Nordost Tyr 2 Spkr Cables - Alternate for less $$

"03-16-15: Polk432
Shouldn't your speakers and components have Nordost wires inside them to, to be even more effective? IC's cables and power cords only go so far. What about the entire trail?"

Its not necessary to do something like that. Components and speakers are designed as individual units. (As always, there's bound to be an occasional exception.) For example, someone who's designing a speaker, and trying to achieve a certain sound, may use brand A internal cables. Those cables are judged as part of the whole speaker, and not individually. Some people call this type of thing voicing. They may have settled on Brand A because brand B cables were too bright, and maybe Brand C cables were dull sounding. Brand A happened to be the best choice for that particular application.

Its no different than any of the other parts that go into the end product. Would you go and swap out all of the resistors in every component you own so that they're all the same brand? Its no different with internal cables.

"Zd542 and Mrmb, thanks for your input. I thought of doing the Cable Company trial. Probably the right thing to do, but I know my system well enough to hear when I have a significant improvement, which the Nordost Tyr 2 have caused."

Yes, but that's the point of it all. The cables will sound different. That's why its so important to listen to them first.

Over the past year I've tried several Nordost
speaker cables in my system, starting with Red
Dawn, and followed by Heimdall, Frey, and finally
Tyr. I eventually chose the Frey, which has now
been in my system for about 6 months, and I'm very
pleased with the performance. Overall, I'd say the
Heimdall is the "sweet spot" in the
Norse line if price is a major factor in your
selection process. However, if you have a bit more
in your budget, you should go with the Frey's. The
Frey's provide about 90-95% of the Tyr's sound
quality and unless one has a very high resolution
system I rather doubt that you'll notice any
meaningful difference. In your case, however, you
DO have a ri-rez system, and I think buying the
Tyr's is well justified.

I bought mostly new cables from a dealer that
offered a major discount, and if you'll call me I
will give you the contact info. My phone number is
"two zero six -- seven seven two -- one nine
zero nine".

P.S. Before the Nordosts, I also used Alpha-Core
Goertz MI2 speaker cables. You are correct when
you say the Nordost cables are a big improvement.

Mattmiller, thanks for the suggestion on Morrow. I will check out their website.

Polk432, I have no idea. In my original post I say, "I have never really been a fan of or explored high priced speaker cables". I do think your idea is interesting, and if you do that I would like to know about your results.

Zd542, thanks for your comments. I am trying to decide whether I can make myself do a cable shootout. I am not sure if I have the time right now.

Sdcampbell, I appreciate your thoughts on this. I have a Frey 2 phono cable that came with my SME 10 turntable. I don't have a basis for comparison on this. My dealer has offered to lend Frey 2 interconnects so I can see if they make a positive change in my system. This really started when he took the Tyr 2 cable in trade and offered to let me try them in my system. I may give you a call, and thanks for offering that, if I move forward with more Nordost cable. Are you located in Seattle?

Thanks again to everyone for all of the input and help.

Best Regards,

Jim Perry

I use Frey and Heimdall IC's. Magnum Dynalab upgrades their tuners with Kimber Cable (I think) and Wilson Audio recommends that I use Transparent Cables since they use Transparent wire in their speakers. I have an all tube system and it(rewiring everything inside) may work, but I'm not willing to spend to find out. I was going to go with an all Odin loom at one time, but just can't justify that much money for wires. Happy listening.