DNM speaker cable

[The Black Adder]

Hello all.

Has anyone used DNM speaker cable?

It's a single conductor cable which certainly looks interesting especially in the test specs. Low capacitance etc.

http://www.dnm.co.uk/datasheets/all_dnmstereocables.pdf

Cheers
Joe

[Ali Tait]

Yes, I've used it in the past. Thought it was very good, though going on aural memory (always a chancy thing) I reckon the Tellurium black stuff Tony brought over a while back was better.

[The Black Adder]

Cheers Ali.

Seems to be just you... DNM looks like a first for AOS too, nothing in the serch results.

Tellurium Q Black looks and sounds like the business but the price puts me off slightly.

I hear what your saying but can single conductor cables really hold much difference? I would say stranded designs have more going for them regarding the technical/sonics debate.

[hifi_dave]

I'm not a believer in multi-strand cables but it all depends on the copper, insulation and construction. If it's huge numbers of fine wire, to my ears, it's always warm and slightly vague. A few strands of high quality wire is usually good but the very best cable I have heard, by a country mile, was just a single strand of extremely high quality OFC. It wasn't a commercial product, just an experiment but I have never heard better.

[freefallrob]

I haven't used DNM speaker cable myself, but I have used and experienced other solid core speaker cable (Audio quest, Belkin(?) and DIY types, twin and earth/satellite cable with foamed dielectric), it has a lot going for it I think. You have to be careful of the cross section, to thin and you loose transfer and to thick and the top end suffers.

The other thing is it's not very practical/easy to route etc. and can break.

I find solid core gives the cleanest sound, but multi core is more practical domestically.

Like a lot of speaker cable/interconnects the cost can soon add up if buying 'proper stuff'.

[LittleTone]

Hi Dave,

Interesting comment regarding speaker cables. Any chance of enlightening us as to what this single core cable was. Or, perhaps as a Rega dealer you'd be so kind as to recommend a cable may work well with Rega Brio R, Rega DAC and Royd Doublet loudspeakers

Thanks in anticipation

[The Black Adder]

I'm not a believer in multi-strand cables but it all depends on the copper, insulation and construction. If it's huge numbers of fine wire, to my ears, it's always warm and slightly vague. A few strands of high quality wire is usually good but the very best cable I have heard, by a country mile, was just a single strand of extremely high quality OFC. It wasn't a commercial product, just an experiment but I have never heard better.

Would that be T&E Dave.. ?

What are the shortcomings of T&E that people perceive? It has to be quality copper doesn't it?

When is a conductor a good conductor? Well, when it sounds right in your room is the obvious answer me thinks.

[hifi_dave]

Definitely not T&E. The cable I was referring to was lent to me by Be Yamamura, a good pal of mine from way back. He made amps, cables, x'mers and the like from lunatic materials that made Audionote look sane and inexpensive.

This particular cable was the purest copper possible and we had just enough of this single strand to make a pair of short speaker cables insulated with cotton bandage. I can't recall the trade cost but it was thousands back in the early 80's and was something that Be had developed along with Furukawa.

He also came up with another extremely pure copper, covered with a thin Polyurethane lacquer. We wound four of these, quite large diameter wires in star-quad formation and used them for speaker cable, incons and even digital incon. Absolutely stunning but it soon ran out, though I still have some for my own use and haven't found anything to approach it in all these years.

[hifi_dave]

Hi Dave,

Interesting comment regarding speaker cables. Any chance of enlightening us as to what this single core cable was. Or, perhaps as a Rega dealer you'd be so kind as to recommend a cable may work well with Rega Brio R, Rega DAC and Royd Doublet loudspeakers

Thanks in anticipation

Depends on your budget but I like the TQ cables, NACA5 and Chord Rumour but if you're not in a hurry, Rega should have a couple of cables soonish.

[Ali Tait]

Would that be T&E Dave.. ?

What are the shortcomings of T&E that people perceive? It has to be quality copper doesn't it?

When is a conductor a good conductor? Well, when it sounds right in your room is the obvious answer me thinks.

I think a lot of what we hear from cables is down to the dielectric used, and not just down to the conductor IMHO.

[Ali Tait]

Cheers Ali.

Seems to be just you... DNM looks like a first for AOS too, nothing in the serch results.

Tellurium Q Black looks and sounds like the business but the price puts me off slightly.

I hear what your saying but can single conductor cables really hold much difference? I would say stranded designs have more going for them regarding the technical/sonics debate.

Well I've used heavy gauge copper cable in the past on my OB's. They are run actively so I have two runs to each speaker. One set runs the Eminence Alphas which are set to top out at 200hz. From there up the other run feeds the Visaton B200. I found the stranded stuff ok on the B200's, but found I got a slow and muffled bass, lacking in detail. Changing to smaller gauge or other types really helped in this regard. When I tried the Tellurium stuff my immediate impression was that it was lacking at the top and bottom, but when you listen further, you realise it's just giving a more accurate sound. At least that's the way it sounded to me. If the price puts you off a little, I'd give the DNM a go, it's very good IMHO.

[wee tee cee]

depends how you like your distortion.....I have black and blue, making the change just removes colouration..you know its right when you hear it....or dont!!!

[jaym481]

I have some of the DNM but not installed yet (still in the throes of the move). I've used 12 and 14ga mains wire, solid core, and found it to be much better than any budget stranded wire, but not quite as good as the flat wire I've been using up to the move (Xindak). The experience with Romex mains wire led me to consider DNM.

[amsterdam]

Definitely not T&E. The cable I was referring to was lent to me by Be Yamamura, a good pal of mine from way back. He made amps, cables, x'mers and the like from lunatic materials that made Audionote look sane and inexpensive.

This particular cable was the purest copper possible and we had just enough of this single strand to make a pair of short speaker cables insulated with cotton bandage. I can't recall the trade cost but it was thousands back in the early 80's and was something that Be had developed along with Furukawa.

He also came up with another extremely pure copper, covered with a thin Polyurethane lacquer. We wound four of these, quite large diameter wires in star-quad formation and used them for speaker cable, incons and even digital incon. Absolutely stunning but it soon ran out, though I still have some for my own use and haven't found anything to approach it in all these years.

He's still making new ones after all those years;)

[hifi_dave]

I know. You can't keep a good man down..

[Riislingen]

I´ve used the DNM solid cores for a couple of years.

It´s quite special and does definitely not suit everyone.

In my opinion it does not match any speaker either. Looking for an "in phase" ultra fast sound, tight bottom, slightly organic and a rounded top - you got it, there´s DNM for you in a nutshell.

/Mikkel