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Chord
Signature speaker cable is a result of several years' experimentation
with shielded speaker cables. The concept of shielded speaker
cables is not new; over the years many companies have experimented
with the idea. The results however have been somewhat erratic
and our early experiments produced what could be best described
as curate's eggs. The first successful prototype of Signature
speaker cable performed extremely well but was so rigid as to
be almost completely unusable and a great deal of work went into
producing the same performance in a more flexible configuration.
The result is the Chord Signature.
The
4mm diameter conductors are produced from a high purity copper
and the insulation material is a gas-foamed polyethylene.
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| Chord
Signature speaker cable - technical info |
This
insulation material has several major advantages, producing a lower
dielectric constant and better phase stability, both of which contribute
to the Signature's outstanding performance characteristics. |
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The
gas-foaming process also helps to retain a degree of flexibility
(important given the size of the conductors and the construction
of the cable). The shield is an extremely effective dual layer foil/high
density braid design.
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| Each
set of Signature speaker cable is made to order and although the conductor
pairs are separately shielded, the cable is twisted along its length
in order to improve flexibility. Each end of the cable is secured
with an aluminium clamp designed to hold the cable securely but not
to compress the conductors. Experiments with both interconnects and
speaker cables showed that compressing the shield and insulation on
a cable altered the performance characteristics. The termination process
for Signature speaker cable is both complex and difficult and Signature
is only available in factory-terminated lengths. |
| Chord
Signature speaker cable was developed to work in conjunction with
the Chord Signature RCA interconnect. However, its performance characteristics
make it an ideal choice for use with Chord's flagship Indigo interconnects.
The design principles of all three cables are very similar and despite
the differences in construction, conductor and insulation materials,
all three cables will work extremely well together. |
| Signature
speaker cable will work consistently well from system to system, to
some extent regardless of cost. There is an assumption that expensive
cables belong with expensive systems. This is not necessarily the
case. One of the most compelling demonstrations of what a set of properly
shielded interconnects and speaker cable can bring to a system came
when the cost of the interconnects and speaker cables was the same
as the combined cost of the CD player, amplifier and speakers (read
more). |
| Signature
speaker cable is marked with direction arrows at each end. The cable
should be fitted so that the arrows point away from the amplifier
and towards the speaker.
Connections
Matching
Signature speaker cable with Chord interconnects
Changing
speaker cables
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