# Audioquest Coral - Opinions?



## elrod-tom

Yes, I'm trying to upgrade my interconnects. Unfortunately, I'm choking a bit on the cost of what I'd really like (Cardas Neutral Reference or similar), given that I've spent far too much on audio gear lately. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 I saw an ad in Stereophile for AQ Coral at HCM, and the pricing looked pretty reasonable. This is where I bought my AQ Turquoise, and although they aren't the greatest, they've been not so bad.

 Anyone have any experience with the AQ Coral? My objective is to warm up the sound of my system...will this help?


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## blr

I personally never liked the AQ sound. They sure improve up the price range but there is some slight compression in the upper midrange/lower treble that is present in most of their ICs.
 IMO you can do better for less.


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## peter braun

I think this helps with clearing up whether the Coral would work well with a brighter system. This is a review from the Oct/Nov 2002 issue of The Absolute Sound - 

 ''AudioQuest's Coral attended to the middle range with a perspective that was slightly less forward than the Nordost and Kimber. It conveyed a warmer, rounder personality that would match well with leaner, cooler systems. Its soundstaging was appreciably wide and deep on orchestral material. Its transients were a bit muted, owing in part to a darker treble that soothed aggressive vocals and zippy string sections but remained transparent. Thus the sense of orchestral instruments on definable soundstaging was less than precise. On the other hand, the Coral had terrific recovery time on such fast piano passages as Evgeny Kissin playing Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition {RCA 63884}. There was no harmonic slurring from the cascade of notes, as some of the other cables here did. On Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Alone But Not Lonely," the Coral occasionally grew peaky on loud vocal transients, but this was found to varying degrees with many of the cables. While not the last word in accuracy, the Coral was a solid performer with an unhyped, relaxed, even ''pretty'' sound that will match up well with brighter systems.''

 This was part of a column reviewing thirteen ICs from $122 to $250.


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## MoLtoSoLo

I had some experience with AQ's one level higher IC, the viper.
 I like it a lot, and I think it's a better IC than the coral. I think it is worth the little extra.




 edit : Viper can be found on audiogon for as little as $80 for a 0.5m pair. It's hard to beat.


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## elrod-tom

Thanks for the info Peter...this sounds like it might be a good fit. Considering that I don't have tons of loose cash lying around, it's an even better fit.


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## MusicJunkie

I also have the AQ Viper ICs and I think they do an excellent job. I paid the full retail price of $225 for a 1 meter pair and consider it money well spent. You shoud be able to pick up a pair used for a decent price.

 MJ


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## JMT

Tom, I agree with the opinions regarding the Vipers, but have no experience with the Corals. You might want to ask Jude. I know that he had the Corals in his main rig for quite a while before he started cable rolling.


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## Gergor

I used Coral, it's a fine interconnect for its price.


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## MoLtoSoLo

If you are going to use it with K1000, I would recommand TMC's ICs. Those IC got the extra bass that K1000 need the most.


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## bcwang

Be careful though, the coral's at HCM audio are not the same coral's that is normally sold. They have 2 conductors instead of 3, and use different connectors. I don't know if they'll sound the same as the regular corals.


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## elrod-tom

Quote:


 _Originally posted by bcwang _
*Be careful though, the coral's at HCM audio are not the same coral's that is normally sold. They have 2 conductors instead of 3, and use different connectors. I don't know if they'll sound the same as the regular corals. * 
 

That's interesting...it's supposed to be the same wire, with a slightly different connector. I'll have to look into this a bit...

 EDIT: OK...I've checked the AQ website, and the HCM ad. The cross section is exactly the same. It appears that the only difference is in the RCA connection. If anyone knows more, please let me know...this seems like just what I'm looking for right now.


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## elrod-tom

Quote:


 _Originally posted by MoLtoSoLo _
*If you are going to use it with K1000, I would recommand TMC's ICs. Those IC got the extra bass that K1000 need the most. * 
 

I'll probably feel stupid for asking this, but TMC?? Qu'est-ce que c'est?


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## bcwang

where did you see the hcm audio ad on the corals? I went to www.hcmaudio.com and found the corlas, but there is no cross sectional diagram. They are described as 2 conductor with a separate wire just for the foil shield. While the audioquest website describes the coral as a 3 conductor design, with another wire for the foil shield.


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## elrod-tom

Quote:


 _Originally posted by bcwang _
*where did you see the hcm audio ad on the corals? I went to www.hcmaudio.com and found the corlas, but there is no cross sectional diagram. They are described as 2 conductor with a separate wire just for the foil shield. While the audioquest website describes the coral as a 3 conductor design, with another wire for the foil shield. * 
 

The ad is in the most recent issue of Stereophile...the cross-section is exactly the same as the one on the AQ website for the Coral.

 Maybe I'll contact them re) this matter and see whether it is in fact the same cabling.


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## elrod-tom

Well, I contacted HCM regarding the construction of their AQ Coral/CQ vs AQ Coral. This is the e-mail that I received back:

  Quote:


 Coral/CQ is a 2 conductor cable with the CQ soldered plug. In terms of performance it's below Coral, and above Diamondback. 

 Here is a short FAQ... 

 MEMO: 3/27/03 
 Subject: Coral/CQ 

 Question: What is the difference between Coral and Coral/CQ? 

 Coral is a 3 conductor Triple-Balanced design. Coral/CQ is a 2 conductor Double-Balanced cable. When used in non-balanced (RCA plug) configuration, the third conductor has minimal significance, as a non-balanced circuit uses only 2 signal paths, signal and ground. When used in balanced (XLR plug) configuration, the third conductor is very significant, and a vital factor in maintaining the excellent performance of Coral, as a balanced circuit uses 3 signal paths, +signal, -signal, and ground, plus a forth conductor which is the shield. 

 Therefore, when Coral/CQ is used in balanced (XLR plug) configuration, the shield is used as the third conductor, lowering the performance significantly from that of Coral. Additionally, the Coral/CQ is supplied with a different RCA plug than that of Coral. Coral uses a unique 3-piece plug, which minimizes the amount of metal used in the return signal path, and eliminates the normal press fitted return connection point. This plug also features Direct Silver plating. Coral/CQ is supplied with their conventional one-piece RCA plug with standard Gold plating, essentially the same plug that is used on Copperhead. 

 Question: If Coral/CQ is Double Balanced, doesn't that make it the same cable as Diamondback? 

 No...Coral/CQ and all models above it, uses 21 AWG conductors, which provide 27% more area than the 22 AWG conductors used in Diamondback. 
 

The long and short of this is that it's not quite the AQ model, but it has some promise.


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## Audio Addict

Hi Tom,

 I didn't see an answer to your question about what is TMC. TMC is an Australian cable company that sometimes auctions off pairs of their cables on Audiogon. I have a 6 foot pair of their speaker cables in my secondary system. I have a 1.5 meter Yellow Label pair in my closet that I thought would be too long for your application so I didn't include it your cable care package to try. TMC's cables are very very stiff, and since I had purchased it from Australia, it was not worth shipping back so it sits in the closet collecting dust.


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## elrod-tom

Quote:


 _Originally posted by Audio Addict _
*Hi Tom,

 I didn't see an answer to your question about what is TMC. TMC is an Australian cable company that sometimes auctions off pairs of their cables on Audiogon. I have a 6 foot pair of their speaker cables in my secondary system. I have a 1.5 meter Yellow Label pair in my closet that I thought would be too long for your application so I didn't include it your cable care package to try. TMC's cables are very very stiff, and since I had purchased it from Australia, it was not worth shipping back so it sits in the closet collecting dust. * 
 

Thanks for filling in the blanks...looking forward to that package.


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