The Chord Company, the UK’s biggest specialist A/V cable manufacturer, has completely restructured its cable line-up, with new ranges, exciting new additions and a simplified grouping system.
The Chord Company’s product portfolio now comprises seven distinct ranges, from the entry-level C-series, to the flagship, no-compromise ChordMusic cables. The new ranges make it easy to discern between price points and performance levels and offers consumers a high-quality Chord cabling solution, regardless of budget.
The new Chord product line-up comprises of: the C-series; Clearway, Shawline; Epic; Signature Tuned ARAY; Sarum Super ARAY and ChordMusic. Chord is particularly excited to have developed its original Tuned ARAY technology enabling the new line-up to feature ARAY, Tuned ARAY and Super ARAY interconnects. This brings the wonderful musical transparency that ARAY cable designs introduce, across all levels of system. Chord’s experience is that almost regardless of budget, ARAY-designed cables show how musically involving and coherent a system really is; even better, it shows just how good music can sound. (Prices for 1m analogue interconnects are shown below for range-pricing guidance.)
C-series (1m analogue RCA interconnect £45)
The C-series represents The Chord Company’s entry level range. It utilises techniques developed for the company’s high-performance cables, but applies them in a way that enables great affordability. The range features analogue and digital interconnects, including the C-view — a new super-slim HDMI cable, a C-series USB, plus the C-screen: Chord’s most discreet and cost-effective shielded speaker cable. The award-winning C-line analogue and the new C-digital interconnect both benefit from the implementation of the company’s famous ARAY conductor configuration, offering astonishing value for money in the budget cables sector.
Clearway (1m analogue RCA interconnect £100)
The award-winning Clearway speaker cable heads up an ever-evolving range of Clearway cables. Currently available is the Chord Clearway Digital — a digital interconnect that uses Tuned ARAY technology, originally developed on the Chord Sarum. Later in 2016, other cables will be added, including an ARAY-design analogue interconnect that will be available in RCA, DIN and XLR configurations.
Shawline (1m analogue RCA interconnect £200)
Unveiled at Sound and Vision 2016, the all-new Shawline range features ground-breaking performance and exceptional value for money. The new Shawline analogue interconnect –available in DIN, RCA and XLR versions – uses the same Tuned ARAY technology and shares the same mixture of transparency and musical coherence that made Chord’s award-winning Sarum Tuned ARAY such a special cable.
Also available is a completely new Shawline ARAY digital cable to be joined by the Shawline high-performance shielded loudspeaker cable. More Shawline interconnects will become available over the next few months.
Epic (1m analogue RCA interconnect £400)
The Epic line-up takes its name from Chord’s long-standing Epic Twin and Epic Reference speaker cables. There is a new design Tuned ARAY Epic Analogue interconnect, as well as Tuned ARAY Epic Digital and streaming cables. These perform like high-end cables but still offer Chord-like value for money.
Epic Twin’s design is based on discoveries from the development of the Signature range and the hand-made Epic Reference uses the same twisted-pair configuration as the Signature, Sarum and ChordMusic speaker cables. Both the analogue and digital interconnects in particular employ advanced materials, including high density braid and foil shielding that is effective to very high frequencies.
Signature (1m analogue RCA interconnect £800)
An established favourite, the Signature range is comprehensive and sets a performance standard at its price point. Signature cables were the first to use high-frequency-effective shielding which drove the development of Chord’s higher performance cables. Tonally neutral, the range includes speaker and power cables, plus analogue and a completely new design – Signature Digital interconnect. There are also streaming, USB and AES/EBU cables, all of which feature Tuned ARAY conductor technology developed for each specific cable design. Signature performs brilliantly individually, but its strengths magnify when used in multiples.
Sarum (1m analogue RCA interconnect £1,900)
The Sarum interconnect, power cable and speaker cable take all of Chord’s principle design values to a logical conclusion. Conductors are polished prior to being silver-plated, the insulation is gas-foamed PTFE and the shielding is the most effective Chord has used. Chord Sarum interconnects and power cables feature the unique Super ARAY conductor configuration. Developed from the ground-breaking Tuned ARAY, the Super ARAY keeps all the musical transparency of the Tuned ARAY design but is capable of carrying extraordinary levels of critical musical detail. Super ARAY USB and streaming cables are also available.
The Sarum cables have been widely regarded as being some of the most musically transparent cables available.
ChordMusic (1m analogue RCA interconnect £3,800)
ChordMusic distils 30 years of cable design and construction knowhow into an extraordinary and musically revelatory product line. ChordMusic has been developed using an entirely new insulation material called Taylon®, which has never before implemented in audio cables. Taylon® is a phase-stable dielectric material and when combined with the unique Super ARAY conductor geometry, takes cable performance to a completely new level.
Where Sarum Tuned ARAY and then Super ARAY opened the window onto the performance, ChordMusic kicks the door down and lets you wander into an extraordinary musical landscape.
Pricing and availability
Ranges to be populated throughout 2016. Existing model pricing is available from chord.co.uk
