Question Good speaker cables for uniti atom and ae500 speakers?

Jackjacka

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Hi forum team,

Long time reader, first time poster here. I've read a ton of threads and am still pretty confused about quality yet affordable speaker cables... Get your popcorn out 🍿.

I had a demo in store and then a home demo of a naim uniti atom and some acoustic energy ae500 speakers with the store provided cables (chord company I think). Sounds is great and great system so I bought it at a reasonable deal, cables were offered from the stores lost, but they were still going to cost 180 - 260 quid for 2 X 10m runs. So I opted to exclude them.

I'm now looking to buy some cables at a reasonable price for the system and speakers to deliver the sound they're capable of delivering. I've been thinking about the KabelDirect 2x2.5mm from Amazon for 25 quid for 30m. I can terminate them myself so no issue there. Is this a good shout, am I really going to notice a drop in performance Vs the home demo I had - bearing in mind it's for a relatively small room for home use - Music, TV, games, the odd party, etc.

Tldr: bought a naim uniti atom and acoustic energy ae500 speakers and need some cables. Should I spend silly money on cables or go for a cheap option with good reviews and recommendations from KabelDirect?

Thanks everyone so much in advance for your inputs
 
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Its as you say an involved topic. But 2.5mmsq cable is fine and B&Q have similar quality at similar prices . Even better, but really into diminishing returns, is 4 mmsq . Banana plugs etc are not essential and just careful baring and inserting the cables into the screwdown terminals is fine. It is not as if connections are made on a daily basis. I would have last connected disconnected my Tannoys 11 years ago.
 
Its as you say an involved topic. But 2.5mmsq cable is fine and B&Q have similar quality at similar prices . Even better, but really into diminishing returns, is 4 mmsq . Banana plugs etc are not essential and just careful baring and inserting the cables into the screwdown terminals is fine. It is not as if connections are made on a daily basis. I would have last connected disconnected my Tannoys 11 years ago.

Thanks for this, good to hear they're at least ballpark reasonable. I'd be happy to go up to spending 80 quid on 2 X 10m runs of cable (ÂŁ4 p/m), but I can't help but feel like anything above that is just excessive, at least for me.
 
Anything above ÂŁ4 per metre is too expensive to be honest. Van Damme Blue is very popular. As for banana plugs they do have their uses especially if the amp is hard to get at or move. Bare wire is best but beware of stray wire. Whenever I've gone to a dealer to buy amps I always ask to have speaker wire thrown in. I've never been refused and last time came away with Chord Clearway interconnects and terminated speaker cable. If you don't ask, you don't get.
 
Anything above ÂŁ4 per metre is too expensive to be honest. Van Damme Blue is very popular. As for banana plugs they do have their uses especially if the amp is hard to get at or move. Bare wire is best but beware of stray wire. Whenever I've gone to a dealer to buy amps I always ask to have speaker wire thrown in. I've never been refused and last time came away with Chord Clearway interconnects and terminated speaker cable. If you don't ask, you don't get.
.. I'm not going to say cheap Welsh git... I'll reserve that until the Six Nations Rugby!
 
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Some of this (2.5mm will also be fine; the VD Blue is the same stuff in a different jacket):

And some of these if you want them:

Then save your money and sanity, and never think about speaker cable ever again.
Saving as much sanity and money as possible after the expense of the system is very welcome, haha. Thanks for the link. I guess my big question is an I really going to notice the difference with cable that costs ÂŁ12 p/m or more compared with this stuff? I'm guessing not really...... But then again, I'm not a purist
 
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Anything above ÂŁ4 per metre is too expensive to be honest. Van Damme Blue is very popular. As for banana plugs they do have their uses especially if the amp is hard to get at or move. Bare wire is best but beware of stray wire. Whenever I've gone to a dealer to buy amps I always ask to have speaker wire thrown in. I've never been refused and last time came away with Chord Clearway interconnects and terminated speaker cable. If you don't ask, you don't get.
Thanks for this, yeah they weren't willing to give me the cables at anything over a 50% reduction for 2x10 metres, coupled with the significant saving I got on the package of system, speakers, and stands. But maybe that's my loss.
 
