The Chord Company’s Epic loudspeaker cable, has been upgraded with the release of Epic Reference. The new upgraded version is said to bring “even greater accuracy across a wider bandwidth than the original and brings all the performance benefits of separately shielded conductor construction”.

Epic Reference is based on 2×12 AWG 19-strand silver-plated oxygen-free copper conductors (in twisted-pair configuration), with each conductor set enjoying its own shield. The Chord Company strongly believes that to obtain the most neutral tonal characteristic from silver-plated conductors it is vital to use PTFE insulation. A PVC spacer jacket is then applied to correctly space the conductor in relation to the dual-layer shielding, which comprises a high-density braid and overlapped foil. The external jacket is PVC.

“Epic Reference is particularly good at helping systems sound coherent and musical. It has been comprehensively tested during the development phase and has been carefully designed to help reveal the true potential of high-quality systems and loudspeakers.” say the company, adding “Epic Reference’s ability to carry audio signals with a high degree of accuracy makes it particularly ideal for wide-bandwidth floor standing loudspeakers: one of the major benefits of shielded speaker cable is the definition and control brought to bass, which is not only useful in a multitude of musical performances, but really helps produce properly coherent rhythm – illustrating just how close the relationship is between a drummer and the a bass-player in an conventional band set-up, for example”.

Specifications

Conductors: 2x 12 AWG 19-strand silver-plated oxygen-free copper

Conductor insulation: PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene)  

Internal conductor surround: PVC spacer jacket

Shielding: dual-layer, high-density braid and overlapped foil

External jacket: PVC

Configuration: twisted-pair 

Diameter: 2x 7.3mm

Colour: Translucent brown

Terminations: Chord 24-karat gold-plated banana plugs; direct gold plated-copper spade connectors, plus BFA Camcon connectors

Price

Single metres: £125

2 metre pair: £500

3 metre pair: £750

5 metre pair: £1,250

Hifi Pig will have a 3m pair of the Chord Epic Reference loudspeaker cable to give away in our next magazine published January 1st. Subscribe now to be reminded of the next issue’s launch date.