I don't believe cables make a difference, any input?

[pxr5]

not as fast as these babies, swapped out some opa134 and an op627!!!
bass good.
gonna stick in the ad845 they sent as well, treble x/o i think

[pxr5]

sounds good,
but i've unplugged all the cables and moved em around, and bloodpressures gone up. is it the amps or the wires aaaahhhh!

[fdegrove]

Hi,

does anyone know a cheap supply of silver cable for internal wiring,

Keeping in mind that the cheapest is probably not the best for audio , it just isn't pure enough, here's some sources where you can buy silver wire in various diameters and insulation materials:

AUDIOSYNTHESIS

Audionote UK is selling the same wires and finisged products of their own.

If you don't mind buying from outside the U.K, here's where most of the raw materials come from :

DESKADEL

The Kapton (ML) insulation needs to be scaped of carefully at the slodering ends but after that it will remain as is due to its airtight insulator.
PTFE tubing can be had in various sizes from RS Components among a raft of other sources.

Hope this helps,

[pxr5]

thank you fdegrove,
much appreciated, but the prices are well out of my range.
I used to buy silver, about 99.9% pure. It was 7rp/gram (about £0.14p/ gram in india) so some basic solidcore 1mm diameter shouldn't cost much?

[fdegrove]

Hi,

I used to buy silver, about 99.9% pure.

It's commonly accepted that a good conductor should be as chemically pure as possible.
99.9% (3N) really isn't good enough. No idea what it would sound like though. We try to use 99.99% or better (4N to 6N).

3N Ag would probably be available from jewellers but I wouldn't waste my money on it even if it's relatively cheap.

If you trawl the internet for sources you'll quite likely hit some cheaper sources of preinsulated (even PTFE) solid core Ag wire in the U.S..
You'll still have to get that to the U.K. though which inevitably adds to the cost....


Cheers,

[bear]

Originally posted by carlosfm
Guys, there's an important issue here.

You will never know what's on the disc.
You will never know if you are reproducing it as faithfully as it was recorded.
Because of the manufacturing process, even the producer doesn't know what's really on the final, released disc.

There's no way of knowing, because there's no perfect replay chain.

As with everything, the issue is one of degree, not absolutes.

It is possible for some of us to either do our own recordings, or to be present during the entire commercial recording process, and/or to have access to the originally recorded master tape(s).

All this does is to provide a reasonably good anchor, a solid point of reference.

The more you know about this sort of thing, the better your chance of knowing what your system is or is not doing...

Again, it is a matter of degree - the range being from "no idea whatsoever" to "a high degree of certainty."

Me, I try to get "a high degree of certainty" if at all possible.

_-_-bear

[pxr5]

fdegrove,

thanks once again, did a proper search and you're right. 99.9% silver as used for jewellry is cheap but for 99.99% I'm looking at about £10/m for 0.76mm gauge. have to give this some thought

[critofur]

Originally posted by KevinLee
If you do not believe that cables make a difference then it would only be logical that you probably also believe that a $99.00 CD player sounds the same as a $1000.00 CD player. (Using the same tricky listening test you described in your initial post)

The truth is, if you hook a $1000.00 CD player to your amp with a $2.00 interconnect, it probably will sound like a $99.00 player.

Either you are a not as open minded as most of the DIYers on this forum or you have sub standard hearing...

No. A CD player is FAR FAR more complex device than a simple cable. If you take a few feet of basic 12 guage copper speaker cable the signal going in one end will be 99.? % the same coming out the ohter end. How many 9s are in the .? % I wonder? 99.99% perhaps? Now, maybe most people wouldn't notice, or wouldn't care about the difference between a $99 and a $1,000 CD player but I'd bet you that even between two different $1,000 CD players the difference will be greater than any improvement of ANY speaker connector, regardless of price, over basic copper cable.

Well tested and proven fact: Listener bias is typically more significant than the actual difference between different cables ~ I.E. when there is a difference the significance will most likely be miniscule compared to other factors such as your speakers and your room.

[audiobomber]

I have no intention of reading the first 77 pages of this discussion, but I thought someone might be interested in my experience with wires.

I have several sets of audiophile interconnects ( Kimber PBJ, Meitner Cryogenic, Cardas 300B Microtwin, Cardas Neutral Reference, etc). I also have inexpensive but well-made interconnects from Sony, AR, Monster THX, and Radio Shack.

IMO the audiophile cables were better than the inexpensive cables. I was using the embarrassingly expensive Cardas Neutral Ref's between my CDP and Pre, and from pre to power. Until recently... when I ordered a pair of Impact Acoustics SonicWaves.

They are inexpensive but well designed and executed, snug connectors, oxygen free silver coated copper, double shielded. As far as I can tell, they don't do anything to the sound at all, which is ideal IMP, and I no longer use anything else. I went from $500 audiophile cables to $20 cables, not because of anything to do with cost. I prefer the SonicWaves because they're totally honest (as opposed to the Neutra Ref's which have a glorious top end at the expense of ill-defined bass.

I also use SonicWave glass Toslinks on my CDP and sub cables (in my audio system). I intend to buy their new 10ga speaker cables.

This is the article that first attracted my attention. http://www.audioholics.com/productre...cWaveCable.php
All the usual disclaimers, I have nothing to do with manufacture, sale etc. Just a fan.

http://www.impactacoustics.com/categ...p?cat%5Fid=800

[mrshow4u]

Hi Audiobomber, at the risk of getting holy hell unleashed on me.... ....I'm right there with you. I did an experiment setting out to prove there was a difference in interconnect cables. I used the best switches I could find Penny and Giles silver plated contacts etc. I used some Mark Levinson 100% silver wire against Mogami and Radio shack, both having molded RCA's. All tested with line level sources. To my surprise (and dissapointment), I could not hear any difference. Even the switch contacts were silent. I had to look over the setup to make sure I was indee switching. I did find differences in phono cables though. Mogami was microphonic. You could get it to make noise by moving the cables. You should use low capacitance cable for Hi-z phono ....and with a good shield.