Recommended Components 2023 Edition Loudspeaker Cables

Loudspeaker Cables:

Audio Art Cable SC-5 Classic: $240/10ft pair (gold spades; add $10/pr for silver spades), $250/10ft pair (gold bananas)
The SC-5 has silver-coated OFC conductors (14AWG), a foam polyethylene dielectric, a PVC jacket, and an internal packet of vibration-absorbing fibers. It can be terminated with gold-plated brass banana plugs or, for $10 less, DH Labs' gold-plated copper spade lugs. Compared to AudioQuest's Rocket 33, the SC-5 lacked body, weight, and warmth, but produced a detailed, dramatic overall sound, with clean transients and impressive dynamics, said SM. Sold direct with a 30-day, money-back guarantee. (Vol.37 No.2 WWW)

AudioQuest Dragon ZERO: $34,100/8' pair
"Notably transparent, able to deliver dynamic slam and detail," wrote MF. (Vol.45 No.9 WWW)

AudioQuest Robin Hood: $$2235/10' pair
JA's go-to speaker cable, with clean highs and a good sense of low-frequency clarity that get the best from MoFi SourcePoint 10s, KEF LS50s, and GoldenEar BRXes.

AudioQuest Rocket 33: $749.95/10ft pair
AudioQuest's 14AWG, solid-core Rocket 33 speaker cable offered an exciting leap in performance over SM's RadioShack Flat Megacable speaker wire, infusing music with more low-level resolution, transient speed, clarity, and physicality. (Vol.34 No.9, Vol.37 No.2 WWW)

Benchmark Studio&Stage: $188/10' pair $$$
Benchmark recommends this affordable cable for use with the AHB2 power amplifier. It uses Canara star-quad conductors with a SpeakON NL2 or NL4 connector on the amplifier end and locking banana plugs on the speaker end. NR, but see JA's Benchmark DAC 3 B review in Vol.46 No.3 WWW.

Cardas Clear rev.1: $4085/2m pair, terminated in spades
JM was most impressed by the Cardas Clear's low-frequency clarity and resolution, finding the Clear to give two or three more bass notes on a pipe organ, with a lower noisefloor and "spooky" resolution compared with his reference MIT MH-770 CVTerminator cables. "The best-sounding cables I have heard," he concluded. JA agrees that these are fine-sounding cables. (Vol.33 No.10 WWW)

Kimber Kable 8TC: $688/3m pair (10') w/o connectors
(NR, but see "The Fifth Element" in Vol.33 No.6 WWW)

Kubala-Sosna Elation Speaker Cable: $7000/pair first meter, $1500/each additional meter
A JA favorite. See "Interconnects." (NR)

Kubala-Sosna Fascination: $1000/m pair; $350/additional meter
Kubala-Sosna claims that their OptimiZ technology "results in a lower characteristic impedance and a higher ratio of capacitance to inductance than any other cable." Each cable consists of a hefty pair of conductors twisted around each other, sheathed with a knitted cover, and solidly terminated in thick spade lugs. The current versions have sleek, tight jackets that make them easy to snake and arrange. With the K-S cables in his system, KR noted a decrease in overall residual hiss and softer but more precise highs. "I can't say that the change is substantial, but it is definable." Further auditioning with his multi-channel system completely wired with K-S cables led him to describe these cables as among the quietest and most transparent cables he has encountered: "Overall, they seem to get out of the way of everything else and let the system do its thing." (Vol.28 No.3, Vol.29 No.7 WWW)

Luna Mauve: $1890/2.5m pair
See Power-Related Accessories.

Naim NACA5: $26/ft $$$
Inexpensive spaced-twin cable that ST found to work well with the Spendor S100 loudspeaker. Unchanged in Naim's product line since 1986, the NACA5 is made of two chunky runs of stranded heavy-gauge wire twisted into a very tight bundle and molded into a thick sheath of Teflon. "Stiffer than Swedish roadkill," said AD. Compared to RadioShack's inexpensive SW-1650 speaker wire, however, the unwieldy NACA5 was better at communicating pitch relationships and had "a more realistic sense of flow." Worth investigating as a good-value cable, thinks JA. (Vol.32 No.8 WWW)

Nordost Valhalla 2 Speaker Cable: $12,759.99/1.25m
See Interconnects.

