[Review] Extended test: FFRC vs Ortofon SPK200

Extended test: FFRC vs Ortofon SPK200

Before I begin, I would like to categorically state that my results and conclusions apply only to my own system and my own set of FFRC. YMMV.

At Dino's bake-off a good while back, WM brought an enormous pile of cable to take on FFRC. In Dino's system the Ortofon SPK200 was the best of the budget cables (it was the most expensive budget, at £5/m, with the more expensive cables being Michaelab's Dynaudio, and Robbo's Kimber). In Dino's system, it certainly outscored FFRC to my ears, and I wasn't the only one.

Thus I was interested to try it in my system. With many thanks to Timpy for lending me the Ortofon for a good long time.

When I first got the Ortofon on loan, I put it into the system, and I could not make out any difference at all to my set of FFRC. None whatsoever. Over the next few weeks I swapped it in and out, and there was never any significant difference between the cables.

Then I went to Tone's place for the first time, and listened to his awesome system. Mine sounded dreadful for a week after that, so I started to take some drastic action. A few tweaks here and there, and it got rather better. Then on friday I finally added the trichord and the rack. The improvements to the system were quite significant, so today I've come to test the FFRC and Ortofon head to head again.

This time there was a difference, although subtle, it was notable.

It might surprise a few people who were at the bake off, but in my system the FFRC keeps a slight edge. The Ortofon is a little thicker in the mid-band, slightly slower in the bass. There's less hardness at the top, but my system (now) doesn't really tend into harshness particularly often at all, so it's not a problem with the FFRC.

It may just be that I'm used to the way FFRC sounds now, but it is still my preference. However, I must strongly stress that in my system these two cables are incredibly closely matched, and the differences are subtle at best. In time I will certainly be moving on to something better, at rather more money.

It should also be noted that each cable carried advantages over the other in testing. The FFRC has silver-soldered, gold-plated copper Z plugs, whilst the Ortofon has Profigolds at the amp end, and a non-gold plated banana at the speaker end, although I gave these a good polish. The FFRC is in a long-term routing, along the back of my desk, contending with mains and computer cabling (although I try to keep it reasonably clear), whilst the Ortofon runs along the front of the desk (further from other bits of cabling). Finally, the Ortofon is a biwire configuration, whereas my FFRC is single-wire and I was using 4mm^2 7-conductor copper mains ground cable as jumpers with the FFRC connected to the treble terminals.

Based on this long-term test and also the results from the bake-off, there are three worthwhile budget cables I've come across: FFRC, Ortofon SPK200 and Gale XL315. As to which is best depends on taste, system, etc.

It should also be noted that Dino's system made significant gains when used with more expensive speaker cables, like the Dynaudio and Kimber. Things improve as you get out of the budget league, so it's worth spending a bit more.