Intro
Contents
Last weekend we tested seven loudspeaker cables live on Youtube. With you! Or actually: six cables and a piece of lamp cord from some store. It was an interesting test in which some very audible differences. Well: in our opinion. In this article we explain everything to you.
The Live Stream multitests are special reviews where you as a viewer can watch and listen in. Basically we do nothing different than with a normal tes. So the method is the same. The only difference is that we let you watch and that has as a consequence that there are of course some cameras, lights and we chat with you. But it doesn’t influence judgment.
The set-up
The test of speaker cables has been done on our reference system. That means:
- Pass Labs XP12 preamplifier
- Bryston 4B SST3 power amplifier
- Focal Sopra No1 speakers
- Metrum Acoustics Pavane L2 d/a converter
- Metrum Acoustics Ambre streamer
- A complete optical network (from ROON server to Ambre)
- Filters from Isotek and Kemp
- Cabling Grimm Audio (interlinks) and Audioquest (power)
Tracklist
We’ve used four tracks in this live stream:
- Jaques Loussier Trio – Little Fuge in G minor
- Adele – Lovesong
- Emanuel Santarromana – Opéra
- Lorde – Royals
The reason we run these tracks is simple: we can check several characteristics of the system – and thus the speaker cable. Jaques Loussier shows ‘punch and kick’. Especially the drum at the start of the track is a good benchmark. The various musical layers should also be easy to follow: they should ‘flow’.
Adele is especially usefull to check the mids. It’s vocal oriented. But also the guitar in the beginning of the song should have a lot of definition. And the sound of the string has to flow into the next note. Adele’s voice is spicy, but does not need to be sharp.
Lode goes deep. Very deep. The bass tone at the beginning of the song is a good test for low-end pressure. Some cables do that better than others.
Finally Emanuel Santarromana. This song is very 3D. Effects fly around your ears. A good system lets you hear that without any problems. We certainly hear differences in imaging between the speaker cables.