Benchmark ABH2 amp and full range electrostatics, e.g. CLX or Soundlab

Maplegrovemusic,

Thanks for bringing the Schroeders review to my attention.  I shall look it up.  

Ahh, cables. Let me tell you a story about that...

Once upon a time ... I decided to jump into high end cables with a mix of Nordost Tyr 2 and Odin 1 believing their marketing of "delivering the depth, precision and nuance previously only found in live performances". While I had the Nordost cabling in my system every time I sat down to listen I fell asleep. It was like a drug, sit down, 5 minutes of music, zzzzz. It drove me absolutely insane and I changed everything numerous times, amps, preamps, dacs, turntables, racks, speakers but I never considered the cables because Nordost has such a reputation for being "transparent", "dynamic" and "revealing" and they were so stupidly expensive. Just in speakers alone I tried Martin Logan Electromotion ESL, Martin Logan Aerius ESL, B&W 804D3, Proac D30R, Magico S1, Devore O96, Devore Gibbon 3XL, Wilson Benesch Vertex, Martin Logan Impression ESL and others I'm forgetting. Tubes, solid state always the same result, zzzz. Finally I was sitting in utter frustration and wondering if I should just give up when it hit me that there was one thing I had never changed.

Went digging through my cable box and pulled out a cheap pair of Monster speaker cables and replaced just the Nordost speaker cables. The difference was unbelievable, the sound lost the "organic" feel that Nordost cabling imparts but it made me realize that "organic" sound was 100% a coloration and the price you pay for that is resolution and most significantly dynamics. To me the music lies in the dynamics, if you scrub away dynamics you scrub away the rhythm and the music dies. I realized in that moment that Nordost cabling makes the "sound" pretty but utterly ruins the music.

After this I went on a rampage and replaced every Nordost cable in my system. First I went anti-highend and used some lower end audiophile cables but as I learned the coloration they were imparting too, I went completely anti-audiophile and replaced all speaker cables and interconnects with Mogami pro audio wire and power cables with dirt cheap hospital grade cables that cost like $9 each. My system never sounded better, it was finally able to whisper and then roar and I stopped falling a sleep, and for a while I was 100% anti-audiophile cabling. This was the cabling I was using when I first received my CLX and I was actually perfectly happy with it.

Then on a fluke my local dealer got in a new line of cables from a company called Swisscables. Since I was still anti highend cables I reluctantly tried them and to my utter surprise they absolutely blew me away. More resolution, huge dynamic range and just a general feeling of being "right". None of the fuzzy fake organic quality of Nordost cabling just a feeling that the cable is simply allowing the signal through unmolested and allowing the source and recording to be revealed in their full glory. Needless to say I now use a full loom of Swisscables, Reference Plus for speaker and interconnects and Diamond for power. The only cable of theirs I've tried that I didn't care for was their digital coax which presented a bit of glare that I found problematic.

Sorry for the long winded response, guess I had some pent up desire to share this experience as I spent years being utterly dissatisfied with my system all because of a bad cable choice. 

Holy cow. Imagine if you tried some Synergistic CTS or Atmosphere. After all you been through you'd think you'd died and gone to heaven.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cables.

Kstaken,

I have had the Nordost Heimdall 2 interconnects and speaker cables which I have subsequently sold.  These cables have a definite sound of their own.  I used the Audioquest Niagara solid silver interconnects which I thought were more neutral.  My old Kimber KCAG's remain surprisingly good compared to current offerings.  I was fortunately to have a pair of Maker Audio Signature interconnects which are not usually sold in the U.S.; these are excellent but pricey interconnects.  I have not heard the Swisscables and do not see a retailer in the U.S. on their website.  

Speaker cables are another matter altogether.  The consensus seems to be that speaker cables for full range ESL's such as the CLX's and Soundlabs should have both low capacitance and very low inductance as these speakers behave electrically like a giant capacitor.  Coaxial speaker cables such as the Analysis Plus Big Silver Ovals have been recommended and there is a dual coaxial Mogami cable as well.  I have make some homemade speaker cables using relavitively costly Belden silver coated copper coaxial RF transmitter cables.  The main problem is that they are stiff but sonically I prefer them to the  Heimdall 2's.   I have not tried Wireworld speaker cables or the more expensive MIT cables which some have recommended.