I have a linn akurate ds 3 going into a supernait 3 feeding pmc prodigy 5’ s. I have recently had a loan of a second hand chord signature x rca interconnects. I was about to buy and then asked my dealer about naims preference for din connection. He said he has ‘older’ sarum interconnects coming in and could get chord to put a din socket for the naim end. I know the sarum is likely to be better than the newer signature; but the price is going up and I could end up with interconnects that new would be more expensive than my speakers. I am interested in forum opinions on whether this makes sense or am I creating an unbalanced system if I went ahead. Thanks in advance for any views.
If you like what the Signature does, I wouldn’t worry too much about the RCA or Din connections. The Supernait had RCA inputs and they will be fine. I certainly wouldn’t spend more than the cost of used Signature, and Sarum would be a step too far given the other parts of the system. I use Clearway streaming cables, which seem about the right level, in your case the RCA cables obviously.
I don’t have the OP’s equipment. However when I moved to the Sarum T interconnects with my SN3 and NDX2, the improvement was very significant. I moved from EpicX to SarumT
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As your using rca at the moment I’d try the Sarum like this before committing to getting chord to change to din
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As has been sensibly stated by HH there are levels and balances to these things I had a Supernait 2 and used the excellent Chord Chrysalis RCA/Din I also have Chord Chrysalis RCA/RCA and there is no difference between the 2 sets.
The previous “old” Sarum model is a bit smoother but really not that much better than the Signature. Actually the latter may fit better in a Linn source system to keep it more alive.
I use Chord cables in my system (also Powerlines). My experience is that it’s worth getting the best cables you can afford if you want to get the best out of your system. They can make a very significant improvement. I don’t really understand the logic that better cables will be unbalancing the system or will be a step too far. All better cables can do is to allow your equipment to perform better, so that you will get more out of it. They can’t make it sound worse (unless poorly matched). As for cost, we’ve spent around £7K on mains blocks and cables for our system. Equipment cost, without cables, is of the order of £13K or so. So that’s over half that amount spent on mains blocks, cables, Chord Power Arays and Ground Arays. It was money very well spent and has elevated the performance in ways that couldn’t be achieved with box upgrades. The old concept of spending around 10% of your budget on cables and stands etc. is way out of date and hails from a time when these things were incapable of making such profound improvements. Things have moved on now with cable technology and performance.
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I agree. I don’t follow the herd mentality often practiced here and make up my mind on what to do (or not to do). The way I view things is simple. Cables are as important as anything else in the system as it’s part of it so the percentage of spend doesn’t really matter to me. Of course one could argue that it’s better to allocate more for the components rather than cables for a larger difference, and that is quite true. Nevertheless, there is no end to the game and once people have reached a certain stage some may want to stop making anymore changes to the components, and that’s the time when people choose to maximise the potential of the system with cables.
I am currently still swapping amps in my system after my Gryphon Diablo 300 was away for repair, currently comparing between the Luxman 590AXII and 282/HicapDR/250DR. I’ve done the comparison several years ago and am repeating the exercise lately. My conclusion is both cables and components are equally important and the end result or performance will be dependent on their combined performance. It will be stellar if both cables and components complement each other. If either one is subpar sound quality will suffer.
Despite the above of course we have to be reasonable. It would be crazy to allocate say 90% budget on cables and 10% on components. I’m just suggesting that it’s not necessary to fix a ‘rule’ on the percentage to spend on cables.
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Many thanks for responses so far , I can see the sense in what everyone is saying. I had in my head the often quoted 10- 15 % ‘ rule’ and I especially like the challenge to this.I also have a thought that my pmc prodigy 5’ s will have a limit in what they are capable of translating from the information in other bits of the hi fi food chain. Must be true? I have only started seriously upgrading over the last few years , since getting my lp 12 based system in the 90’s.
I can hear the uplift in sound quality going from my chord shawline to the borrowed signature x and I will give the sarum a listen .I guess it might be worth stalling having a din connection fitted and go with the rca as there are comments above saying that there might not be a heluva difference in sound. I also when getting naim powerlines on amp and hicap noticed a good improvement and thank this forum for views on that.
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Spot on and exactly my thinking.
While better cables can optimise a system where one doesn’t plan any more box upgrades - for example I had SuperLumina XLRs and speaker cables with my 272/555/300DR - spending a lot is more questionable when one plans to upgrade boxes further. In this case, might the money be better spent on improving the streamer to a Selekt, or the speakers to a pair from the Prophecy range?
I would say both approaches are viable and it depends on exactly what you want to achieve and when. Optimising system infrastructure can pay huge dividends now and will also maiximise the potential of any future upgrades. Also I have found that the sorts of improvements I have achieved through cables etc. have been different and more fundamental to performance than many box upgrades I’ve made. But you can argue it both ways.
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I may look at the Prophecy range at some point; but cash flow is easier for 2nd hand interconnects at this point in time. I was going to buy a 2nd hand old keel for my lp12 to replace a tangerine k u v. My dealer was I think , reading between the lines,saying the upgrade would be subtle. Hence borrowing the 2nd hand chord signature x
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