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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
gelaw OP
28 posts
 
No sand kicking here. All advice is welcome.
jkuc
181 posts
 
AP Oval 9 and AZ Satori are different animals. I used both of them on JmLab Electra, fast, transparent speakers with slightly accentuated trebble. Satori is smooth, no problem at all. As I mentioned before AP is "heavy" sounding, not to much "air". AZ cable are known for strong bass as well but compared to AP, Satori sounds lighter, you can hear ambience of the venue much better, Satori is more refined as well. I would recommend AP Hologram II. You pay a bit more and you get more, Hologram has a tad stronger bass, sound is a bit more saturated, better fleshed out. Hologram is the best value of AZ cables in my opinion. No worries about treble.
gelaw OP
28 posts
 
Interesting response Jkuc. Is the AZ Hologram II difficult to work with? I have heard that the wire is very stiff and it's difficult to keep them tightly connected to the spades.

It seems by your post that the differences are not that subtle. Do you think these differences would mainly be detectable with 2 channel music listening or would they be equally apparent in a reference home theater?

I would think my Egglestonworks would benefit from the AZ's more full bodied and saturated sound. I understand that the AZ are smooth, but are they smoother/warmer sounding than the AP Oval 9?

From what I read, it appears that the AZ Satori and Hologram are closer in sound to the descriptions the AP Solo Crystal 8 or the Cardas Clear Light.
tango_tilingo
47 posts
 
I would like to know the difference sounds of those cables myself, please advice.
gelaw OP
28 posts
 
I have some results from my speaker cable trials. I tried the following speaker wire: Cardas Clear Light, JPS SC V, AP: 9, Solo Crystal 8, Purist Audio: Musaeus, Elementa Advance, Aqueous and Venustas.

My processor and amps are now McIntosh with Egglestonworks speakers. The speaker wire that sounded the best for my application was the Purist Audio Venustas. Very natural dialogue with great midrange, but not in excess or bloated, effortless full bodied smooth sound, large 3 dimensional sound stage, and fairly high resolution that was not edgy or fatiguing in any way. Lots of testing, but I am now very happy with the results.

During the demo process I learned just how different speaker cables sound. Without demoing various speaker wire in your particular system, it's impossible to predict which one will perform the best. Reading and member assistance can help narrow it down though. :)
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