The Speaker Cables

[Gromit]

At the moment I'm in the process of taking lots of photos for the new NVA website which James (Selby) is building - what he's doing goes waaaaay beyond me so I'll well and truly leave him to that sort of stuff. However, with the Doc sending me various bits of kit it would surely be rather silly not to hook it up and have a listen? Well, yesterday was such a day so I thought it would be fun to spend a couple of hours comparing the speaker cables, going up through the range from LS1 up to LS7.

Now, it should be noted that I'm not going to use this as a thread to recommend these cables, it was purely an exercise to find out what differences lay between them, relative to each other. My rig is as per the sig. Music was a selection of stuff from Chopin Nocturnes (Pollini), Shostakovich 11 (C'bouw/Haitink), Joan Armatrading 'Me, Myself, I' plus a recording (solo Clarinet) I made of myself a few years ago.

What did this throw up? Well the big surprise was going from LS5 to LS6 - the 6 sounds very different to its 'lesser' brethren, having a subtly different approach...

LS1 is a well-ordered, tidy sounding cable which gives a good hint at what is to come in 3 & 5 (as you'd expect). It's listenable, holding the attention but it does tend to gloss-over inner dynamic detail though ie the tension & release within the musical phrase. Transient dynamics (snare drum, bass attack) are softer. A 'smaller' sounding cable? I thinks so. Great for those whose speakers are over-blown though - not sure my ProAcs liked it as they need all the help they can get in terms of scale. For them it wasn't a great match. I've owned LS1 previously though and it works great with Royds, drying up the bass nicely with my old Minstrels which could get somewhat fruity in my room.

LS3 - this is getting there now. More harmonic detail - decay on acoustic guitar hangs on for longer. Inner keyboard accompaniments are more obvious, adding colour to the mix - music hangs together better now, a greater feeling of ensemble. A lot more dynamic detail too.

LS5 - this is a major jump from LS3, bigger than that from 1 to 3 I feel. Transient dynamics are much more convincing - the cable's given music some teeth, but without added aggression. Rhythm is more metronomic, locked-down, gaining direction ie it's easier to detect where things are going - as though a darkened room has been lit up and the furniture is now visible? Injects brio, increasing dynamic headroom - it almost sounds like a bigger amp has been inserted into the system vs 1 & 3.

LS6 - this was a shock to start with, sounding slower, softer, initially less overtly impressive than LS5. That's until you listen to something like Pollini playing Chopin Nocturnes and it all becomes very obvious. His touch, turn of phrase, those tiny inner dynamics which lend each phrase its colour - those vertical moments in musical time which sound fine on their own, have been joined up to create a horizontal chain of events which is what music is all about. After a while I realised that I was wrong re the transient 'weight' of LS6 - if anything it hits even harder than LS5 but makes it sound clumsy by comparison.

LS7? It's like LS6 but someone's turned the tap on a little more - it's subtly better than LS6 but once I'd got used to what it does, its improvement was fairly obvious. Never heard my ProAcs blossom like this before, it matches them beautifully. How it would sound with 'fruitier' speakers I really don't know as I don't have any to try.

There's some LS2 to try but I need to move things around to hook it up. Will try and have a play with it over the next few days.

[jammy395]

Nice stuff the LS6.

I was never one for fancy hifi cables (never quite believing the bull) but being well chuffed with my other NVA purchases I finaly bit the bullet and decided to bin my B&Q patch speaker cable for a set of bi wired LS6's.

Now that was a fair shock to the system...

[Shevans]

A really nice summary of the NVA speaker cables, thank you.

If you get the opportunity it would be nice to know if you swapped in the 2010i's with similar results.

[Gromit]

A really nice summary of the NVA speaker cables, thank you.

If you get the opportunity it would be nice to know if you swapped in the 2010i's with similar results.

Sorry - should've said...

I did try the little Q's but not with LS6 or 7 as it's a tad too stiff to bend into the terminals 'channel' under the speakers and I didn't want to force it for fear of damaging cable and/or speaker. Results were the same, although LS1 did give a better account of itself vs as it had with the ProAcs and was actually a nice match. LS5 was definitely the best though.

[Shevans]

A really nice summary of the NVA speaker cables, thank you.

If you get the opportunity it would be nice to know if you swapped in the 2010i's with similar results.

Sorry - should've said...

I did try the little Q's but not with LS6 or 7 as it's a tad too stiff to bend into the terminals 'channel' under the speakers and I didn't want to force it for fear of damaging cable and/or speaker. Results were the same, although LS1 did give a better account of itself vs as it had with the ProAcs and was actually a nice match. LS5 was definitely the best though.

Yes those channels are a really nice idea on paper and for hiding the cables away, must admit that having owned LS5 it would be quite a challange to fit. Its bad enough using Talk 3 as I have the dedicated stands and the cable takes quite a sharp turn downwards into the stand.

[Andrew]

I love the way LS6 opens everything up. Hard to put into words, but it just doesn't seem to screw up the space between and around performers, which makes it unique, in my experience at least. It also seems to work the same magic with other amps I've tried and also different speakers.

[Gromit]

Yes those channels are a really nice idea on paper and for hiding the cables away, must admit that having owned LS5 it would be quite a challange to fit. Its bad enough using Talk 3 as I have the dedicated stands and the cable takes quite a sharp turn downwards into the stand.

You're right, they are a nice idea, providing suitable cable is used. For LS1/3 they're great as it allows the cable to drop naturally or just exit to the rear with no problem - LS5's ok too but I wouldn't want to use a cable any thicker/stiffer. I first had my 2010i's on top of Something Solid SL24 stands which were based around a large hollow tube approx 12cm in diameter - the cable just went straight down, out of the bottom of the stand and along the floor. Very neat.

[southall-1998]

Gromit,

I apologise for my stupidity. What does ''fruity'' sounding speakers mean???

Ta!

S.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

A tendency to fart over rich bass notes.

[Gromit]

Gromit,

I apologise for my stupidity. What does ''fruity'' sounding speakers mean???

Ta!

S.

Think of them as the equivalent of a 'My Fat Gypsy Wedding' ie devoid of good taste. :D