Soli-Core Loudspeaker Cable

Hi-Fi Answers Review

Cable Design’s ‘Soli-core’ cables aren’t as cheap as first hoped – but their performance justifies the cost – John Bamford

In our March issue we announced the arrival of a new company called Cable Design (now Origin Live) who are marketing speaker cables under the name ‘Soli-core’. The person behind Cable Design is Mark Baker, engineer by training and hi-fi enthusiast by nature, who has been experimenting with solid core cables and decided that it was about time he set up his own company to market his designs.

The design of Soli-core has been evolving over the last couple of months, but it seems now that the construction and pricing have been finalised and you should soon start to see Soli-core cable in the shops. As I’ve been experimenting with Soli-core cables (in various forms) in my system at home for the past six weeks or more, the time seems right to report on my findings which are indeed extremely favourable.

Some of the more adventurous among you have already bought Soli-core cable having seen it advertised…. According to letters, both Cable Design and we have received you’ve all been delighted with the sound. Well, the good news for those who’ve already bought it is that you’ve got a bargain – because the prices have just increased substantially. This is because the construction of the cable(s) is now to be done by an outside contractor to make the cables look much more professional (no more the hand made look!) and to have them properly sheathed and terminated. The bad news is that had you waited a while you’d have got an even better sounding cable.

Soli-core comes in two guises, ‘Ordinary’ and ‘S’ and both types are available as speaker cables (bare-ended-add your own banana plugs if you wish)….. Soli core ‘O’ is constructed from a solid 1.8mm² core of copper together with three fine strands of 0.45mm² copper wire twisted around it. Insulation is plain old PVC. Meanwhile the ‘S’ cable uses two 1.8mm² conductors together with five of the 0.45mm strands, with a higher grade PVC insulation and an aluminium foil screen between the conductors. Both Standard and ‘S’ versions are marked for correct directionality.

When Mark Baker of Cable Design first visited the HFA offices he brought with him some of his ‘O’ cable which was a little ‘rough and ready’ in appearance having clearly been wound) loosely) by hand. But the cable sounded first class in my system ….. Between Musical Fidelity preamp and bridged NAD 2200 power amps. Speakers were my resident Yamaha NS100Ms on ‘super heavy’ foundation stands. Previous speaker cable had been bog-standard 1mm² twin and earthed house wiring cable, while the interconnect lead I had constructed myself using 0.5mm² solid-core wire from RS Components.

What impressed me most about the Soli-core was the superb clarity and precision of the sound. Using it as a speaker cable only, I was delighted enough with the improvements in bass ‘tautness’ and extended treble, especially as my system had lost none of its ‘listenability’ afforded by using thin sold-core cables………… Good news, I thought, ..- and indeed this is the cable that many of you have bought via mail order.

But, meanwhile the designer had been experimenting at his home and he discovered that the cable was further improved if the conductors were twisted together more tightly. Having tried this myself I can only agree with Mark’ baker’s finding: the improvement is mostly in the area of the treble smoothness and clarity, an area of reproduction which is often most troublesome in enthusiast’s systems – if your letters are anything to go by. The problem with this ‘discovery’ is that to twist the conductors tightly and evenly is strictly a factory operation, so Cable Design are now having the cables made by an outside contractor. Prices, therefore, have soared, but at the same time the cables can be professionally ‘finished’ and reliably terminated.

Cable Design have meanwhile developed their ‘S’ cable (S for super, I presume) which sounds even better in my system and this is the cable I will be using from now on – until something better come along, that is! I would be hesitant about recommending I to all listeners however, as I suspect the improvement I hear over the ‘O’ cable is not something that would be discernible in smaller systems.

When forced to describe the sound of my system I usually refer to is as a ‘studio monitoring system with finesse’. Regular readers will know that I mostly, listen to rock music and I guess my system tends to reflect my musical preferences. I’m not a volume freak, but the system offers tremendous headroom, impressive dynamic capabilities, excellent resolution of detail and (at times) breathtaking low bass performance. The system moves a lot of air, but unlike typical studio monitoring systems it is a pleasure to listen to!

