Which Audio Interconnect would you recommend?

I have the Rotel 1075 and the Rotel 1068 as well....along with B&W CM 2 (Concept 2 speakers from the late 80's). The interconnect cables I went with were the QED Silver Spirals for the 4 channels (fronts and rears) and the DNM Reson with Eichmann Bullet Plugs for the Center channel. I'm thinking of moving over to the Harmonic Technology Truthlink for the front channels though.

I have to second Seekburk's recommendation of the VH Audio Pulsars. They are just a great IC - detailed, revealing and neutral top to bottom. Chris VenHaus(http://www.vhaudio.com) offers a 60 day evaluation period. The only thing to be aware of is that they do take quite awhile to burnin, but well worth it IMHO.

You can find lots of feedback about these ICs here on Audiogon as well on audioasylum.com

Well i am burning in a set of Pulsar interconnects from VHAudio right now that are marvelous.I own the Straight Wire Rhapsody ll's and the Pulsars sound nicer to my ear.Nothing lost and gains to be had.I was immediately stricken by the naturalness of the cord immediately when i plugged it in.I also have a set of Ecosse Maestro's that i would not sell but the more i am listening to these Pulsars they may end up being my favorite of the three.It's amazing the difference in interconnects as i had thought the Straigt Wires were about the best i could obtain but i am glad i kept searching and listening.Got a meter pair of Pulsars for $150 which is very reasonable for this cable i believe.Good Luck and happy listening!!

Coachp,
No experience w/ QED but I do own the DH Labs BL1 Series II interconnect. For the $99 or less paid for it, it's a very good cable. It is silver-clad copper cable i.e. the core is copper with a silver coating. The Kimber Silver Streak is a little diff: signal wire = silver & return wire = copper. From whatever I know, Silver Audio Silver Bullet is a pure silver cable i.e. no copper in there.
My experience with DH Labs has been very good. Maybe others can chime in here re. their experiences w/ this cable.

For the money, people have also found great success in:
Signal Cable
Luminous Audio Technology

FWIW. YMMV.

To clarify, I am looking for an interconnect between my amp and processor as well as a subwoofer interconnect. I am grateful for your input clarifying the differences between copper and silver interconnects. It looks like I should definitely steer clear away from pure silver.

I've gotten some non e-mail suggestions recommending DH LABs and QED. These are not pure silver cables/interconnects but are a mixture of copper/silver. Do these combination interconnects fall into the same category as the silver steak/silver bullet?

Any more suggestions re: good copper interconnects is still greatly appreciated.

Punchy, detailed & robust copper = Rhapsody II's by Straightwire. I won't sell mine...

Thanks for pointing that out Sean! Looks like I read Coachp's original post rather quickly & missed the point about his wanting interconnects for both situations.
Sorry about the rather emphatic post, Coachp!

Coachp, if you are willing to take some advice from me still, I'd recommend that you stay away from Kimber's Silver Streak. I own the Hero & its pretty useless a cable! I've heard the Silver Streak (during my auditions to buy interconnects) & it was harsh on the ears. It has a very high "wow" factor since it yields a very detailed sound. However, upon extended listening I found that it was distortion I was listening to & mistaking it for details. The sound is brittle & un-natural. I personally felt that until I went up to the KCAG & higher in Kimber's line-up, I wasn't going to get an honest (music-wise) cable. IMHO. FWIW.

Just looking @ your components (which are all on the bright side), your decision to go to silver interconnects might be unwise. The silver will be rather transparent & will reveal every flaw in your components + create a lot of listening fatigue. I feel that you will be much better off getting pure copper cables.
One superb copper cable that comes to mind is Discovery Essence (obtainable factory direct). This one seems to be have just the right mix of warmth & details. Another that comes to mind is Van den Hul The First Ultimate. Yet another suggestion is the TARA Labs Prism 5500i.
For the subwoofer, I still like Psychicanimal's advice to you.
IMHO. FWIW.

From what i gathered from the original post, Coachp was looking for interconnects for his system AND a longer cable for his subwoofer. Rather than guess at what we are dealing with here and make "goofy" suggestions, can Coach please clarify this for all of us?

I would also suggest reading this thread about selecting an IC. There are a lot of different points of view and various levels of insight from a lot of respected Audiogon members there.

Other than that, when looking for an interconnect for your subwoofer, i would suggest the following:

1) Look for large gauge solid core copper conductors

2) The conductors should be arrayed in a mild twisted pair geometry

3) The jacket of the cable should be very soft and flexible. This doesn't mean that the entire cable will be soft and flexible though, just the jacket.

The reasons i make these suggestions are because you aren't worried about skin effect for a sub. As such, a heavier gauge wire will not encounter near as much signal loss by keeping the series resistance down to a minimum over the longer run. Solid core wires are much tigher on bass response too.

