Wireworld Horizon review

A flexible friend for any audio system Tested at £10/m

Speaker cable: Wireworld Horizon
(Image: © Wireworld)

What Hi-Fi? Verdict

Give the Wireworld Horizon time to settle in and it will quite literally be a flexible addition to any hi-fi or home cinema system.

Pros

  • +

    Flexible design

  • +

    Tight-fitting plugs

  • +

    Encourages a solid sound

Cons

  • -

    Needs time to run in

  • -

    Top rivals allow for greater dynamics and detail

Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert team reviews products in dedicated test rooms, to help you make the best choice for your budget. Find out more about how we test.

Speaker cables are a vital part of any hi-fi or home cinema system, but let’s face it, they’re not exactly attractive to look at. Not only that, they can also be a minor tripping hazard. Which is where a cable like the Wireworld Horizon can come in very handy.

Build

Speaker cable: Wireworld Horizon

(Image credit: Wireworld)

Pulled from its packaging, we’ve got mixed feelings. It’s fair to say the Horizon doesn't exactly have the robust feel or look of some rivals we’ve tested at the money, but then again, it looks and feels like that for a reason.

Wireworld Horizon tech specs

Speaker cable: Wireworld Horizon

(Image credit: Wireworld)

Type Single-wire speaker cable

Design Flexi-Flat

Conductors Twisted OFC multistrand copper

Shielded n/a

At just 1.4mm thick and 10mm wide, it’s super thin, pliable and perfect for running under carpets and reaching places in your living room or listening room that other cables can’t.

Our review sample is terminated with 4mm Z-type banana plugs which, we can report, won’t slip out of your speaker or stereo amplifier terminals any time soon. They’re a really tight fit with our ATC SCM50 reference speakers and Burmester 088/911 Mk3 pre/power combination, so be careful when pushing or pulling them so you don’t damage the plugs.

Don’t forget that a tight fit is a very good thing: the more contact between the plugs and your speaker/amplifier terminals the lower the resistance and the better the signal transfer. Which is good for sound quality.

Sound

Speaker cable: Wireworld Horizon

(Image credit: Wireworld)

Without any running in, the Wireworld Horizon starts out life with a character that mirrors its design. The general presentation is rather thin, flat and a little insubstantial. On a quick listen, you’d be looking at a so-so three-star rating.

But this is a good example of why it pays to treat your cables like any new component in your system and give them time to run in. We give the Horizon a couple of nights to properly bed in, and notice some of those coarser edges are smoothed out.

Play Kid Cudi’s Day And Night and there’s a more believable texture to Kid’s vocal and less of a rough surface to the track’s synths. The cable just helps to deliver a more satisfying overall sound: bass notes sound fuller and weightier and the song doesn’t sound as tonally grey. There’s more space around the different elements too.

Switch to Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven and the cable helps to communicate the harmonics of the piano and the differentiation between key strokes. The ebb and flow of the track is communicated with greater clarity. Notes sound natural and realistic. The speaker cable doesn’t allow dynamics to shine quite as brightly as the very best at the money, though, and there’s a slight emotional disconnect from the music.

Verdict

Speaker cable: Wireworld Horizon

(Image credit: Wireworld)

The Wireworld Horizon is up against some tough competition at this level, namely the AudioQuest Rocket 11, but it’s still a very capable and versatile performer and could be a smart choice if you want to keep cable clutter to a minimum.

SCORES

  • Sound 4
  • Build 4
  • Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our AudioQuest Rocket 11 review

10 affordable ways to upgrade your hi-fi system

These are the best speaker cables: budget and premium audio cables

What Hi-Fi?

What Hi-Fi?, founded in 1976, is the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products. Our comprehensive tests help you buy the very best for your money, with our advice sections giving you step-by-step information on how to get even more from your music and movies. Everything is tested by our dedicated team of in-house reviewers in our custom-built test rooms in London, Reading and Bath. Our coveted five-star rating and Awards are recognised all over the world as the ultimate seal of approval, so you can buy with absolute confidence.


Read more about how we test

  • abacus
    Please provide verifiable evidence of your claims.

    Bill
    Reply
  • Bloke
    Bill,

    Please show your testing methodology for this cable and show verifiable evidence that the claims are false.
    Reply
  • abacus
    Bloke said:
    Bill,

    Please show your testing methodology for this cable and show verifiable evidence that the claims are false.

    The onus is on the reviewers (And manufactures) to show verifiable evidence so that anybody can check that the claims are correct, (Check your old school science books to see how to use it) not the other way round.

    Bill
    Reply
  • Bloke
    Salty. Standard psuedo-intellectual response of course and a tacit admission that you've neither tried nor tested this cable.
    Actually, the onus is on you to disprove, as you don't have a gun to your head forcing you to read the review nor buy the product. Maybe brush up on your understanding of capitalism... ;)
    Reply
  • abacus
    Bloke said:
    Salty. Standard psuedo-intellectual response of course and a tacit admission that you've neither tried nor tested this cable.
    Actually, the onus is on you to disprove, as you don't have a gun to your head forcing you to read the review nor buy the product. Maybe brush up on your understanding of capitalism... ;)

    The easiest test is the level matched double blind test which removes any bias and placebo effect.
    No manufacture or reviewer has yet provided evidence using this test (Which is a standard scientific test used for all sorts of items) that proves that cables make a difference, providing there specs meet the requirements for the items concerned.
    As I have said in many posts on cables, if you believe it makes a difference (Even if in reality it doesn’t) and you can afford it then go for it, as it’s your happiness.
    The point I have issue with is that many newbies come to this and other sites looking for facts on what’s best for them, and believing that what the reviewers and manufactures say is the truth, when in actual fact, that without verifiable evidence, it is purely subjective opinion.
    If facts have no relevance to you, or you get upset when people call things out, best to stay off forums, as claiming that opinion is fact will always be called out. :cool:

    Bill
    Reply
  • Bloke
    "...claiming that opinion is fact will always be called out".
    In that case, please show your testing methodology for this cable and show verifiable evidence that the claims are false.
    Reply
  • 12th Monkey
    Whilst I don't entirely agree with Bill, the burden of proof lies with the person making the claims.

    Don't you just love cable threads...
    Reply
  • Bloke
    Don't worry... the cable threads of today will be the streaming threads of tomorrow. Which router? Which codec?

    Bill asked his question in response to What Hi Fi admin saying:

    "The Wireworld Horizon is ideal for slipping under a carpet, but does it actually sound any good?"

    Seems to me that subjective reviews have no legal or moral obligation to double-blind test components.

    Consider this: two speakers of the exact same physical parameters, whose crossover topologies are identical. Except that one uses high-quality caps, resistors etc. No one would bat an eyelid to read that there is a difference in sound. Yet the minute cables get reviewed...
    Reply
  • 12th Monkey
    Bloke said:
    Seems to me that subjective reviews have no legal or moral obligation to double-blind test components.

    Maybe not, but it would add credibility if they did.
    Reply
  • Bloke
    Agreed.
    Reply