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- QED Silver Anniversary Biwire
- A Holyoak's review
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| Sound Quality | 9.3/10   |
|---|---|
| Value for Money | 9/10 |
| Overall rating | 9/10 |
By A Holyoak
on 19th Jul 2006
| Sound Quality | 9/10 |
|---|---|
| Value for money | 9/10 |
| Overall value | 9/10 |
 A Holyoak's recommendation | |
Fantastic open vivid sound scape, Lightning fast response, Very high levels of clarity & detail through the frequency range, great instrument separation, fluid and naturally integrated sound.
Very slightly lighter in the bass compared with other cables, awkward to terminate, stiff cable.
Review of QED Silver Anniversary bi-wire speaker cable which costs £9 per meter unterminated.
This speaker cable is very very good!! Previously I had used Sonic link bi-wire AST (AeroSpace Technology) Cable which cost £8 per meter way back in the early 90's and was always pleased that it sounded far superior to the stuff I'd bought on a wheel from Tandy years before. When I moved house I found I needed longer runs of cable so opted for the QED Silver Anniversary bi-wire cable as it was always getting great reviews and it was recommended by the guy in the hifi store. I got home eager to try the new cable between my Cyrus 'Power' Amps & Mission 751 speakers - I didn't have it terminated in the store due to:
a) The costs involved
b) I already have 4mm banana plugs at home for the speaker end of the cable
c) My Cyrus 'Power' amps have mini 3mm speaker cable plugs
d) I'm bi-amping so don't need to try and squeeze 2 x 2.5mm2 cables into one 3mm plug
After about 15minutes wrestling with the cable I kinda wish I had left it to the professionals!! The beautiful Pearl-White polyethylene jacket is molded around the silver plated cable that tightly it takes a bit of removing & the QED Airloc's (Airtight banana plug connectors) sold/installed at the dealer are supposed to be very good. Any way once the sheathing was stripped back & I'd put various plugs in place I was set to give them a whirl.
I was grinning from ear to ear within a couple of tracks this cable really does deliver!! It brings a presence to every type of music you can throw at it. The QED cable has a fantastic 'live' sound which makes music sound thrilling & exciting. It integrates the high and low frequencies very well and has a vast sound stage which seems to extend beyond my dinky Mission speaker enclosures. Vocals are wonderfully natural whether it's the delicate mellow female vocals from Zero7 or Keef from the Prodigy trying to rip your eardrums from your head they all sound really convincing. The cables detail retrieval is that good you can hear singers breathing on close miked stuff & background noise on some tracks - you hear just about everything warts n' all.
I have listened to just about every type of music from grunge to classical to RnB & everything sounds very clear & the detail resolution is fantastic. It helps having good source & amplification, obviously the better they are the more benefit you will get from this type of cable.
The only slight negative thing which is notable is that the bass notes can seem a shade lighter than the Sonic link cable, but that been said bass notes are still very well defined & far more tuneful than I had previously noticed. This could be because it is far more agile with this cable or just that it is slightly more bass-light. I wouldn't change back & unless you are an absolute bass head I think most people would appreciate the clarity over out & out quantity.
If you are using good hifi & have not yet ventured into cable up grades then this is a very good place to start. If you are not a DIY enthusiast then I would budget for getting your local friendly hifi dealer to terminate the cables with QED Airlocs or at least strip the cable ends to safe you the job.
Highly recommended!!!
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