Speaker Cable upgrade

I used AQ Dragon in my system several years ago. I thought it was a real nice cable quite smooth and detailed. I also used AQ Sterling for a brief period and didn't feel I lost much dropping down to Sterling. Since then I've used Transparent Reference (in a Watt Puppy system I no longer have) and Nordost SPM (in my current system). The Transparent is a real nice speaker cable. I believe it is warmer than the SPM. The SPM is a bit brighter but definitely faster and adds more rhythm to the music which I think my current system needs because I'm using tube amps which can be a bit slow. But - if I were in the market for a speaker cable right now I would be inclined to seriously consider one of the new kids on the block - either Harmonic or Analysis Plus. I bought the Harmonic digital cable to replace my Illuminati D-60 and I'm quite pleased.

I have Dragon now, and it's awesome! My philosophy has to do with the damping factor of your amp. If you have a beefy solid state (Krell FPB, Levinson), you need the biggest gauge silver cables (like Harmonic Technology PRO-8 Signature, or AQ Everest, or Kimber KS-3038...new for $8000). If you have a not so beefy solid state amp, YOU NEED DRAGON. If you have ANY tube amp, I suppose Nordost SPM might get more pitch definition out of it than Dragon would, but Dragon is WAY THE HELL MORE DYNAMIC THAN NORDOST SPM. If you want SPM, FIRST YOU SHOULD look for the Music Metre "Silver" speaker cable from a few years ago. I bet it's very close to SPM with a tube amp (I OWN THE MUSIC METRE, I'm gonna use it inside a couple of my speaker projects.)

It depends on what the rest of your system is and what you want to accomplish. If your interconnects are all Audioquest, then stick to Audioquest speaker cables. It is vital that you do not mix manufacturers - unless of course you like playing around with tone controls. Cable manufacturers play with a whole variety of factors to voice their cables as a total cable system. If you mix and match then the chances of success are very low. Secondly you should make sure the interconnects and speaker cables are from roughly the same level - ie. mix Dragons with Diamonds or Lapis. Personally, although Audioquest obviously makes good cables, I believe better bargains can be found elsewhere - no doubt a function of Audioquest having to cover its high promotion and advertising cost. For my money - I want cables that do not impose any sound on the equipment. That may sound like an unattainable ideal, but after trying and living with many different cables I came across the Wireworld range and.. I use the Wireworld Eclipse cables and find them utterly neutral, natural and even-handed. The whole philosophy of Wireworld is to make cables that are soundless - illustrated by their marketing of an interconnect comparator which allows you to hear the difference between any interconnect and "no interconnect". So my first instinct is to recommend Wireworld to you. One final note - I have never regretted over-spending on speaker cable - it just seems to be a link that does not suffer from diminishing returns until your cables cost nearly half the price of your speakers (not that I recommend this)!

When REDKIWI says "it's vital to not mix manufacturers, or you'll just be playing with tone controls", THAT'S HOGWASH. That's just common dealer propoganda to try to keep you from buying a brand they don't carry. I have AT Diamond, and using it with Dragon only exagerrates the weaknesses AND strengths of both. WITH CABLE, YOU'RE ALWAYS PLAYING WITH TONE CONTROLS. IT'S NEVER GOING TO SOUND LIKE "NO CABLE". When it does sound like that, you've found good synergy, but there's no way cables ACTUALLY sound like "no cables at all". Just a silly idea that wrongminded (and technically ignorant) guys fool themselves into thinking. WHY? Because you can NEVER KNOW what "no cable" sounds like, YOU CAN ONLY GUESS. I CAN HEAR GREAT, SO I KNOW THIS IS WHAT ME, AND EVERYBODY ELSE, IS DOING (even though they fool themselves into thinking that there suddenly "isn't a cable in the signal's path"). First, try the MIT 330 Shotgun interconnect, and tell me what you think. Also, Wireworld cables depend on an enamel coating on each strand to "prevent interactions". The enamel itself has negative dielectric effects, and smear the signal in time. Non-stranded designs don't have to deal with this. Cardas does the same thing, but at least they use different sizes, spread according to the "golden section".

My vote is for the Alpha-core AG-3. I am using that for puppy tails and my speaker wires. The AG-3 replaced some Audio Note SPz. The SPz replaced the internal wiring in the watts/puppys. So I actually improved both aspects, and the sound is now magical. I think the AG-3 is a best buy!