wheras BH is 16AWG. I think SPM is 12AWG?). Is SPM RCA IC less lean than RD, or should I try something else?

Gregm: I have noticed my mid range is a little bit "riper & richer" sounding these days. Partly I think this is because the SPM, wonderful as it is, was maybe just a tad lean in the lower mids. Another reason could be that I swapped my Arcam Alpha 9 cdp for a Cary 303, which has more tonal color and harmonic richness than the Alpha 9. Whatever. I can say for sure that when I hooked up the QFs to the Cary and the preamp everything clicked into place - like good tubes, it just sounds right. I'm gonna enjoy this system for a while. I'm insane, but not insane enough to lust after Valhallas. :-)

Subguru - I wonder if you are getting RFI from your RDs. I've known a couple people have had this problem with Nordost. I thought the SPM was great, much better than RD, but I didn't have the degree of upper octave irritation with my RDs you describe. I think SPM is a very well balanced cable with excellent extension and wonderful soundstaging and presence - it's in another league from the Red Dawn. But the Quattro Fil betters SPM all around, with a little fuller mids, even more transparency, and smoother highs. Just more of everything. A friend who liked Red Dawn & SPM, but had RFI hash issues, is using Coincident IC cables to good effect. BTW, I used/am using all the above cable with RCA. Let us know what you end up with.