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Thread: Macca's Lash Up 2: Lash Harder

  1. #501
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,772
    I'm Martin.

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    Got these Cambridge Audio speaker cables from Jerry:



    Funny thing this is with speaker cables at the moment. I've been using Chord Odyssey 2 for several years since, in a moment of madness, I bought a 3 metre bi-wire set brand new. Made no difference at all in my system at the time but I carried on with them. But when I got the JM Lab speakers and the Krell power amp they just were not working. Great clarity, but the sound was unbalanced, too much upper mid masking everything else. It was, as they say, 'fatiguing'.

    At the time I had no way to know this was the speaker cable, indeed some would say that it is not possible that it could be. I had just changed amp and speakers, could be anything going on. But I thought I would try the cable first. Put some NVA cable in, much better balanced but still too much mid. Vocals shouldn't be blotting out everything else. And the sound was bland. Clean but bland.

    So it was a change in sound, even if still not quite right, it did seem to indicate to me that the Krell/JM Lab pairing was sensitive to the nature of the wires in between them. So I got some NVA LS5 which I had used before and which is not shy in the bass. Initially this seemed to be the perfect balance. Lots of weight down below, actually thought I might be able to give up my ambition of upgrading the speakers to JBL 4365.

    But after extended listening I again started to think that the sound was a bit bland. Trying to work out what exactly was happening I concluded that the upper mids and top were quite far back in the mix. Now I hate systems that put the vocalist out on the carpet in front of the speakers. That just isn't right. The stereo action should all be behind the plane of the speakers. But this was just too far that way. Also I could detect a little distortion in the mid-bass unit when playing stuff with pumped up and compressed bass, Steely Dan doing 'Jack Of Speed' set this off.

    Adding to the complication here, the speakers are bi-wire and came without the links. I'd made up some jumpers, only about an inch long, from 79 strand. So I wasn't using the same cable all the way to the mid and top. The Krell amp does not have the facility for bi-wiring.

    So, I was looking for some (3 metre or more) cable that was 2 into 1 (or 1 into 2 I suppose if you are going from amp to speaker) and that might provide a 'Goldilocks' solution, in that it would be balanced somewhere between the Chord and the NVA. Jerry was selling this cable that was exactly that so I thought I would give it a try.

    It's weird stuff, like computer ribbon connector. I suppose the idea is that it is flat and you can run it under the carpet. Anyway I connect it up, sounds very different to the NVA cables, much livelier, a bit more like the Chord, but more balanced than the Chord. Nothing swamping anything else. First test passed. So far I've had a listen to:

    Sade: 'Diamond Life' (I know what you are thinking and your right, this is not an album to test with. But it was already in the player and I had to check to see if I had wired everything up right, then ended up listening to it all).

    Steely Dan: 'Countdown to Ecstasy' In 'Show Biz Kids' there is someone hitting a big tambourine all the way through over on the right. That came across very well. You could practically see it.

    Isaac Hayes 'Don't Let Go' - bass is good, not weak, although would prefer more. But I think that is the speakers, I could use another octave down below and they just don't have it. Too small for the room. Bass tone is very good though, and no wooliness. Different bass guitars sounded different.

    The Cult 'Love' - Thought I would go for something a bit raucous to see if it got fatiguing. It didn't. Owned this since it came out, have the vinyl and the cd, played both a hundred times and know every note. What I noticed this time was the recording itself, much more details came out, it sounded like what it is, a good but not particularly slick recording made on a budget. Not heard it like that before, ever. It was no less enjoyable, more so.

    Jerry sad these cables have 'good rez', he is right. What I'm trying to get with this system is a good balance between an uncompromising window on the recording and something that sounds good to listen too as well. And again I know what you are thinking and you're right (again). 'The moon on a stick.' Well, we shall see.

    But that is it so far. I have learnt not to make any judgements until I've played through at least half my collection Or at least twenty or thirty particular albums. It can be the thirtieth that finally shows up what you really knew all along but were denying. Plus I intend to get a DAC and that might change things again anyway.
    Last edited by Macca; 08-08-2017 at 19:17.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  2. #502
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    They are decent cables Martin. I heard nothing wrong with these when I had a set. They just get on and do the job.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  3. #503
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,772
    I'm Martin.

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    It interests me, though, that of 4 sets of speaker cables each present the sound quite differently. Or at least differently enough to be obvious in the differences. It really shouldn't happen. I'd prefer it didn't. I've swapped speaker cable and heard no difference before. But that was in previous lash-ups that were 'lower end' than what I have now. The only time I have heard differences before was when there was an amp/speaker mis-match, i.e the amp was not comfortable driving the speakers. But that is not the case here so I just don't know.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  4. #504
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: N E Kent

    Posts: 51,624
    I'm Geoff.

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    It's true that the more revealing the system, the more the effect of minor changes like swapping cables can be discerned. Interconnect and speaker cable swaps have a very audible influence in my setup.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  5. #505
    Join Date: Feb 2013

    Location: W Lothian

    Posts: 99,005
    I'm Grant.

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    there is the twist Martin. No such thing as never, or cant
    Regards,
    Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work
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    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

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  6. #506
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,772
    I'm Martin.

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    New in the rack for Autumn - Sony X505ES cd player. With the wooden end cheeks. Forgetaboutit:

    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  7. #507
    Join Date: Sep 2014

    Location: brighton uk.

    Posts: 4,737
    I'm jamie.

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    back of the net!
    i have the x555es,'astounding quality',not my words but the words of shaking stevens!
    My System
    John Wood KT88 Amp.
    Paradise Phono Stage
    Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
    PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
    Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
    Sony X555ES Cd Player
    Yamaha NS1000m Speakers

  8. #508
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,772
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    It gives good bass, not so convinced about the other end. Nowt obviously wrong with it but I've heard better. I am being fussy. It is the best cd player I've owned apart from maybe the Technics broadcast. It's quite similar to that in fact.

    Not sure where this and the 555 fit in, was the 555 earlier or later than the 505?
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  9. #509
    Join Date: Sep 2014

    Location: brighton uk.

    Posts: 4,737
    I'm jamie.

    Default

    it would appear from a quick google the 555 is 91-92 and yours is from 93-94.
    visually they look the same to me.
    My System
    John Wood KT88 Amp.
    Paradise Phono Stage
    Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
    PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
    Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
    Sony X555ES Cd Player
    Yamaha NS1000m Speakers

  10. #510
    Join Date: May 2015

    Location: Finland

    Posts: 55
    I'm Vesa.

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    505 is propaply a cost cut version of 555...
    Music is not made for listening HiFi...

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