SPOTFIRE Reference Speaker Cables

I've seen these talked about but no price?

Oliver, are you investigating things like, headphone leads, speaker jumpers, tonearm leads, digital interconnects and headshell wires? 

I turn out some really nifty digital interconnects myself. They compete with anything out there! They're dedicated to CD transport/player to DAC use.

I'm going to have to get a listen sometime.

I've looked on AoS but cannot find the thread. Which section of the forum is the thread on?

Your first speaker cable, and it is the “reference” - a brave move.
What happens if you find something better?

Rumour and Odyssey were very odd ones sonically as I've said many times (although better than QED SA which won so many awards twenty years ago) and the better the speakers and driving amps, the worse they sounded for whatever reason. Scrappy, thin toned and only 'musically together' with certain products and they totally destroyed the rather stark WB Act Ones I tried to live with for a couple of years - ugh! I've NEVER suggested to my knowledge that a fatter cable would give a fatter sound, but physics suggests that a heavier gauge of good quality metal should offer less resistance at least to the electrical signal passing through it.

The 'best' speaker cable I remember was *at least* half an inch cross section each (separate) conductor in a black insulation and it was brilliant with every amp and speaker I tried it with, no question of any 'character' or matching characteristic. I don't remember anyone at KJ remembering where it came from either... VDH The Wind was the closest commercial speaker cable to it, but again I'm not sure if this does 'stuff' in addition to its prime function.

Paul Miller used to do substantial tests on 'wires' and looked closely at their rf performance as apparently, nasty 'stuff' going on up there could affect what we perceive. Long time ago now.

Interesting stuff Dave.i didn’t know about PM’s experiments and findings, Speaker cable difference seems are often obvious to me so it’s nice to know there are technical explanations out there.

Is it two. Separate runs of cable per side, or does the cable pictured contain both runs?

Lol, yes, one per side. Pretty standard construction

DPA did it, didn’t they? Maybe Townsend?

Yes, they do. Imagine that. High end cables with the same idea!

I mean, it must be an absolute shocker that i put some thought into this cable and sought consultation with some VERY over qualified people.

I'm sure folks think I just chuck a couple of expensive plugs on any cable I find and proclaim them to be good lol

The cable has to be flexible enough to use with any amplifiers, including digital.

The cable comes with the option of attaching a shield or not, it may not be necessary in some systems but it's there. I like options at no extra cost and my opinion is that If you can offer something, you should.

No one said the consultant was hifi related Dave, just that they were over qualified for the questions I asked, and in their input into my intended use of the cable. You know they use cables for other purposes than hifi! lol

I'm just an old grouch at the moment (apologies again), but I've seen good engineers all but annihilated by ministry/government departments and some of the fallout does enter the audio scene eventually once they've recovered, to our benefit imo.

Judging by the size of the 4mm? plugs shown, the cable is a massive gauge (twisted twin conductors?), so good luck with it. I needed to re-terminate one or two of the Z plugs on my LS5 (constant use these were never designed for plus a 'pull' on one which bent the 'Z' cylinder and all but snapped it on straightening) and even for me, it was a pain in the effin' arse to remove and replace said plugs and that's with two hands in (almost) working order

First bits of feedback are filtering in.

From Jimbo on AoS:

SPOTFIRE Speaker Cable Mini Review

Oliver kindly lent me his own pair of SPOTFIRE speaker cables for review over the weekend which just happened to be 2 x 4 metre pair, the minimum length I needed in my system. As he handed over the bag I knew they were substantial cables and although stiff had enough flexibility for use to get around my system. Whilst I have borrowed these cables Oliver has had to go back to some sort of Bellwire!

I have not really changed my speaker cables much over the past 4 years since I found the excellent Chord Epic Twin which has been a constant in my system and worked really well. I don't think speaker cable is something a lot of us tend to change that much as it is almost a fit and forget item once you have found something you think is reasonable so I was actually quite excited to get the opportunity to hear Oliver cable in my system as I had previously had excellent results from his SPOTFIRE RCA Interconnect.

The SPOTFIRE speaker cable had banana plugs on the speaker end and big spades on the amp end and fitted my equipment perfectly but I have had extra beefed up speaker terminals on my Croft amp so this helped. You do need a good mechanical fit and they need to be torqued down firmly as he cable is meaty.

Straight away I heard an obvious difference in my system and for the better. As Steve had alluded too in his review these cables have the same character as the SPOTFIRE IC which is actually what Oli intended. So if you have heard the SPOTFIRE IC you may get a good idea of what these speaker cables are going to do in your system. However as we all know different equipment may produce different results.

In my system the soundstage just became bigger and more open. It seemed that the recording and everything in it became more transparent and open. It is a bit like going from a cheap cartridge which has a fairly narrow soundstage and everything is bunched together to a top flight MC cartridge that frees everything in every plane and allows Instruments and vocalists to breath and be heard in their own acoustic space.

I listened for much of the day to digital material and was astounded by the level of resolution and naturalness I heard. It maybe a strange way of describing a cable but this SPOTFIRE speaker cable sounded analogue. By that I mean there was a smoothness and non fatiguing presentation of the recorded information. There were no hyped artifacts and nothing sounded forced or harsh just beautiful natural tone and spaciousness. I quickly reverted back to my Chord Epic Twin and this confirmed the difference. The Chord sounded slightly hyped up in the top end and over egged the pudding making the digital sound too detailed and wearing. I preferred the SPOTFIRE speaker cables presentation which although detailed sounded far more natural and easier too listen too.

I know its an old cliche but the SPOTFIRE took you a few rows back in the audience whereas the Chord put you in the front seats. I always prefer to be a few rows back as you can enjoy the performance more without being on top of it. I played a vast amount of digital material throughout the day and whatever I threw at this cable it delivered in a very balanced manner. Treble was detailed and well extended, Bass was big, firm and articulate and the midrange was full and very natural, vocals in particular sounded spot on in both presence and naturalness.

This cable does make your system sound bigger and moves the sound down a few notches or should I say it seems to convey material in the mid to bottom end I was not aware off with a presence that gives the impression your are hearing a bigger pair of speakers.

Just before I turned to vinyl I did some A-B comparisons with recordings I had on vinyl and digital. My partner, Helen, listened to the whole session with me throughout and found it difficult to call out wether she was listening to the vinyl or digital version of the recording which maybe a lot to do with the device I was using for digital replay but thats another story. However by the end of the day it became apparent we preferred in many cases the digital recording. Oliver has a few theories why the SPOTFIRE cable may have influencing this difference but I thought it may have been the lower noise floor and the sheer resolution the digital playback had especially as it was all upscaled.

Listening to the SPOTFIRE speaker cable with vinyl was equally impressive and here I must admit the difference between my Chord EPIC twin and the SPOTFIRE was not as large. It was still expansive in the soundstage and conveyed superb information in the recording with complete naturalness. Nothing sounded hyped or excessive just balanced and very easy to listen too.

It was a long session but very enjoyable and I would say this cable is easily as significant in its abilities to unravel the complexity and detail in recordings whilst still maintaining balance and calm to the proceedings. As I said at the beginning of the review it had a definite character I found with the SPOTFIRE IC which I found worked extremely well in my system. The SPOTFIRE speaker cable lifted my system and allowed me to hear my recordings in an effortless kind of way so you were just left entranced by the music which after all is what it is all about.

Oliver has definitely produced a cable here of the highest quality and it delivers a fabulous performance which means I am going to have start saving the pennies again!