Something doesn't seem right about this...

Thanks Al. In a somewhat difference context, your comment about the possible impact of speaker cables on RFI reminds me about our earlier posts that we traded about the Spatial Computers Velocity Bridge (VB1). As it turns out, it was an extremely expensive RC circuit.

For reasons still unknown to me, inserting the VB1 in the amp/speaker circuit in parallel resulted in an unpleasant brightening of the acoustic presentation, almost to the point of being grainy and fatiguing. The VB1 was supposed to filter out ultra-high frequency RFI and thereby improve the sound, ... which as just stated, at least to my sorry-old ears, it did not.

Back to the cables. I surmise that as one climbs up the Kimber ladder, with the PR grade (made of copper) being the lowest rung and the TC grade (made of hyper, super-duper, ultra pure copper) being the highest rung, the price would correlatively increase. I haven't gone down "cable lane" yet, and have no present intention of doing so. That said, if I spent a heck of a lot more for speaker cables touted as being made of hyper, ultra, super duper pure copper that resulted in no cognizable improvement in sound, I could easily see myself going "plaid" ala Space Balls.

Thanks for the reality check.

Bruce

Actually; Kimber's Varistrand Silver, in the Select series, would be their top rung for conductors. The Select cables(KS-3038 or 6068, "plaid" if you will) do represent a marked increase in audible performance(realism), in a resolving system.

Rodman ..., checked out the Kimber Select cables, but I didn't see the specs. Did I blink or a specs listed elsewhere on the web site?

Hi, Mr Bi- Nope; you missed nothing. Your last post mentioned a, "cognizable improvement in sound", as a factor. It was on that basis that I mentioned the Selects as the higher Kimber rungs(plaids). I've always based my cable choices on their presentations, the closest to live music being the most preferable. To tell the truth; I can't remember ever paying more than a passing attention to specs, in recent years. Happy listening!

Bruce - re: your cable specs and are they suited to your amp and will moving up the Kimber ladder be beneficial...

I did try Kimber 4PR and 4TC speaker cable for a DIY project and the 4TC was the better performer in that instance with those components. It was noticeable, but subtle and such improvements very much depended on the components used, which, with other components may not reveal any benefit at all.

Increasing the gauge however should improve bass performance and dynamics - e.g. moving from the 4TC to the 12TC - at least that was my findings with a similar upgrade with the Van Den Hul brand of cable.

Without knowing whether the designer of your amp built it to handle high or low capacitance cables, then the only way to know is to try them first.

Should you try a different brand?

Again, try to get some loaners to audition first before buying

Are your cables high capacitance?

They are approximately twice the capacitance of my Van Den Hul d-352 cables and as such would be considered high for Naim amps by Naim customer service.

For most amps Kimber speaker cables must be within acceptable operational limitations - I.e. just based on the number of members that find they perform very well.

Let's face it - if they presented anything close to a significant problem, it would be all over the WWW.

Do they sound nice to your ears? I.e. not harsh or grainy - then I would say they are most likely not impacting the performance of your amp.

I have not heard that low capacitance cables present a problem to any amp, so if anyone has experienced otherwise please post a response.

Regards