QED Performance XT25 Speaker Cable (Pair) (2 metres)

Product Information

XT25's design is informed by the results of our exhaustive research into loudspeaker cable design which began in 1995 and is detailed in the recently released ‘Sound of Science." (Read More) All the cables are available from October with a lifetime guarantee. The prices are as follows: QED Reference XT40i speaker cable These reports set out the “top down” design-principles that have resulted most recently in the development of QED XT25 loudspeaker cable – the new class leading standard in budget to mid-range speaker cables. What are the features which make this cable so special? QED research has shown that low capacitance cables are generally preferred in listening tests over high capacitance counterparts and this is usually because low-loss dielectrics have been utilized. The use of LDPE and careful control of conductor spacing results in a cable with a very low capacitance per meter and a dissipation factor (loss tangent) of 0.0001 at 10 kHz. What is the result of all these techniques?

Unique proprietary technology and trademarked geometries plus our award winning heritage all combine to create audible sonic improvements when compared to other loudspeaker cables. In my Stereo system I can move some Spk cabinets a mm or two and make a big difference to what I hear - factor in that concept to planning/positioning a 7.1/5.1 Spk array and the difference even the most exotic pre filtered Spk cable could make is simply not worth worrying about. For all of your Optical needs, QED has an optical cable for you. For the more advanced, high bandwidth signals, Reference Optical Quartz uses glass technology to accurately send the information from source to receiver. ETHERNET I got a bit of a surprise. Regardless of which amp I used, the Monitor SE 3000Fs sounded not worse than the Lintons, but merely different, particularly at the frequency extremes; overall, their sound quality was just as good. The Paradigms’ bass output couldn’t flex the walls as could the Lintons’ -- as I mention in my July article, the SE 3000F’s low end goes off the cliff at about 50Hz -- and their highs were noticeably tipped up, which to some might sound a little bright. This meant that the Linton Heritages sounded a little more neutral throughout the audioband than the Paradigms, fuller in the low bass, and a bit more pleasant overall because of their more neutral highs. But the Paradigms sounded more detailed in the midrange, and a bit more transparent overall -- they projected the sound more openly, particularly voices, which sprang more freely into the room. This openness, combined with their slightly tipped-up highs, naturally made the 3000Fs sound slightly more spacious and more resolving of details. Finally, I don’t know which speaker would win an all-out loudness war, but a pair of 3000Fs could, like a pair of Lintons, play louder than anyone will likely need them to. (Still, if their sensitivity specifications are equally accurate, the Paradigm will need more power to do this than will the Wharfedale.)

The journey to XT25.....

There are two main factors that affect cable quality. They are gold plating and insulation and none of them have any profound effect on the overall audio quality, especially in home environments that are meant for personal usage. In common with all of QED's cables, XT25 Bi-Wire’s design was informed by the lessons learned during their exhaustive research into loudspeaker cable design, which began in 1995 and detailed in the recently updated Genesis Report. This report sets out the design principles to which QED have adhered ever since and which resulted in the development of QED Supremus speaker cable – the ultimate expression of sound through science without compromise. Each QED cable in the range is based on this unique concept and although their designs may be variously influenced by price, size or ease of use, each retains the basic original features of the flagship model. This gives even the base-model cables a sonic advantage over their similarly priced competitors. XT25 Bi-Wire, for example, is essentially a scaled down version of the top-of-the-range Genesis Bi-Wire cable sharing many of its geometrical features but having a smaller cross-sectional area and using 99.999% oxygen-free copper conductors in place of the more expensive silver-plated variety.

PH15, PH16, PH17, PH18, PH19, PH20, PH21, PH22, PH23, PH24, PH25, PH26, PH27, PH28, PH29, PH30, PH31, PH32, PH33, PH34, PH35, PH36, PH37, PH38, PH39, PH40, PH41, PH42, PH43, PH44, PH45, PH46, PH47, PH48, PH49, PH50 Each musical instrument within the given music/movie is expressed in detail, with each reverb hitting the notes at the right time. I have not come across any other cables capable of replicating the accuracy shown in the XT25. Then there’s the baffle. As far as I know, an inset baffle offers no benefit at all. It may look cool -- the Linton Heritage’s baffle is attractively framed by the cabinet’s edges -- but those edges create a nightmare of diffraction. Diffraction happens when a driver’s soundwaves, as they traverse the baffle, meet an obstruction such as a raised edge -- they bounce off these obstructions, to then interfere with the initial, undiffracted soundwaves now directly emerging from the driver. Depending on how the diffracted soundwaves interact with the direct wavelaunch, it can often cause a visible spike or dip in the frequency response. The nearly 50-year-old British company is introducing its brand new Air Gap dielectric to these 99.999 per cent oxygen-free copper cables, a technology that increases the separation of conductors inside the cable and thus the amount of air between them. In turn, this halves the dissipation and capacitance characteristics inside the cable.Another major innovation is the introduction of one Oxygen Free Copper Conductor and one Silver Plated Oxygen Free Copper Conductor to carry the same audio signal. The equivalent of having two cables in one this design helps provide an alternative route for high and low frequencies, reducing the “smearing” and disruption of the audio signal which would otherwise occur in a single, one material conductor configuration. The upshot is improved rhythm, enhanced clarity and tighter control. QED Performance XT25 Bi-Wire Speaker Cable Airloc terminated was designed as the natural complement to XT25, the 5-star award winning X-Tube speaker cable from QED.

Provided that you know where to look, almost all audio cables have these qualities and the only differentiating factor is the overall build quality. Ideally speaking, 12-14 gauge wires are best for long-distance tasks, as long as the speakers have a low impedance (4-6 ohms). Speakers with a higher impedance (up to 8 ohms) will require 16 gauge wires that have a working distance of just below 50 feet. How much should you spend on cables? In the vast majority of cases we will not be able to install the cabinet doors to built-in laundry products as the fittings very rarely match up. We will try our best however if we are unable to do this we will still install connect to plumbing and put the appliance in situ.Using our in house HDMI testing facility, QED have designed premium HDMI cables to suit any budget. From our flexible and slimline profile to our exceptional Reference HDMI with its BandPass filter technology to reduce Jitter to Ultra low levels OPTICAL It is not generally appreciated that the electrical signals moving at or near the speed of light in a wire do so via the medium of electromagnetic (EM) waveforms which exist within the dielectric which surrounds the conductors as well as within the conductors themselves. The movement of electrons along the conductor merely facilitates generation of the EM waveform as their “drift velocity” is only a few centimetres per second. It is therefore important to ensure that the dielectric material used to insulate and protect the central conductors of the speaker cable is of a type which “permits” the establishment of EM waveforms without appreciable loss. Dielectric losses are directly proportional to the “permittivity” of the material used and as this a measure of each material relative to that in a vacuum it should be as close to unity as possible. Like its predecessors, XT25 uses a specially formulated low-density polyethylene (LDPE) dielectric which at 1.69 has the lowest relative permittivity practically available. The XT25’s organisation is perhaps not as outstanding as with the C-Screen, but the latter benefits from a more insular, closer soundstage. It’s a case of differing abilities more so than one being objectively better than the other.