@Amber Audio lets us know your thoughts on your time with the cables
First off I’d like to thank Colin and Alan for providing the trial service, borrowing cables this way there’s no feeling of obligation to buy, unlike from a dealer, even if only subconscious.
I currently have a Luxman L-590AXII integrated amp and Martin Logan ESL11a speakers connected with a 3M pair of Van Damme Black 6mm. My goto speaker cable is Chord Odyssey 2, which I’ve used on and off for 20 plus years.
I listened to my usual tracks and also the albums I’m playing regularly, mainly the Taylor Swift lockdown ones, swapping VD & LS cables back and forth a few times, then leaving the LS-40 in for a few days. Compared to the Van Damme it was easier to follow the micro details and I had a feeling that vocals had more body/presence, the bass also seemed a little deeper. Certain things were more obvious to hear in well known songs, Prefab Sprout and The The albums (all of them
) are regulars and very well known to me, the radio chatter on one track was easier to make out using the LS cables, peripheral effects were also slightly more prominent, enough to make me double check they were there using the VD, they were but just not as easy to hear. In context these changes are very small compared to a cart or speaker change, icing on the cake stuff.
I decide whether to buy an item by asking myself if I feel things sound worse or like something is missing when the item is taken away. I have a couple of sessions with things returned to normal and if I “feel” something is off/missing I have another try and then likely pull the trigger. I was sure the LS-40 was better than the Van Damme and worth moving to. As a test I dropped the Odyssey 2 cables in, long story short there was nothing in it so the Odyssey cables have remained in place for now and the Van Damme are back in the spares box.
I’m not finished building my main system up so aim to leave final cable choice until I have a long term Amp+Speaker pair in place, at which point the LS-80 will be on the demo list along with the matching interconnects.