Soli-core is extremely powerful in the bas region and presents more detail than I’ve heard from my system, but I can’t imagine the extra expense and hassle involved in using this cable being worthwhile in smaller systems.

Hassle? Oh yes, there’s plenty of hassle in using Soli-core because the cable is so unmanageable. It’s very thick – overall diameter is about 1.5cm – and extremely difficult to bend. As a speaker cable it’s sufferable…….. It takes time and patience to wire up one’s system with the stuff and you need a good 9 inches of space behind your ….. power amp(s) because there’s no way you can bend this cable around tight corners. …if you can accommodate the cable you’ll be rewarded with first class performance from your system.

Soli-Core Super Speaker Cables

User Comments

Over one in ten users of Soli-core speaker leads can’t help writing back or telling us how well they’ve got on! Reports on performance are extremely positive. Here are just some of them.

‘Just a couple of lines to express my full satisfaction with the purchase of your Solid-Core Super speaker cable. I am particularly impressed with the cable ability in the following areas: bass weight, control and extension, high frequency smoothness, soundstage, and finally richness and variety with natural timbres. It is indeed a cable that tempts you to raise the volume higher and higher. A real pleasure. I am using the cable in a fairly decent low-power valve-based system with both analogue and digital source. The cable has brought a significant improvement and performs better than the £25/m one used before’

Claudio Marinelli, June 03

“The improvement was startling – – we had a tighter, more intelligible better separated sound. The difference sprang out at you.”

Peter Turner, Hi-Fi Answers

“Transformed my Hi-Fi beyond my expectations, what more can I say.”

T.D, Teeside

“I must admit that I was rather sceptical over the claims made for the cable but when I fixed it Into my system I was amazed at the improvement It made. The LC-OFC is now redundant.”

C.J, London

“Congratulations on making the best speaker cable on the market… The bass quality is good, very tight and controlled, the stereo image is superb and the soundstage very open indeed without a trace of coarseness, this with compact disc is very praiseworthy Indeed… The degree of added quality in the sound is admirable… having a friend who has access to most cables on the market we have compared them all in both our systems and find that Soil-core is by far the best.”

I. Huntingdon, Cambs

“the cable I received from you is everything your literature claims and more.”

JH, Liverpool

“I have spent several hours listening to my system….and felt that I must write to commend you on the result my music has never sounded better!….I was a bit dubious in changing to your product. The improvement has been noticed by my wife, who is not an avid listener to my system. She found the music much more dynamic and detailed. I found Soil-core as brilliant as your advertisement stated. I hope you get the publicity you deserve for such a fine product. Obviously not everyone will experiment with this and will stubbornly stick to their multi-stranded cable, still that’s their loss isn’t it?”

O.H, Manchester

“the piano reproduction is staggering… my friend was equally impressed and ordered some as a result… he’s now over the moon about his own cable.”

(ex professional musician), Havant

“The remarkably deep but tightly controlled bass is a revelation.”

L.L.S, Twickenham

“It is probably the best system upgrade I could have possibly made.”

A.M, Sheffield

“I have now listened to the cables for 6 days, and I am very impressed with them. Having tried 3 other types of solid core, your cables are by far the better… I have also compared yours to them a few times for the benefit of my many friends who are all as equally impressed as I am… Well here are my differences. The most enjoyable one being ‘soundstage effect’ before they sounded flat. The voices are trailing off instead of disappearing… the top I’m now getting is the very best I’ve ever heard in my system. The brush strokes on the drums and cymbals are “singing” whereas before they sounded flat. But the best part of the top end is the total crispness and precision of any sound in that department, I also have more punch on my bottom end… So overall I am very pleased with them and will be recommending them to anyone in the future who is looking for an upgrade without getting into trouble with his wife.”

M.J H, Essex

“I spent over £160 on a pair of cables but find yours altogether better.”

P.B, Portsmouth

Users of Soil-core report that it gives massive improvements over what they were using previously (which includes just about everything up to £25 per metre so far).