Stealth Dream V16: $14,700/2m pair, $6,600 each additional meter
The hermetically sealed, helium-filled Dream V10 is a thick yet flexible cable made of three flat solid-silver wires and a conductive carbon-fiber core. Compared to the TARA Labs Omega Onyx, the Stealth cable had a richer, warmer sound, with a softer attack for a slower overall musical flow. Partnered with the Stealth Sakra interconnects, the Dream V10 cable produced a more textured midrange but lacked the TARA's upper-octave air, said MF. Bi-wiring adds $1300 regardless of cables' length. (Vol.34 No.6)

TARA Labs Air Evolution SP speaker cable, 8' with bananas & spades: $4800; each add'tl foot is $380
See "Interconnects."

TARA Labs Omega Evolution SP loudspeaker cable: $37,000/8' pair, each additional foot $3900
The physically flexible TARA Labs Omega Evolution, incorporating almost twice as many rectangular, solid-core elements of "8 nines" (99.999999%) oxygen-free copper (280 vs the Gold's 156), adds the speed, transparency, dimensionality, and, especially, textural suppleness that the previous Gold cable lacked, thus losing the Gold's "somewhat laid-back overall sound" while paying no sonic penalty for the major improvements, said Mikey. Even more recent is TARA's Omega Evolution SP speaker cable, a higher-inductance and identically priced variant intended as a better match for amplifiers with very low damping factors and/or speakers that present distinctly reactive loads. In his system, in comparison with the less expensive TARA Omega Golds, MF found the Omega Evolution SPs to offer "more precise note attacks" and "greater textural nuance," among other attributes. (Vol.36 No.11, Vol.38 No.12)

Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 Speaker Cable: $29,600/3m pair
Compared to the new TARA Labs Omega Evolution, the Platinum Eclipse 7 is equally transparent, resolving, and dimensional, but less texturally supple and extended on top, with a less richly drawn midrange, said MF. (Vol.36 No.11)

COMMENTS
JRT's picture

The listing includes, "Topping Pre90: $599 plus $249 for the Ext90 input extender"

Topping's more recent A90 Discrete, aka A90D ($599) seems to include similar preamplifier functionality as the Pre90 at the same price, including the relay switched R-2R attenuator, and facility to add the Ext90 ($249) input extender. However the A90D also includes a headphone amplifier, which is not included in the Pre90, and the A90D uses discrete electronics in the audio amplifiers.

I am suggesting that the A90D might be a good subject for future review; and in the review bundle, it might be worthwhile to also request the aforementioned Ext90, the D90SE ($899) DA converter, and the SR2 ($219) modular three shelf aluminum component rack, which has suitable geometry, is designed for use with these components.

This isn't SPAM. I have no financial interest in this, have no affiliation with Topping or any of the vendors. I was merely considering updating my old home office setup, maybe.

Indydan's picture

Can Stereophile please remove all MQA enabled equipment from the recommended list?

https://www.creditman.co.uk/company-notices/company/09123512

mieswall's picture

Well Torquemada, why so shy?
Along with those A+ sinners of BelCanto's, CH Precision, dcs, EMM Labs (average cost of the heretics close to US$31,000), and also those more modest but equal sinners of GoldNote, IFI, Meitner, Sonnet, etc; why don't we also include Bob Stuart and Peter Craven in the bonfire and joyfully watch them burn? We should also declare Michael Gerzon a black angel (after all, most of MQA ideas were conceived by this AIA Gold Medalist devil).
And beware Fremer, Serinus, Austin (and every other one suggesting the earth isn't flat, btw): Don't you dare praising MQA again! We are watching you!

Kal Rubinson's picture

Why? I think people who want it and those who don't are equally well served by the information.

(Posted by someone in the latter group.)

miguelito's picture

Devices supporting MQA also support most other standards - I don't see a reason to remove them. Also, I have some MQA albums (some white-glove albums were done extremely well) so I want to be able to play those going forward.

JRT's picture

I noticed that the front page does not list the annual Recommended Components articles in the footer. I think that adding that listing or adding a single link in the footer to a page loaded with a collection of links to those annual articles might attract more page views.

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