Out of curiosity, I ran a search here on the ’Gon for Vandersteen, Rogue and cable and many of the hits returned AQ cables as recommended by Richard Vandersteen.
There is something to be said for ’same brand’ full ’loom’-in that the character and overall sound becomes cumulative. (Why this should be with power cable vs speaker and interconnect is an interesting intellectual question I can’t answer). That said, The Cable Co. also has a division called "Used Cable"-- I don’t know if and how the cable loan program works with the Used Cable business, but it could give you the opportunity for home trial and mark down buying used cables. -
The first time I fooled around with cable changes I had a pile of different speaker wires loaned to me by my then dealer in the late ’80s and spent the weekend listening to them. I can’t remember what I concluded or whether my choice had any relation to price, but I felt pretty confident about my conclusions at the time.
I’ve been running essentially the same brand since 2006 in my main system with one upgrade at the earliest link in the chain that I could substitute- from phono stage to line stage. The manufacturer has a generous trade in allowance for upgrading so all that worked in my favor. Haven’t really thought about those cables much since the one upgrade 5 years ago.
When I did my vintage system more recently, i wasn’t interested in kilo dollar cable, so sought out DIY and well constructed modest cable--having owned most of the equipment in that system since the early ’70s, I remember how little attention we paid to wire in those days- zip cord for speaker cable and lord knows what for interconnect and power cords (probably stock). That system sounds wonderful and cable cost was truly minimal. (All the gear had been fully restored)
Good luck, this should be a fun process, not one that makes you crazy,
bill hart
There is something to be said for ’same brand’ full ’loom’-in that the character and overall sound becomes cumulative. (Why this should be with power cable vs speaker and interconnect is an interesting intellectual question I can’t answer). That said, The Cable Co. also has a division called "Used Cable"-- I don’t know if and how the cable loan program works with the Used Cable business, but it could give you the opportunity for home trial and mark down buying used cables. -
The first time I fooled around with cable changes I had a pile of different speaker wires loaned to me by my then dealer in the late ’80s and spent the weekend listening to them. I can’t remember what I concluded or whether my choice had any relation to price, but I felt pretty confident about my conclusions at the time.
I’ve been running essentially the same brand since 2006 in my main system with one upgrade at the earliest link in the chain that I could substitute- from phono stage to line stage. The manufacturer has a generous trade in allowance for upgrading so all that worked in my favor. Haven’t really thought about those cables much since the one upgrade 5 years ago.
When I did my vintage system more recently, i wasn’t interested in kilo dollar cable, so sought out DIY and well constructed modest cable--having owned most of the equipment in that system since the early ’70s, I remember how little attention we paid to wire in those days- zip cord for speaker cable and lord knows what for interconnect and power cords (probably stock). That system sounds wonderful and cable cost was truly minimal. (All the gear had been fully restored)
Good luck, this should be a fun process, not one that makes you crazy,
bill hart