Belden cable, Canare connectors, job done
Second nomination for Belden speaker cable, especially the black and orange 9497. I didn't believe there could be a difference in speaker cable, but this cable works very well for my highly efficient speakers.
Also, I used pure copper CMC banana plugs, but I doubt these make any difference. They sure work well, though.
I can. It's a lesson that my father taught me. Quite simply, it's "use what you have".
I tried it. And once I was alerted it might cause phase shift... I removed the shield. SQ was obviously better. So easy solution, take the shield off if it isn't a conductor for your output and it's the only wire you got laying around.
Again, Canare 4S11 is really cheap. Why bother with other stuff? It was designed to run longer distances for pro use, by people that understand how to make a cable.
The idea was not to run the coax as shielded cable. The discussion was in regards to making the shield and the conductor operate in tandem as one, by removing insulation on the last couple inches of the coax, and soldering the shield to the conductor.
Because free beats cheap, and cheap is always a relative term. I know lots of guys who have better ears than me, who don't break the bank building systems, the likes of which I couldn't afford to buy the same relative quality. Some people learn with their wallet, other people learn through their curiosity and sense of adventure. I'm having fun, so maybe I'll eventually try it, maybe I won't. Personally, I quite enjoy the teachings of the frugal audiophiles... I promise you that I won't learn a thing if I just buy something, because a guy on the internet told me it was "cheap enough." (no offense, of course)
To the first reply... no, that's how you want the discussion to be, as if I had never claused my concerns deliberately to talk about balanced outputs and 2 conductor + shield cables. I purposely tried to make it clear I'm not mixing using coax as a 2/1 conductor with a 2 conductor + shield. Two different things. If I want to mention it, I will. There are others reading these and it's useful information to know that you otherwise may have crappier sound and never know it. BTW some dude back in the day was obsessed with some Belden "84295" or something coax, and had a DIY page about building interconnects & speaker wires. He crossed the shields to the opposite's center, at the end of each speaker wire that was made of 2 coax lines. John Rische, or something like that... someone else probably knows.
Secondly... $1.16 a foot, that is cheap as **** for a high purity copper 4 conductor in good insulation. Plus it sounds better than any old zip cord or power cord conversion with different twistings etc, that I've ever tried. It's frugal as all get out. The most you have to learn from doing what, scavenging dump sites for wire? Is that you should have just bought some well engineered super cheap 4S11. I'm not saying don't have fun braiding wire... been there, done that. I'm just letting you know if your goal isn't fiddling, there is an easy answer that removes the component of worrying about your speaker wire being a bottleneck to good sound.
Secondly... $1.16 a foot, that is cheap as **** for a high purity copper 4 conductor in good insulation. Plus it sounds better than any old zip cord or power cord conversion with different twistings etc, that I've ever tried. It's frugal as all get out. The most you have to learn from doing what, scavenging dump sites for wire? Is that you should have just bought some well engineered super cheap 4S11. I'm not saying don't have fun braiding wire... been there, done that. I'm just letting you know if your goal isn't fiddling, there is an easy answer that removes the component of worrying about your speaker wire being a bottleneck to good sound.
My father has been a ham radio operator since 1973. (extra class) He's got enough vacuum tubes and coax cable to open a storefront. And I've got a pretty good stockpile of stuff, myself. So yeah, my goal is fiddling.
And if you'd followed along, everything in your post has been covered, at least once. Ironic that you'd mention that others "might be reading."
The point here, is that if I want to spend money, I know that I can do that. Canare 4S11, Belden 9497, etc, etc. But I *have* a shitload of stuff at my disposal.
Now, that's not to say that I don't value your input, and/or am not grateful for suggestions. I just have a tendency to be fairly blunt and straightforward. So take my replies as you will.
He has graciously offered me some of his stock, so I'll keep that in mind.
I can attest that quality RG58 cable is very good for this purpose. I found no difference to more expensive audio coax. Another cheap coax surplus cable that works well for audio is the high quality S-Video dual-coax 75 ohm cable. I managed to get for free a good chunk of this cable from a dismantled professional ceiling projector mount and it is excellent for audio at signal level. I have not tried to use it for speakers yet, but it will be a future project..
Keep in mind- what is cheap for some may be a luxury for others that may be reading this thread.
Recently I got hold of a pair of 'decentish' floor standers with 2x8", 1x6.5", 1x 1" for close to nix.
About a week of listening drove me to exploring 'opportunity for improvement'...the result is that I am currently running an easily connectable/removable breadboard P-P wired crossover network mounted on the rear panel of one of these loudspeaker cabinets.
This externally mounted crossover enables 'on the fly' AB comparison of addition or removal of particular components.
Included in the deal was a roll of RG-59 coax...plain copper braided shield and plain copper center conductor.
I am running this cable as speaker cable as experiment and it sounds particularly and nicely clean, clear and 'unreactive' provided that the cable end/crossover input is terminated with a 75 ohms resistance....CF, MF, WW etc makes further difference....
Just sayin'.
Dan.
We say it over and over again the ABX need not be invoked. I think lately the the sensation of an unbiased not knowing is as bad as finding one's self naked in a crowd of strangers.
I know there are other tests than ABX, but i see it abused so often that i had to comment.
And for cbdb, it is easy enuff to do an informal blind test, but they most often do not carry any weight and without all the procedures and controls in place…
For instance i have a number of times been able to clearly distinguish the speakers with EnABLed drivers, but no one puts any weight into those tests.
dave
And for cbdb, it is easy enuff to do an informal blind test, but they most often do not carry any weight and without all the procedures and controls in place…
For instance i have a number of times been able to clearly distinguish the speakers with EnABLed drivers, but no one puts any weight into those tests.
dave
No problem you have physically changed a mechanical transducer, but have you done a good faith test to see if having your grandchildren dab paint at random on the drivers would be any different.
