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Shortlist of Speaker Cables/ICs: advice/opinions

Good Day,

I am in the market for speaker cables and interconnects. The system includes an Electrocompaniet amp, Shanling CDP and Gallo Ref III speakers. I am looking for 6-8ft single wire SC and 1m RCA IC, budget of $700-$900 new or used.

The characterisitics I am after are: something detailed and accurate, but not clinical/not too lean. I also prefer something warm as opposed to something bright dry as long as it isn't too rolled off. However accuracy is the key.

I have come up with the following shortlist and would like any suggestions, opinions and experiences. As you can see, I plan to get SC and IC from the same brand (this has always worked well for me):

Kimber: MonocleXL SC and KS-1011 IC
Analysis Plus: Solo Oval 8 SC and Solo Crystal IC
Harmonic Tech: Pro 9 Plus SC and Pro-Silway III IC
Acoustic Zen: Satori II SC and Matrix Ref II IC

Please try not to suggest other brands as many are simply not available to me. I have also tried Cardas and Audience, neither of which impressed me (well, the Cardas Golden Cross did but is way out of my budget).

Thanks and Regards,
X
xenithon
driver's avatar
driver
746 posts
 
In all seriousness, unless you borrow the cables from your dealer (or whoever) and audition in your own system, you are trying them blind.

My suggestion would be contact the cable company & let them know what you're after. They have a program that allows you to audition in home for much less than it would take to buy & sell multiple sets of cables to get what you want.
xenithon OP
130 posts
 
I must mentione that I live in South Africa. Availability is very limited. It is also not possible to audition all the cables even those with 30 day trials as it would cost $100 or more just to send them here and back. The ones on my list are the ones I can get and will audition before buying.
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
That definitely makes a difference! Thanks for the clarification, Xenithon. In that case, I would suggest that you try a silver IC with a copper speaker cable. The Analysis Plus should be within your budget.
All the best,
Howard
driver's avatar
driver
746 posts
 
Again, in all seriousness, even though all cables exhibit certain qualities that are supposed to translate into how they should sound in your system, it really does take an in home audition to get a true feel how they'll work for you, for in addition to sonic characteristics there's the question of synergy.

You have already made the best suggestion, that being get the cables available & audition them & regardless of what anybody try’s to tell you, always trust your ears when it comes to your system.

I would also suggest you take notes while doing your auditioning.
xenithon OP
130 posts
 
Hi There,

Will do Driver. What I am doing on these forums is getting opinions on what would be worth trying and which combos to try. It is not easy to set up home auditions here so I need to know what I will be demoing (I can't go back for 5 different combos unfortunately, dealers won't do that here).

Boa2: I was actually thinking more about copper throughout. That is why I thought of the Solo Crystal and not Silver Oval, and the Matrix Ref instead of Silver Ref. The reason is that I had silver before (HGA, Kimber KCAG) and did not really like them in my system. Sounded a bit edgy and bright.

Right now it seems that my two main choices would be the AP combo or AZ combo. The Kimber's seem out of range (price and availability). Has anyone tried and perhaps compared the AP and AZ cables listed?

Cheers,
X
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