I just placed an order for a pair of FR10s, which will arrive next week. I have a couple of cables I can use to begin with, but I am curious what cables you all have had success with to feed these speakers. I have a BHK 250 amp and do plan to bi-wire.
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If your bi-wiring is 2 connectors at the amp end and 4 at the speaker end for each channel, make sure the cables at the speaker end are at least 12” in length, as the connectors on the speaker are arranged left to right versus up & down
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Thanks – that horizontal arrangement certainly could require extra free cable.
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I currently have Cardas Clear Cygnus speaker cable going to my FR20’s, biwired at the speaker end with the custom 12” separation at the speaker end. If I was to upgrade, I would go with Audience Front Row Reserve, based on my liking FRR interconnect from the MU2 to 523 preamp and 523 preamp to 534 power amp and the raves from others that I trust on this forum (there are 2 Front Row fans in particular, you know who you are, lol). Because of the cost, I would get one pair, not biwired (because of cost), and have them go to the mid & tweeter with the FR included jumpers to the woofers.
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Here are a few speaker cables that often mentioned here based on their price range:
$1k Silversmith Fidelium plus jumpers. Excellent overall sound with great value, but it is on the warmer side of neutral.
$2 to 3k Iconoclast SPTPC for mid/high and check with Bob on Low (OPC if I remember right). Extremely detailed but with Aspen line should be a good match, otherwise it may sound analytical.
$5k SRA Takshaka bi-wired. Full and analog plus a ton of detail. The best in this price range, I believe
$10k plus As adifferentpaul mentioned, the Audience FRR will be great, but bi-wired will take you over $10k
Then there is Stealth Dream 16/17/19 if you want to spend more on cables than speakers, and you still need jumpers. Some will tell you they are the best of the best, and I think they do not mean just on the prices.
Iconoclast would be my choice, and Bob may give you a demo pair to try for free.
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I’m using Cardas Clear Reflection speaker cables with my FR10s, and these cables have worked very well for me. The cables combine the body and richness that classic Cardas cables are known for, but they also incorporate the clarity and detail of the “Clear” cable line.
There is an incredible amount of Cardas copper in the Clear Reflections, with the equivalent of 12 x 11.5 gauge wire. At the same time, these cables remain reasonably flexible. Retail cost for a 2-meter pair should be around $3200, with an internal bi-wire costing another $200.
The large amount of wire in each cable makes the Clear Reflection an excellent candidate for an internal bi-wire. A double pair of the full cable as a bi-wire may sound even better, but it will cost nearly twice the price of a single pair with an internal bi-wire.
Whatever cable you are leaning toward, I’d recommend comparing at least 2 or 3 different cables in your system – either by borrowing from friends or dealers or by using the Lending Library at the Cable Company.
Hope you enjoy your new FR10s. They are truly great speakers!
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Iconoclast would be my choice for that application.
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Audience Front Row or the Front Row Reserve is an easy recommendation assuming it is within your budget.
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The Kimber Kable braided 8PR was the best option within my budget for the FR5s, and I’m thoroughly pleased with the result. I’ve trusted Kimber Kable for years, and they’ve never disappointed.
Thanks to everyone who replied. Cardas (@adifferentpaul and @SDL ), Fidelium / Iconoclast (@dchang05 and @RonP ) and Kimber (@DavidF ) are all worth checking out. Particular thanks to @SDL for the clear description of the varieties of Cardas
I was surprised at some of the very expensive recommendations. I’m sure the FR10s are very good speakers, but they are not in the $30,000 and up category. Is it worth pairing very expensive cables with speakers further down the audiophile food chain? I would not have thought so, but would be curious to know the result if anyone has tried this.
The idea of getting a single length of an expensive cable and then using the jumpers supplied with the Aspens also raised questions for me. As I understand it, PSA supplies jumpers that are better than the cheap ones some speaker companies include, but they are (I think) not in the same class as some of the cables mentioned. Is one limiting the performance of the Aspen bass if an expensive cable goes into the mid/tweeter connection with a jumper to the bass?
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There are many cable nuts in this forum, me included. For instance, I use an AQ Dragon HC power cord to feed a LHY SW-10 Pro switch which is more than 2 to 1 cost ratio. But that is nothing compared to my AQ Dragon Source feeding an IFI Elite power supply. The cost ratio is 15 to 1. I cannot even claim I hold the record on cost ratio since forum members spent more on cables to feed their lower-cost gears than me.
Do they make a difference? They surely improved the sound, sometimes a lot. But I am not about to recommend paying more on cable than the component it serves. Look at it this way, you may not need to worry about cable upgrade when you upgrade your components, you just do the cable first.
I am looking at some potential cable upgrades next year that will dwarf my current cables too.
I was told this way is still better than using two cheaper bi-wire cables, provided the jumper is in equal quality of the single SC.
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Interesting results and good to know that such things are possible. I am not going to chase uber-expensive wires, though, given my bank account.
When requesting component recommendations providing a budget benefits the responder as well as the requester. For a budget cable Kimber 8TC is a solid choice.
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I didn’t give a budget because I have some flexibility and want to get cables I can keep long-term, not the cheapest available. I also thought (wrongly!) the fact that I bought FR10s not 20s or 30s would steer people away from recommending $10k-plus cables.
When I upgraded from the jumpers supplied with my FR10s to match my DIY Furutech DSS 4.1 speaker cables I got a big jump in sound quality. I think jumpers matter.
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From reading the FR30 manual it did not occur to me that you could connect amp —–> mid/twt and then use the top jumpers and get a signal to the bass; now it seems reasonable but does that work? I am biamping so it doesn’t affect my case but I’m curious.
For cables I am using Iconoclast Series II SPTPC ($3020, 8 ft pair) on the upper module and Element Cable ($460, 17 ft pair) on the bass. I can’t offer much of a comparison but the Iconoclast replaced a PSA Reference (at least 10 yrs old) and the improvement was quite large.
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Thanks – I just checked the manual for the FR 10 and it also recommends connecting the speaker cables to the bass terminal and using the jumpers to the mid/upper. I have heard that some people, like you, bi-wire using a less exotic cable on the bass. This gave me the impression that the bass input was less crucial, which the manual suggests is wrong. Perhaps @Chris_Brunhaver could explain if this matters and, if so, why.
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My previous speaker designer recommended connecting speaker cable to the mid/high terminals and use jumpers to the bass. If the SC is of high quality, you are hearing better SQ from the cable directly, not from the jumpers. He also thinks bass is less crucial.
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The EC cable is just what I had on hand. A BAV 1313A is coming this week to compare. I have a slight bass bloat and I want to see how a cable change affects it. The speakers are still breaking in so I haven’t experimented much with placement. The BHK 250 tubes are several years old so that could be it, new tubes are there but not yet installed. Some of this might help but I suspect that breakin and placement are the biggest factors.
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