Nordost Blue Heaven Speaker Cable. Hi Fi World review 1999

Nordost Blue Heaven Speaker Cable

Jon Marks And Simon Pope. July 1999

These cables may resemble something you might hang up for a party, but a load of crepe they most certainly aren't. The cable consists of 72 OFC conductors plated with 40 microns of silver. Each conductor is then covered by a Teflon ribbon flat enough to hide under a carpet.

We recently had a listen to Nordost's less expensive cable,the Super Flatline, and found it to be a solid performer with real clarity and power. Well, the Blue Heaven takes all the best aspects of the Super Flatline and manages to improve on them.

Between Musical Fidelity's X-A50 monoblocs and a pair of Magneplanar SMGas,the Nordost produced clarity and space that would take a lot of beating. On powerful recordings such as Kleiber's Beethoven Fifth with the Vienna Philharmonic, strings had a robust bite and a distinct, rich timbre. In addition woodwind had a delightful lightness to it while the timpani hammered away at the rear of the sound stage in a gripping performance.

Spinning Massive Attack,s Mezzanine album, I discovered the Blue Heaven revelled in the massive low-end of this dark bass-fest. The pumping heart beat on the opening track,'Angel', thudded through the Maggies with crystal clarity. With the entrance of the guitar, the sound stage blossomed left to right, the Nordost managing to keep the whole mix cohesive, with no ragged ends or loose bass.

The Blue Heaven is by no means budget cable, but you do get exactly what you pay for. If you seek a wonderfully lucid sound coupled with bags of involvement, there are few non-mortage cable to rival this one.