1st System - Help with cables


Hi Everyone,
I'm in the process of putting together my 1st quality audio system. At this point it consists of; Simaudio Moon I-5 Integ Amp, Rega Jupiter cdp (on the way) and Dynaudio 1.3 mk2 speakers on dyn stands. It's taken me quite a while to research and choose these products and I wound up purchasing each through Audiogon classifieds.

Now I just have to get speaker cables and interconnects.I'm mainly focusing on the speaker cables and would like to find something in the $300 or so used range that would be a decent starter/baseline cable for this system. Something transparent that won't add any uncessary color to the sound. Since I haven't used the system yet I can't say that I'm looking for a cable that will alter the sound in any particular way. I can always look for that later after I've had extended listening time and develop some preferences.

Any suggestions would be very helpful as the choices are pretty overwhelming. Thanks for the help...

John
jroth
jroth has made some great suggestions on the speaker cable.

by sticking with a major player, you can sell them pretty easily down the road.

if you are looking for a netrual cable that is revealing - the xlo is a great choice. if you are looking for a warm cable then the satori.

most cable fall into two camps

1.revealing/detail/fast- xlo,coincident, nordost

2. warm,,bloom,slow - cardas,az satori

finding a "neutral"cable is difficult.

the fast cables sometimes can have a lean midrange and bright top end.

the slower cables can have a midbass bloat and/or obscure detail that the image specifity is gone ( cardas comes to mind)

i would check with dynaudio and other audiogoners on what manufacture they suggest with speaker cables with your speakers. they were voiced with a certain brand and solid state gear and go from there. ( i might suggest the xlo- they are a awesome cable). the dyna's image like crazy and are not bright speakers imo

since you only need one set of interconnects i would try to get my hands on as many as i could and experiment ( also a good idea for the speaker cables if you can)

for innterconnects some suggestions are:

coincident -neutral and good budget interconnect

xlo signiture 2- neutral / transparent

discovery plus 4- ever so lightly warm side of neutral- can be found very reasonably. great perfomance / dollar ratio.

straightwire -nice midrange cable and images very well

try the major players first. if you find something else you can resell them easily.

get your hands on as many as you can !!! by the time you are done, your ears will be very trained toward small changes like these.

then when you find a smaller /unknown company your ear will be trained. also, with smaller companies, make sure there is a 30 day return policy.

i would save power cords for last.

hope that helps,

mike
I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to respond to my questions. All the advice and suggestions received here are invaluable to someone just getting started in this hobbie like myself.

Both the Dyn's and Moon I-5 are considered fast and revealing and were some of the primary reasons I chose them. However, I didn't want to take that aspect of the system to an extreme so I thought mating them with the Rega Jupiter which tends to be a little on the warm side would balance things nicely.

That being said I don't think I want to add any more "warmth" to the system and preserve as much detail and speed as I can. So I contacted another A'goner today to purchase the XLO Reference Type 5a speaker cables. I'll probably pick up a matching set of XLO IC's as well. As Mikesinger pointed out, if I don't like them at least there's a healthy aftermarket for them. Thanks again for all the help guys.
Jroth...if speed and detail are your major concerns...my vote still stands for NORDOST...have fun...it is exceptionally transparent....
Thanks Phasecorrect but I've already committed to buying the XLO's from someone. Over the last week of researching cables I was definitely considering the Nordost. However, some info I read lead me to believe, possibly without any real merit, that they can be very unforgiving in the wrong setup...particularly the Red Dawn I was considering.

Being my first attempt at getting everything configured right I figured I'd save them for a later time.
Jroth, my first wire, which I am just about to retire is Cardas Crosslink Speaker wire. It is a good starter wire, comes in any length you want and it can be bi-wired. Get some spades on the amp end and air lock bananas on the speaker end. You should be able to get the speakers wires and Crosslink IC for about or less than what you want to spend.