Ultra Interconnect Cable

Stereo Times Review

I’ll be honest. I do not like interconnects. Faced with auditioning a snake pit of interconnects writhing in serpentine frenzy, is it unreasonable to yearn for the rosy nostalgic days of all-in-one compact stereos and integrated amps? Audio gear that, while it denied the possibility of improving the sound by use of the proper interconnect, also instilled the peace of mind that one could not ruin it either?

I hated the cheesy gray interconnects that were included gratis with cassette decks. The flatulent pronouncements from turgid flat earth societies that the sonic differences among interconnects are imaginary compounds tedium with odium. Similarly loathsome are the ultra expensive boa-constrictor-with-rigor-mortis interconnects with connectors that bite like lock-jawed pit bulls. Most of all I hate auditioning them. An informal survey I did a few years ago with reasonably priced ($500 per meter is reasonable?) interconnects yielded the all-too common Goldilocks in Hell syndrome: the interconnects were either too bright or too dead, too detailed or too opaque, unable to dance or boogie, or all too often, they did one thing right at the exclusion of all else. None were “just right.” Ultra expensive interconnects are not immune from this phenomenon either, heightening the frustration by adding huge expense. I’m less tolerant of the flaws in ultra expensive products: a supra-thousand dollar interconnect had better let me hear the Voice of God without speech impediments!

My personal aversion not withstanding, the need and application for interconnects have proliferated, along with the number of brands on the market. As contemporary systems get more and more atomized with outboard phono sections, separate D/A’s, not to mention the interconnect demands of home theater systems, the choice of interconnect can make or break a system. The constant sprouting of new companies with new products along with continual revamps of products from the established firms, leads to a kind of faddishness and a difficulty in keeping abreast of what’s available. Factor in the cost variation of the almost free roll-your-own interconnects to the vertigo-inducing prices bandied in the high-end, and Joni Mitchell’s line about “the crazy you get from too much choice” takes on new significance.

Take a look at the price of the Ultras. No it’s not a typo. 100 smackers a meter. Origin Live is committed to producing extremely musical products that the average music lover can easily afford: their modified Rega RB250 tonearm I rate as the biggest bargain in analog playback. My sympathy for affordable high performance gear has run throughout my 30-year audio career: as a music lover, retail salesman/manager and reviewer. A high income is no guarantee of musical passion, nor is musical passion a signifier for a high income. Indeed the inverse is more commonly true. The equation of high-end with high-priced I find unfortunate: high price is no guarantee of musical satisfaction, as many before me have commented.

The Ultras cosmetically resemble the tonearm cable Origin Live uses on their Rega tonearm re-wires and feature the same phono plugs. Available exclusively by mail order, they feature a money-back guarantee. Mark Baker of Origin Live recommends a 6-hour burn-in before forming final conclusions. They are flexible, easy to use, and didn’t interfere with the Aurios isolation bearings that form the foundation of my system. Nothing fancy in appearance and, thankfully, no resemblance to tumescent pythons.

The immediate impression I had of the Ultra interconnects was the supreme ease of entering into the music. Turning off the critical listening apparatus was a snap: a good sign in my experience, indicating that there were no musical or sonic sore thumbs sticking up in their presentation to draw attention away from the music and towards the sound. There is nothing of the spectacular in their presentation: no “Wow!” or “Omigod!”, so those looking for sonic thrills might overlook their musical abilities. The Ultra’s strengths are subtle, but only a little reflection crystallizes their true-to-the music qualities. I had to consciously turn on my critical listening mindset. Punctuation, phrasing, and rhythmic integrity and drive were exceptional, equating to fine low-level detail, accurate starting and stopping of notes, along with preservation of their temporal and harmonic structure. Without these crucial abilities, reproduced music is like prose written with no punctuation, capital letters, and spaces between words.

Violins were rendered without the common harsh steely edge. Piano was without artificial harsh clang. These two instruments are often poorly recorded and added harshness and clang can seriously mar the enjoyment of classical music. Lyric intelligibility was also excellent. Since the midrange contains most of what is of musical value and lies in the range of our hearing’s greatest acuity, strong performance here leads to deep musical satisfaction.

