Elsdon Wonfor Audio LS-40 speaker cables

[OldSkool]

I've been reading this thread with interest but haven't expressed an interest in joining the list if still possible as I'd really need a 4m pair or even 4.5m. However I've done some measuring and think if I sit my power amp side-on in my rack I could make 3m work for evaluation purposes!

So is it possible to join the list please?

FWIW I've found big differences in speaker cables in the past, so much so that they're almost like another component, would be interesting to see what the LS-40's might bring to the table as I've used my current cables for well over 10 years.

 

[Heckyman]

Is it too late to join the list for a go with these please?

I've been reading this thread with interest but haven't expressed an interest in joining the list if still possible as I'd really need a 4m pair or even 4.5m. However I've done some measuring and think if I sit my power amp side-on in my rack I could make 3m work for evaluation purposes!

So is it possible to join the list please?

FWIW I've found big differences in speaker cables in the past, so much so that they're almost like another component, would be interesting to see what the LS-40's might bring to the table as I've used my current cables for well over 10 years.

If you haven't already I'd PM @ABCaudio

 

[Yivez]

@Dan K @ABCaudio LS-40s are on there way

 

[Yivez]

First of all, thanks, ABCaudio, for making this trial happen and now to my review:

Speaker cable can be a controversial topic at the best of times, and whilst I'm not an advocate of bell wire, I have never dipped the proverbial toe into the expensive speaker cable pond. Why? Mainly due to long speaker cable runs and trying to hide cables etc. My speaker cable experience is limited to Ecosse 4.45 or, more recently, Canare 4.11 (star quad).

After a complete rearrangement of my office/listening room in January, I now have the Hi-fi and speakers on the long wall firing across the short length. Instantly I have been rewarded with a better stereo image and the chance to try the EWA LS-40 Speaker Cables.

System
Auralic Vega G2
Tron Seven GT Pre-amp
Leben CS600 (acting as power amp)
Falcon LS3/5a (Gold badge version)

The strengths of the LS3/5a's are detail, stereo image a tonal naturalness and voicing. With the right system, room and listening setup, its a rewarding experience encouraging you to listen and enjoy music.

On to the EWA LS-40 it's physically a wide cable, well made, not the easiest to manoeuvre but flexible enough to place. I listened for five days before making any comparison with my existing speaker cable. The result is an enhancement of the strengths of the LS3/5a plus a better bass performance which is tight and responsive. The sound is clear, cohesive and seductive, and for me, the kind of audiophile tinkering that rewards an improvement.

Time to raid the piggy bank!

 

[iansr]

First of all, thanks, ABCaudio, for making this trial happen and now to my review:

Speaker cable can be a controversial topic at the best of times, and whilst I'm not an advocate of bell wire, I have never dipped the proverbial toe into the expensive speaker cable pond. Why? Mainly due to long speaker cable runs and trying to hide cables etc. My speaker cable experience is limited to Ecosse 4.45 or, more recently, Canare 4.11 (star quad).

After a complete rearrangement of my office/listening room in January, I now have the Hi-fi and speakers on the long wall firing across the short length. Instantly I have been rewarded with a better stereo image and the chance to try the EWA LS-40 Speaker Cables.

System
Auralic Vega G2
Tron Seven GT Pre-amp
Leben CS600 (acting as power amp)
Falcon LS3/5a (Gold badge version)

The strengths of the LS3/5a's are detail, stereo image a tonal naturalness and voicing. With the right system, room and listening setup, its a rewarding experience encouraging you to listen and enjoy music.

On to the EWA LS-40 it's physically a wide cable, well made, not the easiest to manoeuvre but flexible enough to place. I listened for five days before making any comparison with my existing speaker cable. The result is an enhancement of the strengths of the LS3/5a plus a better bass performance which is tight and responsive. The sound is clear, cohesive and seductive, and for me, the kind of audiophile tinkering that rewards an improvement.

Time to raid the piggy bank!

Now this is particularly interesting because of the Canare cable that Yivez currently uses. For those of you who don’t know, that Canare cable is the ultimate choice if you are a cable sceptic (as I was until fairly recently and prior to comparing some LS25 to LS80 cable). I say this because an Electronics Engineer would tell you it has everything you need ie the conductors are large diameter and the resistance of the cable is very low in relative terms. Furthermore the Inductance and Capacitance specs are also fit for purpose. So the EE would tell you it can’t get better than that , , , hence my interest in Yivez’s findings.

