QED Original, Chord Carnival or Gale XL315?
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 507 Registered: Jan-05 | Since I'm getting no replies in the cables forums I'll post here. I did have QED Silver Anniversary XT. Horrible cable I discovered. I find it harsh and bright. Yes a little detail is lost without it. Im now using Gale XL105 and its so much more natural and detail has actually been GAINED in some frequencies. So has anyone heard the QED Original which is all copper. Or the Chord Carnival which is silver plated copper (hmm, thinking away from this one) Or my current favourite on the list, the Gale XL315 (now renamed gale syphony 400). Thank You |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 522 Registered: May-06 | JJ, I have a DIY speaker wire where I twisted silver and copper together (see my profile) and find it "clearer" not brighter. Expanded soundstage, slightly more forward, better upper range presence. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 523 Registered: May-06 | I can't find it right now but Frank S and Jan Vigne had a decent exchange going on another thread regarding the use of banana plugs versus bare wire. Jan or Frank, either of you care to influence JJ? |
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New member Username: ArienPost Number: 6 Registered: Jul-07 | I had very good result with Chord Co Carnival Silver plus, it replaced my Audioquest type 4 and QED Silver Anniversary |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 2257 Registered: Sep-04 | I wouldn't normally call QED Silver Anniversary XT harsh and bright. Yes, it's a touch bright, but not that bright! That said, there are two Chord Carnival cables: Chord Carnival - copper wire only, no silver coating. It looks like white mains cable, but it's a better quality. The copper wires are twisted cables in purple and green insulation, the whole lot covered in a white insulator. This is Chord's entry level and it's a nicely warm if somewhat limited resolution-wise. About half the price of... Chord Carnival Silver Plus - silver plated copper. Set in clear dielectric. 6 solid-ish wires set in a spiral, each kept a defined distance from the next thanks to more plastic 'wires' between them. The solid nature of the cores gives a very well defined bass. I like this cable a lot as it suits most situations well. However, it is a difficult cable to make up for a dealer since the solid nature of the cores makes them a bit difficult to work with when terminating the cables. Bare wire is most definitely not an option here in my view. After all that, the cables should compliment whatever your HiFi is. I would never recommend any of the above cables in a Naim system for example. I would recommend QED Silver Anniversary XT in dull systems to give them a lift (e.g Marantz or Pioneer) and I'd recommend Chord in any fairly neutral system (NAD, AVI). So it depends on what is being matched... Regards, Frank. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 530 Registered: Jan-05 | Thankyou for your replies. Its interesting to know Arien and Frank that you both like the Chord Carnival. Although I've decided Im definatley staying away from anything with silver in I dont want to take the risk. After all a student doesnt have money to blow, sadly. I will take a look at the chord carnival though since thats all copper. I like a warm detailed sound which I currently have. Im looking for something more permanent i.e. the Gale xl315/symphony 400 because i like the gale xl105 because my current cabling is different sizes and cut up and put together if that makes sense. Im in the stage of finding a suitable place for my system. I couldnt sell it..i just couldnt. Frank, its a cambridge audio 540a amp, wharfedale diamond 8.1 speakers, an emu 0404 soundcard and a ruark vita 50 sub. Its very detailed sounding. The problem is I think I'm going to require 16metres since my speakers and amp will not be near eachother. So this is why im shying away from the chord carnival. However the Gale isnt an 'friendly' looking with its clear covering. For your information Frank. Some gale banana plugs are on their way  So.. Speaker stands. Speaker wire, likely the Gale, fit the plugs. Plus affix a shelf to my wall. What hassle lol! |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 2260 Registered: Sep-04 | JJ, The amp is detailed, but the speakers are quite warm. In my view, if you like the Gale then you should just stick with it. Don't buy other cable unless you get to hear a demo run in your system. You should be able to find a decent dealer who can lend you cables over a weekend. That's all you'll need to know whether it's worth changing. Regards, Frank. |
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Silver Member Username: Sun_kingUK Post Number: 394 Registered: Mar-04 | I used to run QED original a few years ago, an upgrade from Gale bi-wire would you believe! I didn't notice any difference to be honest, except that the QED is thinner and it's easier to be more discreet with the cabling! |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 532 Registered: Jan-05 | I may do that Frank. I'm thinking on the basis that i like the basic Gale, since copper wire is less conductive than silver, a thicker copper will yield better results. At £2 a metre it takes my fancy. You see Adam, that's odd how some people notice differences. I think the big thing about cables is that there are differences, its just some people notice it and some people dont. Like i tried bi-wiring my speakers and didnt notice any difference. So single wiring is all that matters to me as I'm not going to waste money for a better result that isnt actually better. In my opinion!! JJ |
