Very nicely written post, if I may say so.
While speaker cables can make a difference in the direction you are seeking, to a greater or lesser degree depending not only on their own characteristics but on various technical characteristics of the speakers and amplifier they are connecting (more on that below), IMO the change you are seeking involves a much greater magnitude than cables are likely to provide.
My suggestion, assuming that you want to continue to use the Odyssey speakers, would be that you consider changing to an amplifier having a tube-based output stage. For two reasons:
1)As with most electrostatics, the impedance of your speakers descends as frequency increases, being spec'd at 4 ohms nominally but only 1 ohm at 20 kHz. As a consequence of the negligibly small output impedance that amplifiers having solid state output stages almost always have, the amount of power they deliver will increase approximately in proportion to a decrease in load impedance (until the amount of power that is called for exceeds their capability). That effect will occur to a significantly smaller degree in the case of amplifiers having tube-based output stages, because their output impedance will not be negligibly small in relation to speaker impedance.
Therefore an amplifier having a tube-based output stage will tend to deliver less high frequency energy to your speakers, relative to the amount of energy delivered at low frequencies, than will an amplifier having a solid state output stage.
2)Solid state amplifiers tend, more often than not, to use greater amounts of feedback than tube-based amplifiers, which in turn can enhance certain distortion components that are subjectively perceived as added brightness, even if the magnitude of those distortion components is very small.
Getting back to speaker cables, keep in mind that the sonic effects they may have can be expected to be proportional to length. The shorter the cable, the less difference it is likely to make. Their sonic effects can also be expected to be dependent on the impedance of the speakers (the lower the impedance, the greater the degree of difference cables can be expected to make); on how that impedance varies as a function of frequency; as well on various characteristics of the amplifier that is being used (including the amount of feedback, output impedance, bandwidth, RFI susceptibility, and other parameters).
Most of those factors have little correlation with the musical resolution and sonic quality of the system. My perception has been that audiophiles who strongly espouse the differences cables can make often tend to make the (IMO) mistaken assumption that the ability of a system to resolve musical detail and its ability to resolve differences between cables and other hardware go hand in hand, when in fact the opposite could just as easily be true in a given case, as could any partial degree of correlation in between.
Regards,
-- Al
While speaker cables can make a difference in the direction you are seeking, to a greater or lesser degree depending not only on their own characteristics but on various technical characteristics of the speakers and amplifier they are connecting (more on that below), IMO the change you are seeking involves a much greater magnitude than cables are likely to provide.
My suggestion, assuming that you want to continue to use the Odyssey speakers, would be that you consider changing to an amplifier having a tube-based output stage. For two reasons:
1)As with most electrostatics, the impedance of your speakers descends as frequency increases, being spec'd at 4 ohms nominally but only 1 ohm at 20 kHz. As a consequence of the negligibly small output impedance that amplifiers having solid state output stages almost always have, the amount of power they deliver will increase approximately in proportion to a decrease in load impedance (until the amount of power that is called for exceeds their capability). That effect will occur to a significantly smaller degree in the case of amplifiers having tube-based output stages, because their output impedance will not be negligibly small in relation to speaker impedance.
Therefore an amplifier having a tube-based output stage will tend to deliver less high frequency energy to your speakers, relative to the amount of energy delivered at low frequencies, than will an amplifier having a solid state output stage.
2)Solid state amplifiers tend, more often than not, to use greater amounts of feedback than tube-based amplifiers, which in turn can enhance certain distortion components that are subjectively perceived as added brightness, even if the magnitude of those distortion components is very small.
Getting back to speaker cables, keep in mind that the sonic effects they may have can be expected to be proportional to length. The shorter the cable, the less difference it is likely to make. Their sonic effects can also be expected to be dependent on the impedance of the speakers (the lower the impedance, the greater the degree of difference cables can be expected to make); on how that impedance varies as a function of frequency; as well on various characteristics of the amplifier that is being used (including the amount of feedback, output impedance, bandwidth, RFI susceptibility, and other parameters).
Most of those factors have little correlation with the musical resolution and sonic quality of the system. My perception has been that audiophiles who strongly espouse the differences cables can make often tend to make the (IMO) mistaken assumption that the ability of a system to resolve musical detail and its ability to resolve differences between cables and other hardware go hand in hand, when in fact the opposite could just as easily be true in a given case, as could any partial degree of correlation in between.
Regards,
-- Al