Chord Sarum T speaker cables

Richard Choong posted:

Is anyone using the Chord Sarum T speaker cables or tried them? Interested to know your views. 

Better yet. If you have also tried the Tellurium Q Ultra blacks. Your views on the comparison would be helpful! 

Thanks!

Hi Richard

I am demoing a full Sarum T loom USB, XLR and Speaker at the moment and hope to have TQ Black Diamond and TQ Silver Diamond by the end of the week to compare. I run TQ black at present and the Chords are certainly a step up from these, but so you would expect for the price increase. I've not tried the TQ ultra blacks, but I will try to detail the differences as I hear them once i've had a good listen. I do not have Naim equipment in my system so as always you would need to listen in your own system before making any decisions, especially at these quite ridiculous prices for lengths of copper. What a mad hobby this is.

Moderated Post:  I have removed the name of someone who does not wish for their name or products to be discussed on here.  

LOL, but the conversion ain't going to happen this time Foxman.

There is no Chord dealer where I live, and I'm really not interested in a Chord Speaker cable.

If any UK dealer wants to post them to me to try (without any hassle to me like import duties and me blocking money on my credit card), I'm open minded.

Otherwise as Richard Branson says "Screw it", I don't really care to waste my time on Chord speaker cables when Naim and Vertere cables are available where I live. It isn't my problem, it is Chord issue that they don't have a dealer locally to me.

And despite some false rumours that DR amps need SL, I don't hear this AT ALL, NACA 5 sounds very good with all Naim amps, just lacks the resolution, soundstage and adds some mid-bass hump compared to SL.

Where does the original post mention Naim or Vertere cables? 

Sorry Richard I haven't heard Sarum T or and Tellurrruuulum or whatever they're called so I'm not much use but have you tried a Hugo or a Dave?

Drewy posted:

Where does the original post mention Naim or Vertere cables? 

analogmusic posted:

LOL, but the conversion ain't going to happen this time Foxman.

There is no Chord dealer where I live, and I'm really not interested in a Chord Speaker cable. 

This is always the issue with trying to demo kit, lack of dealer support and to be honest there is only so much any one person can keep swapping gear out. I get fed up with it, but there is always that niggle that if I don't try it how will I know.

Drewy posted:

Where does the original post mention Naim or Vertere cables? 

Sorry Richard I haven't heard Sarum T or and Tellurrruuulum or whatever they're called so I'm not much use but have you tried a Hugo or a Dave?

Funny- but I am highlighting a real issue here, unless one can hear these Sarum T speaker cables through a dealer, asking ppl on a forum is at best subjective (and at worst plays into personal preferences - for lack of a better way to say it).

When it comes to 2000 GBP/m cables that are not made by Naim, unless there is local dealer support, it is just plain "roll of the dice".

Anyway your money and time Mr Choong, I don't get the logic that somehow Sarum beats Naim's own cables all the time, because they simply don't to my ears. 

analogmusic posted:

Drewy posted:

Where does the original post mention Naim or Vertere cables? 

Sorry Richard I haven't heard Sarum T or and Tellurrruuulum or whatever they're called so I'm not much use but have you tried a Hugo or a Dave?

Funny- but I am highlighting a real issue here, unless one can hear these Sarum T speaker cables through a dealer, asking ppl on a forum is at best subjective (and at worst plays into personal preferences - for lack of a better way to say it).

When it comes to 2000 GBP/m cables that are not made by Naim, unless there is local dealer support, it is just plain "roll of the dice".

Anyway your money and time Mr Choong, I don't get the logic that somehow Sarum beats Naim's own cables all the time, because they simply don't to my ears. 

I think it's different strokes for different people. That said, I agree with you on the dealer issue. It bugs the hell out of me that the Chord dealer in Singapore (where I live) is terrible. When I asked them about Sarum T cables they gave me a "I have no idea what you are talking about" look. Which is why I have been lobbying the local Naim dealer to take over the dealership. LOL. At least then I can try the cables. 

By the way, I didn't say Sarum cables beat Naim's cables all the time. I can only speak for my system and my listening environment. Just my humble opinion.  

