Simplified layout. Crosshatching area is open plan kitchen.
Main genre’s of music are classical, acoustic, rock, pop and some jazz.
It was really laughable the difference the Siltech loom made regarding drop in noise floor. Placement of instruments was more easily defined and listening to certain material was more 3d like. I hate using this term but it’s what I experienced.
Can you enjoy a system with basic decent cables, of course you can.
Do you have to spend ridiculous amounts of money in order to enjoy music, of course not.
However, be weary of people giving opinions that are not based on actual experience. If they haven’t actually tried it, then their opinion is baseless.
Also, just because someone has installed a loom of ‘said cable’ from a manufacturer, no matter what the cost, it doesn’t guarantee that you will like the end result.
I love experimenting with cables and tweaking systems performance. Its part of the hobby for me. In fact, when I have a new tweak in mind, I really look forward to the weekend to try it out.
My most expensive cables were an Ansuz A3 powerchord cable, Ansuz A2 speaker cables and Nordost Tyr 2 XLRs. There were all great upgrades. Some bought second hand.
Recently, I started doing my own cables. However, if i buy high quality silver and decent plugs ( I.e. Klei), i quickly end up spending 500 € on a regular 1m RCA interconnect. 1 m of high purity silver with PTFE isolation costs around 100 €. So, for a 1m XLR you are already at 600 € just for the wire. When you imagine that commercial products would have to be priced at at least 5 times the production cost to cover marketing, service, warranty and dealer costs, such a cable would cost around 3000€ on the market. Of course there is more tech and know how going into high tech cables such as Siltech, Nordost, Ansuz, Naim etc.. So this development cost will also add to price. To cut it short, I dont think high end cables are overpriced.
Whether they are worth it, is a very personal decision. Just like with watches and hand bags…
What i can say is, that although the core of my system has not changed over the last 2-3 years, it sounds soo much better today. I enjoy the music more. But more importantly, I feel closer to the artists intention. It feels more intimate and less like merely consuming.
I use Duelund rca, noname rca, pro jack to xlr cables. Speaker cables are 2x2x1,5mm2 installation cables to bass and 2x2x0,75mm2 to tweeter and midrange drivers. I run active, so my cables follows recommended LCR and I can adjust the sound the way I want.
Speaker cables are €0,3 per meter.
Equipment cost is around €40000,- without speakers.
I bought two sets. One set 2 x 5m and one set 3m as I use a switch between two amps. Complicated set up. The set which were used sounded great from the off 2 x 3m. The 2nd set were from new and took 4 weeks or more to burn in. They sounded bright and sometimes poor. But then they sounded brilliant!
We purchased a lovely pair of Intro’s MK 1 from Tom Tom Audio as we have had Q Acoustics Concept 20 speakers for a number of years due to room size etc
We are and always will be source first people and we had our CDX attached to a newly acquired XPS, all the interconnects were Witchhat Audio and were getting on in years. The Intro’s were voiced with NAC A5 and we found with the Witchhat they were not how we remembered them. So we replaced the old cable with NAC A5 and there was a great improvement in control.
We the then replaced the old Witchhat cable from CDX to 102 with a High line and again more controlled and better detail.
Because our Naim mains leads were quite old with MK plugs that has survived many moves we replaced them with Power Line Lites staying within the Naim family connected to a Russ Andrews Power Block with a Power Line Lite from one wall socket. The difference on musical enjoyment and increased listening sessions was immediate.
Now the Intro’s had come into their own. The final step was to introduce a 250 DR after we certain our 200 had given of it’s best
So yes we have probably spent a good bit on cables but wow the results are amazing
I’ve spent a reasonably large amount of money on cables for my main system. However, virtually all of this money has been spent on analogue cables (a mixture of XLR and RCA interconnects and speaker cable from Tellurium Q)!
My digital cables are all relatively standard specification cables from ‘Blue Jeans’.
I heard very significant differences between the different analogue cables I auditioned - particularly speaker cables. Not so with the minimal testing of ethernet cables and ethernet switches I carried out.
@GeoffC I recently found this dealer was selling Naim DIN to DIN cables on flee bay. So I contacted them about the missing cable from my NSS333 purchase. For little more than the cost of postage I have acquired the Naim grey DIN to DIN cable, it turned up in the post yesterday.
Yesterday i replaced my Heimdall2 powerchord on the Nap250Dr with a 2m Frey 2. Damn! It is like a secret force was unlocked in the Nap250Dr. Had no idea how capable this amp is
I continue to use the NAC speaker cable I bought when it first came out (1984 maybe). I can’t remember the exact price but it was less than 2 UKP a foot.
. My SL 7m was fully burnt in.