Boutique British Audio Cable Maker Upgrades Hugely Popular Budget Clearway Speaker Wire

The new Chord ClearwayX speaker cable has been upgraded with improved insulation and is an ... [+] affordable way of getting more from your Hi-Fi setup.

Chord Company is a British audio cable manufacturer with a reputation for making high-quality speaker and audio cables. The company's Clearway speaker cable has received many accolades and awards over the years, and now Clearway it's been upgraded with exclusive and new XLPE insulation technology.

The brand new ClearwayX speaker cable is based on Chord Company's original Clearway speaker cable but it's received a major upgrade by using a new and high-tech insulation material called Cross-Linked Polyethylene (XLPE). According to Chord Company, XLPE brings audible benefits to phase stability when compared to regular insulation materials and noticeably improves the product's sound quality, according to Chord Company.

ClearwayX's XLPE-insulated conductors are produced using multi-strand oxygen-free copper and they are arranged as a twisted-pair to reduce interference. The two conductors are also protected by an additional layer of soft PVC that correctly spaces the conductors’ shielding by minimizing mechanically induced noise.

Chord Company has used high-density foil and XLPE insulating material to improve the sound of the ... [+] budget ClearwayX speaker cable.

To increase the ClearwayX speaker cable's performance, a new shielding has been used with two contra-wound shields made from high-density foil. This new construction, when combined with the twisted-pair configuration, means the ClearwayX is better at shielding high frequencies.

The new ClearwayX is the latest product in Chord Company's range of high-performance speaker cables that are now using XLPE technology for their insulation. The move to XLPE follows on from Chord Company's use of Taylon, a proprietary phase-stable insulation material, in the company's flagship Sarum T and ChordMusic speaker cables. The use of XLPE has now been rolled out to several other products in the Chord Company range.

Chord Company claims the new ClearwayX speaker cable has qualities that would normally be found in far more expensive speaker cables, and yet it's priced at just £15 per meter, which, for premium speaker cable, is relatively competitive. The new description of the new cable sounds as if it might be an affordable and effective upgrade for anyone who wants to squeeze a bit more from their audio set-up without spending too much.

I hope to be able to review the new ClearwayX in the near future and will let you know if it's a worthwhile upgrade.

Pricing: £15 / €20 per meter

More info: chord.co.uk

The ends of the Chord ClearwayX speaker cable has its terminations covered with an extra layer of ... [+] soft PVC.