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Elsdon Wonfor Audio LS-25 speaker cables

Rather than trash my own thread on ProAc SM100s user experiences, thought I'd start a dedicated one seeing who on PFM has bought/demo'd/experienced the EWA LS-25 speaker cables?
 
My experiences, In order of trails over the last 3-4 weeks, and having Tellurium Q Black as a reference till last weekend. Mini cable shoot out, in descending order:

1st place: EWA LS-25
Joint 2nd: VOVOX Vocalis – Really was the one I had my money on but experimenting with the HiDiamond 3 made it sound a little bright/hard and artificial
Joint 2nd: HiDiamond 3 – a very ‘fugly’ gold and black braid but sounds big, smooth and organic, albeit disjointed
Runner up: TelluriumQ Black – Nice reference point, great bass performance lacking detail further up
Runner up: Chord Epic – Not so epic, nice pleasant balance but trimmed top and bottom

Been looking/thinking of a not so flowery/BS way of describing the result, best I can do so far is to say its like removing the crystal clear window you didn't know was there previously, feeling the atmosphere come into the room. Everything's much more surrounding, the sense of reality, space and depth it allows the system to portray seems unlimited, yet I does this without becoming in any way shouty, controlled or highlight anything in particular; A full width soundstage without glare or exaggeration across the whole spectrum.

^BS over^: Bought the cables though Mark Grant who is the sole manufacturer/retailer IIRC; he makes these cables to an impeccable standard with true OCD attention to detail, even down to the packaging. I can see why EWA have chosen Mark, nice chap to deal with too.

Highly recommended if you've got the appetite to hear your system at its best.
 
Nice review.

Would appreciate if you can expand on the differences between the Chord Epic and EWA-LS25. Also, did you listen to the NAC A5 in your system as well?

FWIW I have the Chord Epic Twin on my 282/HCDR/250DR and find it to be a nicely balanced cable. The bass is textured and nicely extended while the treble is dependent on the recording. Overall I find the Chord Epic to be a good match to the system, and I slightly prefer this cable to the NAC A5 for its added detail and refinement.

The Chord Epic may not sound too epic as it's a nicely balanced cable. Your comment on the trimmed top and bottom of the Epic is intriguing as I don't find the highs to be rolled off, or the bass to lack punch, depth of impact. Can you please provide a more detailed analysis on this, thanks.

Are you using the Naim Superuniti and Proac SM100 when you evaluated the cables? Is the Proac SM100 biwirable? If yes, how did you connect the top and bottom terminals?
 
Nice review.

Would appreciate if you can expand on the differences between the Chord Epic and EWA-LS25. Also, did you listen to the NAC A5 in your system as well?

FWIW I have the Chord Epic Twin on my 282/HCDR/250DR and find it to be a nicely balanced cable. The bass is textured and nicely extended while the treble is dependent on the recording. Overall I find the Chord Epic to be a good match to the system, and I slightly prefer this cable to the NAC A5 for its added detail and refinement.

The Chord Epic may not sound too epic as it's a nicely balanced cable. Your comment on the trimmed top and bottom of the Epic is intriguing as I don't find the highs to be rolled off, or the bass to lack punch, depth of impact.

Are you using the Naim Superuniti and Proac SM100 when you evaluated the cables?

Yes using the system you describe above, Not got NACA5 as I have and know of the differences you describe of this and Chord Epic Twin.

Don't get me wrong, none of the cables mentioned are rubbish. Just the LS-25 makes the image tangible if you get me, try it, you'll hear what's missing with the Epic Twin. The extra pace, depth and resolution in the bass adds to the space around transients, which strings and blends seamlessly with the mids and the top sounds crystal clear, relaxed and textured.
 
Thanks for the information. That sounds pretty good.

Currently I have two pairs of Chord Signature TA and Signature jumpers on the way. I have actually overspent on cables for my system. The LS-25 will be in the shortlist if I catch the itch, though it wouldn't be anytime too soon.

Cheers.
 
Been looking/thinking of a not so flowery/BS way of describing the result,

Oh come on now, it just wouldn't be a cable thread without flowery BS ;)

Highly recommended if you've got the appetite to hear your system at its best.

Jeez, so if I had the appetite for my system to sound at its best, its gonna cost me £1488 for some speaker wire :eek:
 
The furthest is 8m provided the cables are run behind skirting boards, the nearest is 5m.

So I figured I'd need 2x8m to ensure the signal arrives at the speakers at the same time, which @ £186 p/m pair would be £1488. I now see on the website its a sliding scale up to 5m, so maybe a good bit cheaper. Decisions decisions :)
 
I would suspect it's very close to TQ without being the same, Colin got shafted by TQ and ousted from the company and lost all rights to the stuff he designed.
 
Question for those with a bit of knowledge. I have balanced cables running from my pre to my nCores and my speaker's crossovers are mounted in enclosures outside of my speakers. This means I only need a 20 cm run from Amp to crossovers and 50 cms runs from the crossovers to the speaker terminals. I know Naim amps recommend a minimum length between amp and crossover are there any other amps need this, ie the nCores? I'm looking at this cable and I really only need around a metre aside split into the relevant lengths per speaker?
 
So I figured I'd need 2x8m to ensure the signal arrives at the speakers at the same time

In the time it takes the signal to travel the 3 metre difference, sound moves 0.000003 m, or 1/10 the width of a human hair, so if your speakers are off by even one mm, it makes a much larger difference.

A more relevant issue is that if the cable parameters (R, C and L) make a difference to the sound, they are proportional to the length, but funnily enough, I have never came across an audiophile that would have stated that the "sound" of a cable was proportional to the length of the cable.
 
I know Naim amps recommend a minimum length between amp and crossover are there any other amps need this, ie the nCores? I'm looking at this cable and I really only need around a metre aside split into the relevant lengths per speaker?

The Naims are pretty special in that regard. There might be other amps that get unstable without the right loading, but the nCore is definitely not one of them, so no reason to worry.
 
In the time it takes the signal to travel the 3 metre difference, sound moves 0.000003 m, or 1/10 the width of a human hair, so if your speakers are off by even one mm, it makes a much larger difference.

Yes, I'm fully aware of that and probably should of added one of these ";)" after I wrote that sentence.
 
You understand electrons travel at the speed of light? There will be no time delay.


In an insulated cable they don't, PTFE Cat5 cable the NVP (Nominal Velocity of Propagation) is around 66% of the speed of light in a vacuum.

Pete
 
You understand electrons travel at the speed of light? There will be no time delay.

I do indeed however the purveyors of this stuff generally advocate equal lengths hence my sarcasm, which clearly didn't come through very well :)
 
In an insulated cable they don't, PTFE Cat5 cable the NVP (Nominal Velocity of Propagation) is around 66% of the speed of light in a vacuum.

True, but in this case, both 66% are 100% way too fast for it to matter.
 
How - it looks like the same conductor diameter, same construction and same insulation........?

However, I see it is about half the price (though far from cheap).

Don't know he doesn't say, I just read it in one of the online review. And IIRC on the TQB thread I had running a 5-6 weeks ago. That's where and how I found out about the EWA LS-25.
 


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