Speaker Cables
"What's the first thing you do when you get home after a hard day?"
If you are going to get the best performance from your hi-fi or home cinema system, the speaker cables are just as important as every other component in the set up. We receive many enquiries from people unhappy with the sound of their system and in a lot of cases the problem is caused by the speaker cable. Because of the lengths involved, many people economise by fitting cheap cable. This is like buying a high performance sports car and fitting remould tyres.
Although speaker cables are very different in design, the materials used are the same as those found in interconnects and have the same influence on the sound quality.
Chord speaker cables are designed to be as practicable and compatible as possible. All our speaker cables will perform well over the long lengths required for home cinema systems.
The following ideas will help you get the best performance from your system:
Fit the best speaker cables you can. Surprisingly modest systems respond extremely well to good speaker cables.
Think about the position of your system. Shorter runs of cable will not only sound better but will cost less. If possible, keep the left and right runs of cable the same length.
Avoid running speaker cable next to mains cable. If you need to cross a mains cable, do so at an angle of ninety degrees. If one speaker is closer to the amplifier than the other, do not be tempted to tidy the excess length by coiling the cable. This will degrade the performance.
It is often better to single wire with a good two-core speaker cable than bi-wire with a less expensive four core cable.
Keep the signal path the same. If you are using interconnects with silver-plated conductors, choosing a cable that uses the same materials can really help the system to work at its best
Speaker Cable Available Configurations:
Leyline
Available in twin conductor configuration only.
Carnival Classic
Available in twin conductor configuration only.
Carnival SilverScreen
Carnival SilverScreen is available in two configurations.
Carnival SilverScreen is a 10mm diameter twin conductor cable for single wiring
Carnival SilverScreen bi-wire is a 12mm diameter four conductor cable for bi-wiring
Chord Rumour
Rumour speaker cable is available in three configurations.
Rumour 2 is a 6mm diameter twin conductor cable for single wiring
Rumour 4 is a 10mm diameter four conductor cable for bi-wiring.
Rumour Install is simply a twisted pair of conductors without the silicone outer jacket. The combination of silver-plated conductors and Teflon insulation has some real advantages for high quality installations. Teflon will withstand very high temperatures and is resistant to most solvents. It is also extremely good at preventing air from reaching the conductors it is insulating and because of this, loss of sound quality through oxidization ceases to be a problem. Further to this, although silver will oxidize, the oxides are barely less conductive than the silver. What this means is that the performance of Rumour will remain consistent for many, many years. Cheaper copper PVC cables can degrade quite severely and will affect the performance of the system they are fitted to.
Rumour 2 and 4 should be installed in a system so that the wording on the outer jacket reads from the amplifier towards the speakers.
Chord Odyssey
Chord Odyssey is available in three configurations.
Odyssey 2 is an 8mm diameter twisted pair twin conductor cable for single wiring
Odyssey 4 is a 13mm diameter bi-wire cable. The silicone outer jacket contains two sets of twisted pair conductors.
Odyssey Install, like Rumour Install, is simply the twisted pair twin conductor configuration used in Odyssey 2 but without the silicone outer jacket. The multi-stranded conductors are tightly configured and the cable is able to hold its twisted configuration. The 6mm diameter of Odyssey Install makes this an ideal choice for any high-end installation and the silver-plated conductor and Teflon insulation combination offers all the installation advantages of Rumour Install
Chord Odyssey should be installed in a system so that the wording on the outer jacket reads from the amplifier towards the speakers.
Chord Epic
Chord Epic is available in two configurations.
Epic Twin is an 11mm diameter twin conductor cable for single wiring
Epic Super Twin is a 16mm diameter four conductor cable primarily intended for bi-wiring.
Epic Super Twin can also be used as a heavy gauge dual-conductor cable. This is done by joining the conductors together in pairs at each end. Used like this, Epic Super Twin is extremely effective for connecting speakers that demand a high current. The two negative conductors are simply joined together at both ends and likewise the positive. Wired like this, Epic Super Twin can really improve the dynamic performance of a demanding speaker
We have carried out a great deal of experimentation in this area. If you have a demanding speaker we feel that as a general rule, it is worth using a heavier gauge cable and keeping the speaker cable runs as short as is possible. This may mean using longer interconnects but the improvements to sound quality are very worthwhile.
Epic should be installed in a system so that the wording on the outer jacket reads from the amplifier towards the speakers.
Chord Signature
Signature speaker cable is only available in twin conductor configuration for single wiring. The size of the conductors means that we are unable to offer Signature in a 2 to 4 configuration for bi-wiring. If your amplifier has two sets of speaker outputs, it is possible to bi-wire your system by using two separate runs of Signature speaker cable. Most users however choose to use Signature as a single wire cable and replace the supplied connectors on the back of the speaker with Signature speaker links.
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.
