ORB INNOVA TS7: Materials and Construction
What I am introducing here is the ORB finished speaker cable ORB INNOVA TS7 YYS2.5 (single-wire specification). This is the speaker cable I used for several years on the bass side of a bi-wiring connection with the small valve integrated amplifier Miuaudio MKTP-2, before the QUAD Lite-2 was moved over to the CREEK sub-system. The cut-to-length retail price is ¥3,300/m; the finished cable with ORB’s double-layer pure gold-plated spade terminals ORB HL-YS is ¥27,000 per 2.5m pair. The banana plug version is considerably more expensive, which is presumably because it uses the third-party FURUTECH FP-202 (G). When you consider the sound quality and the cost of termination work, the finished cable with ORB’s own spade terminals is actually rather good value. And incidentally, this uses PCOCC wire — a material that has now become quite rare.
As someone who generally recommends the shortest possible cable runs, I do feel a slight reluctance about connecting a 2.5m-per-side speaker cable to a compact system that could be wired in under a metre — but let’s call this a sound quality test and leave it at that. (Length does affect sound quality to some degree, but it is not the kind of fundamental difference you get when switching to a different cable brand; it is more a matter of freshness within the same overall tonal character.)
The finished cable I purchased was a limited edition sold in limited quantities by Audio Union, featuring a black braided outer sleeve — the standard model has no braided sleeve and the purple conductors are left exposed. ※ As those familiar with DIY cable-making will know, the presence or absence of a braided sleeve does make a small but noticeable difference to the sound.
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ORB INNOVA TS7: Sound Quality Review
On first listen, the character is sweet, warm, and exceptionally smooth — the midrange and bass are full and substantial, creating a relaxed, unhurried atmosphere, with a wet, richly reverberant sound. In synaesthetic terms, this is a red-coloured speaker cable; it gives the impression of listening to music from somewhere around the middle of a concert hall with fine acoustics. The sound is full-bodied and rich, yet the roughness and aggressive forward push that can afflict other PCOCC cables are kept well in check — the overall impression is one of mildness.
The cable I purchased is the single-wire version. The conductors are 0.26mm × 4, with the four-core bi-wire conductors bundled two-per-side, making for an effectively very thick 4.35SQ conductor. When the INNOVA TS7 is connected to the QUAD Lite-2 — a speaker that, being a very compact design, is naturally light in the bass — the woofer-side sound gains real substance and the previously treble-heavy tonal balance rights itself into something altogether more coherent. The weaknesses, if I were to name them, would be the way fine detail tends to be swallowed up in the abundance of reverb, leaving the music feeling less intricate than it actually is, and a certain looseness of control that I suspect comes from the large conductor cross-section and the longer cable length.
Musically, things feel a touch unhurried and the rhythmic section loses a little of its liveliness and drive, yet there is real depth to the distinctive sweetness of tone, and the sense of narrative — the way the music speaks — is quite striking. It confirms, once again, just how well this cable suits the QUAD Lite-2. The cable’s character is strong enough that the whole system ends up sounding almost entirely different from what it does with other speaker cables — which is quite something. And for a product that is not particularly expensive, it has an unmistakably ORB quality to it: a richness and a high-end-like refinement that you would not immediately associate with a domestic Japanese manufacturer, and that is genuinely appealing.
The INNOVA TS7 is thick and heavy, so connecting it to a small, lightweight amplifier is rather a struggle…
Given how well this cable suits the QUAD Lite-2, it might be worth going the whole way — connecting the INNOVA TS7 in bi-wire configuration might well yield an even better result.
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Connection Test with the DALI MENUET
Incidentally, when this INNOVA TS7 was connected to the DALI MENUET, the result was the complete opposite — the life went out of the sound and the musicality suffered immediately, which serves as a reminder of just how much speaker cable compatibility matters. The tonal character suggested it ought to be a good match, but in practice it was nothing of the sort. The balance tipped heavily towards the woofer side, and the control became noticeably sluggish.
Had it been a two-core cable (equivalent to 2.17SQ), the balance might not have broken down in the same way — but it seems that 4.35SQ was simply too much. Having tried several speaker cables, my impression is that for the DALI MENUET in single-wiring configuration, around 3SQ gives the most naturally balanced result by ear, yet 3SQ speaker cables are surprisingly hard to come by. As a point of reference, the DALI premium speaker cable — not sold in Japan — is the equivalent of approximately 3SQ.
Previously I had the INNOVA TS7 on the woofer side and the Acoustic Harmony N1 on the tweeter side of the QUAD Lite-2 in a full bi-wire configuration, but when prioritising musicality with the CREEK system, it seems the better approach would be to use the INNOVA TS7 in single-wiring and, rather than using the supplied jumpers, to find a higher-quality jumper cable to go alongside it.
The feeling is that using a jumper with high resolution, a slightly dry character, low distortion, and good retrieval of fine detail ought to bring good results. The brass jumper plates supplied with the speaker do tend to add a slight harshness and edginess to the treble.
～ Summary ～
Personally, I have always been fond of ORB as a brand — I use several of their power cables, and a number of their plated connector parts, including the very spade terminals used on the INNOVA TS7, which I rely on for my own cable-building. When it comes to quality plated connectors for Hi-Fi use, ORB is probably the best in the world. ORB products, taken as a whole, seem to me best suited to those aiming for a mild, musical, warm, rich, and elegant sound rather than a flat, high-resolution one. The INNOVA TS7 is currently sitting in storage owing to compatibility and length issues with the speakers and amplifiers I have on hand, but objectively speaking it offers excellent value for money — at this price, you get a sound with the kind of commanding authority you would associate with a high-end cable, and depending on the speaker, it can deliver a richness of sound that would be hard to find elsewhere.
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