 

[Yivez]

Now this is particularly interesting because of the Canare cable that Yivez currently uses. For those of you who don’t know, that Canare cable is the ultimate choice if you are a cable sceptic (as I was until fairly recently and prior to comparing some LS25 to LS80 cable). I say this because an Electronics Engineer would tell you it has everything you need ie the conductors are large diameter and the resistance of the cable is very low in relative terms. Furthermore, the Inductance and Capacitance specs are also fit for purpose. So the EE would tell you it can’t get better than that , , , hence my interest in Yivez’s findings.

To offer more perspective on the Canare cable v EWA LS-40 - the Canare cable is indeed on paper and in use is one of the best "sceptic" speaker cables which is 1/14th of the price of the LS-40. Is the LS-40 14x better than the Canare cable? The sceptic in me says not BUT I can't deny there is an overall improvement that is desirable to audiophiles who want to get the best out of their systems.

 

[CliffB]

First of all, thanks, ABCaudio, for making this trial happen and now to my review:

Speaker cable can be a controversial topic at the best of times, and whilst I'm not an advocate of bell wire, I have never dipped the proverbial toe into the expensive speaker cable pond. Why? Mainly due to long speaker cable runs and trying to hide cables etc. My speaker cable experience is limited to Ecosse 4.45 or, more recently, Canare 4.11 (star quad).

After a complete rearrangement of my office/listening room in January, I now have the Hi-fi and speakers on the long wall firing across the short length. Instantly I have been rewarded with a better stereo image and the chance to try the EWA LS-40 Speaker Cables.

System
Auralic Vega G2
Tron Seven GT Pre-amp
Leben CS600 (acting as power amp)
Falcon LS3/5a (Gold badge version)

The strengths of the LS3/5a's are detail, stereo image a tonal naturalness and voicing. With the right system, room and listening setup, its a rewarding experience encouraging you to listen and enjoy music.

On to the EWA LS-40 it's physically a wide cable, well made, not the easiest to manoeuvre but flexible enough to place. I listened for five days before making any comparison with my existing speaker cable. The result is an enhancement of the strengths of the LS3/5a plus a better bass performance which is tight and responsive. The sound is clear, cohesive and seductive, and for me, the kind of audiophile tinkering that rewards an improvement.

Time to raid the piggy bank!

Really interesting to read another experience with the LS-40. Also interesting because guess what? I used Ecosse cables prior to my journey with EWA about 3 years ago.

More specifically I had MS 2.3/2.15 in a biwire configuration and this was good cable that set me back hundreds at the time and is still available but around double that! I really liked this cable and it was/is very good by most standards.

After auditioning LS-25 it replaced the Ecosse. It didn’t trash the previous cable but was unambiguously superior, with my by then somewhat upgraded system. There were obvious improvements in noise floor, imaging and clarity in mids and highs.

LS-25 is now the “basic” cable in the EWA range so having tested LS-40 and now using LS-80, I would expect the newer cables to put even more distance between them and cheaper cables, with it being more and more obvious with better sources, amplifiers and speakers.

After getting used to EWA, many others sound grainy higher up with much more hash or veiling noise, which damages clarity and imaging.

Your speakers; I love the LS3/5a! They are the opposite end of the spectrum in size and bass output to my PMCs but they are a really special speaker. I remember a demo at Bristol with them, a Sugden amp and a MoFi Ultradeck, playing a one-step pressing of Stevie Ray Vaughan and to me it clobbered the 200k steaming systems I had heard in musicality and naturalness!

 

[Dan K]

Cables arrived earlier today, many thanks Yivez.

I'll give them the weekend before I draw any conclusions

Who's next on the list?

 

[OldSkool]

Really interesting to read another experience with the LS-40. Also interesting because guess what? I used Ecosse cables prior to my journey with EWA about 3 years ago.

More specifically I had MS 2.3/2.15 in a biwire configuration and this was good cable that set me back hundreds at the time and is still available but around double that! I really liked this cable and it was/is very good by most standards.

After auditioning LS-25 it replaced the Ecosse. It didn’t trash the previous cable but was unambiguously superior, with my by then somewhat upgraded system. There were obvious improvements in noise floor, imaging and clarity in mids and highs.

LS-25 is now the “basic” cable in the EWA range so having tested LS-40 and now using LS-80, I would expect the newer cables to put even more distance between them and cheaper cables, with it being more and more obvious with better sources, amplifiers and speakers.

After getting used to EWA, many others sound grainy higher up with much more hash or veiling noise, which damages clarity and imaging.

Your speakers; I love the LS3/5a! They are the opposite end of the spectrum in size and bass output to my PMCs but they are a really special speaker. I remember a demo at Bristol with them, a Sugden amp and a MoFi Ultradeck, playing a one-step pressing of Stevie Ray Vaughan and to me it clobbered the 200k steaming systems I had heard in musicality and naturalness!

