Interconnects for Nordost Valkyrja speaker cables

Omegaman, I did not mix the Acoustic Zen IC's with the Nordost Vallhalla speaker wires when I was auditioning the Nordost products. My hunch would be that the AZ IC's would give the transparency and details that the Nordost speaker wires have to offer, but also add a "liquidity/warmth" that I find lacking in Nordost products in general. So, they might give you very good synergy together in your system, but you would really have to audition them together in your system to really find out what would happen. I think it would be worth running the experiment.

Mapleleafs3, I have used my own ears...and I can tell you that Nordost Valhallas are OUTSTANDING cables. Usually, I take audio writers' opinions with a grain of salt, but when a very large number of writers and reviewers praise the Valhallas, I take notice. At my last C.E.S./ THE SHOW which I attended in 2004, Valhallas were being used in many rooms, and was possibly the cable most used at these Las Vegas venues.

So, have you actually tried using cables in the Nordost line? And if so, with what equipment? Or do you have some other agenda here?

I have no agenda with Nordost and agree with Mapleleaf. I find Nordost and Valhalla especially, to be quite grainy. They may sound good in some systems but only due to other flaws therein. The highs are very fatigueing and with any highly resolving speaker virtually unlistenable. IMO there are at least a dozen more natural and musical sounding cables.
As far as their use in the shows, we all know there are many factors involved including dinners, lunches, vacations, freebies, discounts, and reviews. Lots of recording studios use B&W speakers and they are hardly the reference or even close to being one of the best speaker on the market.

Judy426, which came first, the chicken or the egg?! I have heard that the Valhallas are merciless in revealing any flaws within a system. I would think twice about using them with SS gear, or a speaker that is know to have a "hot" top end.

I agree that marketing and promotions can result in product placement, but the degree to which the Valhallas swept the market upon introduction makes me think that they are more than just hype and are certainly not "snake oil". I am quite happy with their performance in my system, but as we both agree, this cable can be very system dependent. But I think that ANY cable can be system dependent, as well!

BTW, which cables have bested the Valhallas, in your system? SS or tube gear? Speakers?

On a pair of Vandersteen 5A and a pair of Atma Sphere MA-1, Stealth Hybrid MLT, Zu Ibis, and Audience Au24 all gave us better tonal balance than the Valhalla. It is an overpriced and overrated cable in both speaker wire and interconnect iterations.