Epic Cables from the Chord Company The Chord Company has announced two new additions to its speaker cable range: Epic Twin (dual-conductor) and Epic Super Twin (twin dual-conductor). Chord has resisted referring to the Super Twin as a bi-wire cable because, while it certainly produces outstanding results when connected in bi-wire configuration, the conductors can also be paralleled together to produce an outstanding speaker cable for speakers with only one set of input terminals. Epic is the result of combining elements of two of Chord\ s most popular cables, Odyssey and Signature. By taking the shielding system used on the Signature and adapting it to suit Odyssey, the Chord Company has been able to produce a speaker cable that combines the strengths and benefits of both cables. Epic, like Odyssey, features two conductors each made up of 19 strands of silver-plated, oxygen free, copper conductors. Chord has always used multi strand conductors in its speaker cables but favours fewer, heavier gauge conductors over fine-stranded, rope weave designs. The overall diameter of each conductor is 2.5 mm. The two conductors, which are twisted together, are insulated by Teflon and then surrounded by a silicon jacket. Epic has the addition of a dual shielding system applied to the outer silicone of Odyssey that is then surrounded with a special PVC jacket to improve further its mechanical damping. The PVC jacket itself is extremely pliable and finished in a translucent grey with an overall diameter of 10.5mm for Epic Twin and 15mm for Epic Super Twin. Epic Super Twin uses four sets of the same conductors in a twin, twisted pair configuration. This makes for very consistent performance characteristics between the single and dual versions. The Chord listening team has experimented with Epic in a variety of systems and states that the construction of the cable (in particular the shielding system) allows it to produce a significant improvement in performance when fitted to any well balanced system, almost regardless of system cost. The two cables are available now at prices of around £40 and £80 per metre respectively.