It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to characterize the Ultras as offering the neutral tonal balance and somewhat self-effacing presentation of the best BBC-inspired English speaker designs, coupled with the dynamic and rhythmic coherence and musical aplomb of the classic Scottish turntables. I’d call it an excellent recipe for musical enjoyment. Except for a slight softening and simplification of high frequency percussion and a loss of ultimate transparency, detail was very good and was always in service of the music. Multiple percussion instruments had their highest harmonics tied to their fundamentals, so were easy to identify as separate instruments rather than washing into an amorphous mélange. Hard, fast transients did not turn harsh or grating, and multiple instruments playing hard and fast maintained their identity as individual voices. The Ultras were not tripped up by fast tempos and complex rhythms. Nor were slow movements threatened, their excellent phrasing and reproduction of nuance and inflection kept the music flowing in even the slowest of tempos.

Perceiving melodies in the bass (the famous Linn “playing tunes in the bass”) was particularly easy as was identification of each instrument when multiple bass instruments played together. The Ron Carter Quartet recordings, featuring Carter’s piccolo bass along with Buster Williams’ slightly lower pitched and physically larger bass were rendered in a way that allowed new understanding of their interaction. Instrumental images were precisely positioned and stable: stereo artifacts were never intrusive. String quartets, whose four instruments one would suspect to be a snap to physically place, are often vaguely painted by many components. The Ultras presented a firm anchoring of the images with no wander, eliminating an enormous distraction to listening.

The Ultras never got in the way of the music, which for me is a prime virtue in any hi-fi component. I found myself melting into the listening chair consistently, moved by the music without distraction from its reproduction. One of my acid tests is whether Pharaoh Sanders’ sax playing on Alice Coltrane’s Journey in Satchidananda [Impulse AS 9203] can create a lump in my throat and bring tears to my eyes. There’s an ineffable sadness in it that merges with a spiritual yearning and steady flight of the soul that too many components fail to deliver. The Ultras captured it: those who value emotion in music above all else should take heart.

Like many superb budget components, the Ultra’s flaws were of the subtractive kind. While I have heard interconnects that could outperform the Ultras in ultimate detail, the Ultras always passed enough musical and sonic detail to allow the easy formation of musical gestalts. Percussion, rhythm and drone instruments were always readily identifiable and easy to differentiate (no confusing maracas for tambourines here), so the slight loss of sparkle and harmonic extension in the upper octaves did not create confusion or inhibit musical understanding.

While not perfect in any one audiophile category, the Ultras are very good in each of them and offer an adroit balance of all of them, with the all-important communication of the music’s message their greatest success. Successful design consists largely of knowing what to trade-off and how to create a balance of strengths that serve the ultimate goal, and I would agree with Origin Live’s decisions here. I wouldn’t trade the deeply satisfying musical coherence of this cable for a fraction more detail, as many very expensive cables are wont to do.

If wading through the snake pit of interconnect choices raises the unpleasant specter of looking Medusa straight in the face, these interconnects merit serious consideration. Those eager to avoid the interconnect merry-go-round will find much to like with the Ultras. If access to the music is of higher priority than some of audiophilia’s non-musically significant concerns, the Ultras are a deeply satisfying musical product and a supreme bargain.

Components used in audition:

– Sound Lab Dynastat and Infinity Qb speakers Meitner PA6i PLUS+, Hegeman HAPI 2, AMC CVT 1030 (tube) preamps. Musical Surroundings Phonomena Phono Stage with Battery Power Supply. Meitner STR 55, EICO HF89 (tube), Rotel RB 980 Power amps. Linn LP 12 w/ Origin Live RB 250 arm (2): one with basic motor drive, one with Origin Live DC motor. Origin Live Basic Kit Turntable w/ OL RB 300 arm. All with Ringmat. Shure V15 V xMR, Audio Technica AT OC9ML, Goldring Eroica LX, and Talisman Boron phono cartridges. Analysis Plus Oval 9 speaker Cable. Aurios PRO isolation bearings under all components except turntables.

Paul Szabady,August 2001