Wenger's the tellurium expert on here isn't he? 

Unfortunately these threads always ends up in no cables do not matter, only Naim cables work with  Naim equipment, no tellurium is the best since lised bread. The op asked if anybody have heard the diffrence between sarum and Sarum T. In an active system I am never going to try neither Sarum T or SL, this is too expensive and other upgrades will surely bring more to my system. However I am thinking of upgrading my interconnects from SA to SA T some time in the future.

Claus

At these stupid money levels threads are pretty pointless for non naim cables 

you have to listen for yourself

analogmusic posted:

 

you have to listen for yourself

Just as I thought you couldn't be objective, you can

Richard Choong posted:

analogmusic posted:

Drewy posted:

Where does the original post mention Naim or Vertere cables? 

Sorry Richard I haven't heard Sarum T or and Tellurrruuulum or whatever they're called so I'm not much use but have you tried a Hugo or a Dave?

Funny- but I am highlighting a real issue here, unless one can hear these Sarum T speaker cables through a dealer, asking ppl on a forum is at best subjective (and at worst plays into personal preferences - for lack of a better way to say it).

When it comes to 2000 GBP/m cables that are not made by Naim, unless there is local dealer support, it is just plain "roll of the dice".

Anyway your money and time Mr Choong, I don't get the logic that somehow Sarum beats Naim's own cables all the time, because they simply don't to my ears. 

I think it's different strokes for different people. That said, I agree with you on the dealer issue. It bugs the hell out of me that the Chord dealer in Singapore (where I live) is terrible. When I asked them about Sarum T cables they gave me a "I have no idea what you are talking about" look. Which is why I have been lobbying the local Naim dealer to take over the dealership. LOL. At least then I can try the cables. 

By the way, I didn't say Sarum cables beat Naim's cables all the time. I can only speak for my system and my listening environment. Just my humble opinion.  

A chord dealer who doesn't know what Sarum T is?

 

A chord dealer who doesn't know what Sarum T is?

 

Exactly. 

Richard Choong posted:

 

A chord dealer who doesn't know what Sarum T is?

 

Exactly. 

That would make me send a mail to Chord HQ asking if they find this information ok or up to the quality of their dealers/destributors.

Claus  

Or make life simple and just buy Superlumina 

Claus-Thoegersen posted:

Richard Choong posted:

 

A chord dealer who doesn't know what Sarum T is?

 

Exactly. 

That would make me send a mail to Chord HQ asking if they find this information ok or up to the quality of their dealers/destributors.

Claus  

That actually isn't a bad idea. 

It's a great idea if you want to destroy the relationship with your dealer. These things happen. Dealers are often less knowledgeable than owners in my experience. 

I've always thought that keeping cables consistent is a good idea - I have all Super Lumina - and therefore would have said that mixing wasn't a good idea. But Monkey Jim's real world findings are really interesting. I'm sure the dealer can get hold of a set to try, and maybe a set of SL too. Both Naim and Chord are very helpful. 

When I got my SL cables I didn't try Chord, partly because I've never heard a Chord cable I liked, partly because they change their range more frequently than a student changes their pants, but mainly because I couldn't be bothered. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

It's a great idea if you want to destroy the relationship with your dealer. These things happen. Dealers are often less knowledgeable than owners in my experience. 

True that. The local dealer tends to deal with the low end chord stuff. They probably never had anyone ask about the high end cables. I wonder what they would have said if I ask for the music range....��

'Whoopee, that pays for my holiday'?

I'd bought wholeheartedly into the idea that consistency is a good idea when it comes to cables and had patiently been building up my Chord Sarum collection and liking the benefits it brought. I certainly thought the Chord Tuned Aray and Super Aray power cables brought benefits over the Naim Powerlines. That's where I started and I added the interconnects and streaming cable subsequently.

I was so surprised that Sarum T speaker cable didn't  continue that pattern especially as it would have completed a loom from the switch and power sockets all the way to the speakers. 

Maybe I should try other Super Lumina cables and maybe I'll find I ultimately prefer a Super Lumina loom to a Chord loom, who knows? My experience certainly doesn't disprove loom theory.

I do know that I am really enjoying the music it makes for now and whilst my slightly OCD mind is still telling me that a loom makes more sense, my ears tell me something different and so the best advice is probably, if it ain't broke don't fix it. And of course, the obligatory listen before you buy, if you can.

Richard,

last year - in the days before the release of Sarum T 

i conducted a home demo using Chord Sarum speaker cables 2 x 7m  [ £7K ]

The conclusion from the 3 week home trial was improvements over naca5 with a pleasant, organic easy on the ear musical ability that didn't alter the tonal aspect of naca5 but built better musicality upon it's sonic strengths. To put it another way the music sounded not hugely different but noticeably cleaner and more natural, i really liked it.

Using LP12 / CDS3 - 552/500 - SBLs was a nice experience to hear but i had the feeling that modern speakers that have the ability to be more bass expressive [to include the ported types from Kudos] would probably benefit more so with Sarum speaker cable than my SBLs which i consider good fun enough to remain with the good old naca5 : )

The 7m runs i used were no where near long enough for my system layout, so needed to run directly across the floor, for room tidy permanent use 9m would be needed in my home which would in turn would cost £9k !

The Sarum cable is [or was] rather thick and far stiffer than naca5, so very difficult if not impractical to apply easily around the room border, would be better suited for use on systems where there is a closer proximity of system lay-out with speakers not so far away from the racks and kit, and where the cable can be proudly displayed in all it's splendour of gentle curving from power amp to speaker, if you know what i mean : )

I also like to keep my options open with a future view of maybe going active which would require 4 x 9m speaker cable runs, and naca5 is the most fantastic value for money for doing this . Plus, my findings are that Sarum, and Sarum T interconnects are very nicely 'synergy' compatible  when used with naca5 speaker cables.

After my 3 week trial with the Sarum speaker cable, the return to naca5 exposed the more cruder resolution nature of naca5 but strangely this downshift had little effect on reducing the sonical expression or musical enjoyment, imo the SBLs maybe the greater bottle neck in my system than the speaker cable which calls into question other peoples systems could produce differing results and opinions, but long-story-short in my system the cost of that particular upgrade was not worth the expenditure, and although the Sarum cable is definitely superior, it didn't in my system make the naca5 sound broken ; )

I would expect the Sarum T speaker cable to be more flexible than the previous design i tested, and probably improved sonics too, but only one way to find out that dilemma... however, imo you'd be bonkers to spend that kind of money on fancy pants speaker cables when you have the option of upgrading your 282 & SC to a nice pre-owned 552 : )

Debs

Great write up! Thanks!

Hungryhalibut posted:

I've always thought that keeping cables consistent is a good idea - I have all Super Lumina - and therefore would have said that mixing wasn't a good idea.

This is something I have never adhered too, however having the complete Sarum T loom on dem it seems not to matter which item I replace with my current set, the sound takes the same step down.

ie if I change the USB Sarum T with my Curious the separation and closed in presentation sounds the same as when I change the speaker cables over for my TQ blacks. This I find very strange, as if having the complete loom adds some additional aspect to the sound.

Can't explain it, and what's more I don't like it as the Sarum T USB is a wallet bashing £1,500 which I am really struggling with in my head, and my bank

There is no logical proof of this whole loom nonsense, other than the companies who want to sell it to you.

A cable's job is to carry the signal. with the least possible damage

I've mixed and matched cables with NO problems

Vertere USB cables, Naim source to preamp interconnects, Chord source to preamp interconnects, Vertere DIN/XLR, Naim speaker cables

No issues with mix and match

Otherwise it should also be all Naim, but I don't buy into that idea too.

I got Chord Sources, Naim amps, and Dynaudio speakers, all sounds musical to my ears.

Please don't take my post the wrong way, not trying to offend anyone, just sharing my experience, hopefully might save you some $$$$, if you don't have to sell your stuff at a loss to get a full loom