I’m about to purchase Spendor A7 speakers to go with a Uniti Nova. The dealer I’m buying from is also a Chord dealer and has Offered the following options:
A basic 14ga copper flat speaker cable - convenient for concealing under furniture and such.
A 12ga Chord Epic silver coated copper shielded with a brown jacket - blends with my floor.
A 16ga Chord Shawline
The flat cable was in response to my request for one but the dealer recommends against it - I think he is right that it may be the weakest link in the chain. But is there mush to choose between the 12ga and 16ga cables? Also the Odyssey is unshielded while the Epic is shielded - does this make a big difference? Naturally there is a price difference but not enough for that to be a factor.
The appeal of the Odyssey is just that it is a bit slimmer and may be more flexible to run around a corner - there’s a fire pace that will protrude out between where one speaker will go and where the Nova and other speaker will go.
I use Chord Rumour X between my Nova and PMC’s and think it is great and good value. Fairly slim and flexible so approved by the Home Secretary! I had Chord Ohmic connectors factory fitted
That depends on the lenght you need vs the minimum (so not nominal) impedance of your speakers. As your speakers have according to Stereophile a minimum 6.1 Ohm impedance, you should be fine with 16ga as long as you stay under 4.5m. With 12ga until about 13.5m.
Remember that Naim’s recommendation for NACA5 is minimum 3.5m and optimum 5 to 10m. If you use non-Naim speaker cable you are likely to need longer lengths to achieve optimum capacitance and inductance for the amp.
With a Nova you don’t need to worry too much, it won’t explode just because the cables are a bit short, but still, I wouldn’t go too short.
I wish! The dealer is in Atlanta and I’m in Washington DC. I’m probably going to go with the Odyssey - it has a bit more flexibility.
My problem now is that there seems to be no Walnut finish Spendor A7 in available in stock the US. So it’s going to have to be shipped from England. Oh well, COVID has got me used to being patient.
Unfortunately with COVID and also with no Spendor dealer nearby I will not be able to. I’m going by the comments on this forum and other sources. Well, on this forum the A4s seemed to be recommended as a bit more appropriate but I’m opting for the A7s nonetheless.
In our home in Singapore I have a Nova with a pair of Ovator 400s that I had owned previously. That sounds good but not as good as I had expected. I have no reference since I had nothing to compare it with other than a MuSo-2. I love the Muso 2 but the difference between that and the Nova-Ovator400 combination was vast. I’m hoping the A7s will be better.
As mentioned in another thread, I had a Nova with A7’s and in my room with my ears it was not a successful marriage, the A7’s have quite a forward upper midrange and I found it exposed the Nova too much and was tiresome, even now with an SN3, although significantly better, the A7’s are still bugging me in the upper mids, they’re a very revealing and precise speaker and very very good in many ways but I think they need a slightly warmer amp and a very high end source. I’d be wary of purchase without an audition and as mentioned before I think the A4’s, which I had too, are a much better match for the Nova.
