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What to replace Nordost speaker cable?

I currently use Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables between a Krell 400xi and Focal Micro Utopia Be's. The cables are 2m long and I think sound pretty good in my system. That being said, they are a huge pain to connect and situate in my equipment rack because they are flat ribbon cables. I'm moving soon so now would be the best time to replace them.

I'm looking for recommendations, but I do like the "Nordost" sound or lack of or whatever it's called (no flames please). I've looked at Cardas, Kimber, Audioquest, etc. as they all have a good reputation and I'm not very familiar with other smaller companies. I will say this though. I tried Canare starquad cable and yes, it sounded different. Muted and rolled off highs, compared to the Red Dawn.

Another option might be to just get 3m Red Dawn for a little more slack.

Thanks,
gherrera1
gherrera1
acdvd
122 posts
 
Definitely try the Morrow cables...
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Stelth Dream the best!!
gherrera1 OP
88 posts
 
Finally ended up ordering a set of Heimdall speaker cables. Not in my system yet, but I did upgrade a pair of Black Knight RCA's and Quattro Fil XLR's with Heimdall RCA's and XLR's.

The Black Knight cables were used from a phono pre to the Krell and moving up to Heimdall, the increase in detail, bass, and focus was tremendous! The XLR's, not so much since the Quattro Fils are pretty good.

Can't wait until I swap out the speaker cables.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,492 posts
 
I've been through the cable merry go round for years. I have owned or tried many, many, high end cables.

Anyway, I have found that the most important feature of a speaker cable is the actual wire conductor. All the fancy dressings and grounding schemes just add more hype and cost.

So what am I using now???
Well, I now have made biwire cables made out of pure solid soft 5N silver wire. One lead is 14 ga and the other is 18 ga. Both are threaded through high quality large diameter teflon tubing. All together with WBT silver spades at the Amp end they cost me about $1000 bucks to make.

Some think that silver cables are bright sounding , but these are not. I believe that the soft silver is what makes the difference. The bass is deep and clearly defined. The midrange is beautiful and the treble is clear. All of that with also a large soundstage. The break in time was minimal probably because of the limited dialectic.

Speaker cables are pretty basic to make and I've got to say these cables are waayyy better than anything I have used in the past and I have had some very pricey cables.
gherrera1 OP
88 posts
 
Hi Ozzy, your speaker cable construction is very similar to Nordost. They use silver plated conductors in teflon.

And most of the reviews I have read parallel what you hear. Well designed silver/teflon cables do not sound bright at all.

Moving from Canare star quad to Nordost Red Dawn cables, I heard a bit more bass and overall clarity. I'm hoping a move up the line will add even more clarity and maybe a touch more bass since Heimdall's have more conductors than Red Dawn.
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