NVA LS6 Speaker cable
Not been on here for a while, but I thought you all may be interested in my recent findings......
I have had new the LS6 speaker cables for a week I guess and here are my impressions. I generally don't like writing reviews as I read them with a pinch of salt, but here it is straight and true.
My hi fi currently consists of Wired4sound DAC-A80's-ATC scm 35 speakers.
When I replaced my LS5 with the LS6 the first thing I noticed was unusual, it was that of fresh air, as if the speaker cable wasn't there at all. A very strange discription I know but that is the easiest way to describe it.
The second most obvious difference is it is as if I am no longer listening to hifi but instruments and musicians, that is not listening to black boxes and speakers but dynamic and passionate people expressing themselves through voice or instruments. A bass guitar has more texture making it sound not replicated but real etc... The Imaging is incredible, you don't just hear where a note starts and stops but also where the image of one instrument is and where the next one begins, nothing merges together but everything is well planted and all works together and you can hear strands of detail all over the place, what speaks to me the most is the shear transparency, natural and full range of the cable, as I said it is as if it's not there.
There is a Jack Johnson song called Pictures of people taking pictures, and it starts with such quiet quiet detail, you can hear Jacks voice dead centre really quietly starting off the sound it is quite incredible.
After a couple of days I popped the LS5 back in. Comparatively the LS5 sounded a bit harsh and nasal, it was too forward, I had to turn the volume down a bit. LS5 obviously a great cable, but the LS6 is so open, relaxed, honest and enables music to have this staggeringly realistic sound.
I also popped a pair of TQ black in after the LS5 that I had in a second system. Comparatively the TQ is a rich Phat sound, with round and controlled bass. I immediately thought this sounded nice but coloured. The more I used the TQ black the more I liked it. After a couple of hours I popped the LS6 back in, then i realised how muddy and blurred the TQ is, again a great cable but it's not an honest picture. The full bass I love with the TQ is there with the LS6 but controlled and there isn't the bloom you find with the TQ, just a confident solid sound.
To me the LS6 really is a new reference cable and for £210 for a 1.5m pair is a no brainer if Richard will trade in my LS5.
My hi fi currently consists of Wired4sound DAC-A80's-ATC scm 35 speakers.
When I replaced my LS5 with the LS6 the first thing I noticed was unusual, it was that of fresh air, as if the speaker cable wasn't there at all. A very strange discription I know but that is the easiest way to describe it.
The second most obvious difference is it is as if I am no longer listening to hifi but instruments and musicians, that is not listening to black boxes and speakers but dynamic and passionate people expressing themselves through voice or instruments. A bass guitar has more texture making it sound not replicated but real etc... The Imaging is incredible, you don't just hear where a note starts and stops but also where the image of one instrument is and where the next one begins, nothing merges together but everything is well planted and all works together and you can hear strands of detail all over the place, what speaks to me the most is the shear transparency, natural and full range of the cable, as I said it is as if it's not there.
There is a Jack Johnson song called Pictures of people taking pictures, and it starts with such quiet quiet detail, you can hear Jacks voice dead centre really quietly starting off the sound it is quite incredible.
After a couple of days I popped the LS5 back in. Comparatively the LS5 sounded a bit harsh and nasal, it was too forward, I had to turn the volume down a bit. LS5 obviously a great cable, but the LS6 is so open, relaxed, honest and enables music to have this staggeringly realistic sound.
I also popped a pair of TQ black in after the LS5 that I had in a second system. Comparatively the TQ is a rich Phat sound, with round and controlled bass. I immediately thought this sounded nice but coloured. The more I used the TQ black the more I liked it. After a couple of hours I popped the LS6 back in, then i realised how muddy and blurred the TQ is, again a great cable but it's not an honest picture. The full bass I love with the TQ is there with the LS6 but controlled and there isn't the bloom you find with the TQ, just a confident solid sound.
To me the LS6 really is a new reference cable and for £210 for a 1.5m pair is a no brainer if Richard will trade in my LS5.
Comments
I remember being similarly Impressed when I first heard LS5, so if LS6 are even better, then they must be good. :-)
I have been intending to look into it.
Cheers.
I would also love to hear LS6, but a couple of things stand in the way - not least my not being able to afford either cable at new prices (well not at 4m anyway).
All reasonably and respectfully worded views on all products welcome here! :-)
What's the problem with the Smileys?
Like Mr Dunn or not he does make exceedingly good hi-fi !!!
ps Martin Taylor on AOS compared LS6 with TQ here
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17999
pps Colin NVA sell direct via ebay thereby cutting out middle men eg 2m of LS6 costs 2 x £100/m pair plus £60 termination = £260 Bl**dy good VFM I think !
Hi.
Thanks for that.
Could you clarify - i understand that LS6 comprises 2 separate core types (one for 'bass slam' the other for mid/trebble) but it isn't necessarily biwire? Or is it? I ask only because I cannot biwire my particular set of cube 1s (they were prototypes and have only one set of inputs).
Btw are you still with Jason's pre/proto-tfs nexus?
Selling direct is by far the best deal for the consumer, it's like getting new gear at second hand prices.
I wonder if mr Kipling was so cantankerous?
Hi Ben
Not sure of actual LS6 construction except it has more cores thick and thin. Mine came as single wire but pretty sure it can be bi-wired as well.Yes still have the Nexus but only used as a transport now having succombed to April's FOTM ie MDAC. It just fits better in my system as the Asus in the Nexus is quite bright and with an already bright set-up the MDAC adds a little more warmth and easier listening. Having said that imho it is an excellent DAC for the money and John Westlake really does know his onions where dac's are concerned. But there are now several v good budget dacs around including the new Beresford apparently.