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Silver Member Username: Sun_kingUK Post Number: 395 Registered: Mar-04 | I've now got Townshend Isolda though JJ  I do notice some differences between cables, mainly interconnects. However, a bog-standard copper wire 'sounds' much the same as any other copper wire in my experience. A silver wire will sound different to copper, as will silver-plated copper to a smaller degree. Then there are different ways of doing it all but at the budget end of the market copper will be like copper and silver like silver. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 549 Registered: Jan-05 | Then Gale copper wire it'll be. I would never pay that much for wire like you've done with your Townshend though. Thats money down the drain do you not agree? After all you said only differences are between the material of the wire. |
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Silver Member Username: Sun_kingUK Post Number: 396 Registered: Mar-04 | How does £28,500 GBP per 3m pair grab you for speaker cable? http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertainment/hi-fi-and-audio/hi-fi-amps-and-receiver s/news/new-odin-speaker-cables-cost-12500-for-1m?articleid=456234472 ...oh and if you want the matching interconnect it will cost you £10,000 GBP for a 1m pair. I use three pairs of interconnects in my system and I also use 2 x 3m runs of speaker cable. So if I were to 'upgrade' to the Nordost Odin line it would cost me £58,500 GBP purely in cabling. So you see James, my Townshend cable is actually cheap sh*t.  |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 551 Registered: Jan-05 | Pointless. Really throwing your money into a shredder!! What would be interesting is to see if you blinfolded yourself and got some £200 wire vs that multi thousand pound stuff and see which u think is better. If you say the £200 stuff you know whos ripping everyone off!! |
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Silver Member Username: Sun_kingUK Post Number: 398 Registered: Mar-04 | Well I'm sure they're good but let's face it, differences between cables are subtle at best. I've never listened to music played through Nordost Odin cables though so I can't possibly comment. |
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Silver Member Username: James_the_godDoncaster, South Yorkshire England Post Number: 555 Registered: Jan-05 | "differences between cables are subtle at best" I'd agree entirely. The only big differences are between copper and silver. God knows about tin plated etc, probably more harsh than copper like silver is. Guage is important to a degree to get the width and detail in the music. But that's about it I'd say. These companies who charge so much will jazz up the cables with nice aesthetics, 'super duper guaranteed 0.00000% air breaching to cable' marketing, and a special insulation to minimise interference. Other than that, what on earth else can you do with a cable. I've not had many cables but it doesnt take many to realise how important they are and what to spend money on. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8036 Registered: Dec-04 | https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/accessories/342576.html#MT Guy's, if you missed this, ya might want to give it a read. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 565 Registered: May-06 | JJ - Jan and I have both built DIY as to what Nuck's link has posted. I went one step further and ordered some 99.99% pure silver wire and combined it with the copper magnet wire on my speaker runs and as the positive feed (post) copper negative (sleeve) for my interconnects. It was an experiment that worked for me on my system. It made my highs clearer not brighter. However since I am being a speaker whore today and tonight I can tell you they do not work with every set up. I changed out to another pair of full range floor standing speakers and found the higher frequencies over the top with the brightness of the sound. I will need to swap the HD extension cord back in for those. The other speakers I tried with copper only and the treble was at a good level, I would not want to try silver with either of the other 2 sets of speakers. So the silver with copper for me only worked with one of 4 sets of speakers (Theoretically). Fortunately for me it was with my speakers. The point being the old axiom "everything counts". Different anything can change something to work for one person what does not work for another. Generic statements can be too broad in many cases. Please be more specific as too why Silver is more harsh. What did you do? What was your set up? What did you do to make it better? |
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Gold Member Username: Frank_abelaBerkshire UK Post Number: 2282 Registered: Sep-04 | JJ, Configuration (i.e. twisted pair, flat ribbon, flat plate - a la Townshend) can have a huge effect on wire and system performance. Regards, Frank. |
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