Good, Neutral, Reasonably Priced Cables?


After wading through mountains of claims, technical jargon etc. I'm hoping to hear from some folks who have had experience with good, neutral, reasonably priced cables. I have to recable my entire system after switching from Naim and want to get it right without going nuts! Here is what I'm looking for and the gear that I have:

Looking for something reasonably priced-i.e. used IC's around $100-150. Used speaker cable around $300-400 for 10ft pair.

Not looking for tone controls. I don't want to try to balance colorations in my system. I'd like cables that add/substract as little from the signal as possible.

Looking for something easily obtainable on the used market i.e. that I can find the whole set up I need without waiting for months and months. I guess this would limit you to some of the more popular brands. Without trying to lead you, here are some I've been considering:

Kimber Hero/Silver Streak
Analysis Plus Copper Oval/Oval 9
Cardas Twinlink/Neutral Reference (Pricey)
Wireworld Polaris/Equinox

Here is my gear:

VPI Scout/JMW9/ATML170
Audio Research SP16
Audio Research 100.2
Rotel RCD 971
Harbeth Compact 7

I would really appreciate your help on this. Thanks, as always.
dodgealum
Robert: My comments about the thread being interrupted were not geared towards your customers "coming to your rescue", but more-so as a general comment pertaining to a specific group of Audiogon regulars that dislike my "brutish" methods of communications i.e. those that have cried foul in the past about asking manufacturers, distributors, dealers, etc.. for pertinent facts, asking them to support their statements and / or asking for honesty and disclosure of affiliations.

As far as being a "watchdog", i call 'em as i see 'em. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, has webbed feet, etc... it's probably a duck. Just because i'm not shy about pointing the duck out to others and telling them what it is and how to identify it by its' characteristics, it doesn't make me a "watchdog". Having said that, if what i post helps someone to avoid making costly errors or explains why certain situations ( sonic or otherwise ) have arisen surrounding "duck-like" products, so be it. People can call me whatever it is they want to. You don't have to like me to understand or even respect the information and / or perspective that i provide.

With that in mind, i have NO idea of what your cables are like. I have third party information on them that is far less than technical in nature and that's all. Neither your website nor your posts here have given me or anyone else anything to go on. As such, i'm not attacking your product so much as i'm commenting on the lack of information available concerning your products and your unwillingness to provide even a few lines of information after 4 or 5 posts and thousands of words.

While it's quite possible i may be a great fan of your products once i had the chance to really get to know them ( technically and sonically ), the only way that i could do that would be to buy them, use them, disect them and analyze them for myself. Given that i'm not buying any more cabling from someone that won't tell me what it is that they are selling ( i've been ripped off enough as it is ) and i'm not about to "gut" someone else's property that might be kind enough to let me borrow them, the chances of that happening are slim to none. The bottom line is that more info specifically about the products themselves with less background about the company could result in more potential sales.

PS... I don't have a "kingdom", nor am i a king. I am a working class pauper that can't afford your hundreds of dollars per meter products, so please take pity on me and throw me some of the scraps from your table. Maybe then i'll have some idea of the "flavours" that you and a few others make mention of since you won't even describe what it is on the table to begin with.

Psychic: I'm glad that you guys had an enjoyable and educational get together. These types of situations can be fun, but they can also be misleading. That is, unless certain precautions are taken to try and keep the playing field level. I'm NOT talking about DBT's ( Double Blind Listening Test's ) or anything like that, just similar conditions in terms of all of the gear being allowed to thermally and physically stabilize. This takes time though and most impromptu meetings / listening sessions don't really allow this.

With that in mind, one can get basic ideas about differences in performance and whether or not components interface reasonably well together, but i wouldn't say that such "testing" is all-inclusive in terms of the observed results.

On top of all of that, unless one has some type of baseline to compare things to, it's possible that none of the products being compared are actually "accurate". As such, which one was perceived as being "better" boils down to subjective opinons that are based on personal preferences. We all know how that works. Since there are no reference points to judge things by and even personal preferences change, the only conclusions that can be drawn from such impromptu listening sessions is what one liked at that time with that system in that room. Sometimes that's all that counts i.e. when you're listening in your room with your system and you're familiar with what to expect. Other than that, anybody not in the same situation is listening with a great handicap due to lack of familiarity and expectations. This handicap is exactly why most DBT's provide negative results. Obviously, this is just my opinion and others are certainly open to agree / disagree.

