New speaker cables just arrived. regular readers will recall I got a significant improvement in the sound by swapping out my daily driver Chord Odyssey 2 cables for some NVA LS1.5 I had lying around from a previous lash-up.

This removed the glare from the mids and balanced the sound between bass and top, previously the system had been slightly 'toppy'.

On extended listening, whilst sound quality is now well within satisfactory limits, I did feel that there was a slight overall 'softening' of the sound, barely perceptible most of the time but niggling me still.

I'd previously had a trial of some of the NVA LS5 cable, which is quite pricey, but I was impressed by it. Have now acquired some second-hand and will slot it in the system tonight. If my theory is right, this should make another improvement all round. If so this will be a major victory in my quest to put together a high end sounding system on a beer budget.

If my theory is wrong then ... it's back to the drawing board.

More later.