Just won a second pair of Townshend Isolda Cable on Ebay!
As some of you will know I am a great advocate of biwiring. I also rate the Isolda Cable from Townshend very very highly ( I wonder if What Hifi will do a review of ths cable Clare/Andrew/Simon?).
I use my current Isolda length for bass/midrange and Linn for top. I have never been too happy with this config. I have 6 different types of cable and have tried various combo. The isolda/Linn being the best I could manage.
Now this has changed! Isolda for both treble and bass.
I can't wait for this cable to be delivered!
Another good thing about this cable is its second hand value remains constant or increases !
I just thought it would be interesting to see how they compare with other cables the What Hifi team have tested.
On a seperate note : I might be moving to your kneck of the woods
A lovely North Norfolk? I can't think of a better place to live 
First I want to say: congratulations with your recent purchase!
I have never heard of Townshend Isolda speaker cable before -let alone heard them myself- but if you are happy with them, that's all that matters.
( I wonder if What Hifi will do a review of ths cable Clare/Andrew/Simon?).
On the more practical note: do these cables really cost 400 pounds for a two metre pair!!??
Oh yes! hence my Ebay activity. I got a 3M pair for £230 (I have seen a pair go for over £400!??, new they are £500).
The pair I just got 2.5M for £250 which is about £400 new
Also the SH value is generally maintained
The only way I can describe them is say how even they sound over the entire audio frequency range. Compared to the my other cables (Audioquest Midnight, VDH CS122,Qed Silver Anniversary,Linn Cable and 2 other cables I can't remember) the Isolda seems to have a strong mid (or could it be that the others have a weaker mid?)
Not quite Norfolk, somewhere between Colchester and Sudbury. Compared to where I currently live (S London) ,its quiet and restful.
Shouldn't you use Tristan for the bass?
Max Townshend seems to have a thing for British mythology
Glastonbury Speakers
THE ROCK turntable
Excalibur Arm
The Grail Cartridge
Not quite Norfolk, somewhere between Colchester and Sudbury. Compared to where I currently live (S London) ,its quiet and restful.
I think that is more of a Clare's neck of woods.....suffolk-ish and you will have colchester and Ipswich town as your team!
Oh no I still will be a Palace man! "Y-Eagles!" and I will be "Glad all over"
And I will still support Sri lankan Cricket as well!
I've been reading about your far too expensive cables. Apparently they can only be connected one way because they have an inductor and a capacitor built into them so maybe you should save money by dismantling one and copying it next time. I would have thought that jiggerypokery like that would give lower fidelity than ordinary pieces of wire but maybe low fidelity is what you like.
Its a bit more complicated then that in that the conductors a more like strips of foil in parallel. The cable has been described as un rolled capacitor. This gives the cable a very low inductance and a high capacitance ( which can upset some amps). Mr Townshend added a network to reduce the capacitance. This network would only be correct of the length of that particular cable.
This is only your opinion -which you are fully entitled to. After all no one is forcing you to buy it
A reasonable assumption but not proven
Maybe it would be better for you to actually audition the cable first and get some hard facts in place before you start double guessing my audio preferences
I cant help feeling that you are out to provoke an argument and at the same time getting your opinion and reality horribly confused!
If you bear in mind the ideal high fidelity scenario, no cable losses at all, then the Isolda is aiming for pleasant sounding cosy imperfection. I'm not saying there's necessarily anything drastically wrong with that but to me it seems a high price to pay for it.
Not at all. Different strokes for different folks and viva la difference is what I say.
What did Andrew always say? groundhog day have fun mates, I am out of here.
Reducing inductance is an attempt at getting to no cable losses. The unfortunate by product is high capacitance. The network is in place to protect certain amplifiers who's design is such that they run close to becoming unstable. The extra bit of capacitance is enough to start a catastrophic oscillation!
Clearly this is not so given the extra low inductance
This could be said of any piece of hifi equipment depending on your bank balance, point of view and level of high fidelity requirement.
Correct when you are NOT making assumptions about equipment you have never auditioned and making further assumption about what I find acceptable based on the erroneous first assumption.
I know you like your Isolda mate and many other people I know who uesed them - love them. As for reviews are concern....Does it matter what anyone else think? You love them and that is the most important bit....enjoy.
TW Raven AC - Soundsmith SG-410 - MSB 202 - Gershman Acoustics Black Swan - Audioquest K9