I have my eyes out for some second hand Audio Note AN-K speakers, and while I wait I would like to research some new speaker cables, but I really don't know a single thing about speaker cables. Could someone give me some pointers on some suitable brands/cables to research? System: ProJect X1 TT Ortofon Blue cartridge + stylus Schiit Mani phonostage Audio Note iZero amp Rothwell 'The River' interconnects At the moment I have some £30 per metre speaker cables from Richer Sounds, they don't appear to be branded. I haven't heard any other cable in this system, so unsure of how they sound. What would be a good speaker cable for my level of hi-fi? Do I need to upgrade it at this level? Also what is the weak point on the system? The phono stage perhaps?
The speaker cables you’ve already got are ideal for any level of hi-fi. The Pro-ject X1 turntable has a tonearm that can easily handle and will be a good resonance match to a number of cartridges that are audibly better than the Ortofon 2M Blue. The 2M Blue is a good cartridge too, but your tonearm can handle a significant upgrade. The Ortofon Quintet Bronze is a massive upgrade in music accuracy and musical enjoyment. Best to audition a turntable with a Quintet Bronze installed at your dealer. The original Schiit Mani was not a great phono preamp, but Schiit listened and produced the exemplary Mani 2 that IMO is a best buy at its price point. Something like the Graham Slee Reflex C will be a revelation compared to the Mani 2 though, and is an ideal match for the Quintet Bronze (which is a moving coil cartridge). However… if your 2M Blue is correctly set up and your Mani is the Mani 2, be happy. Instead, if it’s not already done, spend some time and effort of optimizing your speaker positioning for better dispersion in your listening room, and take some time to make adjustments in your room to improve its acoustics. You’re liable to find better sound then, but with the components you’ve already got.
I think the obvious answer is to try and buy the Audio Note cable that will match the internal wiring of the loudspeaker you buy. AN K/D AN K/Lx AN K/SPe AN K/SPx Thus if you buy the AN K/D speaker that uses AN D internal cable ( $15 a meter) you can buy the matching AN D speaker cables. Ditto if you buy the AN K/Lx try and get Lx Speaker cables and Lx(Lexus) IC cables. If you're going to consider going down the path of a complete AN system - then look at their cables - yes they make expensive ones but they also make quite affordable ones. I was never a cable guy because I almost never heard any differences - and usually it was some silly brand like MIT who put a box on the cable - probably a resistor box - it made the sound much worse and cost a lot. It was only when I broke my AN V silver IC and put back my Tara Labs - the latter made the sound so unbelievably ****ty that I jiggerypockeried my AN V to get it to work until I could get it fixed. When I first got the AN V I never noticed any improvement - but after about a year of use and then switching back man oh man did the Tara Labs sound gritty bright and altogether rubbish - so bad was that $150 cable that I just through it out. I wouldn't sick that caca on my worst enemy. Award-winning cable in blind tests at Hi-Fi Choice too - my lord those other cables in the blind session must have been truly shocking. If you can get Lx for a good price - that's worth exploring. Audio Note is usually pretty good about letting you try this stuff for an extended period of time to be sure you like it. That goes for all of their products assuming the dealers have it. And if you do order from a dealer - they will usually give you a "stand in" while you wait. Ie; if you buy an AN E speaker they will lend you and AN K or AN J for the time you wait - which could be six months or so. Kind of like a loaner car. But it always makes logical sense to match the speaker cable design with the speaker cable inside the speaker and voice coils.
Thanks! I'd not heard of the Quintet Bronze just the 2M Bronze. I'll look into it! Nice to know the TT tonearm has room for an upgrade. *EDIT* I just looked into it and saw it's a MC rather than MM. Quick and dumb question: is MC superior to MM (dont mean to open a can of worms here, but they're more expensive so I imagine, yes?). Sadly no the Schiit Mani is the first one. I bought it second hand and didn't realise until after I'd bought it, that it was v1. Is it worth selling it and buying the Mani 2? It's only £200. But that said I would love to get the matching Audio Note R Zero II and stack it on top of the amp. C'mon eBay!
I get that you can spend a heck of a lot more, but even so £30 a metre for speaker cables is relatively expensive. Are you sure that’s what you paid ? The award winning Chord Rumour X’s are only £20 a metre. I’d check yourself or with Richer’s what you bought (from the receipt or take them into the store - they sell Chord anyway - the Chord Shawline is around £35/m). If you did pay £30/m, and they are something like the Shawline, I’d think twice about changing them. If you do want to spend more, you may want to go to a dedicated hifi store, there are plenty in London as you’ll know, and you should demo what you have against a possible new purchase. And I’d get the new (used) speakers first, so you can hopefully try possibilities with your amp and speakers (a good store should be willing to lend for a deposit).
The cable @avanti1960 recommends is available from Russ Andrews in your area which can be made to order in the length you require and I would suggest specking them with Kimber's S-BAN connector. Also, check out Chord Company Speaker Cables and Interconnects from Chord Company that has an extensive line of interconnects and speaker cables made in England and Atlas Cables New Products | Munich High End Show 2022 | Atlas Cables from Scotland.
