Another vote for Cardas. Got the Clear Rev.1 for RCA and it blew me away. Tried some Clear reflection speaker . Not as good as Clear rev1 . Another one is Luna. Not very well known yet. But one of the best ratio price quality .
Need Opinions for Different Cable Manufacturers/Cable Designs
I have a McIntosh 200wpc receiver [MAC7200] and Focal Sopra 3 speakers - and am using low-grade cables. I'm looking to vastly improve my system with a complete cable upgrade. I like a warm sound with lots of clarity and detail and naturalness. I have been reviewing tons of literature and am intrigued by Cu/Ag and Cu/Ag/Au combinations. I will probably buy used, and look at offerings in the midrange to lower high-end range of products. Cannot afford the best each manufacturer has to offer. Looking to spend up to $2,000 for 3m speaker cables and up to $700 each for RCA and XLR cables. Again, I hope to buy used.
I am interested in opinions on the following manufacturers:
AUDIENCE
DH LABS
PURIST AUDIO DESIGN
SILNOTE
SNAKE RIVER
Please feel free to offer your opinions on these and any other recommendations you may have. I really appreciate your time and advice!! Thanks!
- ...
- 73 posts total
I am not going to recommend a make, though I have Focal Utopia’s and what I use does sound excellent with them, but might push your budget because you don’t tend to find them used, for good reason. So whether you home trial or find a dealer who has Sopra 2/3’s for an initial trial I would make sure you are getting them to either step up through a full system cable up grade, in either case start at base with your cables or same level if at dealer and then: 1 Increment speaker cable 2 Increment XLRs Repeat loop until no further improvements, or you don’t trust yourself with the price increase on the next one.... but you will still have to know. Of course according to naysayers it will never change and according to the (sometimes correct) diminishing returns fans it will reach an asymptote. However, one situation that can confound the asymptote is when there is a change in for example the dielectric in an upper level cable. Then that can (and IMO and all who have experienced it in my system does) produce a bigger change than the still appreciable increment of those lower down in the range. |
I am also going to mention taking a look at some of the brands that @kennyc mentioned - Iconoclast and Zenwave. I do also use AcousticZen Hologram speaker cables as well and am impressed with their musical and open presentation. While design is critical with cables, I have come to believe that using UPOCC copper and silver can really improve sound quality. I had some Iconclast TPC interconnects and recently compared them to their UPOCC cable (same exact design, just different copper) and the UPOCC was definitively better. I also have recently had the opportunity to listen to a new Zenwave all UPOCC silver interconnect and it is a keeper. Dave at Zenwave is great to talk with and can guide you through his whole line at different price points. He is very focused on making great cables at different levels using the best quality cable and connectors he can. |
- 73 posts total