Coincidentally I'm still using Ecosse MS2.3 - a decent well balanced cable IMO. I was surprised to find its still available but now more than double the price/m than it was in the early noughties, my current 5m set (which I got second hand) would now be over £600 if bought today.

Interesting what you say about improved noise floor and imaging with the LS-25. From my understanding it has inductive shielding which I'm wondering if its what gives that characteristic. I say that as the Ecosse replaced some Chord Epic which is also shielded and also seemed to have a perceptibly lower noise floor and bigger soundstage, but poorer timing than the Ecosse. Maybe the LS cables give the best of both worlds?

 

[Cereal Killer]

I’ve also owned the MS2.3, that was a fir few years ago now. It’s difficult to say how they would both compare, from my trials it’s system dependant so the best thing for you do to would be join the LS40 tour queue and try them!

 

[Dan K]

Cereal, bit of a direct question :

What's your relationship with either Colin or Alen? Are you part of EWA, or just a very happy customer?

Thanks
Dan

 

[RoA]

Coincidentally I'm still using Ecosse MS2.3 - a decent well balanced cable IMO. I was surprised to find its still available but now more than double the price/m than it was in the early noughties, my current 5m set (which I got second hand) would now be over £600 if bought today.

Interesting what you say about improved noise floor and imaging with the LS-25. From my understanding it has inductive shielding which I'm wondering if its what gives that characteristic. I say that as the Ecosse replaced some Chord Epic which is also shielded and also seemed to have a perceptibly lower noise floor and bigger soundstage, but poorer timing than the Ecosse. Maybe the LS cables give the best of both worlds?

Sorry for questioning this but how can a speaker (or power) cable improve upon or indeed change the 'noise floor'?

 

[OldSkool]

Sorry for questioning this but how can a speaker (or power) cable improve upon or indeed change the 'noise floor'?

This may be controversial but if it is shielded then it can potentially prevent RF pickup feeding back into the output of the amplifier. Of itself this may not be an issue but I read an article that discussed that such noise can then be fed back via the amplifiers feedback resistor to it's input potentially raising its noise floor. This "noise" probably won't be audible "hiss" type stuff put could potentially intermodulate with the audio to provide low level distortion.

The only experience I have with shielded speaker cable was with Chord Epic which subjectively had a darker background with more low level details audible.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Cereal, bit of a direct question :

What's your relationship with either Colin or Alen? Are you part of EWA, or just a very happy customer?

Thanks
Dan

Dan, no relationship. Haven’t been involved in the businesses of either Alan or Colin. I am just a happy and satisfied customer.

If you understood the history of what happened to Colin when he started Tellurium Q and the way they skanked and almost ruined him, you’d understand why he has strong support here and with people who know his work.

He does indeed create incredible designs, and is one of the few who tries not to look at products and what's the maximum price they could be marketed for, but instead looks at what he needs to charge to cover the costs and a make a humble to normal living from it. But ultimately my choice to support their products comes solely from the sound quality offered and the reasonable price asked.

Alan @ABCaudio is helping and assisting Colin @CJ14 bring his work to an audience who value, respect and appreciate all the above. Colin has not been in the best of health and has all but retired form the industry. I think I speak here for a fair few, but IF we can give him something back and help him in his retirement then that's a win for all of us. These designs could be marketed at 3-4-5 times the cost they are offered at.

For example the LS-80 is 'very similar' to, but could’ve/should’ve been 'the next generation' of Tellurium Q's Statement speaker cable which sells for £8700 for a 2.5m pair. https://www.futureshop.co.uk/tellur...2Foqf-RbDR39xj8FQ_2RLifQesbQTWexoCyTkQAvD_BwE

Save over £7000 here: https://www.abcaudio.biz/product-page/ls-80-reference-2-5-metre-stereo-set What's not to like in this

 

[iansr]

Well said Cereal Killer. My long audio journey has taught me to buy from audio designers / engineers who have exceptional expertise and who are primarily interested in producing outstanding products rather than extracting as much cash as possible from their customers. Colin is beyond any shadow of a doubt a prime example of what I have just described.

 

[CJ14]

Hey lads you all now I am nuts just ask my mum.
Sent her a Mother day card a nice looking card well she called to thank me and was in a giggles well recuse laughter it was a birthday card, at 86 she do not get out much. Well my excuse was in the late 1970s I was exposed to a Plasma burst for 10mS which left me blind for two week, Bev at the Audiofile in Bishop Stortford let me stay in a flat that she owned and check on me everyday, lovely woman and good friend . This damaged my eye site leaving me colour blind to Light Blue and Yellow, odd but true. The card was light blue with gold writing "Birthday". I missed it. Sorry Mum, Happy Mother Day Mums.

