Speaker cable for Nad 7050 and KEF LS50

08-02-14: Tvfreak
I believe that the cable is a QED Silver Anniversary XT. They are about 1.5 meter each. I am not sure about the gauge.

Despite its low price, based on its description your present cable seems to me to be worthy of respect. And FWIW I note that it has won several "What Hi-Fi?" cable product of the year awards.

It can be calculated from the indicated specs that it is equivalent to about 15 gauge, which is adequate for the relatively short length you are using. Inductance (which stands some chance of being an audibly significant parameter with your particular speakers, due to their low impedance in the upper treble region) and capacitance are both reasonably low.

The relatively low impedance of your speakers in the mid-bass region and throughout most of the treble region, as shown here, will tend to increase sensitivity to cable differences. But the relatively short length involved will work in the opposite direction, as nearly all speaker cable effects are proportional to length.

My suggestion is to first make sure that all of the contacts involved are both clean and tight. Consider buying a good contact cleaner, such as Caig DeoxIT Gold (formerly ProGold). Beyond that, if you want to try different speaker cables I suspect that you'll hear some differences, but I doubt they will be major, and they might not be for the better.

Finally, in addition to the particular makes and models that have already been suggested, this cable is another fairly inexpensive candidate to consider, which I have used with good results.

Regards,
-- Al

The QED Silver Anniversary XT is an excellent budget cable and one that I have used for the past 8 or so years with a NAD 320BEE int amp, Outlaw RR2150 receiver, Prima Luna PL2 and PL5 tube amps, Rega Ara monitors, Omega Super T monitors, Opera Platea floor standers, and Ascend Acoustic Sierra One monitors.

I just recently upgraded to Clear Day Cables based on a recommendation from someone on Audiogon. Depending on the Clear Day product, the cables are several times more expensive than your QED. For me, that increase in price to Clear Day cables, resulted in a sound that is more musical, more focused, and still a touch warm, which I find very enjoyable. It is akin to a veil being lifted, especially for the lower frequencies.

So, the QED will serve you well and it did me. But I did find a more pleasing cable for more dollars.

Rich

Thanks all for the thoughtful replies. Based on your comments I believe I will keep my cables for the time being. As I said in my first question above my system is sounding great. Since I don't have much experience I was wondering if I had bought really bad cables and this could have been hurting the sound, but this not seem to be the case.

It's simply personal preference. QED is a quality cable, that some listeners like and some do not.

It appears that your cables are very respectable. My only comment is that QED is silver plated copper and you may find that a stranded copper conductor may have a warmer presentation. Or a single copper conductor such as Audioquest may be more to your liking.

You need to decide what kind of change, if any, you are looking for. Most will say that cables should be transparent, but in reality certain cables may colour your system in a desirable way.

And with cable selection, it's trial and error to find which is best for you.