Replacement for Chord Cobra 3

[Stiffy]

Sorry to ask about interconnects as I know the subject has been discussed to death everywhere.

My Chord Cobra 3's have developed a fault rendering them useless and I need to find a budget priced replacement. :(
Any suggestions about what might be good. My system is a Yamaha A-S500, Yamaha CD-S300 & Tannoy Mercury V4 speakers.

The ones I've looked at so far are:

NVA Sound Cord.
Atlas Element.
Ixos XHA516-100
Mark Grant Cables Canare LV61S
Gotham GAC-1

All of these are selling for around £20 give or take a couple of quid. All are new except the Mark Grants, they are a trade in pair.
The Ixos apparently is normally £39.00

Would anyone recommend or advise against any of these based on personal experience or is there anything else worth looking at? :)

[Puffin]

If it has a fault it must be because of a broken connection? Surely this is an easy fix? Chord Cobra 3's are very good cables IMO and not easy to beat.

[Andrew B]

Now I may be a klutz, but I must have had more than a dozen Chord Company leads over the years and every one of them kept breaking repeatedly. I got so sick, I got rid and don't use them anymore. Good though they are, I find both NVA SoundCord and Rega Couple both significantly better.

I've never tried Mark Grant cables but I have tried various Ixos, most Atlas and Gotham GAC1. Only my opinion, but none of them where anything special.

[walpurgis]

Rob has a point.

All leads break eventually. I just repair mine, it's usually easy enough as most interconnects are just core and screen. Some makes need a bit of thought, like various Nordost, Cardas and QED Spiral which have a multitude of cores. I also make many of mine from 'off the reel' cable.

[DSJR]

Chord usually repair faulty cables FOC, or at least they used to.

The reason why some of them break easily is the truly tiny size of the conductors used and the lack of true strain-relief if the cables are twisted.

FFS, for fifty notes here, you can buy something FAR better than a Cobra, which costs the dealer around £20 for a 1m pair (60% off £50...). I know the Mark Grant HD1000's and the Epiphany Acoustics Atratus, the latter having 'character' aplenty to my ears which suits less expensive 'digital' well ;) and I apologise to other sellers here I haven't tried as yet...

[Stiffy]

If it has a fault it must be because of a broken connection? Surely this is an easy fix? Chord Cobra 3's are very good cables IMO and not easy to beat.

The Cobra 3's plugs don't unscrew so I can't get at it. I would have to cut them off and get someone to solder new plugs on for me as I dont own any soldering kit.
Not sure if its worth it really.

[DSJR]

Chord used to use a fine-core 4 core cable and use one core plus screen for the now obsolete Chrysalis and two (plus two return?) for the series 2 Cobra. This was changed slightly with later ones I think, so just cutting the old plug off may open a can of worms of you don't know which cores are used inside.

When replacing dealer bought wires, just bear in mind the dealer mark-up on interconnects (makes up for having to discount elsewhere quite often, or the leads can be given away in lieu of a major discount). At least the online suppliers we deal with here tend to sell at basic 'trade' prices which allows for a fair margin on which to live :)

[icehockeyboy]

I am currently re using Sound Cords that were consigned to the spare wire box, very good they sound too.
Also MG has a very good reputation for quality wires at sensible prices, and you could add Silver High Breed to that list to try as well.
Ditto Chords breaking, I had a brand new set that became faulty within an hour of plugging them in!

[realysm42]

Jeez I've got a pair I'd have offered for sale but they seem to be hated lol.

I've got some 0.5m vee3s if you want, perfect condition, £40.

I only bought them as a spare while my dac was being built, so have less than a months use on them.

[Puffin]

The Cobra 3's plugs don't unscrew so I can't get at it. I would have to cut them off and get someone to solder new plugs on for me as I dont own any soldering kit.
Not sure if its worth it really.

Oh yes they do!

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i239/saxonsex/DSCF2199_zps15e5db8f.jpg

If you want to send them to me i'll fix them for you:)

Rob.

[walpurgis]

Oh yes they do! If you want to send them to me i'll fix them for you:)

Rob.

Ah, I've got some of those type of plugs. They can be awkward to loosen if they've been on for a while.

[hermit]

shameless plug - http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?26789-Ixos-102-stereo-interconnects-with-locking-wbt-phonos

Will let them go for £25 delivered as slightly marked