Townshend Isolda

[farflungstar]

So I finally took the plunge and bought 2m lengths of isolda speaker cable direct from Townshend. These are the most expensive speaker cables ive bought, having been using DNM before. But they offer a full 30 day no quibble money back guarantee if you're not happy with them so you can't really lose.

Although they sent out cables with bananas (hate them) rather than spades they are nice folks and Max Townshend called me himself to apologise for the mix up and find a solution.

So, what's the verdict...

I know some people can't hear the difference between cables and I don't want flaming for experiencing something different. I can hear the differences, quite easily on my system and below is my experience of speaker cables so far in order of purchases.

VDH Clearwater. Flat, 2 dimensional. Narrow soundstage. Limited resolution. Even frequency response. Excellent construction. Handles easily.

Anti-cables. Lasted 3 days in system. Cold. Flat. Zero construction. Nightmare to handle.

Twin & Earth. Immense depth. 3 dimensional. Wide soundstage. Veiled and a little dense and lacking in ultimate resolution. Rolled off top end. Easy to handle.

DNM Precision. Good depth. 3 dimensional. Reasonable width. Warm. Beautiful midrange. Musical. Full bass. Not bad resolution. Rolled off top end. Nicely constructed. Easy to handle.

Isolda. Not had a lot of time to listen (will update) but so far... very open, airy, spacious, excellent bass definition and weight, slight glare in midrange but hoping this will go with burn in. Slightly forward presentation but no less deep. Wider soundstage. Reveals the finest of details, hearing new things on well known tracks, excellent separation. Construction is top notch but handling them is scary, fragile and expensive - not a good combination.

Will be listening more and updating.

Test System is...
Allaerts MC1b mk2 cart
Elementum 12" cocobola arm
Upgraded Technics Sp10 mk2
Aurorasound Vida Phono stage
Dave Slagle Emia autoformer volume
Cary 805c SET monoblocks
Audio Note ANe SPX Speakers


Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[anthonyTD]

Hi Adrian,
I used to use all Isolda in my system, infact I still have quite a few pairs of interconnects, of diffrent lengths hanging about.
They are very good cables in the right system, and I enjoyed them for many years, good luck with them.
And yes, Max is good to deal with.

So I finally took the plunge and bought 2m lengths of isolda speaker cable direct from Townshend. These are the most expensive speaker cables ive bought, having been using DNM before. But they offer a full 30 day no quibble money back guarantee if you're not happy with them so you can't really lose.

Although they sent out cables with bananas (hate them) rather than spades they are nice folks and Max Townshend called me himself to apologise for the mix up and find a solution.

So, what's the verdict...

I know some people can't hear the difference between cables and I don't want flaming for experiencing something different. I can hear the differences, quite easily on my system and below is my experience of speaker cables so far in order of purchases.

VDH Clearwater. Flat, 2 dimensional. Narrow soundstage. Limited resolution. Even frequency response. Excellent construction. Handles easily.

Anti-cables. Lasted 3 days in system. Cold. Flat. Zero construction. Nightmare to handle.

Twin & Earth. Immense depth. 3 dimensional. Wide soundstage. Veiled and a little dense and lacking in ultimate resolution. Rolled off top end. Easy to handle.

DNM Precision. Good depth. 3 dimensional. Reasonable width. Warm. Beautiful midrange. Musical. Full bass. Not bad resolution. Rolled off top end. Nicely constructed. Easy to handle.

Isolda. Not had a lot of time to listen (will update) but so far... very open, airy, spacious, excellent bass definition and weight, slight glare in midrange but hoping this will go with burn in. Slightly forward presentation but no less deep. Wider soundstage. Reveals the finest of details, hearing new things on well known tracks, excellent separation. Construction is top notch but handling them is scary, fragile and expensive - not a good combination.

Will be listening more and updating.

Test System is...
Allaerts MC1b mk2 cart
Elementum 12" cocobola arm
Upgraded Technics Sp10 mk2
Aurorasound Vida Phono stage
Dave Slagle Emia autoformer volume
Cary 805c SET monoblocks
Audio Note ANe SPX Speakers


Sent from my Aquaris E4.5 using Tapatalk

[hifinutt]

great to hear you are enjoying them . I started the Townshend owners thread on the wam as have benefitted so much from max creations. especially his stella speaker stands . I use the dct 300 interconnect too

[Barry]

The Townshend Isolda cables are somewhat unique amongst speaker cables. They have a ribbon-like construction, whereby the two conductors have a ribbon strip-like geometry, one conductor placed above the other. They therefore have a very high capacitance per unit length, and a very low inductance per unit length:

Capacitance: 2800pF/m

Inductance: 0.084uH/m

with

(loop) Resistance: 10mOhm/m.

This is to compared with those values for a typical speaker cable: ~60pF/m and ~0.6uH/m.

I understand that Townshend offer "inductor networks" to be used with these cables. Are they used in your set up Adrian?

[farflungstar]

Yes, there are two 'boxes' at either end of the cables. One is marked to go at the amplifier end.

I did a lot of research before taking the plunge - the solid core construction benefits the valve amps, and the valve amps are not too worried by the high capacitance.

I wanted a fit and forget cable and I think these will be staying. Will be spending Christmas putting in some serious listening and will update.

I haven't tried interconnects yet, but they're a possibility....

Adrian

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[archiesdad]

I had a pair that I thought sounded great, but a change around meant that they were the wrong length and had to go, I did notice my Moon amp ran a lot cooler after they were out of the system though.

[Yomanze]

Put these on the end of an old Naim, Exposure or NVA amp and 'kerblammo'. Isolda needs careful matching!

[farflungstar]

So far so good with the Cary 805c's, though the isoldas introduce a little more resistance, have to crank the volume a smidgeon for same level but it's not by much. Will be putting some serious listening in over next few days...

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[Yomanze]

It is interesting how Max Townsend completely goes against the opposite of what constitutes a good cable, which is supposedly low capacitance, low resistance with a tradeoff in a bit more inductance. Max goes for ultra high capacitance, high resistance (for a speaker cable) and super low inductance.

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[Barry]

It is interesting how Max Townsend completely goes against the opposite of what constitutes a good cable, which is supposedly low capacitance, low resistance with a tradeoff in a bit more inductance. Max goes for ultra high capacitance, high resistance (for a speaker cable) and super low inductance.

Oh, I don't know

Isolda: 10mOhm/m

compare with

QED79: 16mOhm/m
Naim NAC: 9mOhm/m
Van Damme Blue 4mm²: 4.6mOhm/m
Van Damme UP-LOCP 6mm²: 3.2mOhm/m
Chord Carnival Classic: 23mOhm/m
Chord Silver Screen: 26mOhm/m
DNM (wired as a parallel configuration): 52mOhm/m

Though I agree the line capacitance and inductance are the opposite from the norm.