Chord ShawlineX Speaker Cable ShawlineX speaker cable is based around Chord Rumour (now known as RumourX) – a favourite for 20 years. The conductors are silver-plated, insulated with XLPE and arranged in a twisted pair configuration. To produce Chord ShawlineX, we’ve taken the existing conductor layout, added a specially chosen PVC internal jacket to reduce mechanical noise, before applying the same high density, dual-layer foil and braid shield that we use on Chord Epic. Previous versions of Shawline/Rumour speaker cables used PTFE insulation (often referred to as Teflon™) and until the arrival of Taylon®, this was our “go to” material. Although expensive, PTFE offered the best performance. Material technology is constantly developing and improving and alternatives to PTFE are now available. While the high cost of Taylon® prevents us from using this in all of our ranges, we found a suitable replacement among the family of insulation materials known as XLPE (Cross-linked Polyethylene). One particular version stood out and following listening tests, proved to be clearly (sonically) better than the PTFE in Shawline/Rumour speaker cables.
