Chord Releases LeylineX Speaker Cable for Home Installation
Posted by Paul Telling, The Chord Company on Mar 12th 2020
The Chord Company announced a new product for home installation and home theaters on February 28th, 2020. The new Chord LeylineX is an updated version of the original Leyline cable, now upgraded using Chord's proprietary cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) dialectric to offer a massive improvement in sound quality.
From Chord:
LeylineX has been designed to bring out the best performance from today’s increasingly sophisticated yet affordably priced electronics and loudspeakers and provide consistent and reliable service in environments where cables may be non-removable.
Our latest XLPE dielectric brings a huge improvement over the previous (and more commonly used) PVC. This move follows the successful introduction of Taylon® as a phase-stable insulation material in the flagship SarumT and ChordMusic speaker cables and the subsequent roll-out of XLPE across our speaker cable ranges.
The original Leyline was always our high-performance, low-cost offering. Using a 16/2 conductor construction, Leyline was ahead of other 16/2 narrow gauge cables from launch, thanks to tin-plated copper conductors which performed two roles: preventing oxidisation (crucial for non-removeable cables where long-term performance is expected), plus improved high-frequency performance over longer runs; Leyline could deliver surprising results even over 100 m lengths.
LeylineX builds on the time-proven Leyline platform and brings the advantages of XLPE technology to a new low price point of just £5 per metre, cementing its position as the market-leader in performance and value for hi-fi, home cinema and custom installations. For installers, the cable is metre-marked and is supplied in an easy-access 152m pull-box; it comes with a EN50575 DCA-S2, D2, A1 CPR rating.
Chord LeylineX History:
The original Chord Leyline (now LeylineX) speaker cable came into being during the first wave of home A/V set-ups. Amplifiers for all rooms were often fitted in one place. This meant long (and sometimes very long) runs of speaker cable throughout the structure. It also meant that the cable had to be discrete and affordable. There were already a lot of cheap cables available, so we needed to develop something better. Size restrictions meant using 16AWG conductors. Long runs meant using a twisted pair design – which suited us as we already using twisted pair geometry to produce speaker cables anyway.
The problem came with longer runs and a loss of high frequency detail along with space and coherence. We solved this by tin-plating the conductors. It wasn’t an overly bright cable and would now carry high frequency detail over longer runs.
LeylineX is a great choice for rear speakers in multi-channel systems. It can be used with pretty much whatever level of speaker cable you choose for the front speakers, with no loss of overall balance.
LeylineX Technical Specifications
- Conductor: Tinned Stranded Oxygen Free Copper
- Insulation: XLPE
- Configuration: Twisted pair
- Shielding: None. Low smoke, zero halogen, outer jacket
- AWG: 16AWG*1P, 19/29AWG
- mm2: 1.31
- Diameter: 6mm