 

[CliffB]

Sorry for questioning this but how can a speaker (or power) cable improve upon or indeed change the 'noise floor'?

No need to apologise for asking a reasonable question. That is what is generally so good about this group. Participants are not abusive, disrespectful fools pushing their own agendas and hiding behind the internet, but curious folks who enjoy music and want to get the best from their systems by making wise choices. We are also very happy to share our honest experiences to help others achieve what they want too.

My (limited) understanding is that the cables reject external noise and cancel noise that may already be there, but I suggest a look at the website or a Q to Alan or Colin to properly answer it. I might not be able to explain it without copying and pasting off the website, but I can tell you the practical result!

To address your specific point....My system has never been noisy as such and now contains components of a level that probably manage noise very well. By that I mean I don't suffer from pops, clicks, hums or anything obvious. What I can say beyond doubt is that the EWA cable loom (mains, interconnect, speaker) has made a clear and audible difference to the sound quality and part of this is the removal of that veiling type noise that you don't realise you have until it's no longer there, but which defines a high-end listening experience. It is like an indistinct fuzz that reduces clarity and spaciousness and makes listening less satisfying and more fatiguing. It is an oft-used analogy but very descriptive....veiling noise is like looking out of a window upon a detailed scene, through a set of net curtains. You can see everything ok but it lacks absolute clarity. These cables strip that layer away and everything appears in glorious clarity and with deep, black, bottomless backgrounds that allow the tiniest decay and subtlety to show through.

My relationship with Alan and Colin is that I am just a satisfied customer. It arose from seeking better cabling but being dismayed by the outrageous profiteering and lack of transparency in the industry. People are cynical about cables and much of the industry only has itself to blame for this. However, in EWA and ABC Audio there was a refreshing change. Integrity, no pushy marketing and openly inviting honest opinion and feedback to help them get better. Also, essential in my opinion, is an option to have a trial period so you can return the cables if not satisfied. This is an acknowledgement that not all systems and users are the same, but most importantly takes away risk for the customer and is the best statement possible about Alan/Colin's belief in their product.

Had the cables been another also-ran, I would have politely fed back and moved on, but they are offering something very special here. The cables have totally enhanced my enjoyment of music and my system and represent excellent value for money. I could not have afforded statement cables from other manufacturers, but I have the best that EWA have to offer and it is both brilliant and affordable and in fact hard to imagine better. In fact I cannot conceive that any system component upgrade could have given the same improvements.

 

[Cereal Killer]

I have also now settled on keeping the EWA loom... It's enhanced the system perfectly. Going to be keeping 1x MCS-5 mains cable, 1x EWA USB cable, and a 2.5m pair of LS-40's.

 

[steveinspain]

Like CK and CliffB, I to am just a happy customer who 'discovered' EWA products when I was looking for a new amp and asked here on PFM for suggestions, and up popped Alan who said that he had a Q20 I could try. Without any payment or security he sent it and next morning it was here with me. I had a couple of weeks comparing it to 2 others and kept it.
Since then Alan has kept in touch, and following these I've been sent various cables to try, which I've ended up buying as for me, they work. I like to listen to music, and if that pleasure can be enhanced at a price I can afford then I'll buy.
As an aside, I also really like the personal touch that both Alan and Col have shown me. I'm not buying from a brand, but from people, and both have helped me recently get through some tough family times.

 

[Heckyman]

...noise/noise floor is just the opposite of fidelity as in the term "high fidelity".

Most cables don't do all that much for fidelity, a few even degrade it (the 'tone control" types). A select few cables do result in a sound that's simply clearer overall. Most are crazy expensive and as such only make sense in systems costing multiple thousands.

However, as pointed out above, EWA have decided to make such cables available at a price normal people can (just about!) afford. And it turns out, you don't actually need an uber-system to hear the benefits of superior cabling.

In my system, £1K extra on cables has been far more beneficial than an extra £1K on a DAC (I reckon £4-5K would need to be spent on a worthwhile DAC improvement, which is really at / beyond my limit).

No tricks, and if you follow the Tellurium Q / Colin story, you can start to understand how/why these cables exist.

As to technical explanations, I only have a Physics A level from years ago...why these particular cables work so well is therefore a mystery to me (and maybe also to some of the folks actually in the hifi business, if they actually knew how to make superior cables at reasonable prices they surely would already be doing so).