As far as the twisting goes, this helps reduce the susceptability of the cable from acting as a long wire antenna i.e. it reduces the chance for RFI to enter the system. On top of that, a mild twist produces very desirable electrical impedance traits for an interconnect i.e. both low inductance and low capacitance.

The soft, rubbery jacket will help to absorb some of the vibration that the slightly more rigid solid conductors will want to try and transfer from the subwoofer cabinet back into the Pre-Pro. Due to the length of this cable and the solid conductor / twisted geometry, it would also have more of a tendency to become microphonic i.e. sensitive to air-borne vibrations, which the soft jacket will help to reduce also.

If you can't find something like this, there's nothing stopping anyone from finding the raw cabling that they would like to use and making their own. Hope this helps and answers some questions. Sean
>

Keith, it's *you*, talking about $$$. I have something for you...get a hold of a Channel Islands passive preamp ($249) and compare it to your $4K Presence. You're going to cry...

I will chime in with a bit of information. I purchased a HIGHLY regarded company's interconnects and speaker cables (all silver) and they just did not sound well. I called The Cable Company and spoke with them about the situation and they mentioned that my speakers (Meadowlark almost *always* sound better with a good copper or hybrid cable). I mentioned how odd that seemed, and they replied that certain companies with dynamic drivers that are a bit "slow" (I think that was the term used) almost *always* sound better with a copper or hybrid cable.

Why I am writing here is that they mentioned the B&W line as well as my Meadowlarks that typically perform much better without silver...

I have no personal experience, but thought I would pass it along, as there isn't much more frustrating to me personally than spending tons of money, hoping the sonics will improve, and having poor sound... to find out after the fact is was not a "recommended" selection to try in the first place. I don't know if their advice is correct in your situation or not, but they were spot on with mine.

Best of luck.

With silver, your system better be tight and dialed in. Your vibration control, acoustics, power filtration must be right on. If solid state components are used, they must be non grainy, non fatiguing. I use silver ICs (Ridge Street Audio MSE) and silver plated copper speaker wire (Mil spec)in my 100% solid state system but everything is tuned & dialed in. I blew my main class A amp (Forté 4a) and am using my sub amps to drive my mini-monitors. Them Kenwood monoblocks are sounding fatiguing. The system is revealling the amp's weaknesses. It boils down to that...

***

To Psychicanimal and Sean, please say more about staying away from silver. And Sean, do you have any specific recommendations for my particular system? Thanks!

Coachp,

I think that you are barking up the wrong tree!
You need an interconnect for a subwoofer? The sub will be responding to deep bass from 20Hz-120Hz at the max. Probably you have it x-over lower than 120Hz. What, in the world, are you doing deciding among: Kimber Kable Silver Steak; Silver Audio Silver Bullet 4.0; Pure Silver Sound Quartet; and Home Grown Audio Silver Lace??
You are using less than 1% of the audio spectrum! The cables you are considering are full-range cables whose properties you will not even begin to use!
Both Psychicanimal & Sean give good advice. Get Canare, Acoustic Research or Monster Cable. These cables will get the signal to your sub w/ minimal loss.
Pay a lot of attention to providing clean AC power to your sub, placement of your sub for best integration & isolation of the sub from the floor.
IMHO. YMMV. FWIW.

I don't know about the other two, but i wouldn't recommend the Kimber or Homegrown Audio for your specific system. In fact, i would probably avoid most silver cables all-together for your system. That's just me though. Sean
>

I'd go for Canare's and spend the rest on good filtration and cryo'ed/gold plated outlets.

If you still insist on silver cabling I'd seriously consider the entry level Ridge Street Audio cables. They use natural insulation instead of plastics...

Give the ZCable Ref a try. A great sounding cable with great body and clarity. Excellent extension.
Mark Hampton is cool designer and classy guy.

I would suggest you try the TG Audio High Purity Silver Interconnect. A pair retails for $800 meter pair.

If your equipment is in a 'low electronic noise' location, the unshielded Silver Streaks are a good cable. Kimber Hero is also an excellent IC. I was disappointed with Homegrowns Silver Lace, and actually liked the Super Silver better.

I am using Silver Audio Hyacinth as I feel they provide the best value. I also liked the Nordost Red Dawn. Other than the Hero and Silver Streak, these IC's are silver or silver clad (Red Dawn) and provide a great deal of detail. If your system tends towards the 'bright' side, the Hero may be an excellent choice. Just my experience. My equipment includes Audio Research LS-16, BAT VK-D5, SIM Moon W-3 and Magnepan 3.5 R's.

Hmmm, Well I used to use the KCAG and liked it until a friend brought his Au24 over. I liked it better on my system. Anyway, I would suggest you try the KCAG and Audience Au24.

Good Luck