Had a four-cable shoot-out here last weekend and then just finished cooking my bi-wire, single run Duelund speaker cables this week and put them in yesterday.
The five cables currently under consideration are all external bi-wire - in other words all the cables have two separate runs with a single wire going to each the MF/HF and LF posts. The aggregate wire size to each speaker is double the gauge listed below for each individual wire within the cable, except the star-quad configured #4 that has two wires (i.e, 9 awg) to each post. Each of the cables are about one-meter long.
1. Furutech FP-Alpha, 13 awg, stranded OCC in foamed PE
2. Harmonic Technology Pro 9+, 9 awg, multiple, individually insulated solid core OCC wires in foamed PE
3. WE vintage WE 10 awg, soft annealed, tinned, stranded copper in thin plastic and cotton
4. Duelund star quad 2x12 awg, tinned copper in oiled cotton
5. Duelund single runs 12 awg tinned copper in oiled cotton
All of the above are terminated with Furutech gold-plated, solid copper spades that are crimped, except #5, which has the Furutech spades both crimped and soldered.
Results:
Last weekend, when I compared Nos. 1-4, I found each of them to allow the basic sound of my system to come through and they all sounded pretty good, but slightly different. I have previously used both #1 and #2 in my various systems for extended periods. However, in comparison, I fairly quickly, and surprisingly, ruled out #2 as being less lively and less fun-sounding than the others. #1 may have been technically the most accurate throughout the entire frequency range and was probably/arguably the most extended and energized (while still sounding realistic and smooth) in the high frequencies, but it did not quite display the midrange body of the tinned copper wire cables.
The tinned and stranded copper conductors of cables #3 and #4 displayed the most body, fullness, and rich tone compared to the others. Those two
(#3 and #4)
were simply more enjoyable to listen to and between them, it seemed the #4 star quad wire displayed both more energy in the high frequencies and also "plumper" low frequencies but with slightly less midrange richness/body compared to #3. There was something very satisfying and simply right-sounding about the #3 vintage WE wire particularly in the midrange. I have listened to a lot of the WE wire and I suspect the tonal quality has less to do with the cotton over plastic dielectric and more to do with the soft annealing process, but I am just speculating. Based on my listening, I left the vintage WE wire in place for the week.
I just completed constructing my bi-wire, single run, Duelund 2x12 awg cable (i.e., #5) and burning it in on my Audiodharma Cable Cooker for several days this week. I installed it and it does indeed sound very nice. It seems to remove a touch of the plumpness from the bass that I hear with the doubled-up star-quad version but it still displays a touch of upper frequency energy that very slightly detracts from the overall sound, but only in comparison to the vintage WE wire. We are really down to a trade-off between the very natural sounding midrange of the vintage WE wire and the slightly more extended and energized upper frequencies of the Duelund wire, at least that is how I hear it. Bass between those two is a toss-up.
Although I have clearly narrowed things down to the stranded, tinned, copper wire,
I plan to throw one more set of cables in the mix that I have listed as #6 below and then listen some more and decide what sounds best to me.
I will primarily be switching between cables Nos. 3-6 and will report back after listening more.
Another consideration is that what sounds best on my system may not sound best in another system, in other words YMMV. My Class A amplifiers and powered subs bring their own unique sonic signatures that will be different from Class AB or tube powered gear, and speakers with out subs will IME not have the same level of bass impact.
Adding this cable;
6.
WE vintage soft annealed, tinned, stranded copper in thin plastic and cotton configured in two star-quad runs with two 16 awg wires (13 awg aggregate) going to each MF/HF post and two 14 awg wires
(11 awg aggregate)
going to each LF post. These are terminated with Cardas GRS rhodium over solid copper spades - soldiered.