Albert: Certain measurements are "better" with mass-produced gear for certain reasons. That is, mass-producers build cheap components using low grade parts. They "band-aid" their circuitry so that it measures better by relying on inexpensive forms of error correction that introduce further side-effects into the equation. They do this trying to "fix" things, but in effect, make things worse most of the time.

As i've said before, unless you can see the whole picture and understand what the spec's mean and how they were derived, spec's can mean very little.

Having said that, a full array of spec's can tell you quite a bit, if the spec's were properly derived AND one knows how to interpret them. If such were not the case, i wouldn't have known that the Goertz speaker cables were going to "best" all of the others in that test. I knew what i did because the spec's that i read and understood confirmed what my ears had told me several years ago.

In this respect, the spec's are verified by the test results and the test results are verified by the sonics. That is, what you put in is what you get out. It's called measurable accuracy and it achieves this with no form of error correction applied. As such, the margin of error as to what the spec's say and what you actually hear is non-existent. That's why i've said "don't blame the cables" if you don't like what you hear. While you can shoot the messenger, that doesn't change the message. Sean
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Well Robert of Ridge Street Audio I certainly dont trust. He is using magots in his cables. Although I do own 4 pair of various Poeima interconnects and Speaker Cables and the perceived neutral resolution in conjunction with My Audio Magic Eclipse, feeding My Sim Audio Eclipse is spot on. In fact , for the first time ever while re listening to The Beatles "She came in through the Bathroom Window , I actaully at the very end heard the toilet flush.
Darrylhifi, is that typo maggots or magnets?

Sean
That's why I've said "don't blame the cables" if you don't like what you hear. While you can shoot the messenger, that doesn't change the message. Sean

Does this mean that if I prefer my system with Purist Audio or Elrod rather than Goertz that all my equipment should be changed out rather than continue to listen to what is working? I have excellent gear, doubt it needs a band aid.
Sean,
I have the following thoughts/queries about your stance:
(bear with me if you've already addressed any of them in past posts):
1. Do you have to intellectually have a picture of what measurable specs you are listening to and what the physical characteristics of the components are before you can enjoy the music? (I think you've said an emphatic yes)
2. When you say specs, do you mean running an oscilloscope so that you can measure dynamic range at each frequency?
3. I accept that the appreciation of a stanza of music is an interaction between the brain and the ear, melding perceived sound, expectations, emotions, and past experiences to result in a net quantum of enjoyment/sadness/fulfillment/discord. None of us understand how that works, technically, exactly as none of us can explain physically or in terms of any measurable specs on any medical device, how anybody thinks. So it is with the appreciation of music, which is why there are so many thousands of differing posts on the same component, piece of music and composer. Are you saying that in your particular case you cannot or will not bypass the the "measuring/analytical/physicist" part of your brain to just listen to the music, because it is unacceptable to you intellectually to not understand why you are hearing something? If so, this is, IMHO, perfectly valid, but I think you are fairly unique in that respect. I personally dont give a rat's ass what makes the music sound good/exciting/bad/mediocre - its all in what I hear. Period.
I think many of us non Engineer-types are like that.
4. I am ignorant of the known physics of sound conduction via interconnects. Is there a primer to read? Is there data on cables showing dynamic range, as there are on speakers, at different frequencies? What other data (forget about inductance, volts, amps, etc since there is no known (to me) sonic/auditory correlation)can you get on cables?
5. Is it not unreasonable for you to expect a small (one-man) manufacturer to divulge his formula in a very competitive market-place, particularly against the big boys, who spend fortunes on marketing, when the bottom line is simply, to most of us, the result of the product? That is, how does it sound? The only, to me, reason to do so would be the physical reliability and longevity of the product; if it were made of a metal/conductor/insulator that has a half-life of a few months, then that would be a concern. This point is valid and rational, even to a non-measuring-dunce like me. That point should be addressed and guaranteed by any seller/manufacturer/inventor.
Thanks for your attention. This is not a troll - I am interested in your answers.
I beleive Darrylhifi meant maggots as a joke from the infamous magnet thread. Hey aside from the uproar over the religious connotation, putting that aside, did any A goners ever try/feel that theory was useful. And Sean I love your posts because of your knowlege and passion, but I wish you would not attack a cable manufacturer that joins in a thread, only because I feel that discourages manufacturers from joining our discussions , where we may gain additional resources for information. Even though Im not a fan of Audio Asylum {except for their search engine which is great} I enjoy when gentleman like Ray Kimber and others add to the postings.