Five decades of knowledge distilled into a new speaker cable
Speaker cable| £27/m | whf.cm/QED_GoldenXT
QED was founded in 1973. Within a few years, it launched the legendary 79 Strand, arguably the first specialist speaker cable to hit the market. That’s some legacy, and in the years since then, the company has continued to develop its understanding of cable design, even going as far as to publish technical papers on the subject. The new QED Golden Anniversary XT speaker cable not only marks the brand’s significant birthday but also embodies the culmination of the engineering ideas it has developed over the past five decades.
This is a smart and well-made product that feels expensive. Look under the skin and you will find that QED’s engineers have put at least as much thought into the construction and geometry of the cable as the classy appearance.
Putting QED’s marketing terms like Aircore and X-Tube aside, each conductor is made up of ten copper strands twisted around a hollow polymer rod. Nine of these strands are made of high-purity oxygen-free copper (OFC) while the tenth uses Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC) Copper. OCC Copper is processed in a way that removes grain boundaries within the material’s structure with the promise of purer sound. The exacting geometry of the cable is designed to minimise distortion and deliver consistent results through the frequency range.
Each conductor is then wrapped with gold mylar tape (which gives the cable its distinctive colour) and subsequently encased in a transparent LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) dielectric. There are two such conductors in the Golden Anniversary XT and they are twisted together, then protected by a thick PVC external layer. It is a complicated approach to making a speaker cable and shows QED’s desire to achieve something special.
Our review sample is terminated by QED’s Forte 4mm banana plugs. These are cold-welded to ensure a solid and stable connection over time and are nicely made. One small complaint, though: the plug body has a trio of coloured rubber rings to help grip and identify the cable as black or red. In use, these rings are easy to dislodge or even break. It would be nice if QED could come up with a more durable solution.
Impressively clear and crisp
Let’s make one thing clear: a speaker cable can’t make the music signal any better. All it can do is carry the electrical signal from your amplifier to the speakers while minimising losses and distortion. We try the Golden Anniversary XT in multiple systems:
