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Acou Zen vs Anaysis Plus vs Cardas Clear Sp. Cable

My system is an Egglestonworks 7.1 with Andra lls up front which have Esotar tweeters and Dynaudio 12" woofers. May go with McIntosh amps to warm things up a bit. Using JPS PC and interconnects. My room is fully treated. I am using a Lexicon processor.

I want a speaker wire that will be very smooth with non-fatiguing highs with midrange that lets dialogue be clear and understandable at moderately low volumes. A nice big 3 dimensional soundstage for movies. These traits have been brought to my system by JPS Aluminata PC/interconnects and Super Conductor interconnects, but worried it may be too much of a good thing so want to go with a tad warmer and with a very smooth sounding speaker cable.

My speaker runs for the front 3 channels are long...10' to 24'. In the running: Cardas Clear Sky and Light, Purist Audio Genesis/Museous, Analysis Plus Oval 9, Oval 8 and Acoustic Zen Satori. Oval 8 seems to be getting out of my budget due to the long lengths. The speakers can not be biwired.

I am leaning towards the AP Oval 9 and the AZ Satori. Thoughts on how these two compare and which would be better for my system and goals would be appreciated. Alsofeel free to comment on any other of the speaker cable I have listed. Thanks.
gelaw
pops
2,273 posts
 
i have been using AP Oval 9 with Mcintosh 501's and Eggleston Andra II's for some time now. i find the combination very nice, balanced from top to bottome.
jburidan
803 posts
 
The Satoris will be fine at low volumes. The OCC copper and teflon will be better, by a wide margin better, than OFC copper over a 25' run. The bass will be fine with 10 AWG over that distance. The OFC copper will compromise your sound in awful ways.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
The Cardas Copper may not be OCC but it is very, very good stuff. I recommend A Cardas cable with "Golden" in it's name. I kid you not, the problem is the cost. You can't buy used due to the lengths needed, but if I were you I would ask the Cable Company to lend you a cable you are interested in. Can you change the set up at all for audition?
gelaw OP
28 posts
 
Yes, thinking of temporarily moving my side speakers (EW fontaine lls) to the front to test various wire. What are your thoughts on the Clear series vs the Golden Reference? I though the Goldens may be a bit too warm and too dark for a theater application. Clear Sky is at the outer edge of my budget but it's only 12 awg. Clear Light is 8 or 9 awg, which is better for my long runs, but it will be too expensive.
gelaw OP
28 posts
 
Also it seems by everything I have read, the revised Oval 9 projects a bigger sound stage, more detail and more refined bass than the early Oval 9. Still smooth though even with the added detail. Maybe the new Oval 9 closed the gap a bit with the AZ Satori?

Does anyone know how warm and smooth the Clear series is? It may be a bit more neutral then the 9 or Satori. Maybe not ideal for me? There is very little written on the Clear speaker cable.

** Smoothness** defined articulate bass, good detail and maybe just a bit warmer than neutral is what I am after. Movie sound tracks can get a bit edgy at times on a very high resolution system. What I am not after is a cable that is so warm that it sounds blurry and lacks detail.

A good speaker cable shootout would be the Oval 9 vs the Satori vs the Clear Sky/Light.
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