Thanks for this, yeah they weren't willing to give me the cables at anything over a 50% reduction for 2x10 metres, coupled with the significant saving I got on the package of system, speakers, and stands. But maybe that's my loss.
As @dannnielll has inferred you need a silver tongued Welshman doing your negotiations.:thumbsup:
 
Saving as much sanity and money as possible after the expense of the system is very welcome, haha. Thanks for the link. I guess my big question is an I really going to notice the difference with cable that costs ÂŁ12 p/m or more compared with this stuff? I'm guessing not really...... But then again, I'm not a purist
The VD is all anyone needs. More expensive options are available because there are people that will pay it. If you pay more you will be predisposed to hear a difference....
 
The 2.5mm kabeldirekt you mentioned is perfectly fine, i use it and it is paired with the amazon basics plugs as noted by @DT79.
 
 
The VD is all anyone needs. More expensive options are available because there are people that will pay it. If you pay more you will be predisposed to hear a difference....
Thanks for the reply, and I thought that may be the case :). I remain amazed that you can spend thousands on cables.
 
Thanks to everyone for the inputs, have gone with the KabelDirect 4mm stuff with the KabelDirect banana plugs. Thanks for the confirmation/advice! Have a lovely new year
 
Thanks to everyone for the inputs, have gone with the KabelDirect 4mm stuff with the KabelDirect banana plugs. Thanks for the confirmation/advice! Have a lovely new year

Hello there,
Did this work out well for you? I'm planning to go the same route: unity atom with kabeldirect cables and 4mm banana plugs rather than the Naim plugs? Thanks
 
Hello there,
Did this work out well for you? I'm planning to go the same route: unity atom with kabeldirect cables and 4mm banana plugs rather than the Naim plugs? Thanks

Hey Jules,

It works perfectly, very happy with it all. After years of playing drums at stupid volumes I'm 100% sure I couldn't tell the difference between ÂŁ50p/m cable and the Kabledirect stuff. I've had zero issues with the audio, sounds rich, dynamic, and gives a wonderful soundstage with the speaker & atom combo.

Hope you enjoy!!

Jack
 
Linn k20 aka nac a4 is a fine cable for not a lot of money if you can find some on eBay.....but definitely don't use silver cables with naim gear....it's not good.
 
I absolutely love the combination. I find them a really balanced compliment to the atom personally. The bass is rich and not muddy, but also not overpowering - I'm not a huge bass fiend myself, however it handles jazz, metal, folk, hip hop, amongst others very nicely and draws out the subtleties inherent in jazz, and balances the more busy music really really well. I find they deliver a good soundstage and give great clarity and depth. I'm using them in a fairly small room on stands and they sound as good as the demo room I listened to them in.

I'd really recommend them, but of course find somewhere to test them or that has a good returns policy first just in case.
 
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I have these arriving tomorrow in black gloss. Looking forward to it.
Could I just ask how long did it take to run them in?
I am also using Van Damme cables (just to keep the the post on topic) :thumbsup:
 
Excellent! Great choice..... In cable ;)... Honestly speaking, they sounded beautiful, and looked stunning, straight out of the box. They've probably become a little, slightly, fractionally warmer after about 30 - 40 hours of listening at audible volume - I've had them running just with power through them and fractional volume for a couple of days on top. But as I say, great out the box so don't worry about the run in time too much.

Do let me know what you think of them once you're up and running. Enjoy!
 
Right out the box awesome mate.
Listening to some R&B, Drum n Bass, Hip-Hop, Folk and Electronic.
Really pleased so I'm glad you wrote this thread. Especially as I couldn't audition them first.
Powerful yet Natural speakers.
Not even added my REL T5i Sub yet but the fallback was always to upgrade my surround sound setup with that anyway if it's not needed.
Have a 24-bit version of the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album. Dreams on that sounds lovely.
 

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