New Mark Grant G1000HD Precision cables

[DSJR]

Back in my old ATC 100A's days, I used an RS brown coloured traditional mic cable with fairly chunky conductors (red and black colour) and a double opposed-spiral wrapped screen. I though they sounded very smooth and, if anything, warm toned, but in alternative systems, they sounded thick and squidgey - a bit like the Linn "Silver" interconnects. The Belden I use, uses a woven screen which seems ok and with no hum or "mush" at all...

I'd like to try these new cables though. is there a price indicated anywhere?

Thanks

[Marco]

£75 for a metre pair, Dave. Trust me, they put to shame many cables at ten times the price

Marco.

[leo]

I noticed Canare LV61S seems to be stranded center core where as the G1000HD is solid core, I've always liked solid core IC cables better than stranded

Also the Canare LV61S dielectric is Polyethylene and looks to be solid, normally air spaced sounds better in my opinion, the G1000HD is rated to be gas injected dielectric

It all makes a difference

[DSJR]

Thanks Marco. I've some valves to purchase first though

[DSJR]

I noticed Canare LV61S seems to be stranded center core where as the G1000HD is solid core, I've always liked solid core IC cables better than stranded

Also the Canare LV61S dielectric is Polyethylene and looks to be solid, normally air spaced sounds better in my opinion, the G1000HD is rated to be gas injected dielectric

It all makes a difference

On a very humble level, RS used to do an RF cable with solid copper core, PTFE (I think) dielectric, a carbon and copper weave screen at 75 Ohms IIRC. They were very good in a bright-n-breezy kind of way.

Interesting your comments on Blue-Jeans cables. I bought some XLR leads (Belden) from them and they sounded extremely "soft" in comparison with the ATC supplied 8760 cable which I made up myself.

[Marco]

Hi Leo,

I completely agree - everything matters!

Dave,

Interesting your comments on Blue-Jeans cables. I bought some XLR leads (Belden) from them and they sounded extremely "soft" in comparison with the ATC supplied 8760 cable which I made up myself.

It was me who mentioned Blue Jeans.

I however concur with your observation. The LC-1 cables Blue Jeans sell possessed exactly the qualities you describe in comparison to the equivalent Mark Grants.

It's like the old saying goes... It's not what you've got, but how you use it!

Marco.

[leo]

On a very humble level, RS used to do an RF cable with solid copper core, PTFE (I think) dielectric, a carbon and copper weave screen at 75 Ohms IIRC. They were very good in a bright-n-breezy kind of way.

Interesting your comments on Blue-Jeans cables. I bought some XLR leads (Belden) from them and they sounded extremely "soft" in comparison with the ATC supplied 8760 cable which I made up myself.

I'd be very surprised if the dielectric was PTFE , it doesn't go well with copper which is why most PTFE based cables are silver based

BTW can't stand Silver cable especially plaited

Anyway sorry about the thread drift, nice review Marco, the Mark Grants look a no nonsense well priced cable which I much prefer over the stupid priced BS often floating about

[Rare Bird]

This sounds good. I'm willing to give three stereo runs of 'G1000HD' a go soon as i've got this power amp sorted..

If there no good a turd in a box is coming through the post marco

Na joking aside i'm sure they sound nice.

[Marco]

Haha... I'm quite partial to the sniff of a fruity wee jobby!

Marco.

[Marco]

Incidentally, as some of you may know, I use Van Den Hul 'The Wind' speaker cable. It is superb and matches really well with my Tannoys.

Strangely, I found that the Belden speaker cable either Mark Grant or Blue Jeans sell isn't as good as the Belden-derived stereo interconnects or digital cable, hence why I bought the VDH.

I also prefer single conductor speaker cables (in effect, there is a dedicated conductor for both the positive and negative inputs of each speaker), as I generally find that they offer superior performance.

To continue the VDH cable loom, I have ordered one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.nl/NEW-VAN-DEN-HUL-D...3D10%26ps%3D63

...which I obtained for just over £90 including shipping from Holland. Strangely, only the optical version is available in the UK

I intend to compare it to the Mark Grant (Belden-derived) 1694A I currently use, which is priced at £13, and outperformed a Transparent Reference digital cable I was using before costing £600.

I have a feeling that the VDH Digi-Coupler will be excellent (call it intuition!), so the comparison should prove interesting. I'll report the results I obtain here on a separate thread

Marco.

P.S It should be noted that I only rate certain cables within the VDH range. I find their designs rather inconsistent - they're either excellent or crap (rather soft sounding), which is quite frustrating!