Speaker cables I am auditioning using my ears in February

Good luck with that. I was fed up with listening analytically last night and relieved to have landed at a decision, keen to start listening to the music not the HiFi again so put on Stan Getz - Girl from Ipanema and was blown away. Loving it.
 
I feel privileged to have been a passenger carried along on your journey of discovery. It had it all. Well-developed characterisation, heroes and villains (well, mainly villains), plot twists and turns, dramatic tension and finally, a satisfying ending.

Up there with the best new fiction. I doff my hat to you, sir. :smashin:
 
I feel privileged to have been a passenger carried along on your journey of discovery. It had it all. Well-developed characterisation, heroes and villains (well, mainly villains), plot twists and turns, dramatic tension and finally, a satisfying ending.

Up there with the best new fiction. I doff my hat to you, sir. :smashin:

Thank you sir, 'tis very much appreciated. Sincerely. <searches in vain for reciprocal hat-doffing smiley>

Like all good writers, I of course feigned detached observation but knew all along what the ending was going to be, I just had to inject enough intrigue to take along my readers - the down-to-earth Van Damme , the dark horse CHC, the arrogant Nordost... all a pretence. I hadn't counted on quite such a Dick Dastardly character emerging but embraced him and the richness he brought as any author would. Bit of snake oil here, the odd "oh no, this cannot be!" there, then you just reel them in....

Watch out for my sequel which will soon be available on all good forums near you and, if the advance is anything to go by, will be a game-changer. "Why Everything You Thought You Knew About HiFi Is Wrong" should do the trick. I don't want to give anything away but expect gold-plated fuses to make an appearance. Oops, plot-spoiler!

Thanks for your company.

Nigel
 
I enjoyed this thread. I bought some Isoldas 10 years ago after some ABing and haven't looked back. I've plenty of Van Damme here too up to 6mm and I use other cheap honest cables like Belden and Canare, but the Isoldas are staying.
 
A little bit of Townshend Isolda/ProAc D30R porn for you. Isoldas now safely installed under oak floor.

image.jpg

Bi-amped.
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Detail shows side vented downward port. Spikes are on 30mm cones sitting separately purchased 6mm sorbothane discs, both accessories being basic eBay fare not anything exotic.
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Ribbon tweeter and single woofer beautifully presented, superbly integrated, sounding sublime.
 
Carpenter humoured me about removable floorboard with cable slots… but this is the clean result.

DSC05055.JPG
 
I thought that you would go for the Isolda! It's reassuring to know that the cables inside a speaker can still portray the superiority of the Isolda cable ;)
 
I hadn't looked at the Townsend cables before, I was worried when I saw the little box in-line. After a little Google I see that it contains an inductor and a resister. I wouldn't be adding these to my cables. You could also add them to the Van Damme cables for a few quid and get the same effect.
 
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I hadn't looked at the Townsend cables before, I was worried when I saw the little box in-line. After a little Google I see that it contains an inductor and a resister. I wouldn't be adding these to my cables. You could also add them to the Van Damme cables for a few quid and get the same effect.

Yes, I'm sure you can get the same effect (=change) on the Van Damme cables but that doesn't mean they'll sound the same, as the underlying Van Damme cable is not the same as the underlying Townshend. The Townshend magic sauce/fairy dust is not just in the boxes, I understand that they are there to counteract the problems caused to e.g.. Naim electronics.

I have tried to understand the theory behind cable design but failed, clearly a mental block. What I do know is that the Townshend cables sound superb.

All the best.
 
I thought that you would go for the Isolda! It's reassuring to know that the cables inside a speaker can still portray the superiority of the Isolda cable ;)

Indeed! I tried to get hold of some ProAc Black speaker cable for just that reason but they have stopped making it. I still don't understand why the Isolda sound the best of those I tried, and I was concerned about the capacitance issue to the point where I almost excluded them from the process. But I do understand that cables can't add anything, so that "superiority" must be to do with not taking as much away as others.

