@Jaybar …. This not a science, it’s an advisory guideline that’s generally agreed by dealers, press and users. Cost plus or cost inclusive is not that important.
@NigelA10 About 25-28 feet.
If you’re happy stay with them. All Chord cables are good and they are priced for all different budgets.
One option is to see what secondhand or ex-demo Chord cables your dealer has, as these may be cheaper than buying new from them and you could maybe up-spec with them. I’m sure that they would install them for you.
DG….
I don’t want to be a broken record, so I’m not going to come back after this. Try talking to Chord. I emailed them at 18:00 today about something completely different and which does not involve me spending any money with them or their dealers. I was surprised to get a response at 22:00. Yes, someone replied to my query in their own time!
@catswhiskers i emailed Chord and got a response. Both Shawline and Epic X will be a significant improvement over my current Chord speaker cable. They recommend having the interconnect and speaker cable in the same range. I will talk to my dealer.
Guideline is 10-15% but the cables in my system are approximately 35% the cost of the entire system. Apart from cost of components, the cost of cables, power conditioner, rack and isolation devices are included to the system when computing the percentage.
Apart from speaker cables, I find mains power cables and the way the components are connected (directly to wall or to power conditioners) to be important. Most cheap and mid priced power blocks degrade sound quality
@ryder thanks for your reply I have the Isotek power conditioner. I am using their power cables as well. The Isotek is about $2200,not cheap. Because of our disabilities we can’t easily get to the wall outlets behind the racks. We plug into the Isotek which is on a rack shelf.
After speaking with my dealer, he had reservations about me going beyond the Epic X range, unless I had plans to upgrade my speakers beyond the A4 Spendors, which we don’t. We really like our speakers, which work well with our challenging room. We have a long history of speakers which did not interact well with our room.
I will be purchasing Epic X speaker cable and two Epic X din interconnects. One from the NDX2 to the SN3 and one from the CD5SI to the SN3. At this time I will not upgrade the cables from the HighcapDr or XPSDr.
Thanks for all your help.
Congrats … enjoy your new cables ![]()
I have Spendor A4 speakers and really like them. I’m upgrading speaker cable from Chord Silver Screen ( predecessor to Clearway) to Epic X. If I ever decide to upgrade speakers (unlikely but possible) would the Epic X be compatible with better speakers or would it be outclassed? I’m using a SN3.
You’re over thinking this Jaybar, EpicX is perfectly OK for any speaker. Maybe if you changed amp to a top end multi box system then maybe you might consider it again.
I have found that there is a discernible difference between Chord at the different price points I.e between Shawline and Epic, as always the caveat that a significant price difference of x % is never going to result in an equivalent sound difference of x %
A law of diminishing returns applies.
I find Chord a very reliable brand with most of my interconnects and power cords being of Chord manufacture .
It would,certainly enable the improvement of sound you seek and would be ready for a step up .
Epic would be at furthest end of your audio journey based on the current set up.
I had Clearway with my Nova and now have Phantoms
From what I heard at my dealer, I would be perfectly happy with Shawline interconnects.
I just bought the Epics due to a good discount.
Jaybar, I have heard different types of chord cables demoed with SN several times and it is enough to reveal the differences of the different levels up to Music. Not demoed the X generation of speaker and interconnect cables but based on my experience I would first prioritize upgrade of interconnects a couple of steps before the next level of speaker cable. As you I needed long speaker cables I prioritized and owning Naca5 (which I found it took at least Epic to better) I chose to focus on interconnects first. I think your dealer is giving good advice to consider Epic X if you don’t plan to go to higher levels on the interconnect side later on as well.
In your place I would possibly consider a Signature X for the NDX and staying with a shawline with the cd…
@Joppe My dealer’s tech did a home visit yesterday to measure for speaker cable. Unfortunately I will need 11 meters as my racks are in the opposite end of the space. Moving them is not an option as that would block our skyline view. Given that, I do not want to go higher than Epic X, b/c of the cost. He also felt that better speaker cables beyond the Epic X would face the limitations of my speakers. I am quite satisfied with stopping at Epic X for both interconnect and speaker cable .
@garcon hi … may I ask , the chord music you are using , how’s the synergy with the naim kits you have, and w the marten too . Also , what’s the character it gives when hook up with naim gears … thanks .
I had heard it with the 800s, but not with any naim gears , hence the question.
The Chord company and Naim are associated from the 80s and I think it’s safe to say that Chord cables have always been an appropriate choice for Naim equipment. I believe engineers at Chord still develop their cables with their ears and with Naim equipment on site. So I don’t think there’s anything to worry about matching but more about preference.
As for Music - if they do anything exceptional, it’s the ease of flow, everything is just there without any effort. You connect them and just say “ah, yes”. They work so well with the Martens which produce a similar effect that I consider them as one whole. I do want to try the Martens with a higher level Jorma Design speaker cables as they were designed with those in mind but other than this nothing else I’ve tried has had the same synergy for me.
Yup , Jorma from Sweden too .many thanks for taking time to reply back ![]()