Chord Signature Speaker Cable Terminated with Banana Plugs - 1.5 Meter (PAIR)
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.
Chord Signature speaker cable - technical info
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.
Chord Signature speaker cable - the 10% debate. . . .
The system was initially fitted with interconnects and speaker cable whose combined cost amounted to about 10% of the system value. Fitting the Signature RCA interconnect and speaker cable transformed the sound of the system in every aspect.
What made this such a fascinating demonstration was the fact that if you took the overall cost of the system and the cables and spent it on higher quality components and a lesser set of cables, it was not possible to recreate the performance of the cheaper system fitted with the Signature cables.
Matching Audio Interconnects
In the twenty years that The Chord Company has been producing interconnects and speaker cables, it has built up close and friendly relationships with many manufacturers and distributors of hi-fi components and speakers. This means that during the development process of any new Chord product we have the chance to assess its performance with a wide variety of various manufacturers' components and speakers. This helps to ensure a remarkably consistent performance regardless of the system the cables are connected to.
The principle design objectives that guide the development of all Chord products are very straightforward. They should transfer as much of the signal as possible with minimal loss or interference. All our cables share the same fundamental design principles. The result of this is that any combination of Chord interconnects and speaker cables will perform extremely well together. However, throughout the range there are certain combinations of interconnects and speaker cables where the sum of the performance is greater than the parts, and when the two cables are combined in a system, they will produce outstanding results.
Recommendations from Chord
Signature Plus RCA: The Chord Signature Plus RCA builds on the strengths of the original Chord Signature. The Signature Plus is a development of the company's original Chord Signature RCA interconnect. The separately shielded signal and return conductors remain the same. The performance improvements come from the addition of a secondary signal return path and the fitting of Chord's unique acrylic RCA plug surrounds, first used on the Chord Indigo. These components can be retro fitted to either the Chord Signet or any existing Chord Signature interconnect. Rather than be faced with selling or trading an original Signature in order to upgrade to the Signature Plus, the cable can simply be returned to the company where it will be fitted with new low-mass RCA plugs and contact pins, a secondary return conductor and of course the unique acrylic plug surround. If your system is already running Signature or Epic speaker cable, the improvement in performance brought about by fitting the Signature Plus interconnect will be very apparent.
The original Signature RCA was the first interconnect in the Chord range to use their tri-layer combination shielding system now used on so many of Chord's high performance cables. The Signature was developed prior to either the Signature speaker cable or the Epic speaker cable and in many ways this backs up the comments made about the performance capabilities of Odyssey speaker cable. The new Signature Plus builds on the performance characteristics of the original Signature by adding a secondary silver-plated, Teflon insulated signal return path conductor and the use of a specially designed precision machined acrylic plug casing, derived from the one first used on the Chord Indigo. To get the very best from the Signature Plus it is really important to think about using either Epic or Signature speaker cables. Both use a similar shielding system to the Signature Plus and when used in combination, will produce an extraordinary level of performance across an extremely wide frequency range.
Upgrade paths: The Chord Indigo or new Indigo Plus interconnect will significantly extend the bandwidth performance of a system and further improve on the high levels of dynamic and timbral information carried by the Chord Signature Plus RCA. In the right system the Indigo is a compelling upgrade. Try at your peril!
Performance Specifications
- 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
- Vibration damping PVC outer jacket
Need a longer cable?
Special order custom lengths are available, contact us toll-free 1-800-785-0399 for complete details and ordering.
The Chord Company has been designing, manufacturing and selling interconnects and speaker cable for almost 25 years. The company and all those who work there have a commitment to:
Producing high quality products
Every cable that The Chord Company supplies is designed within the company and apart from a couple of exceptions, every product is assembled and tested at the company's facility, set deep in the heart of Wiltshire. The Company was started in 1986 to produce and sell the Chord Chrysalis interconnect range. Never was a product so aptly named. The Chrysalis cable had a remarkably well-balanced set of performance characteristics and from this, The Chord Company's outstanding range of interconnect cables has emerged and grown. The product line-up has evolved naturally but always with reference to existing Chord cables. This makes the Chord interconnect and speaker cable range remarkably consistent. The essential balance of performance characteristics is maintained throughout the range.
Ensuring that those products are built to an extremely high standard
Right from the start, The Chord Company understood the need to ensure that the manufacture and termination process of its products needed to be extremely consistent. This near-obsession with manufacture is a critical factor in maintaining the remarkably coherent performance and quality that Chord products are known for.
Every Chord Co employee, regardless of their role, spends time in the production department in order to understand just how much work and effort goes into the manufacture of Chord products. We are justifiably proud of the remarkable consistency the company's production methods bring to their products, likewise the thorough quality assurance and testing procedure that every product must go through before leaving the factory. Failures during testing are extremely rare, testament to the rigorous training that every production operative must go through before becoming part of the production team.
Maintaining the reputation the company has for building good value for money high performance products
The Chord Co believe that anyone who listens to their cables should be able to clearly and easily hear the benefits that their cables can bring to the enjoyment of music and film, and that these benefits should justify the cost of the product. The concept that speaker cables and interconnects can change and improve the performance of a hi-fi or home cinema system can be difficult to understand. Our answer to this is to ignore the words, ignore the hype and simply listen to the product. Almost all our retailers carry demonstration stock and invite customers to try the cables for themselves, secure in the knowledge that the simplest way to sell a Chord cable is by allowing the customer to listen to it in their own system.
Maintaining an extremely high level of customer service
High quality products should be backed up by high quality customer service. It's as simple as that. Whether by e-mail, telephone or via one of our many retailers or distributors, we aim to offer the best possible advice with regard to the matching of our products to the many levels of hi-fi and home cinema systems available. In-house production means that we can respond quickly and efficiently to customer demand, be it unusual terminations or non-standard cable lengths.
Our rigorous quality assurance and testing process allows us to offer a 10-year warranty on all our products. Our extensive knowledge of specialist terminations means that mistakes are rare but when they do occur, they will be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Responding rapidly to technological advances
Chord's close association with many leading manufacturers of hi-fi and home cinema equipment allows us to respond quickly to the performance demands that new innovations may make on the cables required to connect them together.
