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Audiogon speaker wire gurus, please help me

I need help form the audiogon experts. I want to upgrade my audioquest gibraltar speaker wire. Current components are dali ms4 speakers, cary 500mb monoblocks, first sound preamp, richard gray power, and acoustic zen reference + transparent audio interconnects. The room is excellent sonically (designed by Rives) and does not add any sonic signature. I'm looking for some warmth, a large 3-dimentional sound stage, and air between instruments. My budget is 2-3K for 10 ft of speaker wire (bi-wire). Can anyone help me out with suggestions? I will confess to having no knowledge of speaker wires or cables, and unfortunately have just been taking suggestions until now from people who have an interest in selling me something. Am looking for unbiased opinions. Thanks guys!
tcheathertree
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
3,848 posts
 
If I were you,I will try Kimber select line.
geared4me's avatar
geared4me
219 posts
 
Tcheathertree,
I would have to agree with others on this thread that it sounds more like a component mismatch than a cable issue.
Case in point: I bought a highly rated integrated amp that was beautiful, powerful, and highly transparent sounding.
I wanted to love it but the sound was just too dry and a little bright for my taste. I tried to solve this problem with cables but after throwing a lot of money into cables I realized it just wasn't working.
I hated to see it go but I needed what was right to my ears. Good luck with this tough decision.
revdeg
32 posts
 
Tcheathertree,

Having tried different speaker cables within my system, I will have to say that there never was a difference with the soundstage and air around the insturments. And since those are two things that I demand and matched my amps to my pre for, I too suggest you demo some other preamps.

Jim
reubent
6,941 posts
 
What is your source component? When I want to add warmth, air and a 3-D soundstage, the source would typically be one of the first places I look. If the air, warmth and soundstage aren't adequately produced by the source, no amount of money spent on amplification, speakers or wires is every going to help you overcome the deficiency.

TIC
nrchy's avatar
nrchy
2,124 posts
 
The problem with any recommendation is generally people are going to recommend what they use... but they have no idea what you gear sounds like, or even more important, what you like.

If Rives did your room, I guess you want to buy the best cable you can afford. Everything from mapleshade is junk, so you can cross them off the list. There are lots of cheap cables that people will tout as giant-killers, but they end up only killing your desire to ever use your system again.

My suggestion (which is just as useless as all the others, since I have never heard your system) would be to try Purist Venustus. I have heard the Cary gear and found it to be soft and pudgy around the midrange, and generally lacking in detail. I think the Purist will prevent anymore loss in these areas. They tend to work well where the Cary does not, so it might be a good balance.

There are people from whom you can borrow/audition cables, which is the easiest way to know how it will sound in your room.

O

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