HI James - your best bet is going to be using something like Synergistic Research Foundation interconnects for the bigger soundstage and extended upper frequencies. and YES - your cables should be the same length. Why would you fool around with THAT?
Cable upgrades
Happy Holidays to all!
I’m reconfiguring my system and am interested in upgrading my interconnects and possibly my speaker cables, and I was wondering if you could make some recommendations.
I was running Audio Sensibility Impact SE XLR between my Benchmark DAC3 HGC (as a DAC/pre) and my Benchmark AHB2 power amp. The amp is running bi-wired Kimber Cable 8TC (I think that’s the model #) to a pair of ATC SCM40 tower speakers. In this setup the bass is tight and the mids are clean - overall I’m quite happy - but sometimes I feel, for my ears, I’d love a bit more openness / brightness in the higher end.
My questions are: would improved XLR interconnects help to open up the top end a bit, without being harsh, and perhaps increase the dimensionality of the soundstage? Or would I be better off starting with upgrading the speaker cables? I’ve been looking at the Cardas Parsec level of cable, and could perhaps stretch to the Clear line, pending your recommendations.
Also, one other question: pending the possible move to 2 AHB2s (in mono-block configuration), do both XLR interconnects have to be the same length? If not, would it cause any timing issues between, say, a 2' XLR and a 6'?
I’d appreciate any guidance. Many thanks in advance.
Best, JAMES
- ...
- 137 posts total
Hello @jwpstayman Thanks for the quick and detailed reply. Will check out the Synergistic cables you mentioned. Only reason for irregular XLR lengths would be that my DAC/pre stack would be on the right side, and mono blocks would be one on left, one on right, in order to be equidistant from each speaker. I know, it's not much of a reason for not just coiling up the longer XLR... Best, JAMES. |
@jimboman "...I’ve been looking at the Cardas Parsec level of cable, and could perhaps stretch to the Clear line, pending your recommendations." ------------- I almost did not reply to this because this is a trial and error thing. I’m noting the rest of your gear and the cables your using now, and having been up/down the older and newer Cardas line myself past 30+ years. I’d say save your money, and pass on the Parsec. They are okay for entry level systems, nice quality build, but I hear a notable difference moving further up the line if you choose Cardas. The next level jump up the 4-wire Cygnus open up a bit more, with more air, detail, openness coming in. Not as smooth compared to once you go further up the line noticing more texture and other fun and interesting results. You do kinda need to find the cable version that matches up well with your speakers/ears and gear, to make it worth it. Some folks here will say "cables should not have a sound’. Okay, good for them. Let your ears be the judge. I don’t think some of the lower entry-level cables in many of the brands are worth it (maybe only for added shielding) or you can just use Supra Classic soft copper lamp chord style from Madisound, or bulk roll stuff by the foot from Cardas to test, starting out. Best of luck on your search.
|
- 137 posts total