Alan yes just plug in play and forget you even have speaker cables !! I am planning to listen to LS7 at some stage but I suspect you will start to hit the law of diminishing returns whereby the 7's are pushing 3 times the price of LS6. Still Martin Taylor has compared the LS7 to TQ Ultrablacks and says there is nothing in it and really just comes down to personal taste soundwise. So you pays your dosh and ...........
That said, they are too rich for my blood, and my entire years HiFi budget has already been blown. But, before you start weeping, I am used to waiting a year or so and snaffling up second hand gear, almost all my kit and cables are sourced this way. I shall have to bide my time.
I'm afraid I don't know Martin Taylor, should I be embarrassed? Anyhow, the ultrablacks are above my paygrade, probably even second hand.
Are you still Royding? I only ask as I just raised mine a little so the tweeters are more on-axis with my sitting ear height, as the stands are quite short. They now sit about 4 inches higher than standard and the change is definately one for the better. Might be worth a play...
I'm hoping to try them out as soon as the holiday spends season is over!
It speaks volumes, I think - you've got 'em all running scared Col!
Can I say something about the law of diminishing returns? No? Well, I will anyway, because I can :-)
I think we have prejudices about the cost of cables. I know I did until recently, when I've been using the (some would say stupidly) expensive TQ Graphites in my system. Almost as expensive as my power amps, and over three times the retail price of my RR3s, they look way out of place from a system budgeting POV.
But forget the 'they're only wire and plastic' feelings you have about cables, and think about the effect of that spend would make elsewhere in the system. In the context of my system, the NVA TDSs are still the best amps I've heard, and the same goes for the RR3s as small speakers. The Graphites raise the game enormously, way beyond what I thought was possible without getting some high-end floorstanders.
If you look at the LS7s from a similar POV, you may find they make a lot of sense.
End of monologue. Can I go home now?
Anyway back to physics and the law of diminishing returns which invariably is subjective and inconclusive I feel. Some cable upgrades are often as good or better than hardware changes ( SSP digital springs to mind )
and while LS6 has improved my system sonics greatly my hunch at the minute without trying LS7 is I will not get the same improvement as I got by jumping from LS5 to LS6. If I do then I will objectively assess if the extra is worth it for me in the context of my system.
Speaking of which l big chunk of the improvement is down to my system synergy whereby the LS6 has made the Royds sing even better and brought out even more from the TSS. Amen
The first thing that struck me when i first hooked up the new wires was a heightened sense of high frequency energy. Instruments such as cymbals, percussion as well as the leading edges of guitar strings and the like were subjectively louder, higher in frequency and (oddly) somehow smoother. Overall a more realistic presentation of many of those acoustically trebbly sounds that can often disappoint in fidelity terms when reproduced through loud speakers. Each cymbals strike ticked, fizzed, rang and hummed just like the real ones do.
Following this, I became aware of a similar extension at the bottom of the frequency range. Quite profound actually, as if my 8 inch bass drivers had grown an inch or so in diameter. But again, the increase in level came hand in hand with an improvement in quality. Listening to my beloved The Stone Roses, a visual memory of a photo on the album sleeve of Mani playing a Rickenbacker bass came clearly to mind such was the accuracy of the fuzzy squelchy sound of the bass riffs coming through the speakers.
To complete the tonal jigsaw those sounds that occupy the middle frequency ranges - vocals especially took on a more robust, solid and realistic form. I have an excellent hi-res download of a Fitzgerald and Armstrong recording, and by goodness Ella sounded good coming down the ls6.
But it went further, the separation between instruments - something I'm especially fussy about - is something that the LS6 does particularly well. When I moved on to the Stone Roses 'Second Coming' the usually dense and inscrutable mix opened up like I've not heard before. Each layer of guitar became fairly distinct, and some of the more percussive and ambient sound effects resolved themselves more clearly.
The step up from LS5 I would compare in terms of magnitude of improvement to that which I experienced when comparing NVA SP with NVA SSP. The solidity and definition of different sounds makes for a remarkably realistic experience. I am still marvelling at how well the LS6 preserves the complex combination of different sounds that goes into those cymbal strikes.
It's worth mentioning that the initial perceived high frequency lift was a bit of a shock at first. I wasn't sure if it was the right side of "too much". Over the past few days that uncertainty has disappeared. Whether my ears have become accustomed to the change, or whether the cables have bedded in in some way, or both I don't know. I experienced something similar when I first tried the TSS power amp, which I believe was run-in, so maybe its at least partly a perceptual thing. Putting the LS5s back in now the sound seems duller and more lifeless, which may reinforce the notion that a different sound is characterised in my mind by how it contrasts with that to which I'm used.
Anyhoo I shall be keeping the LS6 and returning the LS5 to complete the NVA trade in process. For me then, a worthwhile upgrade.
improvement to that which I experienced when comparing NVA SP with NVA
SSP. The solidity and definition of different sounds makes for a
remarkably realistic experience."
Having made that same change, I am very intrigued by LS6. From what you & James have said about it, it must be very good indeed. It's just a shame I can't stretch to new wires this year...
I'll not let the odious opinions of a bitter, angry old man prevent me from enjoying NVA in my home.
I loved it's holographic qualities, it is completely NVA"