HB: a personal offer to you because of your willingness to engage with the conversation so constructively and humorously despite being a sceptic (it's genuinely been good having you around): get yourself along to the HiFiWigwam-organised Pie Fi Show near Melton Mowbray on Sun 29th, which is five mins from my house (£15 entry, home-brewed stuff mainly, not a big brand marketing-fest), and pop in for a cuppa back here and have a listen. Bring any cables you have which are minimum 4m. You might see my jaw drop in horror as I hear no difference at all… or worse, I might even prefer yours and realise I've wasted the national debt of a small nation! PM me… :thumbsup: What was that? Ah yes, the sound of a dropping gauntlet!

All the best, my friend.
 
I think with the speaker cables guage size and types make a difference. Certainly to me they do, e.g, silver plated makes my system sound less warmer but clearer, the cheap stuff I am using 5mm thickness (about £7 for 10 meters worth) gives my system a fuller sound, and more pronounced treble, much so that I am sticking to it.

I have also used Atlas Hyper Bi-wire, although I found the stranded mid/bass wires made very little difference, I though the solid core 1.2mm wire for the treble made it more pronounced. On another system, it made the treble smoother and added finesse but I did not like that.

With cables in my experience cable thickness makes a difference, as does "fancy" cables such as the Atlas with its single wire core for the tweeter, and off course as mentioned the silver plated. Difference cables have different attributes, and I have found that it is those attributes that make the music sound different, maybe not "better" in some cases, but certainly different. I'm sure many may disagree.
 
I have switched back now to the silver sonic, although the bass is not as full, I have decided to give them a proper chance to "burn in" fully The bass is better defined with these and the sound clearer.
 
HB: a personal offer to you because of your willingness to engage with the conversation so constructively and humorously despite being a sceptic (it's genuinely been good having you around): get yourself along to the HiFiWigwam-organised Pie Fi Show near Melton Mowbray on Sun 29th, which is five mins from my house (£15 entry, home-brewed stuff mainly, not a big brand marketing-fest), and pop in for a cuppa back here and have a listen. Bring any cables you have which are minimum 4m. You might see my jaw drop in horror as I hear no difference at all… or worse, I might even prefer yours and realise I've wasted the national debt of a small nation! PM me… :thumbsup: What was that? Ah yes, the sound of a dropping gauntlet!

All the best, my friend.

Many thanks for the very kind invitation Nigel. Unfortunately it's a little too far for me to do comfortably in a day as I'm in the darkest depths of Essex!

If I'm ever up that way I will certainly PM you and pop in for that cuppa. No need for me to bring some cables; we can just enjoy a chat whilst listening to some music!

Thanks again.

HB
 
I have switched back now to the silver sonic, although the bass is not as full, I have decided to give them a proper chance to "burn in" fully The bass is better defined with these and the sound clearer.

According Nordost your cables have probably become 'stagnant'

What is Cable Burn-In? | Nordost Blog 'While it is most important to implement burn-in upon purchase, there is something to be gained from routine maintenance as well. If cables are left unused for a prolonged period of time they become stagnant. '

:smashin:

Just checked some of my old cables and they definitely have a stagnant odour about them so off to run round the garden with them to get them moving then down to the gym to properly warm them up before burning them in.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
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My goodness, that explains a thing or two! I knew I should have given my old Rev II's a good old shake-and-vac before deciding to ditch them.

Larkone, if you are tempted to swing your cables round above your head to give them a good old airing, do ensure that the arrows indicating directionality are NOT in your hand but are at the outer end, otherwise you risk sending your cables into reverse which would probably be worse than stagnant... and might even blow your amp.

It's a tough world, especially if same applies to my Townshend Isoldas... Trying to find the right balance between letting them settle and listening for them starting to go off is going to be torture. I think it's probably best to install a brand new cable loom every spring just to be on the safe side and avoid all the stress.

Thanks for pointing this out. You live and learn!
 
Hi Backflash - not a problem because as the output from my amp is AC the arrows on my cables point both ways so the audio doesn't get confused. I never understand how people get directional cables to actually work with AC.
 

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