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Review 1 of 12
Price Paid:
$375.00
from Audio Advisor Summary:
I’ve always heard that an upgrade in speaker cable would really boost the sound of a stereo system, so when I had the opportunity to buy a pair of demo models of Cardas Quadlink-5 C speaker cables in 4.5 meter length at about 40% off I couldn’t resist. At that price the cost per foot per single cable was $13.90, alot more than the $1.50 per foot price of the Monster M500 speaker cable I had hooked up to my system, but cheaper than the Cardas $23.20 retail per foot price for 4.5 meter lengths.
The difference between the Cardas and the Monster is like night and day! The Cardas is that much better. It's like someone took the low flow head out of the shower, and one got a full burst of water.
With the Cardas music is much smoother, and neutral. It is also more transparent and one can really tell where musicians are positioned spatially.
Additionally, the instruments sound like they are supposed to, as opposed to a muddy blend even with songs with heavy layering like heavy metal.
As a former amateur roadie and musician I’m fully aware what most musical instruments are supposed to sound like live. It is chilling when instruments like snare drums, cymbals, acoustic violins and guitars and vocals sound life like!
The Cardas helps bring out the true sound of the source material through my JM Lab speakers, and I am able to hear more nuances of the music that I never heard before with the M500. Louder, more natural.
Now one might wonder how I could compare Cardas to a cheaper speaker cable without comparing it to something more comparable like Kimber 8TC or Audioquest Granite? Well the truth is this is not a fair comparison, but who has the time and money to be buying such expensive cables just to do a taste test? Not me, especially when most local electronics stores don’t even carry such exotic cabling, and to do such a in-depth comparison I’d have to special order things that aren't return able mail-order.
If you like your music neutral, detailed and uncolored then I think you will find the Cardas Quadlink-5 C speaker cable is a great choice.
My system is listed below, so you can compare what is used to play through the Cardas Quadlink-5 C speaker cable.
My system is listed below, so you can compare what is used to play through the Cardas Quadlink-5 C speaker cable.
System:
Marantz SR-18 Receiver
JM Lab Electra 915 Speakers
Parasound CD/P-2000 CD (HDCD) Player with Kimber Silver Streak .5m Interconnects,
Denon DVD-2900 DVD-Audio/SACD Player with Audioquest Viper 1.0m Interconnects for left/right fronts,
Adcom ACE-615 Line Conditioner Strengths:
Sounds very neutral, with large soundstage, transparency, spatial detail and even greater detail that can be heard from the source material. Weaknesses:
The split part of the cable that separates the positive and negative terminations was terminated kind of short and the spades didn’t quite fit on the binding post comfortably, so on a few connections I had to bind the spades to banana plugs to make the connection work. Similar Products Used:
Monster Cable M500 Speaker Cable
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