CQ500 Listening:

I described above how impressed I am with the build quality and overall appearance of the CQ500 speaker cable. I listened to the CQ500 with four separate speakers: Thiel CS2.4s, Harbeth Compact 7s, Transmission Audio M1s and, of course, Trends' own SA-10s. These are very good speaker cables, offering clarity, coherence, and an even-handed presentation that utterly belies its amazingly low price. I am really hard pressed to find any faults. When subbing the CQ500 for far, far more expensive speaker cables, there is no collapsing of the soundstage, no change in overall tonality, or clues that something major has changed.

I literally rechecked the price to see if I was seeing things. I was not; the CQ500 indeed sells for $110, with an additional $10 for spade lugs. I spun every kind of music with the CQ500 installed -- from Terence Trent D'Arby's bass heavy funk to Indian/Jazz fusion,to orchestral pieces -- and I could not seem to trip it up.

Conclusion:

Trends Audio, in my opinion, is doing a great job of providing products for a growing segment of the audio market: buyers looking for inexpensive, yet great sounding, gear that is easy to set up and integrate into a listening space.  Their full suite of HiFi products -- from tubed headphone amps, amplifiers, DAC units, cables, and now speakers -- are all well made and, most importantly, fun to use.

I can imagine a very neat desktop system assembled from the Trends product line that would give you everything you need to play music, minus a source, for around $600. Pretty neat. SA-10 speakers are a great little find, and even though there are tons of competitors making speakers in the sub $300 market, SA-10s will appeal to those who prefer a more retro sound and look. By the way, SA-10s come in two flavors: standard, and the SA-10R, with a slightly different tweeter and woofer alignment.

The CQ500 speaker cable is a stone cold bargain. As a matter of fact, it may have spoiled me for any future “giant killer” speaker cables. The CQ500 can be used with much more expensive speakers than SA-10s and hold its own (and then some). Check out the Trends website for their complete product line. They also offer upgrades, like external power supplies.  HiFi does not get any more fun than this.

Comments

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Aria   |2012-03-21 13:57:38 Thanks for the review! Sounds like a solid deal. I wonder what their availability is like in the US. 0   2

Andre Marc   |2012-03-26 15:04:50 Aria, I believe you can order direct from Trends. They deliver pretty quickly. My samples arrived in a matter of days. 1   0

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