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 (read more).
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.
