Speaker Cables

[IanG-UK]

This is a pretty inconclusive set of comments on two sets of cables, but here goes.

For months I've used cable by Soundstring, all GEN II, either special edition or standard edition. Indeed, for my power cables - my regenerators' feeds and my Devialets, Torus subwoofer amp, Cavalli headphone amp and Cyrus transport - they are a permanent fixture.

Signal cables, whether loudspeaker feed, subwoofer feed, subwoofer interconnect, transport digital or Devialet digital link, have all been Soundstring too, unchanged for six months I guess, apart from a brief trial with Sablon (power and signal) which was unconvincing.

These Soundstring cables get little exposure, probably because the prices are modest and so the margins might be unappealing for US dealers, but reviews this year give strong recommendations:

http://test.soundstringcable.com/documen...review.pdf

http://www.soundstringcable.com/images/p...review.pdf

http://www.soundstringcable.com/document...ne2014.pdf

A power cable is around £200 for 1m; stereo interconnect is similar; digital is around £100; and loudspeaker just over £200 for 3m stereo or £150 for 1m subwoofer (2013 prices - luckily one gets direct from the USA manufacturer). The cables are copper, burned in by the manufacturer, but not cryogenically treated.

Anyway (perhaps to dissuade me from buying others) I have now gone over to my second set of cables, for signal only, by Missing Link, all Link Cryo Reference. These cables are silver, not burned in by the manufacturer, but cryogenically treated.

Stereo interconnect is around £400 for 1m; digital is around £250; and loudspeaker around £2,500 for 3m stereo or £750 for 1m subwoofer.

Reviews are even sparser than for Soundstring ...

http://www.the-missing-link.net/wpe55.jpg

http://www.the-missing-link.net/wpe56.jpg

Of course, going through a rewiring exercise, with every connection "Tweeked" or "Caiged", proves to be a 90 minute job, and so the resulting sound is so difficult to compare with what went before. And, if there is any substance to burn-in, that process might be needed again for cables unused for a few months.

The problem with the Devialet is that each time one turns it on, the sound is a nice surprise. As it was with the Missing Link cables, full of detail, space and imagery.

I can just say that both Soundstring and Missing Link are worth a try - especially if you don't want to explore Transparent prices which appear to be around £2k i/c and £5.5k l/s for the Reference and £9k i/c and £28k l/s for the new Opus.