Nordost Tyr 2 Spkr Cables - Alternate for less $$

QUOTE: " ....something close to the performance of the Nordost Tyr 2 for quite a bit less...."

Your quote extract above is asking for a wishful but impossible task that is at odds with the time-honored axiom in this hobby: you get what you pay for....full stop.

I currently have the FREYS (both the ICs and matched speaker cables) after having both HEIMDALLs and also lesser grades in my prior systems. There is a a direct correlation between improved performance and the product model with its matched price.

At the TAVES audio expo in Toronto in late 2014, here's the CANADAHIFI mag review summary supporting the same.

...." Nordost

I had a chance to sit in on a couple demonstrations in the Nordost room, giving my feet a well deserved break. I’m very familiar with the benefits of high quality cables and use a full Nordost Heimdall 2 loom with my reference two-channel setup.

That being said, I always find the Nordost demonstrations to be an “ear-opening” experience.

Michael Taylor from Nordost demonstrated the significant sonic benefits of replacing an OEM cable with a Nordost model – in particular
1) a swap of a single USB cable, from OEM to Nordost Blue Heaven ($250/2m), to Heimdall 2 ($500/2m) and;
2) a swap of a single RCA interconnect, from OEM, to Blue Heaven, to Heimdall 2, to Tyr 2 and finally
Valhalla 2.

Along with convincing the audience in the room that cables DO matter, I’ve now got the bug to upgrade..."


My takeaway on Nordost :

(a) I now appreciate why many reviewers have the Valhallas as their reference cables.
(b) Nordost is not the silver bullet or Holy Grail for everyone for sure and and there are other fine cables out there..... BUT .... if you are indeed looking for that unique and upscale NORDOST sonic signature and its particular matched performance, I highly doubt that you will find a NORDOST TYR clone elsewhere and especially not in any cheap price strata.

I have no idea how compare different cables to the ones you already have aside from listening to them all in the same system. For your ProAc/V4 combo, some brands I like are Audioquest, Tara, JPS and Kimber Select. Cable Company should have demo's for all of them.

Zd542's response, although not necessarily what we want to hear is the correct one.

I've been wrestling with the cable question for some time seeking the best &/or a giant (read costly) killer, and given the almost infinite number of our individual system variables, there is no one or right answer.

As much as I dispise cable auditioning, that's the only way to find something that beats something else. Price may enter into it, but the relationship may be anything other than what is logical! Obviously all the cable manufacturers & sellers would like us to believe otherwise.

I too agree with ZD. And I'll add the following thoughts:

I would consider the possibility that what may be happening is not so much that you are preferring the Nordost cables in themselves, but rather that you, or more specifically your amplifier, aren't reacting well to the Goertz cables. Although the two cables obviously have some physical similarity in that they are flat, their electrical parameters, especially their capacitances, are DRASTICALLY different. In fact, about as different as it's possible to get. The Goertz cables have ultra-high capacitance, while the Nordost cables have exceptionally low capacitance. Many amplifiers do not react well to the capacitive load presented by the Goertz cables, at least if the cables are not used with Zobel networks. And if you have been using Zobels, as is often done with Goertz cables, perhaps the sonic effects of the Zobels in themselves, as well as the cables, are contributing significantly to your preference for the Nordosts.

So I would not be surprised if MANY cables that are far less expensive than the Nordosts, but that are more conventional in their electrical characteristics than the Goertz (and are therefore not as extremely dissimilar to the Nordosts in their electrical characteristics), would eliminate most or all of the issues that the comparison between the two cables has revealed.

If you haven't been using Zobels with your Goertz cables, that would be the first thing I would try. And if you have done that, I would pursue the suggestions ZD has provided.

Regards,
-- Al

One further thought: From the perspective of the amplifier, by using the Goertz cables in a biwire configuration you are doubling their already extremely high capacitance.

I don't know if the biwire configuration of the MI-2 provides one pair of terminations for each channel at the amp end or two pairs, but if it is physically practical to do so I would certainly try disconnecting one of the two runs at BOTH ends and putting jumpers on the speakers. That would cut the capacitance in half, although it would still be much higher than the capacitance of most other cables.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al