Enthusiasm for cables in the magazines seems to have died down lately.

Are Cables taking a back seat? If this is the case, then one possible explanation is pressure from readers saying that they don’t make much difference.

There are 3 main explanations for this:

a) The cables tried were typical, run of the mill types, rather than something absolutely unique and high performance.

b) Some equipment seems less sensitive to cable changes than the vast majority.

c) A system may not have high resolution in the first place, for any number of reasons, including room resonance modes that can dominate and mask transparency.

A saturated market and massive promotional investments make it difficult for a performance leader to stand out. For this reason you may not have put Origin Live cables on your short list. However it is worth noting that Origin Live cables have always had great reviews over the past 25 years especially in the rewiring of tonearms. Feedback from international distributors and dealers is outstanding – One described our cables as “the best kept secret in Hi–Fi.” This is from dealers who complain that it is pointless reviewing our cables with stuff at the same price – they say you need to go to cables at 5 times the price to start giving a real indication of how good they are!

For example a test of our Linear flow 2 interconnects against an award winning brand that could be regarded as the market leader, found it significantly superior at less cost.

Specifications and “breakthrough ideas” have their place, but no-one can predict a cable’s sound based on technical specifications. I remember when I was a non trade enthusiast (27 years ago), rushing out to buy some £8/m Oxygen Free Copper cable wrapped in a compression sheath to reduce vibration of the strands. £8/m was an exorbitant price in those days, but it was “new” technology. I compared it with some £0.30/m solid core wire – needless to say the solid core wire hammered the “special” wire. I found this difficult to believe at first and had to do retest after retest. The truth is that a great sounding cable is much more about years and years of development to get the right mix of parameters, than introducing a shiny new gimmick.

The latest arrival to the Origin Live range is our Linear Flow 2 Speaker cable which has just received a great review in Hi Fi World magazine.

“Offering excellent sound quality for a very reasonable price, the Origin Live Linear Flow 2s will provide the basis for a top drawer hi-fi system.” HI–FI WORLD MAGAZINE