Chord Signature XL (BLACK/BLACK) - single-wire - banana

Signature XL speaker cable

Signature XL is the latest version of one of our longest running (and universally loved) products. The original Signature was our first high-frequency shielded speaker cable (2004) and marked a massive leap in speaker cable performance.

It was also the biggest, stiffest, brightest cable we’d ever made. The conductors were oxygen free copper, the insulation was gas foamed Polyethylene, Shielding was a three layer braid and foil combination, effective to high frequencies and the outer jacket a flexible polyethylene. It was just flexible enough to fit into a system. It didn’t need a press release or a review, it took off so fast by word of mouth, that for a while there was almost a permanent waiting list.

It remained unchanged for about ten years, until we could apply improved building techniques and materials such as more efficient shielding, silver-plated conductors and PTFE insulation that would produce a more neutral tonal characteristic and a cable better able to carry detail, dynamics and timbre. This became Signature Reference.

Signature Reference, like most of our cables, used PTFE insulation (often referred to as Teflon™) and until the arrival of Taylon®, was our “go to” material. Although expensive, it offered the best performance.

Material technology is constantly developing and improving and alternatives to PTFE are now available. While the high cost of Taylon® prevents us from using this in our Signature range, we were able to find a suitable family of insulation materials known as XLPE (Cross-linked Polyethylene). One version of this material looked particularly interesting and following listening tests, proved to be clearly better than the PTFE in Signature Reference.

Every set of Signature XL speaker cable is built to order and terminated at our UK factory with ChordOhmic 4mm banana plugs or ChordOhmic spade connectors. Available in red/black or all black colour combos.

All of these changes combine to produce a major step forward in musical reproduction at this price point – but don’t take our word for it. Request a demonstration from your nearest Chord Company retailer and hear for yourself what this cable can bring to your system and favourite recordings.

Specifications:

• Conductor Silver-plated, high purity OFC
  
  
• Insulation XLPE
  
  
• Configuration Twisted pair
  
  
• Shielding Individually shielded positive and minus conductors. High density foil and 95% coverage metal braid. Translucent PVC outer jacket
  
  
• AWG 10 (5.26 mm2)
  
  
• Diameter 2 x 8.5mm

Chord Ohmic 4mm Silver Banana Plugs 

Our new ChordOhmic silver-plated loudspeaker plugs are designed to bring both the electrical and sonic benefits of silver to speaker cables everywhere. The new plugs will be fitted to all Chord Company speaker cables, as well as being separately available as a retro-fit upgrade, enabling this revolutionary 4mm connector to improve other brands of cable, too.

For many years we have been using silver-plated copper conductors in our designs. Our silver-plated designs are paired with silver-plated connectors. Using silver in cables can be misunderstood, as many people still associate the use of silver with a bright, overbearing sound characteristic. In our experience, however, this brightness is actually caused by a poor choice of insulation material rather than the silver! The only major exception to this rule has been Chord Company gold-plated (4mm/spade) speaker connectors.

Why not gold?

Although gold is generally perceived to be the best plating material for high-quality connectors, its only major advantage is its total resistance to corrosion (not normally a domestic issue!). In our experience, the customer also associates it with performance and quality due to gold’s high commercial value. Matters are further complicated by the various other plating materials on offer in the hi-fi industry (e.g. rhodium, copper, brass and nickel) with each having wildly differing prices and claimed performance levels.

Science, statistics and misinformation as we see it!

Gold is, in fact, the third most conductive metal available. It is outperformed by both copper (+140% better) and silver (+148% better). Better conductivity means lower resistance and therefore, less signal loss. Less signal loss means increased performance – as expressed by Ohm’s law! Hence the name of our new speaker plugs.

Although pure copper is a good conductor, at room temperature it is susceptible to oxidisation and drastically drops in conductivity when oxidised. Plating the copper can protect it from this process. Plating materials include tin (25% as good as gold), nickel (33% as good as gold) and rhodium (50% as good as gold).

Crucially, silver-plating not only makes sense from an electrical point of view, it gives an audibly superior result during listening tests, when compared with gold plated connectors.

What about tarnish?

It’s a common mistake to think that because silver oxidises it is a poor conductor. The reality is that silver does not oxidise until it reaches 170 C. It does, however, tarnish at room temperature, reacting with sulphur in the air.
Although tarnished silver is not the nicest thing to look at (on ornaments or cutlery), electrically, it is less troublesome.

Tarnish (normally silver sulphide) is a soft and malleable material and can be easily moved aside with very little force. We ensure these forces are present in our speaker plugs and spade connectors. The diagram below illustrates the fact that no matter how smooth a contact looks to the naked eye, it is still quite rough at a microscopic level. There are limited points of actual contact, even under fairly high levels of force. By simply moving a connector in and out of the socket, it is possible to effectively clean the contact points. Ensure all equipment is switched off before doing this simple maintenance procedure.

Plugs will also benefit from a major clean, using a good contact cleaner or enhancer.

Above: Top section shows a low compression connection. Lower section shows the deformation of the plug and socket when compressed together. This compression displaces the soft tarnish as well as increasing the contact area.