I've been operating with my newish Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables now for a month or so with my newish Soliloquy 5.3i speakers. I bought both with the intent of running a 2nd system. I'm still dialing in the speakers with positioning and speaker to floor interface, and I decided today to go ahead and try them with my main (and well seasoned) Mapleshade speaker cables. I've got a bit of cable experience under my belt, but was again super impressed with the immediate differences between the two. Nothing subtle about it.
I do like the Blue Heavens. They are excellent on bluegrass and jazz, great midrange and good deep bass, somewhat romantic and laid back (but not dark). They also have the best upper midrange color that I have heard (on my system) in a speaker cable.
I dusted off the Mapleshade Golden Helix cables, fiddled with the routing (as you must do with these wiry things), and reconnected them to the terminals. After being coiled up and out of service for awhile, they usually sound rather crappy for a period (wierd). But this time I left them hanging in place for the month they were out of service, and this time they sounded great immediately.
The differences were stark. Where the Blue Heavens were laid back and a bit inarticulate, the Golden Helix was out in front of the speakers, very palpable, and dynamic; explosive really. I've used that term to decribe them before and I'm impressed by that again. The other amazing difference is with the clarity, and the wide open nature to the sound. I think I'm hearing more ambient information and frequency extension, but things just sound more real. The bass also seems faster and better defined. Less overhang that I was blaming on the speakers (and the vibrapods they are now sitting on). Can a speaker cable increase the damping factor of an amp??
Tone and cleanliness is quite good, but not quite up to the Blue Heavens. There is a touch more sibilance and at times they can get a bit "spitty" (noisy ac?), but on balance I love these little wires.
The purpose of my post is really just to express my observations. I don't have other outlets for discussing audio wires, as my other friends eyes just glass over or it starts an argument about whether I can possibly hear what I am hearing.
I've seen some disparaging remarks about Mapleshade cables here and on other forums (and a few of Pierre Spray's tough to swallow claims). They may not work with some systems, but IMHO in the right system these things are really, really good.
Thanks for listening.
Chris