Chord Signature Speaker Cable

Chord Signature Speaker Cable

4mm diameter multi-strand oxygen free copper conductors

Gas foamed polyethylene insulation

High frequency effective dual layer shielding system

Non compression cable clamp

High tolerance construction to minimise mechanically induced noise interconnect match

Vibration damping PVC outer jacket

Chord Signature speaker cable is a result of several years' experimentation with shielded speaker cables. The concept of shielded speaker cables is not new; over the years many companies have experimented with the idea. The results however have been somewhat erratic and our early experiments produced what could be best described as curate's eggs. The first successful prototype of Signature speaker cable performed extremely well but was so rigid as to be almost completely unusable and a great deal of work went into producing the same performance in a more flexible configuration. The result is the Chord Signature.

The 4mm diameter conductors are produced from a high purity copper and the insulation material is a gas-foamed polyethylene.

This insulation material has several major advantages, producing a lower dielectric constant and better phase stability, both of which contribute to the Signature's outstanding performance characteristics.

The gas-foaming process also helps to retain a degree of flexibility (important given the size of the conductors and the construction of the cable). The shield is an extremely effective dual layer foil/high density braid design.

Each set of Signature speaker cable is made to order and although the conductor pairs are separately shielded, the cable is twisted along its length in order to improve flexibility. Each end of the cable is secured with an aluminium clamp designed to hold the cable securely but not to compress the conductors. Experiments with both interconnects and speaker cables showed that compressing the shield and insulation on a cable altered the performance characteristics. The termination process for Signature speaker cable is both complex and difficult and Signature is only available in factory-terminated lengths.

Chord Signature speaker cable was developed to work in conjunction with the Chord Signature RCA interconnect. However, its performance characteristics make it an ideal choice for use with Chord's flagship Indigo interconnects. The design principles of all three cables are very similar and despite the differences in construction, conductor and insulation materials, all three cables will work extremely well together.

Signature speaker cable will work consistently well from system to system, to some extent regardless of cost. There is an assumption that expensive cables belong with expensive systems. This is not necessarily the case. One of the most compelling demonstrations of what a set of properly shielded interconnects and speaker cable can bring to a system came when the cost of the interconnects and speaker cables was the same as the combined cost of the CD player, amplifier and speakers

Signature speaker cable is marked with direction arrows at each end. The cable should be fitted so that the arrows point away from the amplifier and towards the speaker.