Cable brands that work well with Cardas?


Are there any speaker cable brands that play nice with Cardas? 
I’m using Cardas Clear Reflection XLR’s and Clear Digital on my components. Top tier Cardas speaker cables are way out of my budget due to the length needed (14ft.) My current speaker cables are vintage Cardas Studio “C” which were made for the pro recording industry back in the 90’s. I have no complaints, I enjoy them immensely however I’d like to get a taste of newer cable. Budget is $800-$1K.

 

128x128jl1ny

@marco1 Have both orig. and rev 1. Unless you listen side by side you’ll never hear the difference and even if you do probably still won’t.

 

@marco1 Will follow up. iirc, that was about the time they went from soldered to the newer solderless crimped-end connectors. They spent a long time with the development on the first Clear too. Interesting how they updated it again.

@rsf507 Its good you found a cable that works well for you. I’ve been a 30+ year Cardas diehard along with a few others. Each sounds different in my system. Found Analysis Plus Crystal OCC copper interconnects to compete and/or intermix with some of the latest Cardas "Clear" line too.

Enjoy yours, Thx!

 

 

@decooney 

Interesting factoid:-)  I didn't recall interconnect rev1 was the crimped version.  I think I remember the clear speaker wires making that change about that time, but wow that's been quite a while ago.  How time flies.

@marco1 yep, and the factoid results may vary for others, yet one thing I tried a few years back was to send in two pairs of the older Cardas Golden Cross 1M RCA interconnects and had the soldered-on connectors removed, and re-terminated with the new no-solder crimped-on connector ends. It did sound a tad more transparent to me. Tried this setup with tube amps for a while before selling those two pairs.

Next, same as you, me also moving to the more recent Clear line of different cables. I’ve been comparing all-Cardas Grade-1 Ultra cables to all-Analysis Plus Crystal OCC, and intermixing them too for fun. Good results in all cases. What was unexpected and surprising is how good intermixing them sounds. Also very nice.

@decooney 

Coincidentally I used AP Solo Crystal before I got into Cardas.  Still have several pairs in my closet.  I'll give  intermixing a try too and see what happens 🤔

@marco1 cool, thanks for giving it a try.  Fwiw, my conclusion is I like the AP/Crystals more downstream in the system than upstream at the source where I place the Cardas.  As you may recall, when you pull those out [uncoil them] and put them in place they seem to take that same period to rest/play in place before they settle back in. Have fun testing if you do.