This is the answer. Super high quality builds at a very reasonable price. EDIT: Wait, just saw that you already have 30 pound a meter cable. No, there's zero reason to upgrade at all.
You already have expensive cables. I would wait until you get the new speakers and not worry about it. Yeah, look to replace the Mani if you've got money to spare.
In this case, the Ortofon Quintet Bronze is the superior cartridge. The moving magnet 2M Blue is good, but the moving coil Quintet Bronze is excellent. The Mani phono preamp can only handle moving magnet cartridges. At the affordable and moderate ends of the retail price ranks, moving coil cartridges offer little or nothing over moving magnet cartridges at the same price points. As well, there are a number of high-end moving magnet cartridges at £/$/€1000 and higher that simply do it all. With a well-designed phono preamp, they’re end-game cartridges. The Nagaoka MP-500, Goldring 2500, Ortofon 2M Black, and Clearaudio Maestro V2 are among the best moving magnet cartridges ever designed and produced. They need something significantly better than a Schiit Mani 2 with its tiny power supply and correspondingly limited headroom. The Schiit Mani 2 is a good, basic, moving magnet phono preamp. It’s quiet, its RIAA eq implementation is accurate, it’s not muffled or nasal. It is audibly slightly better in two metrics (lower noise floor, more accurate RIAA eq) than the Mani 1. But it’s not a significant upgrade and still has a relatively poor power supply. The Audio Note R Zero II has a higher noise floor that the Mani 2 that is plainly audible between tracks and just high enough to sometimes mask some quietly played, upper midrange and treble notes. It’s expensive, and that makes it very poor value for the money. Audio Note does several things quite well, but IMO the R Zero II isn’t one of them. The concept of purchasing speaker cable to match the internal wiring of a loudspeaker is bizarre. It’s also technically senseless - nothing more than a marketing game to help the company sell more wire. It confers no audible or electrical benefits.
Would suggest try NVA. They sell cables direct. Start with the cheapest and then exchange to upgrade. Even their lower level cables beat the Audioquest I used to own.
Don't waste your money on exotic nonsense. There is nothing special about speaker cables. Low resistance is all that matters and that is easily accomplished by buying the correct gauge wire for your amp's wattage. I like Belden brand (founded in 1902) sold by BlueJeansCable.
Ok so it turns out my speaker cable is Chord Company Carnival Silver Screens and were £6 a meter! I guess I paid £30 in total then! . ok definitely should upgrade this. I just looked and the Mani 1 and Mani 2 are both MC/MM. What do you reckon then between the M2 Bronze and Quintet Bronze? Is there much difference? Are they at the moderate end of the spectrum as you mentioned? ah that’s a shame about the R Zero II being noisy. What would be a good phono stage to get instead then? How would the Mani 2, R Zero II, Decware CP3 and Sunvalley Audio SV-EQ1616D compare? Would any be the wiser choice in this set up?
Give a serious look at the SOTA Pyxi phono preamp. It will compete with units 3x more expensive, and it has two gain settings (MM/MI and MC) and dip switches on the back for capacitance and resistance loading.
Why would you want to upgrade your perfectly fine speaker cables? The Chord Carnival Silver Screen cable is very low resistance, inductance is very low, and capacitance is moderate and well-controlled. None. I personally don’t recommend any of them because, IMO and to my ears, their sound quality is good but not great for the money, they’re all noisy compared to the Mani 2, and the Mani 2 is not enough of an upgrade to warrant making a change from a Mani 1. On my recommended list, the Graham Slee Reflex M or C, Simaudio Moon 110LP, Lehman Black Cube SEII, Dynavector P75 MK4, Musical Fidelity MX Vinyl, and the Trichord Dino are all exemplary choices. They’re all under 800 pounds. Phono preamps to buy once and keep for many, many years of thoroughly enjoyable use. Superb sound, blissfully silent backgrounds, good versatility. The Lounge Audio LCR (MM) phono preamp is popular amongst SHF members, and the matching Lounge Audio Copla step-up makes it MC compatible as well. @morinix is the owner and a member here. The Lounge Audio LCR and Copla are not on my recommended list yet, and at this point it’s about time I ordered the pair for myself (though I understand that Robert is still backed up with orders since receiving a good review in one of the major mags earlier this year). The only LCR I’ve laid my hands on was borrowed and I don’t have extensive personal notes about it. @Benzion is an active SHF member and a Lounge Audio user (among others here) and might be able to offer some additional insights.
You still really don't need to. You're going to hear no difference between those or any other cable you choose at a higher price point.
Just coming back to this point. I can only find 2 reviews of this online. One review states that it is noisy and the other is by @Steve Hoffman which doesnt mention noise. Is the Mani quiet because it's SS and tube phono stages are inherently noisy? Which is why you're saying the Decware, Sunvalley, AN phono stages are noisy, due to the tubes?
I am bias towards CHORD and if you are in the UK you might be able to easily get some in the second hand market. I use EpicX for my main but they produce a lot of different lines at different price points.
