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Ortofon speaker cable

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Vizzage
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Morning all;

I posted a question earlier but nobody answered it. I've got a set of 2 Tellurium QB cables and a set of Ortofon SPK 300 cables. And I want to bi-wire (not bi-amp - well I want to do that too but haven't got any money). I was thinking I should not have both TQ's on one side and both SPK300s on the other. I should balance it. So I've currently got, on each channel, the TQs to the bass and the SPK300s to the treble. Opinions please? Also does anyone know how much the ortofon's are worth? Is it any good? I see there's some Ortofon SPK200 going cheap on ebay at the moment. 

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ID.
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

I see in Japan that it retails for a bit over 6000 yen (so probably between 40-45 pounds) for a 2.5 metre set. I've seen it around but heard nothing about it.

Why not give it a go and see which sound better on the bass and which sound better on the treble. If from your own experience one has better bass, I'd go with that for the bass. Same goes for the treble.

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Vizzage
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

yep, tried them obviously but I'm a bit deaf and can't tell the difference, if there is one Smile

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nopiano
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

i agree with ID.  The chances of anyone here having heard such an odd combination is vanishingly small.  Just try it with what you have.  Or better still, get a matching set.

Have you tried single wiring with cable links, per the other eecent thread here?

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Hi-Fi: Krell KAV-300cd, Michell TecnoDec/RB250/Grado Prestige Black1, KAV-300i amp, Transparent balanced interconnects and bi-wire to Sonus faber Concerto grand piano speakers, Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette deck, Logitech Squeezebox Touch, Hitachi FT-5500 and Sony S570ES tuners, BCD Engineering stand, RA Powerlink, Chord powerchord, Grado SR60i cans.

AV: Sony Bravia KDL-32EX503 telly, BDP-S370 player with QED HDMI. Currently unused: Denon AVR-1705, DVD-1710, KEF KHT1005.2 

Vizzage
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

Yes, that's what I had before. Ok. I have something to report, and this is me, a total sceptic when it comes to tweaking, and furthermore being a slightly deaf scientist. 

1) Originally I had Tellurium Q Black into the bass terminals, with jumper plates installed. 

2) Then I put red into treble and black into bass (with jumper leads deployed obviously), no difference whatsoever lol

3) Then I bi-wired; TQBs into bass, Ortofon SPK300s into treble. Took ages to wire up so didn't notice a difference. 

4) Then just for fun I tried TQBs into treble, SPK into bass. That was a quick change, just at the speaker. Wow. The treble was sweeter. But I lost bass. Definitely. No question. I flip flopped between 3 and 4 to make sure. 

5) Then I put TQB back into bass and SPK into treble and put the jumper plates back in (it's only bi-wired not b-amped!). The sound got better again. 

6) then, with jumpers in, and TQB into bass, I merely touched the SPKs onto the terminals so I could touch them on and off (being careful not to touch them together OBVIOUSLY)!! It is absolutely clear that the sound dulled with the SPKs on. Even my daughter could hear it and she didn't know when I was contacting or not. But she got it right every time. It was the sibilance of the cymbals that disappeared. 

Conclusion: the SPKs are damaging the sound, whether carrying a signal direct to an isolated speaker (bass or treble), or even in parallel with the TQBs. Even though that should be lowering the resistance, they b*ugger up the sound. In other words, they are worse cables than the TBQs. So now Ive got it set up with TQBs and jumper plates. 

Does anyone want to buy a nice set of Ortofon SPK300 cables with gold plated plugs?

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nopiano
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

I think that's a great result!   good job

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Hi-Fi: Krell KAV-300cd, Michell TecnoDec/RB250/Grado Prestige Black1, KAV-300i amp, Transparent balanced interconnects and bi-wire to Sonus faber Concerto grand piano speakers, Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette deck, Logitech Squeezebox Touch, Hitachi FT-5500 and Sony S570ES tuners, BCD Engineering stand, RA Powerlink, Chord powerchord, Grado SR60i cans.

AV: Sony Bravia KDL-32EX503 telly, BDP-S370 player with QED HDMI. Currently unused: Denon AVR-1705, DVD-1710, KEF KHT1005.2 

CnoEvil
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

nopiano wrote:

I think that's a great result!   good job

So do I..........yet another member joining the darkside.  shifty

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Vizzage
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

Me too actually! I'm now a convert. Speaker cable really is important!

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CnoEvil
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

Vizzage wrote:

Me too actually! I'm now a convert. Speaker cable really is important!

You know it means you're probably bonkers!  Wink

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Vizzage
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

Yep Smile honestly though I really thought it was nonsense, this cable talk - I'd always been perfectly content with qed 79 strand and some monster stuff before, and changed to tellurium Q simultaneously with a new amp and never dreamt the cable would actually be contributing but there you are. Bonkers. But definitely better. 

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p_m_brown
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

This is why I joined this forum. To hear of other's experiences of trying different cable, stands, isolation pads etc etc. I'm all for these so called "black arts". Can't understand why some folk are so vocal about this stuff being a pointless waste of time?!

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nopiano
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RE: Ortofon speaker cable

p_m_brown wrote:

This is why I joined this forum. To hear of other's experiences of trying different cable, stands, isolation pads etc etc. I'm all for these so called "black arts". Can't understand why some folk are so vocal about this stuff being a pointless waste of time?!

...it's because they are blinded by science and don't trust their ears!

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Hi-Fi: Krell KAV-300cd, Michell TecnoDec/RB250/Grado Prestige Black1, KAV-300i amp, Transparent balanced interconnects and bi-wire to Sonus faber Concerto grand piano speakers, Nakamichi ZX-7 cassette deck, Logitech Squeezebox Touch, Hitachi FT-5500 and Sony S570ES tuners, BCD Engineering stand, RA Powerlink, Chord powerchord, Grado SR60i cans.

AV: Sony Bravia KDL-32EX503 telly, BDP-S370 player with QED HDMI. Currently unused: Denon AVR-1705, DVD-1710, KEF KHT1005.2