Forty-three years after Kimber Kable first launched its first speaker cable, 4PR, Russ Andrews is introducing the entirely new version of 4PR and its big brother 8PR to the UK. audiophile market. The new cables greatly improve the performance of the originals by utilising trickle-down technology from Kimber’s higher-end speaker cables.
The 4PR (above) and 8PR cables, featuring eight and 16 conductors per channel respectively, now benefit from the use of Varistrand conductors, which comprise an arrangement of different diameter copper strands within each conductor.
“This balanced frequency response is one of the reasons why Kimber speaker cables sound so natural and don’t impart any character of their own into the music,” says Russ Andrews, chairman and technical director. Kimber Kable was launched in 1979 with the release of the original 4PR, the first cable to feature the now familiar woven geometry. The woven design was developed by Ray Kimber to reduce RF induced noise in professional applications.
Each of the woven conductors within 4PR and 8PR contains seven of the Varistrand wires, made from Kimber’s own high-purity oxygen free electrolytic copper, which is a significant improvement in quality over the old 4PR and 8PR models and has “industry leading conductivity” along with very low induction. 4PR’s positive and negative conductors are each 13AWG / 2.6mm2 and 8PR has 2 x 10AWG / 6mm2. Overall cable diameters are 9mm and 11.5mm respectively.
In addition to the improvement in copper quality and the inclusion of Varistrand technology, the polyethylene insulation now comes in a smart red and black finish, a nod to the cable’s original colour scheme.
The new 4PR and 8PR are available now, direct from Russ Andrews, with a 25-year warranty and are subject to the company’s standard 60-Day, money-back guarantee. Example prices for a 2.5m cut and stripped pair: 4PR £145, 8PR £290. Also available with banana plugs or 8mm Ultraplate spades.